Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg

Early years

Eleonore was born in Düsseldorf on the night of 6 January 1655,^[2] as the oldest of 17 children born from Philip William, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg (since 1685 Elector Palatine) and his second wife Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. On her father's side her grandparents were Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and his first wife Magdalene of Bavaria and on her mother's side her grandparents were George II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and his wife Sophia Eleonore of Saxony.

Immediately after birth, the princess was baptized Eleonore Magdalene Therese by the abbot of Altenburg Abbey. To celebrate her birth, the court chaplain and poet, Jesuit Jakob Balde composed an hexameter Latin poem called the "Song of genius Eleonore" (la: Eleonorae Geniale carmen), which he translated to German. Subsequently, he became the spiritual mentor of Eleonore until his death. In August 1655 she, together with her parents, moved from Düsseldorf to Neuburg. On 11 September 1661 at the Neuburg Hofkirche, the princess was anointed by Marquard II Schenk von Castell, Prince-bishop of Eichstätt.

Eleonore was raised in a pious environment and also received a good education: she was fluent in Latin, French and Italian, translated to German biblical and religious texts, and was well versed in theology. She was also fond to music and arts, hunting and dancing, but her special passion was reading. Since September 1672 Eleonore lived at Benrath Castle, where, under the guidance of a maid of honour, she began her training in etiquette.^[3]

From her early childhood, Eleonore displayed a strongly pious nature and a fervent adherence to Roman Catholicism. She was four years old when she saw a Crucifixion scene and Eleonore burst into tears in sympathy with Jesus. In addition, every day she participated in religious services, and visited the sick. Among the poor, Eleonore asked them to treat her as a commoner, rather than a person of noble birth, because she thought that all people were equally precious to God. On 2 February 1669 she entered the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Sorrows at the Cross. The special protection provided by Eleonore to the Carmelite monasteries in Düsseldorf and Neuburg reflected her wish to be a Carmelite nun, but her parents refused to give their consent. Five monarchs asked for her hand, and all were refused by Eleonore. One of her rejected suitors was the widower James, Duke of York, the future King of England and Scotland, who proposed in 1671.^[3][4]

Marriage

In April 1676 Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor lost his second wife, and almost immediately began to search for a new one, urged by the need of a male heir. From his previous marriages he had six children, but all except the oldest daughter, Archduchess Maria Antonia, died shortly after birth. This time Eleonore was chosen, over Duchess Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria (later Dauphine of France), Princess Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark (later Queen consort of Sweden) and many other potential candidates.^[5]

Thanks to the intense diplomatic efforts of Eleonore's father, he gained to his side Francesco Bonvisi, Papal nuncio in Vienna, and King Charles II of Spain. However, the opponents of the Count Palatine of Neuburg in the Imperial court, spread rumours that Eleonore suffered from poor health and was physically unattractive. However, these rumours did not stop the Emperor, who needed an heir and knew not only about Eleonore's family reputed fertility but also about her fervent Catholicism and pious nature. In addition, the Count Palatine showed Leopold I a portrait of his daughter, made especially for this purpose.^[3]

The marriage negotiations began in April 1676. To this end, an emissary send by the Count Palatine arrived to Vienna managed to win the support of Empress Dowager Eleonora Gonzaga (Leopold I's stepmother) and a number of notable courtiers, including Chancellor Johann Paul Freiherr von Hocher. In August 1676 the personal physician of the Emperor arrived in Neuburg and examined Eleonore to establish her fertility. Back in Vienna the following month, he gave the official conclusion that she was healthy; however, the death of Anna de' Medici (mother of his late second wife), forced the Emperor to suspended the negotiations. Leopold I took the final decision about the marriage only in the second half of October. For Eleonore, the news that she would become the new Empress did not make her happy, as she had still wished to become a nun; but in the end, she dutifully submit to the will of her parents. On 25 November 1676 the official betrothal took place. The bride and groom were third cousins (being both great-great-grandchildren of Emperor Ferdinand I), and thus a papal dispensation was granted by Pope Innocent XI to allow the marriage. Eleonore's dowry was fixed at 100,000 florins.^[3]

Painting depicting the 1676 marriage of Eleonore and Leopold.

The first meeting between Leopold I and Eleonore took place two days before the wedding and they made a favourable impression on each other. The wedding took place in Passau on 14 December 1676. The wedding was somewhat private as ambassadors of foreign countries were not invited. Nevertheless, the ceremony was still elaborate and the ensuing celebrations lasted several days. As a wedding gift from the groom the bride received the famous Wittelsbach-Graff Diamond. On 7 January 1677 the Imperial couple arrived in Vienna.^[3]

The new Empress soon proved her fertility, and within months she became pregnant with her first child. In total, Eleonore gave birth to ten children, of whom only five survived to adulthood.^[3][6][7]

Holy Roman Empress and German Queen

In the first years of her marriage, Eleonore had to face great challenges. During 1679 an outbreak of plague forced the Imperial family to leave Vienna, firstly to Mariazell and then in Prague; however, the plague reached these places. In addition, an uprising of the Bohemian peasants forced the Empress and her children escape to Linz Castle. However, no less a danger than the epidemic was the constant threat of the Ottoman Empire. In July 1683 the Imperial family again left Vienna and moved to Passau because of the threat from the Turks, who in September of the same year suffered a crushing defeat near Vienna.^[3]

Eleonore was not crowned immediately after her marriage. On 9 December 1681,^[3] and at the request of the Hungarian aristocracy she was crowned Queen of Hungary in Pressburg, and on 19 January 1690 she was crowned Holy Roman Empress at Augsburg Cathedral. At the time of her Imperial coronation Eleonore was pregnant with her tenth and last child.^[2][8]

Eleonore was politically active and wielded considerable influence over her husband. In 1686 she restored the Order of the Starry Cross, established by her stepmother-in-law. She was multilingual, so Eleonore translated foreign political documents for her husband, as many were written in French. It was reported that the Empress received and opened important political documents while Leopold I stood waiting beside her "as a secretary". Eleonore established extensive connections through her patronage and granting of favours: she protected the career of chancellor Theodor Strattmann, and it was through her influence that the Jesuits Bauer and Tönnemann were appointed the advisers to the Emperor.^[9] Eleonore attended to the interests of her biological family by securing high status marriages for her sisters, promoting the careers of her younger brothers in church as well as the political needs of her eldest brother, the Elector Palatine.^[10] Eleonore accompanied Leopold I on his travels (for example, at the Diet of Augsburg in 1689) and supervised the upbringing of her children personally. She arranged the marriages of both her sons, and deeply disliked the private life of her oldest son Joseph, scolding him for his infidelities and placing his procurers in prison.^[9]

The Empress has always paid great attention to matters of piety and charity; her generosity towards people in need had almost no boundaries. Eleonore not only ordered the building hospitals and orphanages, supported numerous brotherhoods, churches and monasteries, but also visited the sick in hospitals, trying to help as many people as she could. She took control over the economy of the royal court and managed to reduce its expenses through more effective organization. Eleonore was seen to be performing her duties well according to the strict Spanish court ceremony used in Vienna, and actively participated in shooting matches and hunting parties as well as the religious duties associated with the pietas austriaca. Eleonore strictly adhered to all religious festivals and prescriptions, and from 1688, she devoted much time to the Marian cult, in which she was introduced by Abraham á Sancta Clara and to which she introduced her two daughters-in-law. Eleonore was an active member of the Gesellenschaft det Sklavinnen oder Leibeign Mariens, a lay order devoted to Virgin Mary, which prescribed daily religious observance and religious charity, and in 1688, she received the Sternkreuzorden. She founded Carmelite convents in Grazer and Vienna, and the Capuchin Marco d'Aviano was her confessor and adviser. On 9 May 1684 the Empress received the Golden Rose from Pope Innocent XI, and during a joint pilgrimage the Imperial couple paid a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Altötting. Another miraculous image of the Virgin Mary from Pötsch (hu: Máriapócs), known as the "Weeping Madonna", was delivered by them and placed in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna.

Since her early years, Eleonore suffered from depression and was described as self-destructive. She was drawn to the penitential side of Catholicism: as an example, she used bracelets with small spikes on the inside to torment the flesh. When court protocol demanded Eleonore visit the opera, she reportedly took a prayer book with her to distract her from the play. She hosted a court affected by her strong religious views: strict, simple and conventlike and, as it was said, in an atmosphere reminiscent of an eternal mourning period, which was somewhat ridiculed as being exaggerated.

Widowhood

Last years and death

Empress Eleonore's coffin at the Imperial Crypt, Vienna

In 1719 Charles VI, for diplomatic reasons, was forced to arrest Eleonore's sister and niece, Hedwig Elisabeth, Princess Sobieski and Maria Clementina Sobieska, to stop the marriage between the latter and the Jacobite pretender James Francis Edward Stuart in Rome. Eleonore managed to delay the transmission of the warrant for quite some time during their travel through Austrian lands before they were placed under arrest in Innsbrück. She continued to use her connections to prevent Charles from marrying Maria Clementina to some one else, such as the Duke of Modena, and eventually, Eleonore assisted in her to escape from Austria to Italy.^[9]

During her last years, Eleonore lived as a nun. In her will, Eleonore instructed to her servants, who had witnessed her ascetic life, never to tell anyone about this. On 1 January 1720, in preparation for the sacrament of confession, the Dowager Empress suffered a stroke, which led her being paralyzed on the right side of her body. Eleonore received the Anointing of the Sick. She gave her maternal blessings to her children and grandchildren who reunited at her deathbed. During her final days, Eleonore was constantly nursed by her two daughters-in-law Wilhelmine Amalia (with whom she now had a close relationship) and Elisabeth Christine.^[3]

Eleonore Magdalene, Dowager Holy Roman Empress died on 19 January 1720 aged 65, and four months later, on 24 May, she was buried at the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. In her memory a temporary wooden church was built at the imperial court, named the "sorrow castle" (la: Castrum dolorum). In the year of her death, were published six epitaphs, among them the Jesuit Francis Wagner (who praised her fertility and piousness, her religious upbringing of her children and her wish to escape the world as a widow), and the poet Johann Christian Günther (who described her as a paragon of virtue and faith). According to her last will, Eleonore's remains were placed in an ordinary wooden coffin, which was placed at the foot of Leopold I's tomb. The Dowager Empress's heart was put in an urn and placed in the Herzgruft at the Augustinian Church in Vienna. The current lead Baroque coffin which contains Eleonore's remains was a work of Balthasar Ferdinand Moll and was made in August 1755 following the orders of her granddaughter, Empress Maria Theresa, because the old wooden coffin had considerably deteriorated.^[3]