View source for Eleanor of Austria

{{Short description|Queen of Portugal (1518–1521) and France (1530–1547)}}
{{Other people|Eleanor of Austria}}
{{Other people|Eleanor of Castile}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2021}}
{{Infobox royalty
| consort      = yes
| image        = Joos van Cleve, , Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie - Königin Eleonore von Frankreich (1498-1558) - GG 6079 - Kunsthistorisches Museum.jpg
| caption      = Portrait by [[Joos van Cleve]], {{circa}} 1530
| succession   = [[Queen consort of Portugal]]
| reign        = 16 July 1518 &ndash; 13 December 1521
| succession1  = [[Queen consort of France]]
| reign1       = 4 July 1530 &ndash; 31 March 1547
| coronation1  = 31 May 1531
|cor-type1=[[Coronation]]
| spouses      = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|[[Manuel I of Portugal]]|1518|1521|end=d}}
* {{marriage|[[Francis I of France]]|1530|1547|end=d}}
}}
| issue        = [[Maria, Duchess of Viseu]]
| issue-link   = #Queen of Portugal
| issue-pipe   = more...
| house        = [[House of Habsburg|Habsburg]]
| father       = [[Philip the Handsome]]
| mother       = [[Joanna of Castile]]
| birth_date   = 15 November 1498
| birth_place  = [[Leuven]], [[Duchy of Brabant]], [[Holy Roman Empire]]
| death_date   = {{Death date and age|1558|2|25|1498|11|15|df=y}}
| death_place  = [[Talavera la Real]], [[Crown of Castile]]
| burial_date  =
| burial_place = [[Lleida]], then [[El Escorial]]
}}
'''Eleanor of Austria''' (15 November 1498 – 25 February 1558), also called '''Eleanor of Castile''', was [[List of Portuguese royal consorts|Queen of Portugal]] from 1518 to 1521 as the wife of [[King Manuel I]] and [[Queen of France]] from 1530 to 1547 as the wife of [[King Francis I]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Wellman |first=Kathleen |url=https://doi.org/10.12987/yale/9780300178852.001.0001 |title=Queens and Mistresses of Renaissance France |date=2013-05-21 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-17885-2}}</ref> She also held the Duchy of [[Touraine]] (1547&ndash;1558) in [[dower]]. She is called "Leonor" in Spanish and Portuguese and "Éléonore" or "Aliénor" in French. She was the eldest child of Duke [[Philip the Handsome|Philip of Burgundy]] and Queen [[Joanna of Castile]], and the elder sister of [[Holy Roman Emperor Charles V]], and her life was dominated by her role in the international dynastic politics of the period.

==Life==
[[File:Charles V and his sisters.jpg|thumb|Eleanor and her siblings]]
Eleanor was born in 1498 at [[Leuven]], the eldest child of [[Philip the Handsome|Philip of Austria]] and [[Joanna of Castile]], later [[king and queen of Castile]].<ref name=":0" /> Her father was the son of [[Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I]] and Duchess [[Mary of Burgundy]], while her mother was the daughter of King [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]] and Queen [[Isabella I of Castile]]. Her siblings were Holy Roman Emperors [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] and [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor|Ferdinand I]] and Queens [[Isabella of Austria|Isabella of Denmark]], [[Mary of Austria, Queen of Hungary|Mary of Hungary]], and [[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine of Portugal]]. She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, [[Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress]]. After the death of her father in September 1506 Eleanor was educated at the court of her aunt [[Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy|Margaret of Austria]] in [[Mechelen]] (in modern [[Belgium]]).

When she was a child, Eleanor's relatives tried to marry her to the future [[Henry VIII of England]], who was seven years her senior. However, when [[Henry VII of England|his father]] died and he became king, Henry decided to marry Eleanor's aunt [[Catherine of Aragon]], who was the widow of Henry's older brother, [[Arthur, Prince of Wales]]. Her relatives also tried to marry her to the French kings [[Louis XII]] or [[Francis I of France|Francis I]] or to [[Sigismund I of Poland]] but nothing came of these plans.{{CN|date=May 2024}} Eleanor was also proposed as a marriage candidate for [[Antoine, Duke of Lorraine]], in 1510.

In 1517 Eleanor may have had a love affair with [[Frederick II, Elector Palatine]]. Her brother Charles, who had succeeded their grandfather Ferdinand II as [[King of Aragon]] the year before, once discovered her reading a love letter from Frederick.{{CN|date=May 2024}} Charles forced Eleanor and Frederick to swear in front of a lawyer that they were not secretly married,{{CN|date=May 2024}} after which he expelled Frederick from court. She followed her brother to Spain in 1517.

=== Queen of Portugal ===

Eleanor married her uncle, King [[Manuel I of Portugal]], after a proposed marriage with his son and her cousin, [[John III of Portugal|John]], did not occur. Her brother Charles arranged the marriage between Eleanor and Manuel to avoid the possibility of Portuguese assistance for any rebellion in Castile. Manuel had previously been married to two of Eleanor's maternal aunts, [[Isabella of Aragon, Queen of Portugal|Isabella of Aragon]] and [[Maria of Aragon, Queen of Portugal|Maria of Aragon]].

Manuel and Eleanor married on 16 July 1518. They had two children: the Infante Charles (born 18 February 1520 – died 15 April 1521) and the [[Maria of Portugal, Duchess of Viseu|Infanta Maria]] (born 18 June 1521, who was later one of the richest princesses of Europe). Eleanor became a widow on 13 December 1521, when Manuel died of the plague. As queen dowager, Eleanor returned to her brother's court in Spain.{{CN|date=May 2024}} Eleanor's sister Catherine later married Eleanor's stepson, John III of Portugal.

In July 1523, Eleanor was engaged to [[Charles III, Duke of Bourbon]], in an alliance between Charles and Bourbon against France, but the marriage never took place. In 1526, Eleanor was engaged to King [[Francis I of France]] during his captivity in Spain.

=== Queen of France ===
[[File:CoA of Eleanor of Austria.png|left|thumb|Eleanor of Austria's coat of arms as queen of France]]
The [[Treaty of Cambrai]] (1529; called ''La Paz de las Damas'' - "The Ladies' Peace") paused the conflict between Francis and Charles. It included the stipulation that the previously agreed upon marriage of Eleanor and Francis would take place.

Eleanor left Spain in the company of her future stepsons, who had been held hostage by her brother. The group met Francis at the border, and then departed for an official entrance to [[Bordeaux]]. She was married to Francis on 4 July 1530. Eleanor was crowned Queen of France at the [[Basilica of Saint-Denis]] on 31 May 1531. She was dressed in purple velvet at her coronation. They had no children.

Eleanor was ignored by Francis, who seldom performed his marital obligations and preferred his lover [[Anne de Pisseleu d'Heilly]]. At the official entrance of Eleanor to [[Paris]], Francis displayed himself openly to the public in a window with Anne for two hours.

Queen Eleanor performed as the queen of France at official occasions, such as the wedding between her stepson [[Henry II of France|Henry]] and [[Catherine de' Medici]] in 1533. She also performed charity and was praised for this. She also took her stepdaughters, [[Madeleine of Valois|Madeleine]] and [[Margaret of France, Duchess of Berry|Margaret]], into her household to raise them further.<ref>{{cite book | title=Scottish Queens, 1034-1714 | last=Marshall | first=Rosalind K. | page=101 | year=2003 | publisher=Tuckwell Press }}</ref>

As queen, Eleanor had no political power; however, she served as a contact between France and Emperor Charles. Queen Eleanor was present at the peace negotiations between Francis and Charles in [[Aigues-Mortes]] in 1538. In 1544, she was given the task of entering peace negotiations with Charles and their sister Mary of Hungary. In November 1544, she visited Charles in [[Brussels]].

===Later life===
As a queen dowager, Eleanor left France for Brussels in 1548. She witnessed the abdication of Charles in October 1555 and left for Spain with him and their sister Mary in August 1556. She lived with her sister in [[Jarandilla de la Vera]],{{CN|date=May 2024}} where they often visited their brother, who retired to the [[Monastery of Yuste]] nearby. In 1558, she met her daughter [[Maria of Portugal (1521-1577)|Maria]] in [[Badajoz]] for the first time in 28 years. Eleanor became ill while returning from Badajoz. Eleanor died on 25 February 1558, on the return trip from Badajoz. Her brother was devastated to learn of her death and he himself died seven months later.

==Family==
With [[Manuel I of Portugal]]:
* Infante Charles (18 February 1520 – 15 April 1521); died in infancy.
* [[Infanta Maria, Duchess of Viseu]] (8 June 1521 – 10 October 1577); never married and did not have issue.

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Eleanor of Austria'''
|2= 2. [[Philip I of Castile]]
|3= 3. [[Joanna of Castile|Joanna I of Castile]]
|4= 4. [[Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor]]<ref name="BLKO-Philip">{{BLKO |wstitle=Habsburg, Philipp I. der Schöne von Oesterreich |volume=7 |year=1861 |page=112}}</ref>
|5= 5. [[Mary of Burgundy|Mary, Duchess of Burgundy]]<ref name="BLKO-Philip"/>
|6= 6. [[Ferdinand II of Aragon]]<ref name="1911-Joanna">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Joanna |volume=15}}</ref>
|7= 7. [[Isabella I of Castile]]<ref name="1911-Joanna"/>
|8= 8. [[Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor]]<ref name="1911-Maximilian I">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Maximilian I. (emperor) |volume=17 |first=Arthur William |last=Holland}}</ref>
|9= 9. [[Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress|Eleanor of Portugal]]<ref name="1911-Maximilian I"/>
|10= 10. [[Charles the Bold|Charles I, Duke of Burgundy]]<ref name="1911-Charles the Bold">{{cite EB1911 |last=Poupardin |first=René |wstitle=Charles (Duke of Burgundy)|display=Charles, called The Bold, duke of Burgundy |volume=5 |author-link=René Poupardin}}</ref>
|11= 11. [[Isabella of Bourbon]]<ref name="1911-Charles the Bold"/>
|12= 12. [[John II of Aragon and Navarre|John II of Aragon]]<ref name="1911-Ferdinand V">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ferdinand V. of Castile and Leon and II. of Aragon |volume=10}}</ref>
|13= 13. [[Juana Enriquez]]<ref name="1911-Ferdinand V"/>
|14= 14. [[John II of Castile]]<ref name="1911-Isabella">{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Isabella of Castile |volume=14}}</ref>
|15= 15. [[Isabella of Portugal, Queen of Castile|Isabella of Portugal]]<ref name="1911-Isabella"/>
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category-inline}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-hou|[[House of Habsburg]]|15 November|1498|25 February|1558||}}
{{S-roy}}
|-
{{s-vac|last=[[Maria of Aragon (1482-1517)|Maria of Aragon]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of Portuguese queens|Queen consort of Portugal]]|years=16 July 1516 &ndash; 13 December 1521}}
{{s-vac|next=[[Catherine of Austria, Queen of Portugal|Catherine of Austria]]}}
|-
{{s-vac|last=[[Claude of France]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[List of Queens and Empresses of France|Queen consort of France]]|years=4 July 1530 &ndash; 31 March 1547}}
{{s-vac|next=[[Catherine de' Medici]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{French consorts}}
{{infantas of Aragon}}
{{Infantas of Castile}}
{{Austrian archduchesses}}
{{Portuguese consorts}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eleanor of Austria}}
[[Category:1498 births]]
[[Category:1558 deaths]]
[[Category:Queens consort of France]]
[[Category:Queens consort of Portugal]]
[[Category:Austrian princesses]]
[[Category:Austrian Roman Catholics]]
[[Category:Spanish infantas]]

[[Category:16th-century House of Habsburg]]
[[Category:House of Valois]]
[[Category:Burials in the Pantheon of Infantes at El Escorial]]

[[Category:16th-century Spanish people]]

[[Category:Remarried queens consort]]

[[Category:Daughters of kings]]
[[Category:Daughters of queens regnant]]
[[Category:Dukes of Touraine]]
[[Category:Children of Joanna of Castile]]