Fulco I d'Este
Fulco I d'Este (c. 1070–c. 1134) founded the Italian branch of the House of Este. A younger son of Margrave Albert Azzo II, he inherited the family's Italian estates when his father died in 1097, while his elder half-brother Welf took the lands north of the Alps. Welf disputed the partition in vain, and his Bavarian descendants only dropped their claim in 1154.
Fulco was the first to forge ties with the nobility of Ferrara, later ruled by his descendants. His son Obizzo I succeeded him.