Eleanor of Austria
Archduchess of Austria
Portrait of Archduchess Eleanor, by Frans Pourbus the younger, c. 1603
Born(1582-09-25)25 September 1582
Graz, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Died28 January 1620(1620-01-28) (aged 37)
Tyrol, Archduchy of Austria, Holy Roman Empire
Burial
Haller Jesuit Church
HouseHabsburg
FatherCharles II, Archduke of Austria
MotherMaria Anna of Bavaria
ReligionRoman Catholicism

Eleanor of Austria (25 September 1582 – 28 January 1620), was an Austrian archduchess and a member of the House of Habsburg.

She was the daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria, the son of Emperor Ferdinand I; and of Maria Anna of Bavaria. Her elder brother Archduke Ferdinand succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor in 1619.

Life

Birth and early years

Archduchess Eleanor as a child, by Ottavio Zanuoli, 1587.

Born in Graz on 25 September 1582,[1][2] Eleanor was the ninth child and sixth daughter of Archduke Charles II, ruler of Inner Austria (Styria, Carniola, Carinthia and Gorizia) and Maria Anna of Bavaria, a princess of the House of Wittelsbach.

Her paternal grandparents were Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (the last scion and heiress of the House of Jagiellon after the death of her brother in 1526). Her maternal grandparents were of Albert V, Duke of Bavaria, and Archduchess Anna of Austria (member of the House of Habsburg and one of the daughters of Eleanor's own paternal grandparents).[3]

Like all of her siblings, Eleanor suffered from the famous Habsburg inferior lip,[4] and as a child, she suffered from smallpox, which forever undermined her health, which in turn was reflected in the character of the Archduchess: she was regarded as moody, and at court she led a secluded life, not devoid of small pleasures. For example, she loved confectionery, and at her request, fresh pastries were always brought to her. In case of refusal, she threw a tantrum. At the same time, Eleanor had good intellectual abilities.[5]

Marriage attempts

Despite Eleanor's poor health, her brother and mother did not stop trying to find her a suitable husband. In 1595, in Rome, Cardinal Ottavio Paravicini presented three candidates for husbands to the Archduchess: Ranuccio I Farnese, Duke of Parma, Prince Francis of Lorraine and Francesco Maria II della Rovere, Duke of Urbino. Her mother was worried about the young age of the Archduchess, and the suitors were interested in her ability to bear children. But even a childless marriage, in the case of widowhood, provided her with a maintenance of 50,000 guilders per year. Next to Eleanor was always the physician Hippolytus Guarinonius, who brilliantly coped with his duties.[6] However, it was the poor health of the intended bride that was the main reason for the failed marriage negotiations.[7]

Eleanor, along with her elder sister Archduchess Gregoria Maximiliana and her younger sister Archduchess Margaret, were considered as potential bride of Philip, Prince of Asturias, only surviving son and heir of King Philip II of Spain. Portraits of the three sisters were sent to the Spanish court. The choice of Prince Philip was Margaret, but by the will of his father, he was betrothed to Gregoria Maximiliana.[8] Having not been selected as the future Queen of Spain,[9] Eleanor's relatives abandoned their attempts to marry her.[7]

Nun at Tyrol. Death

The Damenstift in Hall in Tirol.

Resigned to the impossibility of marriage, Eleanor, joined by her older sister Archduchess Maria Christina (who returned to her homeland after her disastrous marriage), decided to retire from the world. The sisters chose the Haller Convent (Haller Damenstift) in Hall in Tirol, founded by their paternal aunt Archduchess Magdalena of Austria. Ferdinand II gave the sisters a small allowance to use: for Maria Christina, silverware of 11,000 guilders and for Eleanor, 2,000 imperial pfennigs. Upon entering the convent, the Archduchesses renounced all their titles and became mere novices.[10]

In the very first years, Eleanor's health problems worsened —she had intense pains in her stomach, but she did not leave the convent. On 3 October 1607,[11] both sisters took the veil. As a monastic dowry, their brother gave them 100,000 guilders. In 1612, Eleanor was chosen as Abbess. She herself endured bodily infirmities and the strict monastic life finally destroyed her already poor health. A cataract was discovered in early January 1620, which soon led to her becoming completely blind. Eleanor died in the Haller Damenstift on 28 January 1620 and was buried in the Haller Jesuit Church (Haller Jesuitenkirche) in Hall in Tirol.[12]

In culture

Several portraits of Eleanor are known. A portrait of a child from 1587, attributed to Ottavio Zanuoli, is currently in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.[13] In a family portrait attributed to Juan Pantoja de la Cruz around 1600, she is depicted with her parents –her father in the robe of a priest (John the Evangelist), giving communion to her mother in the robe of a nun (Virgin Mary), with some brothers, in church vestments, and sisters, coming to communion. The family is depicted at the altar in the name of St. John the Evangelist. The painting is in the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid.[14] Another portrait of Eleanor in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum was painted by Frans Pourbus the Younger and dates from around 1603.[15] On one of the portraits by an unknown artist, which contains an inscription that described that Eleanor was depicted there, according to the art critic Maike Vogt-Luerssen, was her older sister Gregoria Maximiliana the real sitter of this painting.[16]

Ancestors

References

  1. 1 2 3 Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1860). "Habsburg, Karl II. von Steiermark" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 6. p. 352 – via Wikisource.
  2. ↑ Hurter 1860, p. 72.
  3. ↑ Behr, Kamill von (1870). "Genealogie der in Europa regierenden Fürstenhäuser: nebst der Reihenfolge sämmtlicher Päpste und einem Anhange umfassend die Häuser Capet, Habsburg, Romanow und eine Übersicht der Kaiser und Könige von Italien und Deutschland" (in German). Leipzig: Tauchnitz. p. 207.
  4. ↑ German Society for Racial Hygiene, Archiv für Rassen- und Gesellschafts-Biologie, einschliesslich Rassen- und Gesellschafts-Hygiene, vol. VIII, p. 779. On-line
  5. ↑ Hurter 1860, pp. 329–330.
  6. ↑ Sauermann, Verena; Settele, Veronika. "Hall in Bewegung: Spuren der Migration in Tirol" (PDF). www.hall-in-bewegung.at (in German). Retrieved 11 June 2022.
  7. 1 2 Hurter 1860, p. 329.
  8. ↑ Hurter 1860, p. 171.
  9. ↑ Karl Acham, Kunst und Geisteswissenschaften aus Graz, vol. II, Böhlau Verlag Wien, 2009, p. 88.
  10. ↑ Hurter 1860, pp. 330–331.
  11. ↑ Jahrbuch fur Europaische Geschichte 2007, vol. VIII, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2007, p. 35. On-line
  12. ↑ Hurter 1860, p. 331.
  13. ↑ Zanuoli, Ottavio. "Erzherzogin Eleonore (1582—1620) im Alter von 5 Jahren, Halbfigur". www.khm.at (in German). Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  14. ↑ Pantoja de la Cruz, Juan. "La comunión de la Virgen o La familia del archiduque Carlos de Estiria". www.patrimonionacional.es (in German). Archived from the original on 12 October 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  15. ↑ Frans Pourbus d. J. "Erzherzogin Eleonore (1582—1620), Kniestück". www.khm.at (in German). Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  16. ↑ Vogt-Lüerssen, Maike. "Die Habsburger: Gregoria Maximiliana von Innerösterreich". www.kleio.org (in German). Retrieved 12 June 2022.
  17. 1 2 Philip I, King of Castile at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  18. ↑ Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  19. 1 2 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  20. 1 2 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Joanna" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
  21. 1 2 Casimir IV, King of Poland at the Encyclopædia Britannica
  22. 1 2 Obermayer-Marnach, Eva (1953), "Anna Jagjello", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 1, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 299; (full text online)
  23. 1 2 Revue de l'Agenais (in French). Vol. 4. Société des sciences, lettres et arts d'Agen. 1877. p. 497.
  24. 1 2 Riezler, Sigmund Ritter von (1897), "Wilhelm IV.", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 42, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 705–717
  25. 1 2 Goetz, Walter (1953), "Albrecht V.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 1, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 158–160; (full text online)
  26. 1 2 Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Maria von Bayern" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 7. p. 20 – via Wikisource.
  27. 1 2 Brüning, Rainer (2001), "Philipp I.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 20, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 372; (full text online)
  28. 1 2 Wurzbach, Constantin von, ed. (1860). "Habsburg, Anna von Oesterreich (1528–1587)" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). Vol. 6. p. 151 – via Wikisource.

Sources

  • Hurter, Friedrich von (1860). Bild einer christlichen Fürstin. Maria, Erzherzogin zu Oesterreich, Herzogin von Bayern (in German). Hurter.
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