Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina
Maria Teresa Cybo[1]-Malaspina (29 June 1725 – 29 December 1790) was sovereign Duchess of Massa and Princess of Carrara from 1731 until her death in 1790. From 1780, she also formally held the title of Duchess consort of Modena and Reggio as the wife Ercole III d'Este.
Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina
18 August 1731 – 29 December 1790
29 June 1725
Novellara, County of Novellara and Bagnolo
29 December 1790 (aged 65)
Reggio Emilia, Duchy of Modena and Reggio
- Maria Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Massa
- Rinaldo Francesco d'Este
Alderano I Cybo-Malaspina
Life[edit]
Childhood[edit]
Maria Teresa was born on 29 June 1725 in Novellara. She was the eldest daughter of Alderano I Cybo-Malaspina (1690-1731), Duke of Massa and Prince of Carrara, and his wife, Countess Ricciarda Gonzaga di Novellara (1698-1768). As the ducal couple had no sons, and Salic law had been repealed in Massa and Carrara by a 1529 decree of Emperor Charles V,[2] she was her father's heiress. When he died on 18 August 1731, Maria Teresa succeeded him aged six, under the regency of her mother.
Marriage and adulthood[edit]
Her position as the sovereign of two states made Maria Teresa an attractive match. The Austrian military commander Prince Eugene of Savoy, who was from a cadet branch of the family, saw the possibility of a second Savoy state in central Italy. With the approval of Emperor Charles VI and the head of the House of Savoy, King Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia, he proposed a marriage between Maria Teresa and the only male descendant of his family, his great-nephew Eugene Jean, Count of Soissons.[3] The marriage contract was signed in Vienna on 2 May 1732, and in October the seventeen-year-old Count visited his seven-year-old bride. He died on 23 November 1734, and the wedding never took place.[4]
The Emperor continued his interest in the marriage of the Duchess of Massa. Some German princes proposed themselves, but he chose Ercole Rinaldo d'Este, the last scion of his house, and two years younger than Maria Teresa.[5] For the House of Este, which ruled the Duchy of Modena and Reggio, the two small Tuscan states meant regaining access to the sea.[6] For the next few years, however, Maria Teresa's mother refused to consider further candidates due to her daughter's young age,[7] despite her dependence on imperial favour. She hoped to officially inherit her family's County of Novellara and Bagnolo, an imperial fief left vacant upon the childless death of her brother Filippo Alfonso Gonzaga and temporarily entrusted to her administration. In 1737, however, it was finally assigned to the Duke of Modena.[8]
When Maria Teresa turned twelve in the same year 1737, the Emperor insisted again: Ricciarda's uncle, Marquis Carlo Filiberto II d'Este-San Martino (1678 –1752), was instructed to go to Massa and reopen negotiations on behalf of Francesco III d'Este, Duke of Modena, father of the groom. The regent consented and the marriage contract was signed on 20 March 1738. By virtue of it the bride was given a large dowry of one hundred thousand scudi, and it was agreed that, after the wedding, she should call upon her husband as co-ruler of her states. For his part, the Duke of Modena undertook to increase by twenty thousand scudi, with his own funds, each of the dowries established for Maria Teresa's two younger sisters by their late father. As the newly invested Count of Novellara, he also pledged to allow the separation, in favour of Ricciarda Gonzaga, of her family's allodial estates from the county's feudal rights, and to leave her the full governance of the fiefdom for life, "so that the transferor would retain but his sovereign rights, of which he may not divest himself."[9]
The marriage was postponed until 1741, when Ercole would turn fourteen. The wedding was celebrated by proxy in Massa on 16 April, with Maria Teresa's great-uncle, Carlo Filiberto d'Este-San Martino representing her husband.[10] The bride remained in her homeland until the autumn but started an intense correspondence with her father-in-law, showing how warmly she welcomed the marriage.[11]
Relations between the spouses were immediately contentious. Ercole had been forced into the marriage by his father and showed a profound intolerance towards his wife (which over time would grow into disgust).[12] He made public displays of contempt towards her, threatening to send her back to Massa, and asked her to have their marriage annulled, saying 'Look, I understand that you are not for me and I am not for you, so tell the Duke that I will be content'. The Duchess reported these words to her great-uncle, complaining of her treatment:
Maria Teresa and Ercole III had 2 children: