Duchy of Modena and Reggio | ||||||||||||||
Ducato di Modena e Reggio (Italian) Ducatus Mutinae et Regii (Latin) |
||||||||||||||
Former Italian State | ||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Motto Dextera Domini exaltavit me "The right hand of the Lord is exalted" |
||||||||||||||
Anthem Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser "God Save Emperor Francis" |
||||||||||||||
Northern Italy in 1494:
Este territories (Modena, Reggio and Ferrara) in yellow |
||||||||||||||
Capital | Modena | |||||||||||||
Languages | Latin, Italian | |||||||||||||
Religion | Catholicism | |||||||||||||
Government | Principality | |||||||||||||
Duke | ||||||||||||||
• | 1452-1471 | Borso (first) | ||||||||||||
• | 1846-1859 | Francesco V (last) | ||||||||||||
Historical era | Early modern era | |||||||||||||
• | Created | 1452 | ||||||||||||
• | Conquered by France | 1796 | ||||||||||||
• | Re-established | 1814 | ||||||||||||
• | Merged to form the United Provinces of Central Italy | 1859 | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
Today part of | Italy |
The Duchy of Modena and Reggio (Italian: Ducato di Modena e Reggio, Latin: Ducatus Mutinae et Regii) was a small northwestern Italian state that existed from 1452 to 1859, with a break during the Napoleonic Wars (1796–1814) when Emperor Napoleon I reorganized the states and republics of renaissance-era Italy, then under the domination of his French Empire. It was ruled from 1814 by the noble House of Este, of Austria-Este.
In 1452 Emperor Frederick III offered the duchy to Borso d'Este, whose family had ruled the city of Modena and nearby Reggio Emilia for centuries. Borso in 1450 had also succeeded his brother as margrave in the adjacent Papal Duchy of Ferrara, where he received the ducal title in 1471. The Este lands on the southern border of the Holy Roman Empire with the Papal States formed a stabilizing buffer state in the interest of both.