February 28, 1518: Birth of François III, Duke of Brittany and Dauphin of Viennois

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Claude of Brittany, Duke of Brittany and Dauphin of Viennois, François III, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King François I of France, Leonardo di Vinci, Mary I of England, Treaty of Madrid

François III (February 28, 1518 – August 10, 1536) was Duke of Brittany and Dauphin of Viennois. He was the first son of King François I of France and Duchess Claude of Brittany.

François I said of his son at birth, “a beautiful dauphin who is the most beautiful and strong child one could imagine and who will be the easiest to bring up.” His mother, Claude, Duchess of Brittany, said, “tell the King that he is even more beautiful than himself.” The Dauphin was christened at Amboise on April 25, 1519. Leonardo da Vinci, who had been brought to Amboise by François I, designed the decorations.

One of the most researched aspects of the Dauphin’s short life is the time he and his brother Henri (later Henri II of France) spent as hostages in Spain. The king had been badly defeated and captured at the Battle of Pavia (1525) and became a prisoner of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, initially in the Alcázar in Madrid.

In order to ensure his release, the king signed the Treaty of Madrid (1526). However, in order to ensure that François abided by the treaty, Charles demanded that the king’s two older sons take his place as hostages. François agreed.

On March 15, 1526, the exchange took place at the border between Spain and France. François almost immediately repudiated the treaty and the eight-year-old Dauphin and his younger brother Henri spent the next three years as captives of Charles V, a period that scarred them for life.

The Dauphin’s “somber, solitary tastes” and his preference for dressing in black (like a Spaniard) were attributed to the time he spent in captivity in Madrid. He also became bookish, preferring reading to soldiering.

Marriage arrangements

As first son and heir to a king of France the Dauphin was a marriage pawn for his father. He could not be wasted in marriage, as many felt his brother Henri had been with his marriage to Catherine de’ Medici, and there were several betrothals to eligible princesses throughout the Dauphin’s life.

The first was when he was an infant, to the four-year-old Mary Tudor (later Mary I of England), daughter of Henry VIII of England and Catherine of Aragon; this arrangement was made as a surety for the Anglo-French alliance signed in October 1518, but abandoned around 1521 when Mary was instead betrothed to Charles V.

Duchy of Brittany

In 1524, the Dauphin inherited the Duchy of Brittany on his mother’s death, becoming Duke François III, although the Duchy was actually ruled by officials of the French crown. The Duchy was inherited upon the death of François by his brother, Henri; upon Henri’s succession to the French throne in 1547, the Duchy and the crown were effectively merged with France, the Breton estates having already tied the succession of the Duchy to the French crown, rather than to the line of succession of the Dukes of Brittany, by vote in 1532.

Death

The Dauphin François died at Château Tournon-sur-Rhône on August 10, 1536, at the age of eighteen. The circumstances of his death seemed suspicious, and it is believed by many that he was poisoned. However, there is ample evidence that he died of natural causes, possibly tuberculosis. The Dauphin had never fully recovered his health from the years spent in damp, dank cells in Madrid.

After playing a round of tennis at a jeu de paume court “pré[s] d’Ainay”, the Dauphin asked for a cup of water, which was brought to him by his secretary, Count Montecuccoli. After drinking it, Francis collapsed and died several days later. Montecuccoli, who was brought to the court by Catherine de’ Medici, was accused of being in the pay of Charles V, and when his quarters were searched a book on different types of poison was found. Catherine de’ Medici was well known to have an interest in poisons and the occult. Under torture, Montecuccoli confessed to poisoning the Dauphin.

In an age before forensic science, poison was usually suspected whenever a young, healthy person died shortly after eating or drinking. There was no way to pinpoint and trace the substance after death; therefore, it was considered a quick, easy and untraceable form of homicide. There have been several other suspected cases of political-murder-by-poison in the French royal family through the ages. It is suspected that the Dauphin’s younger brother, Charles may have been poisoned.

Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands

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Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Carlos I of Spain, Felipe I of Castile and Spain, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, King François I of France, Pope Julius II, The Holy League

By 1504, however, Margaret’s husband, Philiberto II of Savoy, died of pleurisy. Grief-stricken, Margaret became suicidal and she threw herself out of a window, but was saved. After being persuaded to bury her husband, she had his heart embalmed so she could keep it with her forever. Her court historian and poet Jean Lemaire de Belges gave her the title “Dame de deuil” (Lady of Mourning).

Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands

Queen Isabella I of Castile died in late 1504, and Archduke Philipp and Infanta Juana went to Castile to claim the crown. Archduke Philipp of Austria is considered Felipe I of Castile (Spain).

At the death of Philipp (Felipe) in 1506, Charles was recognized Lord of the Netherlands with the title of Charles II of Burgundy. During his childhood and teen years, Charles lived in Mechelen together with his sisters Mary, Eleanor, and Isabella at the court of his aunt Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy. Despite being at his aunt’s court Charles was young and alone. Juana could not return to act as regent because her unstable mental state and her Castilian subjects would not allow their ruler to abandon the kingdom.

Fernando II of Aragon took control of all the Spanish kingdoms, under the pretext of protecting Charles’s rights, which in reality he wanted to elude, but his new marriage with Germaine de Foix failed to produce a surviving Trastámara heir to the throne. With his father dead and his mother confined, Charles became Duke of Burgundy and was recognized as Prince of Asturias (heir presumptive of Spain) and honorific Archduke (heir apparent of Austria).

Preoccupied with German affairs, Margaret’s father, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire Maximillian I, named Margaret governor of the Low Countries and guardian of Charles in 1507, along with her nieces Eleanor, Isabella and Mary. She became the only woman elected as its ruler by the representative assembly of Franche-Comté, with her title confirmed in 1509.

Some report that Margaret was considered a foreigner because of her childhood at the French court. According to Blockmans and others though, Margaret, Philip as well as Charles were considered autochthonous; only Maximilian was always a foreigner. The Governess served as an intermediary between her father and her nephew’s subjects in the Netherlands from her newly built palace at Mechelen. During a remarkably successful career, she broke new ground for women rulers.

Margaret soon found herself at war with France over the question of Charles’s requirement to pay homage to the French king for the County of Flanders (which was outside the Empire; and while a long-standing portion of the inherited Burgundian titles & provinces, legally still within France).

In response, she persuaded Emperor Maximilian to end the war with King Louis XII. On November 1508, she journeyed to Cambrai to assist in the formation of the League of Cambrai, which ended (for a time) the possibility of a French invasion of the Low Countries, redirecting French attention to Northern Italy.

By 1512, she told her father that the Netherlands existed on peace and trade, and thus she would declare neutrality while using foreign armies and funds to wage wars. She played the key role in bringing together the participants of Holy League: Pope Julius II, the Swiss, Henry VIII of England, Fernando II of Aragon and her father Maximilian (he joined the League only as Emperor, as not as guardian of his grandson Charles and thus, the Low Countries’ neutrality was maintained). The league targeted France. The treaty also would not prevent the more adventurous Netherlands seigneurs from serving under Maximilian and Henry when they attacked the French later.

The Spanish inheritance, resulting from a dynastic union of the crowns of Castile and Aragon, included Spain as well as the Castilian West Indies and the Aragonese kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. Joanna inherited these territories in 1516 in a condition of mental illness.

Charles, therefore, claimed the crowns for himself jure matris, thus becoming co-monarch of Joanna with the title of Carlos I of Castile and Aragon or Carlos I of Spain. Castile and Aragon together formed the largest of Charles’s personal possessions, and they also provided a great number of generals and tercios (the formidable Spanish infantry of the time). However, at his accession to the throne, Charles was viewed as a foreign prince.

In 1519, Margaret’s father, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I died and his grandson, Charles II of Burgundy (Carlos I of Spain) inherited the Austrian hereditary lands in 1519, as Charles I of Austria, and obtained the election as Holy Roman Emperor against the candidacy of the French King François I. Since the Imperial election, he was known as Emperor Charles V even outside of the Empire and the Habsburg motto A.E.I.O.U. (“Austria Est Imperare Orbi Universo”; “it is Austria’s destiny to rule the world”) acquired political significance.

In 1520, Emperor Charles V made Margaret his governor-general in gratitude for her services. She was the only regent he ever re-appointed indefinitely from 1519 until her death in on 1 December 1530.

Her queenly virtues helped her to play the role of diplomat and peace-maker, as well as guardian and educator of future rulers, whom Maximilian called “our children” or “our common children” in letters to Margaret. This was a model that developed as part of the solution for the emerging Habsburg composite monarchy and would continue to serve later generations. As an older relative and former guardian, she had more power with Emperor Charles V than with her father Maximilian, who treated her cordially but occasionally acted in a threatening manner.

On November 15, 1530, Margaret stepped on a piece of broken glass. She initially thought little of the injury but gangrene set in and the leg had to be amputated. She decided to arrange all her affairs first, designating Charles V as her sole heir and writing him a letter in which she asked him to maintain peace with France and England. On the night of November 30, the doctors came to operate on her. They gave her a dose of opium to lessen the pain, but the dosage was reportedly so strong that she did not wake up again. She passed away between midnight and one o’clock. So basically her doctors accidentally overdosed her.

She was buried alongside her second husband at Bourg-en-Bresse, in the mausoleum of the Royal Monastery of Brou that she previously commissioned

November 15, 1498: Birth of Eleanor of Austria, Queen consort of Portugal and France

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Archduke Philipp of Austria, Carlos I of Spain, Eleanor of Austria, Elector Friedrich II of the Palatinate of the Rhine, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, House of Habsburg, Joanna of Castile, King François I of France, King Manuel I of Portugal, Queen of France, Queen of Portugal

Eleanor of Austria (November 15, 1498 – February 25, 1558), also called Eleanor of Castile, was born an Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Castile from the House of Habsburg, and subsequently became Queen consort of Portugal (1518–1521) and of France (1530–1547). She also held the Duchy of Touraine (1547–1558) in dower. She is called “Leonor” in Spanish and Portuguese and “Eléonore” or “Aliénor” in French.

Life

Eleanor was born in 1498 at Leuven, the eldest child of Archduke Philipp of Austria and Infanta Joanna of Castile, who would later become co-sovereigns of Castile. Her father is considered King Felipe I of Castile (Spain) and he was also the son of the reigning Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and his deceased consort Mary of Burgundy, while her mother was the daughter of the Catholic Monarchs; namely Fernando II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.

Eleanor’s siblings were Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (King Carlos I of Spain), Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, Queen Isabella of Denmark (wife of King Christian II), Queen Mary of Hungary (wife of King Louis II), and Queen Catherine of Portugal (wife of King João III).

Eleanor was named after her paternal great-grandmother, Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress. Eleanor of Portugal was the daughter of King Duarte of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon, she was the consort of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III and the mother of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.

After the death of her father in September 1506 Eleanor was educated at her aunt’s court in Mechelen.

When she was a child, Eleanor’s relatives tried to marry her to the future King of England, Henry VIII, to whom she was betrothed. However, when Henry’s father died and he became King, Henry decided to marry Eleanor’s aunt, Catherine of Aragon, who was the widow of King Henry’s older brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales.

Her relatives also tried to marry her to the French Kings Louis XII or François I or to the Polish King Sigismund I, but nothing came of these plans. 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 Friedrich II, Elector Palatine of the Rhine. Her brother King Carlos I, who had succeeded their elderly grandfather King Fernando as King of Spain the year before, once discovered her reading a love letter from Friedrich. Carlos forced Eleanor and Friedrich to swear in front of an attorney that they were not secretly married, after which he expelled Friedrich from court. She followed her brother to Spain in 1517.

Queen of Portugal

Eleanor married her uncle by marriage, King Manuel I of Portugal, after a proposed marriage with her cousin, the future King João III of Portugal, did not occur. Her brother Carlos arranged the marriage between Eleanor and the King Manuel I of Portugal to avoid the possibility of Portuguese assistance for any rebellion in Castile.

King Manuel I had previously been married to two of Eleanor’s maternal aunts, Isabella of Aragon and Maria of Aragon.

Manuel and Eleanor married on July 16, 1518. They had two children: the Infante Carlos (born February 18, 1520 – April 15, 1521) 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. As Queen Dowager of Portugal, Eleanor returned to the court of Carlos in Spain. Eleanor’s sister Catherine later married Eleanor’s stepson, King João 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 François I of France during his captivity in Spain.

Queen of France

The Treaty of Cambrai (1529; called La Paz de las Damas – “The Ladies’ Peace”) paused the conflict between François and Charles. It included the stipulation that the previously-agreed marriage of Eleanor and François 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. Eleanor was crowned Queen of France in Saint-Denis on May 31, 1531. She was dressed in purple velvet at her coronation. She was married to François on July 4, 1530. They had no children.

Eleanor was ignored by François, 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 and Catherine de’ Medici in 1533. She also performed charity and was praised for this. She also took her stepdaughters, Madeleine and Margaret, into her household to raise them further.

As queen, Eleanor had no political power; however, she served as a contact between France and her brother Emperor Charles V. 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 her brother 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, where they often visited their brother, who retired to a monastery nearby. In 1558, she met her daughter Maria in Badajoz for the first time in 28 years. Eleanor died in 1558 on the return trip from Badajoz.

September 12, 1494: Birth of François I, King of France.

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Charles of Orléans, Claude of France, Count of Angoulême, Filed of the Cloth of Gold, Francis I of France, King François I of France, King Henri II of France, King Louis XII of France, Kingdom of France, Kings and Queens of France, Louise of Savoy, Salic Law

From the Emperor’s Desk: Yesterday, September 11, was the Anniversary of the birth of Louise of Savoy, today is the anniversary the birth of her son, King François I of France.

François I (September 12, 1494 – March 31, 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547.

François of Orléans was born on September 12, 1494 (the day after his mother’s birthday) at the Château de Cognac in the town of Cognac, which at that time lay in the province of Saintonge, a part of the Duchy of Aquitaine. Today the town lies in the department of Charente.

François was the only son of Charles of Orléans, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy, eldest daughter of Philip II, Duke of Savoy and his first wife, Margaret of Bourbon, the daughter of Charles I, Duke of Bourbon (1401–1456) and Agnes of Burgundy (1407–1476). François was a great-great-grandson of King Charles V of France, through his father and it was from this line François drew his claim to the French throne.

His family was not expected to inherit the throne, as his third cousin King Charles VIII was still young at the time of his birth, as was his father’s cousin the Duke of Orléans, later King Louis XII. However, Charles VIII died childless in 1498 and was succeeded by Louis XII, who himself had no male heir. The Salic Law prevented women from inheriting the throne. Therefore, the four-year-old François (who was already Count of Angoulême after the death of his own father two years earlier) became the heir presumptive to the throne of France in 1498 and was vested with the title of Duke of Valois.

In 1505, Louis XII, having fallen ill, ordered that his daughter Claude and François be married immediately, but only through an assembly of nobles were the two engaged. Claude was heir presumptive to the Duchy of Brittany through her mother, Anne of Brittany. Following Anne’s death, the marriage took place on May 18, 1514. On January 1, 1515, Louis XII died, and François inherited the throne. He was crowned King of France in the Cathedral of Reims on 25 January 1515, with Claude as his queen consort.

By the time François ascended the throne in 1515, the Renaissance had arrived in France, and prodigious patron of the arts, he initiated the French Renaissance by attracting many Italian artists to work for him, including Leonardo da Vinci, who brought the Mona Lisa with him, which François had acquired. François’ reign saw important cultural changes with the rise of absolute monarchy in France, the spread of humanism and Protestantism, and the beginning of French exploration of the New World. Jacques Cartier and others claimed lands in the Americas for France and paved the way for the expansion of the first French colonial empire.

For his role in the development and promotion of a standardized French language, he became known as le Père et Restaurateur des Lettres (the ‘Father and Restorer of Letters’). He was also known as François du Grand Nez (‘Francis of the Large Nose’), the Grand Colas, and the Roi-Chevalier (the ‘Knight-King’) for his personal involvement in the wars against his great rival Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain.

Following the policy of his predecessors, Francis continued the Italian Wars. The succession of Charles V to the Burgundian Netherlands, the throne of Spain, and his subsequent election as Holy Roman Emperor meant that France was geographically encircled by the Habsburg monarchy. In his struggle against Imperial hegemony, he sought the support of Henry VIII of England at the Field of the Cloth of Gold. When this was unsuccessful, he formed a Franco-Ottoman alliance with the Muslim sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, a controversial move for a Christian king at the time.

His first wife, Claude of France, died in 1524 and On July 7, 1530, François I married his second wife Eleanor of Austria (November 15, 1498 – February 25, 1558), also called Eleanor of Castile, was born an Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Castile from the House of Habsburg and a sister of the Emperor Charles V. The couple had no children. During his reign, François kept two official mistresses at court.

The first mistress was Françoise de Foix, Countess of Châteaubriant. In 1526, she was replaced by the blonde-haired, cultured Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, Duchess of Étampes who, with the death of Queen Claude two years earlier, wielded far more political power at court than her predecessor had done. Another of his earlier mistresses was allegedly Mary Boleyn, mistress of King Henry VIII and sister of Henry’s future wife, Anne Boleyn.

Death

François died at the Château de Rambouillet on March 31 1547, on his son and successor’s 28th birthday. It is said that “he died complaining about the weight of a crown that he had first perceived as a gift from God”. He was interred with his first wife, Claude, Duchess of Brittany, in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his son, Henri II.

François’ tomb and that of his wife and mother, along with the tombs of other French kings and members of the royal family, were desecrated on 20 October 1793 during the Reign of Terror at the height of the French Revolution.

François I has a poor reputation in France–his 500th anniversary was little noted in 1994. Popular and scholarly historical memory ignores his building of so many fine chateaux, his stunning art collection, his lavish patronage of scholars and artists. He is seen as a playboy who disgraced France by allowing himself to be defeated and taken prisoner at Pavia. The historian Jules Michelet set the negative image.

British historian Glenn Richardson considers Francis a success:

“He was a king who ruled as well as reigned. He knew the importance of war and a high international profile in staking his claim to be a great warrior-king of France. In battle he was brave, if impetuous, which led equally to triumph and disaster. Domestically, François exercised the spirit and letter of the royal prerogative to its fullest extent. He bargained hard over taxation and other issues with interest groups, often by appearing not to bargain at all.

He enhanced royal power and concentrated decision-making in a tight personal executive but used a wide range of offices, gifts and his own personal charisma to build up an elective personal affinity among the ranks of the nobility upon whom his reign depended….Under Francis, the court of France was at the height of its prestige and international influence during the 16th century. Although opinion has varied considerably over the centuries since his death, his cultural legacy to France, to its Renaissance, was immense and ought to secure his reputation as among the greatest of its kings.”

June 28, 1491: Birth of Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland.

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Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Carlos I of Spain, Catherine Howard, Catherine of Aragon, Catherine Parr, Elizabeth of York, Elizabeth Woodville, Henry VII of England, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Jane Seymour, King Edward IV of England, King Edward VI of England, King François I of France, King Henry VIII of England, King James V of Scotland

Henry VIII (June 28, 1491 – January 28, 1547) was King of England from 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry was the third child and second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, the eldest child of King Edward IV and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville.

Henry is best known for his six marriages, and, in particular, his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagreement with Pope Clement VII on the question of such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority. He appointed himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England and dissolved convents and monasteries, for which he was excommunicated. Henry is also known as “the father of the Royal Navy,” as he invested heavily in the navy, increasing its size from a few to more than 50 ships, and established the Navy Board.

Henry VIII, King of England and Ireland.

Domestically, Henry VIII is known for his radical changes to the English Constitution, ushering in the theory of the divine right of kings. He also greatly expanded royal power during his reign. He frequently used charges of treason and heresy to quell dissent, and those accused were often executed without a formal trial by means of bills of attainder.

King Henry VIII achieved many of his political aims through the work of his chief ministers, some of whom were banished or executed when they fell out of his favour. Thomas Wolsey, Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Richard Rich, and Thomas Cranmer all figured prominently in his administration.

King Henry VIII was an extravagant spender, using the proceeds from the dissolution of the monasteries and acts of the Reformation Parliament. He also converted the money that was formerly paid to Rome into royal revenue. Despite the money from these sources, he was continually on the verge of financial ruin due to his personal extravagance, as well as his numerous costly and largely unsuccessful wars, particularly with King François I of France, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, James V of Scotland and the Scottish regency under the Earl of Arran and Mary of Guise.

King François I of France.

Charles V (Carlos I), Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.

James V, King of Scots.

At home, he oversaw the legal union of England and Wales with the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542, and he was the first English monarch to rule as King of Ireland following the Crown of Ireland Act 1542.

Henry’s contemporaries considered him an attractive, educated, and accomplished king. He has been described as “one of the most charismatic rulers to sit on the English throne”. He was an author and composer. As he aged, however, he became severely overweight and his health suffered, causing his death in 1547. He is frequently characterised in his later life as a lustful, egotistical, harsh and insecure king. He was succeeded by his son Edward VI.

November 15, 1498: Birth of Archduchess Eleanore of Austria, Queen Consort of Portugal and France.

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Birthday, Carlos I of Spain, Eleanore of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Empire, King François I of France, King Henry VIII of England, Kingdom of Portugal, Kingdom of Spain, Queen Consort of Portugal and France

Eleanor of Austria (November 15, 1498 – February 25, 1558), also called Eleanor of Castile, was born an Archduchess of Austria and Infanta of Castile from the House of Habsburg, and subsequently became Queen consort of Portugal (1518–1521) and Queen Consort of France (1530–1547).

Eleanor was born in 1498 at Leuven, the eldest child of Philipp of Austria (King Felipe I of Castile) and Joanna of Castile, who would later become co-sovereigns of Castile. Her father was also the son of the reigning Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and his deceased consort Mary of Burgundy, while her mother was the daughter of the Catholic Monarchs; namely Fernando II-V of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile.

Her siblings were Holy Roman Emperor Karl V (King Carlos I of Spain), Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, Queen Isabella of Denmark (wife of King Christian II of Denmark and Norway), Queen Mary of Hungary (wife of King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia), and Queen Catherine of Portugal (wife of King João III of Portugal). She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, Eleanor of Portugal, Holy Roman Empress (the consort of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III and the mother of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I).

Eleanore of Austria, Queen Consort of Portugal and France

When she was a child, Eleanor’s relatives tried to marry her to the future King of England, Henry VIII, to whom she was betrothed. However, when Henry’s father died and he became King, Henry decided to marry Eleanor’s aunt, Catherine of Aragon, who was the widow of King Henry’s older brother, Arthur, Prince of Wales. Her relatives also tried to marry her to the French Kings Louis XII or King François I, or to the Polish King Sigismund I, but nothing came of these plans. 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 Friedrich II, Elector Palatine. Her brother King Carlos I of Spain (Holy Roman Emperor Karl V) who had succeeded their elderly grandfather King Fernando II-V of Castile and Aragon as King of a United Spain the year before, once discovered her reading a love letter from Friedrich. Carlos forced Eleanor and Friedrich to swear in front of an attorney that they were not secretly married, after which he expelled Friedrich from court. She then followed her brother to Spain in 1517.

Holy Roman Emperor Karl V (King Carlos I of Spain).

Eleanor married her uncle by marriage, King Manuel I of Portugal, on July 16, 1518 after a proposed marriage with her cousin, the future King João III of Portugal did not occur. Her brother Carlos arranged the marriage between Eleanor and the King of Portugal 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 and Maria of Aragon.

Manuel and Eleanor had two children: the Infante Carlos (born February 18, 1520 – died April 15, 1521) 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. As Queen Dowager of Portugal, Eleanor returned to the court of Carlos in Spain. Eleanor’s sister Catherine later married Eleanor’s stepson, King João III of Portugal.

King François I of France

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 François I of France during his captivity in Spain.

In 1529, by the treaty called “La Paz de las Damas” (The Ladies’ Peace), it was stipulated that the marriage should take place. She was married to François on July 4, 1530. They had no children.

Eleanor left Spain in the company of her future stepsons, who were now to be released having been held hostage by her brother. The group met François at the border, where Eleanor and François were married, and then departed for an official entrance to Bordeaux. Eleanor was crowned Queen of France in Saint-Denis on May 31, 1531. She was dressed in purple velvet at her coronation. 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, François displayed himself openly to the public in a window with his lover Anne for a period of two hours.

Queen Eleanor performed as the queen of France at official occasions, such as at the wedding between her stepson Henri and Catherine de’ Medici in 1533. She also performed charity and was praised for this. She also took her stepdaughters, Madeleine and Margaret, into her household to raise them further.

As the French queen, Eleanor did not have any political power; however, she was used as a contact between France and the Holy Roman Empire. Queen Eleanor was present at the peace negotiations between and Carlos in Aigues-Mortes in 1538. In 1544, she was given the task of entering peace negotiations with Charles and their sister Mary. In November 1544, she visited Carlos in Brussels.

Later life

François died at the Château de Rambouillet on March 15, 1547, on his son and successor’s 28th birthday. It is said that “he died complaining about the weight of a crown that he had first perceived as a gift from God.” He was interred with his first wife, Claude, Duchess of Brittany, in Saint Denis Basilica. He was succeeded by his son, Henri II.

As a queen dowager, Eleanor left France for Brussels in 1548. She witnessed the abdication of Carlos I of Spain 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, where they often visited their brother, who retired to a monastery nearby. In 1558, she met her daughter Maria in Badajoz for the first time in 28 years. Eleanor died in 1558 on the return trip from Badajoz. Her brother Carlos, former Holy Roman Emperor Emperor and King of Spain, died in September of the same year.