Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/253

* ESTATE. 221 ESTE. intermediate estates, nor can the qualities of one be attached at will to another. No • can create ••I freehold which is not either a fee simple, a lee tail, or a life estate, and no one can create a fee simple which has the limited heritahilit y of a fee tail, nor an inheritable life estate, nor a leasehold estate which shall descend to the heir instead oi passing to tl secutor or administra tor of the owner upon his death. Neither is it possible to attach novel incidents to an estate, nor, usually, to deprive it of those which belong to it. Thus, in a devise or conveyance of land to A and his heirs, a proviso that it shall he inalienable, or that the inheritance shall he con- fined to male heirs, will be disregarded as incom- patible with the nature of a fee simple; and, there being no intermediate estate such as the one described, i.e. an inheritable estate which is inalienable or in which the inheritance is limited to males, the devise is treated as an ordinary fee simple with the usual incidents of such an estate. Apparent exceptions to this rule are afforded by the fee-tail estate, in which inheritance is confined to the issue of the tenant and may be still further limited to his male or his female issue, etc.. and by the tenancy from year to year. But these are themselves ancient forms of tenure, and not mere variations of the fee simple and the tenancy at will from which they were re- spectively derived, and have long since crystal- lized into forms as definite and invariable as those of the older estates. While the incidents of these time-honored forms of landholding have sustained great changes through legislation and the process of judicial decision, no new forms or varieties of estate have come into existence for upward of two and one-half centuries, and no additions to the list seem likely to be made in the near future. The sporadic revival of the an- cient qualified or limited fee will be referred to in connection with the fee simple (q.v.). For the employment of the term 'estate' in connection with equitable interests in land, see Equitable Estate. See also Real Property; Tenure: and the authorities there referred to. ESTATE. In a political sense, a distinct class or order in society. The three estates under the feudal system were the nobles, the clergy, and the commons. The feudal theory was that the basis of all power was property in land, and the clergy held their position in the feudal order by virtue of their landed proprietorship. As the lay rulers grew stronger, the temporal authority of the clergy declined, until at the present time they form a corporation rather than a class. The history of the later Middle Ages is a record of the rise of the third estate. They were the repre- sentatives of the merchant class, the bourgeoisie. They first arose to prominence in the free cities of Italy and of the Hanseatic League. In Spain and England, especially, the absolute power of the Crown was the product of the alliance of the King and the third estate against the nobles. Before the Union (1707) the term Estates of the Realm was used in Scotland as equivalent to Parliament. The legislative assembly of Holland was also known as the States General. The States General of France, composed of the three estates, was first convened at the beginning of the fourteenth century. The last meeting pre- vious to the Revolution of 1789 was in 1614-15". Ai the outbreak of the Revolution the summon ing of this body was resorted t" when all othei expedients failed. 'I he old established custom was i.i vote i' orders, but as the third estate (tiers-etat) would thus cave been outvoted in thi new Assembly, its members determined I" intro- duce the new principle nl vol ing individually. In ibis they succeeded, and, with their success and the organizati f the National Assembly, the French Revolution may be said to have begun. The term 'fourth estate' is often applied to the press. lis first use in that sense is attributed by Carlyle to Edmund Burke, who pointed to the reporters' gallery in the House as containing a fourth estate more powerful than the other three. ESTE, e-'t:i i I. at. JEste). A city in northern Italy. 19 miles southwest of Padua, with which it is connected both by rail and by canal (Map: Italy. K 2). from it. the ancient house of Este (q.v.) took its name, and here are the ruin- 'it the ancestral castle, in the city museum are Roman inscriptions, in the Euganeo Prelstorieo Museum is an important collection of antiquities, anil in the lofty choir of the elliptical cathedral a painting by Tiepolo. The manufactures are iron ware and earthenware and cordage. Population. 11,000. ESTE, es'ta. House of. One of the oldest and most illustrious families of Italy. It owed its origin to one of the petty princes who governed Tuscany in the times of the Carolingians, and who wire in all probability of Lombard extrac- tion. The first whose figure is more than a mere shadow is Adalbert, or Oberto, Marquis of Este, one of the Italian nobles who offered the crown of Italy to Otho of Saxony. He is afterwards styled Comes Sacri Palatii, and appears to have been one of the greatest personages in the realm ; he married a (laughter of Otho, and died about A.n. 072. His family divided at an early period into two branches, the German and the Italian. The former was founded by Welf or Guelfo IV., who received the investiture of the Duchy of Bavaria from the Emperor Henrv IV. in 1070; the latter by his brother Fulco I. (1060-1135). The houses of Brunswick and Hanover, and conse- quently the present sovereigns of Great Britain, 'also called Este-Guelphs, are descended from the German branch. (See Brunswick, House of.) In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the history of the Italian family, as heads of the Guelph party, is interwoven with the destinies of the other ruling families and small republics of northern Italy. During this period they gained permanent possession of Ferrara and the March of Ancona (1276), and afterwards of Modena and Reggio (1288-90). They were widely celebrated as pa- trons of art and literature. One of the most illustrious was Azzo VII. (1205-64), who encour- aged Provencal troubadours to settle at his Court at Ferrara, and also founded schools in that city. — Alfonso I. (1486-15.14 1 was equally distinguished as a soldier and a statesman, and was celebrated by all the poets of his time, particularly by Ariosto. His second wife was Lucrezia Borgia (q.v.). His quarrel with the Popes Julius II.. Leo X.. and Clement VII. was unfortunate, as an interdict was laid upon him for his adherence to the League of Cambrai, and his Papal fiefs were declared forfeited. After the capture of Rome, in 1527. the Duke was restored to his former possessions by Charles V. — His successor,