IPPOLITO II d'E. - Cardinal, b. at Ferrara on 25 Aug. 1509, son of Alfonso I and Lucrezia Borgia; d. at Tivoli on 2 Dec. 1572. While still a child he received the archbishopric of Milan, and subsequently those of Lyons, Orléans, etc. In 1538 he was created cardinal in pectore by Paolo III and proclaimed the following year. He was entrusted with the Protectorate of France and represented the French party in the Sacred College.
In 1552 Enrico II sent him as his lieutenant to Siena, against the Spaniards and the Medici, but Ippolito d'E. quarrelled with the Strozzi and abandoned the undertaking. He fell into the disfavour of Paolo IV, who banished him and deprived him of the government of Tivoli. He returned to favour under Pio IV, who in 1561 sent him as legate a latere to Caterina di Francia. In 1566, when Alfonso II left Ferrara to fight against the Turks, he governed the duchy. He was a generous patron of men of letters and artists. He began the construction of Villa d'E. at Tivoli, completed by Cardinal Luigi d'E.
BBL.: V. Pacifici, Ippolito II d'E., Tivoli 1923.