Francesco II d'Este was Duke of Modena and Reggio from 1662 to 1694.
Background
He was born in Modena to Alfonso IV d'Este, duke of Modena, and Laura Martinozzi, niece of Cardinal Mazarin. His mother, pious and rigorous, served as his regent until 1674, filling state offices with clerics under the advice of her Jesuit confessor Father Garimberti.
Career
He became duke at the age of two. Francesco's foreign policy was affected by the requirements of Louis XIV, his sister's patron after 1688, but he resisted French attempts to interfere in the duchies. A Franco Modenese alliance was proposed with Francesco and a Princess of the House of Lorraine named Béatrice Hiéronyme was the eldest daughter of François Marie de Lorraine, Prince de Lillebonne.
He learned the violin as a boy and the court orchestra was revived for him when he was eleven. One of the musicians employed there was Giovanni Maria Bononcini. Francesco was a lavish and discerning patron of music, and the composer Arcangelo Corelli dedicated his Op.
3 trio sonatas (Rome, 1689) to him. His library has remained substantially complete in the Biblioteca Estense, Modena.