Eleanor of Austria

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Eleanor of Austria
Queen consort of Portugal and France
Consort in France Consort in Portugal	16 July 1516 - 13 December 1521 July 4, 1530 – March 31, 1547
Spouse	Manuel I of Portugal Francis I of France
Issue
Infante Carlos of Portugal Infanta Maria, Lady of Viseu
House	House of Valois House of Aviz House of Habsburg
Father	Philip I of Castile
Mother	Joanna of Castile
Born	November 15, 1498(1498-11-15) Leuven
Died	25 February 1558 (aged 59)

Eleanor of Austria, also called Eleonor of Castile (November 15, 1498 – February 25, 1558) was born Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Castile from the House of Habsburg, became subsequently in turn Queen Consort of Portugal (1518–1521) and of France, also Duchess of Touraine (1547–1558) as dower. Named Leonor de Austria in Spanish, Leonor in Portuguese and "royne Éléonore" or Aliénor in French.

[edit] Biography

Born in Louvain as the eldest child of Philip the Handsome, archduke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy and of Joanna of Castile, Infanta of Castile and Aragon and later Queen of the named countries. Her siblings were: Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, Ferdinand I, also Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Elisabeth Queen of Denmark, Mary Queen of Hungary and later Regent of the Low Countries and Catherine, Queen of Portugal.

When she was young, her relatives tried to marry her to the King of England (Henry VII or Henry VIII), the French King (Louis XII or Francois I) or with the Polish King (Sigismund I), but they could not. Finally they married her to Manuel I of Portugal, after the proposed marriage with her cousin (the Crown Prince) did not occur. They married July 16, 1518. They had two children: the Infante Carlos (who died as a child, born February 18, 1520) and the Infanta Maria (born June 8, 1521, and who was later one of the richest Princesses of Europe). She became a widow on December 13, 1521, when Manuel died of the plague.

Some time later as a widow, by the treaty called "La Paz de las Damas" (The Ladies' Peace) she was married to Francis I of France on July 4, 1530. They had no children.

As the French Queen she did not have any political power; however, she was used as a contact between France and the Holy Roman Empire. She was Charles V's favorite sister. She died in 1558 on the return trip from Badajoz, where she tried to make peace with her daughter Maria.

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

• Media related to Eleanor of Austria at Wikimedia Commons

[edit] Ancestry