Matilde d'Este

Matilde Aurelia Maria d'Este (2 April 1673 – 2 March 1732), often simply called Matilde d'Este, was second child and first daughter of Sigismondo III d'Este and his wife Maria Teresa of Monaco.

Upon marrying Camillo III Gonzaga, she became Countess of Novellara, Bagnolo and Cortenuova. She is also well known for creating the poision known as Novellara Water (acquetta di Novellara).

Biography Matilde Aurelia Maria d'Este was born on 2 April 1673, in Marquisate San Martino in Rio, her father, Sigismondo, was the Marquis. Her mother, Maria Teresa Grimaldi, was the daughter of Ercole, Marquis of Baux.

Marriage and issue On 22 August 1695, Matilde married Camillo III Gonzaga, becoming Countess of Novellara, Bagnolo and Cortenuova. The couple had three child, of which two survived into adulthood:

Ricciarda (24 March 1697 – 26 April 1698), died in infancy. Ricciarda Gonzaga (22 August 1698 – 24 November 1768), married Alderano I Cybo-Malaspina, they had three daughters, one of whom was Maria Teresa Cybo-Malaspina. Filippo Alfonso (13 April 1700 – 13 December 1728), 9th sovereign Count of Novellara, Bagnolo and Cortenuova, under the name of Filippo Alfonso I Gonzaga, owner of the irrigation canal in Novellara, signor of Santa Maria, San Tommaso and San Giovanni, a Venetian patrician, in 1728 married Eleonora Tanara, but the marriage was not consummated due to the premature death of the Count.

Having learned that her husband was cheating on her with a certain Donna Orsola Manari, the Countess hired seven assassins, who, on a summer night in 1714, attempted to assassinate her unfaithful husband as he headed to the country house of Casino di Sotto. As soon as the Count's carriage, accompanied by two courtiers, left the castle, it was shot with arquebuses. The carriage was riddled with bullets, but the passengers were unharmed. According to contemporaries, Matilda committed the murder of her husband not out of jealousy, but out of a desire to rule Novellara independently. On the night of the assassination attempt, she ordered the drawbridge to Novellara Castle to be raised so that, in case of failure, Camillo III, fleeing back, would fall into the moat and drown. But the Count was fleeing not to his wife, but to his mistress. Only eleven years later did her husband allow her to visit Novellara on the occasion of the baptism of their granddaughter Maria Teresa. Matilda d'Este died in San Martino in Rio on 2 March 1732.