Eleanor of Portugal (18 September 1434 – 3 September 1467) was Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. APortuguese infanta, daughter of King Edward of Portugal and his wife Leonor of Aragon, she was the consort of Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III, and the mother of Emperor Maximilian I.
Eleanor was born in Torres Vedras on 18 September 1434, one of the nine children of King Edward of Portugal and Eleanor of Aragon. She was the third eldest daughter, but her two older sisters died when they were young, leaving Eleanor as the surviving eldest daughter. When her father King Edward died five days before her fourth birthday, Eleanor’s brother Afonso V succeeded him as king with her mother as regent. The following March, her mother gave birth to another daughter, Joan, who would become the notorious wife of Henry IV of Castile.
In 1440, Eleanor’s mother was forced to go into exile in Castile after losing the litigation with her brother-in-law, Infante Peter, Duke of Coimbra, for the regency of the young King Afonso. She left Eleanor behind because Eleanor was ill at the time.
The marriage between Frederick III and Eleanor was likely suggested by Isabella of Portugal, duchess of Burgundy. Arrangements were made by Eleanor’s uncle, the king of Naples who, in 1448, sent artists from his court to paint Eleanor. Eleanor was also suggested to marry the king of France, but it was said, that she herself preferred to marry Frederick, because this would give her the title empress instead of queen. The practical negotiations was made in Naples and completed in 1451. During the sea travel, the fleet escorting Eleanor to Italy was tormented by pirates and storms, and there were rumours that she had been lost at sea.
Eleanor and Frederick met in Siena. Frederick was to have paled when he saw her, out of excitement but also worry that she would have troubles giving birth because of her frail appearance. The marriage took place in Rome. Upon her coronation, she was also given the name Helena, but she never used this name. The festivities was hosted by her uncle, the king of Naples.
Eleanor and Frederick were dissimilar, and her interest for dance, gambling and hunting was not shared by Frederick, and their relationship was affected by their differences. Frederick sent Eleanor’s Portuguese entourage home after the wedding because of the cost, and she suffered from homesickness; he also blamed her for having caused the death of several of their children by letting them eat Portuguese food, and therefore took over the upbringing of the remaining children entirely for himself. During the period of captivity in Vienna, when people were forced to eat rats, cats and dogs, she cheered people up. History have claimed that Eleanor was taken from a splendid court in Portugal to a cultural wasteland in Vienna because of her spouse’s strict economic sense.
On 16 March 1452 in Rome, she married the German King Frederick III, and the two were crowned Holy Roman Emperor and Empress three days later, on 19 March 1452 by Pope Nicholas V at St. Peter’s Basilica. Her dowry was used by her husband to alleviate his financial problems and cement his power. Frederick III was the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned in Rome.
With Frederick III she had five children: Archduke Christopher (16 November 1455 – 21 March 1456), Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (22 March 1459 – 12 January 1519), Archduchess Helena (3 November 1460 – 28 February 1461), Archduchess Kunigunde (16 March 1465 – 6 August 1520) and Archduke John (9 August 1466 – 10 February 1467).
Eleanor died in Wiener Neustadt on 3 September 1467, and is buried in the Neukloster, the Cistercian monastery of that same city, where her tombstone may be seen.
