Heroine of the Weekend

 A return of the Heroine of the Weekend feature, a brief glimpse into interesting (sometimes heroic, sometimes decidedly not so) women in history....

This week we take a look at Eleanor of Austria, also known as Eleanor of Castille, born November 15, 1498 (lived until February 25, 1558).  She came from a long line of illustrious royalty, her parents being Philip "The Fair" of Burgundy and her mother Juana of Castile, her grandparents Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian and the great heiress Mary of Burgundy.  Her brothers became Emperor Charles V, the most powerful man of their era, and Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand; her sisters were the queens of Denmark, Hungary, and Portugal, and she herself became the queen of Portugal (1518-1521) and of France (1530-1547), as well as holding the Duchy of Touraine in her dower.

She had a long betrothal history before her age reached double digits!  She was engaged briefly to Henry VIII of England before he decided to marry her aunt Catherine of Aragon (lucky escape for Eleanor), as well as brief ideas of marrying her to Louis XII of France, Sigismund I of Poland, or the Duke of Lorraine.  She was raided at her aunt's court at Leuven until 1517, when she joined her brother Charles in Spain.

She was married to her uncle by marriage, Manuel I of Portugal, in 1518 (he was previously married to not one but two of her aunts!).  They had two children, Charles, who died at a year of age, and Maria.  When Manuel died, to complete the family coziness, her sister Catherine married her stepson, Juan III.  They kept Infanta Maria at their court while Eleanor went back to Spain.

By 1527, Francis I of France was a captive in Spain, taken in battle during the long conflict between the two countries.  This was ended (or at least paused) by the Treaty of Cambrai, or "The Ladies' Peace," since several royal ladies, including Francis's mother and Eleanor, were involved in its terms.  One of the treaty's provisions was a marriage between Eleanor and Francis, who had long been a widower with many children.  This took place in 1530.

It was not a happy marriage, needless to say after such an unpromising beginning!  They had no children, and Francis made no secret of his many mistresses.  At Eleanor's official entrance to Paris, he started as he meant to go on and stood with his mistress in a window for hours.  But Eleanor was crowned at St. Denis on May 31, 1531, and played a large official role.  She served as a diplomat between her brother and her husband, as well as between her various siblings' squabbles, and attended royal events like the marriage of her stepson to Catherine de Medici in 1533.  She raised her two youngest stepdaughters, and was much praised for her devotion to charity.

In 1548, after the death of Francis, she moved to Brussels to work for her brother and his empire, until he decided to abdicate and retire to a monastery in 1555, and she and her sister Mary moved to live near him.  She met her daughter Maria in 1558, for the first time in 28 years, and died shortly after.

She was originally buried at the Cathedral of St. Mary Major in Medina, until she was moved to the official royal burial chapel at El Escorial in 1586.

Most sources on her life come from books about other people!  Some interesting ones include:

--Leonie Frieda, Francis I: The Maker of Modern France (2018)

--Sylvia Barbara Soberton, Golden Age Ladies: Women Who Shaped the Courts of Henry VIII and Francis I (2016)

--Geoffrey Parker, Emperor: A New Life of Charles V (2021)

--Giles Tremlett, Isabella of Castille: Europe's First Great Queen (2017)

--Julia Fox, Sister Queens: Katherine of Aragon and Juana, Queen of Castile (2012)