Archduchess Eleanor of Austria
Eleanor of Austria ( born November 2, 1534 Vienna, † August 5, 1594 in Mantua ) was a Habsburg and by marriage Duchess of Mantua.
Biography
Eleanor was the eighth child and sixth daughter of the later to become (since 1558 ) Emperor Ferdinand I and his wife Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. 1536 was portrayed by Austrian court painter Jacob Seisenegger than two year old girl. This painting is now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Eleanor's confessor and biographer, the Jesuit Father A. Folcario, reported that Eleanor rejected the plan, the wife of the Danish king (perhaps Christian III. ) To be, as this belonged to the Lutheran creed. Also, another marriage project, which would have made the wife of the Protestant Elector Johann Friedrich II of Saxony, due to a lack of Religion compensation did not materialize. Eleanor was certainly a devout Catholic.
Despite their intention to enter into any marriage, Eleanor eventually married due to the entreaties of her father on April 26, 1561 Guglielmo Gonzaga of Mantua ( 1538-1587 ), Duke of Mantua, the imperial support to consolidate his rule hoped in Montferrat. According to then- marriage views, the 26 year-old bride was a bit old for a first marriage. Although her husband was suffering from a spinal curvature, it should have been a relatively happy marriage for the time.
The couple had three children:
- Vincenzo I Gonzaga ( September 22, 1562, † February 18, 1612 ), Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (since 1587 )
- Margherita Gonzaga Barbara (* May 27, 1564; † January 6, 1618 ) ∞ February 24, 1579 Alfonso II d' Este ( 1533-1597 ), Duke of Ferrara;
- Anna Caterina Gonzaga (* January 17, 1566; † August 3, 1621 as a nun ) ∞ May 14th, 1582 Ferdinand II (1529-1595 ), Archduke of Austria - Tyrol.
1567 Guglielmo Gonzaga sent his wife to Casale Monferrato, to calm the rebellious inhabitants of this city. This was not, however, Eleanor, and in October 1567 she almost fell victim to a conspiracy. After her husband passed away in August 1587, she put on the first Sunday of Advent, the same year a vow of chastity. Eleanor survived her husband by seven years and died in 1594 at the age of 59 years. She was buried in the crypt in the cathedral Gonzaga - San Pietro to Mantua.