Eleonora the Younger

Early years

Eleanor Magdalen was born in Mantua on November 18, 1628. She was the daughter of Charles II , duke of Nevers, Rethel, Mayen and d'Egion, crown prince of Mantua and Monferrato from the Nevers branch of the house of Gonzaga and Mary of Mantua , princesses from the direct line of the same house. On the father’s side, the princess was the granddaughter of Charles I , the duke of Nevers and Rethel, the duke of Mantua and Monferrato (after the extinction of the straight line of the house), and , the princess of the Lorraine house . On the mother’s side, she was a granddaughter of Francesco IV , Duke of Mantua and Monferrato and Margherita of Savoy , princess from the House of Savoy ^{[1] [2]} .

One of the names of the princess was in honor of her aunt's cousin , the empress of the Holy Roman Empire, who became her godmother . Eleanor's parents were second cousins ​​uncle and niece. Their marriage was dynastic in nature and was supposed to secure hereditary rights to the duchy of Mantua and Monferrato for the Nevers branch, protege of the French kingdom. But after the suppression of the direct line of the house, representatives of the Guastall branch and the House of Savoy, supported by the empire and the Spanish kingdom, declared their rights to the duchy. The war began , during which the parents took two-year-old Eleanor from Mantua, but returned home a year later, after the conclusion of the Keraski peace . This treaty confirmed the rights of the Nevers branch to the duchy of Mantua and Monferrato. Shortly thereafter, the father of the princess died from tuberculosis, and because of scandals between her paternal grandfather and her mother, her grandmother on the mother’s side was sent into exile ^{[3] [4]} .

Little Eleanor was settled in the where her mother lived with her for some time. Princess received a brilliant education. She was fluent in French, Spanish and Italian, well versed in literature, music and art, mastered dances and handicrafts. Already in adolescence, it showed a poetic talent, which was expressed in the composition of philosophical and religious poetry ^{[3] [4]} .

Marriage

Marriage Eleanor with the Emperor Ferdinand III arranged her godmother, the widowed Empress Eleanor, who maintained close ties with her niece, the mother of the princess. She became the official representative of the bride’s side at the marriage negotiations at the imperial court in Vienna. Previously, she was able to negotiate the marriage of the princess's brother with Isabella Clara , the Austrian Archduchess of the Tyrolean branch of the House of Hapsburg ^{[3] [5]} .

The following conditions were put forward by the groom: the duchy of Mantua keeps loyalty to the interests of the Holy Roman Empire , the right of possible inheritance of the duchy of Monferrato is secured to the bride and given a dowry of four hundred thousand thalers . The bride’s party accepted all the conditions with a few reservations: the duchy of Mantua will maintain loyalty to the interests of the Holy Roman Empire only in the absence of negative consequences for the duchy itself, and the bride’s dowry will be paid in installments for several years ^[3] .

On March 2, 1651 at the at the ducal palace , a proxy ceremony was held, at which the emperor was represented by his envoy, Count Johann Maximilian von Lamberg. Celebrations began, which lasted until March 22, when Eleanor, accompanied by relatives, left Mantua. The wedding procession arrived in Austrian archduchy, where the widow empress solemnly met him in Villach . Here the bride bade farewell to her relatives and went to Wiener Neustadt together with the godfather, where on April 30, 1651, the official marriage ceremony of Eleanor with Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Germany, Hungary and the Czech Republic took place. On her wedding day, her husband presented her family jewels without the right to own them and presented fifty thousand florins . For him, this was the third marriage. Prior to that, he was married by his first marriage to Maria Anna of Spain , second by Maria Leopoldine of Austria . The emperor had children from both wives ^{[3] [6]} .

Despite the big difference in age, the marriage turned out to be happy ^[7] . The cheerful nature of the young empress helped her win the sympathy of all members of the new family. She had excellent relations with all her stepchildren and stepchildren. She learned German, and the emperor - Italian ^[8] . Together they participated in church and secular ceremonies. The genuine piety of both spouses did not prevent them from patronizing literature and music, attending the theater and going hunting, which was one of the empress's hobbies ^[3] . The portrait of Eleonora by Frans Luyks was preserved , in which she is depicted in the image of Diana , the ancient goddess of hunting ^[9] .

Progeny

In the marriage of Emperor Ferdinand III and Empress Eleonora the Younger ^[10] , as they began to call her, to distinguish from her aunt , four children were born, of whom only two survived to adulthood ^{[11] [12] [13]} :

• Theresia Maria Josepha (03.27.1652 - 26.7.1653), the Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Hungary and Czech, died in infancy;
• Eleonora Maria Josef (21.5.1653 - 17.12.1697), Austrian duchess, Princess of Hungary and Czech, February 27, 1670, was first married to Michael (18.6.1640 - 10.11.1673), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, February 6, 1678 the year was combined by a second marriage with Charles V (1643 - 18.4.1690), Duke of Lorraine; its descendants are all the Habsburg-Lorraine ;
• Maria Anna Josepha (20 / 30.12.1654 - 4.4.1689), Archduchess of Austria, Princess of Hungary and Czech, on October 25, 1678, was married to Johann Wilhelm (1658 - 8.6.1716), Elector of the Palatinate;
• Ferdinand Joseph Aloysius (11.2.1657 - 16.6.1658), Archduke of Austria, Prince of Hungary and Czech, died in infancy.

Empress and Queen

Eleonora the Younger was a cultured woman. Together with her husband, she founded a literary academy, and, despite her religiosity and strict adherence to Catholicism, did not discriminate against Protestant writers. The Empress was always in the society of educated people, encouraged the development of science. Under her influence of the Italians especially increased. Italian has become the most common language among German aristocrats. Italian aristocrats and clergy held high positions. At the imperial court in Vienna dominated Italian fashion. The local literature, music, theater, architecture and painting ^{[3] [8] [14] [15]} experienced a great influence of Italian culture.

From the very beginning of her marriage, Eleonora the Younger accompanied her husband during his trips around the empire. In 1652 - 1654 she was with him in Regensburg , where the Reichstag was passing at that time. While her husband was involved in public affairs, she was responsible for organizing celebrations, for example, the carnival before the beginning of Lent , which culminated in the premiere of Antonio Bertali 's opera “The Deception of Love”. On August 4, 1653, the coronation of Eleonora the Younger as empress of the Holy Roman Empire took place in the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Regensburg. In 1655 she was crowned as Queen of Hungary ^[16] , and on September 11, 1656 as Queen of the Czech Republic ^[17] . In April 1657, the empress became a widow, and a year later she buried her only son ^[3] .

Leopold Wilhelm , Eleanor's monastery, who was respected by his subjects, thought of marrying the widow of his elder brother in order to strengthen his position as a candidate for the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire. Eleanor herself made every effort to ensure that her eldest stepson Leopold became the new emperor. Under the will of the late Ferdinand III, the widowed empress took care of all his children. She was granted castles in Graz and Linz and an annual pension of two hundred thousand florins was determined (later increased to two hundred thirty thousand). She spent the summer in the Palace of Favorit , who, together with the palaces of Schönbrunn and Laxenburg, was bequeathed to her by the Empress Eleonora the Elder. With the direct participation of Eleonora the Younger, there was an expansion of the Hofburg Palace, which was then damaged during a fire and was restored again by it ^{[3] [13]} .

The dowager empress’s small courtyard was a meeting place for politicians and diplomats. The first minister , ambassadors and , generalissimo often visited here. For some time she considered the possibility of a second marriage with the Polish king Jan Casimir , but this project was not implemented ^{[3] [13]} .

Eleonora the Younger enjoyed great respect from Leopold I, who consulted with her stepmother on many political and personal matters. The Empress Dowager established good relations with the new Empress, her stepson's first wife, the Spanish Infanta Margarita Theresa . Tense relations with the emperor's second wife, Claudia Felitsita of Austria, did not last long because of her early death. Friendly were the relations of Eleonora the Younger with the Palatinate princess Eleonora Magdalen , who became, under her patronage, the emperor's third wife ^{[3] [18]} .

Empress Dowager was engaged in politics only when it concerned the interests of her family. So, she arranged the marriage of her nephew with the heiress of the Gvastal branch in order to finally resolve the disputes between the Nevers and Gvastalsk branches of the Gonzaga house. She tried to make her son-in-law , the second husband of her eldest daughter, the king of Poland ^[19] . In 1669, the Empress Dowager settled the conflict between the imperial court in Vienna and the Holy See , which arose due to the fact that the Pope did not appoint a single cardinal of the candidates proposed by the emperor. Leopold I himself in crisis situations resorted to the mediation of a stepmother ^[3] .

Most of her time and fortune, Eleonora the Younger spent money on mercy and piety. In 1680, she invited a famous missionary and preacher, Capuchin to Linz. The patronage empress rendered her patronage to the poet and painter, the oratorian . For the Jesuits, she erected in Vienna the baroque facade of the . She provided a special patronage to the barefoot Carmelites , for whom she built a monastery in Wiener Neustadt. To raise the level of education among girls, Eleonora the Younger invited Ursulines to Vienna, for whom she built a whole complex, including a monastery, a church and a school ^[3] . She also established two women's orders - in 1662 the Order of the servants of piety and in 1668 the Noble Order of the Star Cross ^{[8] [20] [21]} .

Death

The last years of the Empress Dowager's life were overshadowed by the plague of 1679 and the Ottoman War of 1683, in which the empire won, but suffered serious material damage to the possessions of Eleonora the Younger. In both cases, she had to flee from Vienna: for the first time to Prague and Linz, in the second - to Linz and Innsbruck . Eleonora Magdalen died in Vienna on December 6, 1686 and was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Church of the Capuchins ^[3] .

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• Eleonore Gonzaga von Mantua (Neopr.) . www.habsburger.net. - Articles about Eleanor Magdalene Gonzaga on the World of Habsburg website. Date of appeal August 5, 2016. (him.)