May 1434 his son Bertoldo was born, destined to follow in his father's footsteps as a soldier for Venice. In August 1434 Taddeo d'Este was engaged in fighting in Romagna with the troops of Bologna, and was taken prisoner, being released after the intervention of the Marquess of Ferrara. In March 1435 he was given the task of foiling an attempt by Marsilio da Carrara to capture Padua. After he had succeeded, in April 1435 he was admitted to the ranks of the Venetian nobility, with his children and heirs, and admitted to the Great Council of Venice. The Venetians awarded him a palace in their city of Padua. Final decade 1438–1448 In 1438 war with Milan broke out again. Taddeo d'Este and Francesco Barbero conducted a long and gallant defense of Brescia against Milanese troops under Piccinino. Gattamelata broke out, making a skilled escape via mountain routes, leaving Taddeo with just 1,000 men to conduct the defense. The siege of Brescia lasted until December 1438, when Gattamelata made a feint that drew Piccinino away. The fighting continued, and in September 1439 d'Este was forced to surrender to greatly superior forces and was imprisoned in Peschiera. In 1441 d'Este was back in Venice attending the celebrations of the marriage of Jacopo, son of Doge Francesco Foscari. In the Piazza San Marco his company competed for lavish prizes in lengthy tournaments with the companies of the condottieri Francesco Sforza and Gattamelata. His first wife having died, he married again in 1442 to Margherita Pio. In the 1440s Leonello and Taddeo d'Este were challenged by the canons of S. Giacomo, Monselice, who claimed they had been levying tithes in the parish of S. Maria, Solesino, by force for several years. In June 1443 Taddeo d'Este was commanded to take his company of 800 cavalry to Ravenna, where he placed himself under the command of Francesco Sforza, then serving as captain general of the anti-Papal league. In June 1445, acting as commander of the army but without the formal title, Taddeo was sent to Bologna with 1,000 cavalry and 400 infantry. The next year he managed to arrange for a part of the Bolognese forces to transfer to Venice, and after some further fighting was able to bring the war with Bologna to a close. He then had to return to Lombardy where a renewed struggle with Milan had begun. In 1447 d'Este