Archduchess Eleanor of Austria (1582–1620)

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

Portrait of Archduchess Eleanor, by Frans Pourbus the younger, ca. 1603

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

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. Like all of her siblings, she suffered from the famous Habsburg inferior lip.[3] She was regarded as intelligent but moody, mainly due to her frail health after she suffered from smallpox in her childhood.

Together with her sisters Gregoria Maximiliana and Margaret, Eleanor was a prospective bride for the future King Philip III of Spain. But after the portraits of the three sisters were sent to the Spanish court, Eleanor was not selected.[4] After this, she was involved in marriage projects with several Italian princes, but none of these came to fruition.

Finally, together with her sister Maria Christina (who returned to Austria after her disastrous marriage), in 1607 Eleanor took the veil in the Haller Convent (Haller Damenstift) in Hall in Tirol,[5] where she died aged 37, having been blind for her last years. Eleanor was buried in the Haller Jesuit Church (Haller Jesuitenkirche).

Ancestors

Ancestors of Archduchess Eleanor of Austria (1582–1620)

16. Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor[6] 8. Philip I of Castile[7][8] (= 28) 17. Mary of Burgundy[6] 4. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor[1] (=14) 18. Ferdinand II of Aragon[9] 9. Joanna of Castile[8] (= 29) 19. Isabella I of Castile[9] 2. Charles II of Austria 20. Casimir IV Jagiellon[10] 10. Vladislas II of Bohemia and Hungary[11] (= 30) 21. Elisabeth of Austria[10] 5. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary[1] (=15) 22. Gaston de Foix, Count of Candale[12] 11. Anna of Foix-Candale[11] (= 31) 23. Catherine of Foix[12] 1. Archduchess Eleanor of Austria 24. Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria[13] 12. William IV, Duke of Bavaria[14] 25. Kunigunde of Austria[13] 6. Albert V, Duke of Bavaria[15] 26. Philip I, Margrave of Baden[16] 13. Marie of Baden-Sponheim[14] 27. Elisabeth of the Palatinate[16] 3. Maria Anna of Bavaria 28. Philip I of Castile (= 8) 14. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor[17] (= 4) 29. Joanna of Castile (= 9) 7. Anna of Austria[15] 30. Vladislas II of Bohemia and Hungary (= 10) 15. Anna of Bohemia and Hungary[17] (= 5) 31. Anna of Foix-Candale (= 11)

References

1. Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1860). "Habsburg, Karl II. von Steiermark" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). 6. p. 352 – via Wikisource.
2. Hunter, Friedrich Emanuel von (1860). "Bild einer christlichen Fürstin: Maria, Erzherzogin zu Oesterreich" (in German). Schaffhausen: Hurter Verlag. p. 72.
3. German Society for Racial Hygiene, Archiv für Rassen- und Gesellschafts-Biologie, einschliesslich Rassen- und Gesellschafts-Hygiene, vol. VIII, p. 779. On-line
4. Karl Acham, Kunst und Geisteswissenschaften aus Graz, vol. II, Böhlau Verlag Wien, 2009, p. 88.
5. Jahrbuch fur Europaische Geschichte 2007, vol. VIII, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, 2007, p. 35. On-line
6. Philip I, King of Castile at the Encyclopædia Britannica
7. Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor at the Encyclopædia Britannica
8. Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor at the Encyclopædia Britannica
9. Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Joanna" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
10. Casimir IV, King of Poland at the Encyclopædia Britannica
11. Obermayer-Marnach, Eva (1953), "Anna Jagjello", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 1, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 299; (full text online)
12. Revue de l'Agenais (in French). 4. Société des sciences, lettres et arts d'Agen. 1877. p. 497.
13. Riezler, Sigmund Ritter von (1897), "Wilhelm IV.", Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB) (in German), 42, Leipzig: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 705–717
14. Goetz, Walter (1953), "Albrecht V.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 1, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 158–160; (full text online)
15. Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1861). "Habsburg, Maria von Bayern" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). 7. p. 20 – via Wikisource.
16. Brüning, Rainer (2001), "Philipp I.", Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB) (in German), 20, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, p. 372; (full text online)
17. Wurzbach, Constantin, von, ed. (1860). "Habsburg, Anna von Oesterreich (1528–1587)" . Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich [Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire] (in German). 6. p. 151 – via Wikisource.