Editing House of Este (section)

==Origins==
According to [[Edward Gibbon]], the family originated from the Roman [[Attii]] family, which migrated from [[Rome]] to [[Este, Veneto|Este]]<ref>The miscellaneous Works of Edward Gibbon Vol 3 page 172</ref> to defend Italy against the [[Ostrogoths]]. However, there is little evidence to support this hypothesis. The names of the early members of the family indicate that a Frankish origin is much more likely. The [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] regards this family as a branch of the [[Obertenghi]].<ref name=Este/><ref name=brit/>

The first known member of the house was Margrave Adalbert of [[Mainz]], known only as the father of [[Oberto I]], [[Count palatine]] of [[Italy]], who died around 975. Oberto's grandson, [[Albert Azzo II, Margrave of Milan]] (996–1097) built a castle at [[Este, Italy|Este]], near [[Padua]], and named himself after the location. He had three sons from two marriages, two of whom became the ancestors of the two branches of the family:
* [[Welf IV]], the eldest (d. 1101), was the son of Kunigunde (d. 1056), the last of the [[Elder Welfs]]. He inherited the property of his maternal uncle, [[Welf, Duke of Carinthia]], became duke of [[Bavaria]] in 1070, and is the ancestor of the elder branch, the [[House of Welf]].
* [[Hugh V, Count of Maine|Hugh]], issue of Azzo's second marriage to Garsend of Maine, inherited the French County of [[Maine (province of France)|Maine]], a legacy of his mother's dowry, but sold it one year later and died without heirs.
* [[Fulco I, Margrave of Milan]] (d. about 1128/35), the third son, is the ancestor of the younger Italian line of Este.

The two surviving branches, with Duke [[Henry the Lion]] of Saxony and Bavaria on the German (Welf dynasty) side, concluded an agreement in 1154 which allocated the family's Italian possessions to the younger line, the Fulc-Este, who in the course of time acquired Ferrara, Modena and Reggio. Este itself was taken over in 1275 by [[Padua]], and in 1405 (together with Padua) by [[Venice]].