Eleonore Magdalene von der Pfalz

Eleonore Magdalene Therese of Neuburg was born on 6 January 1655 in Düsseldorf as the eldest of 17 children of Philip William, Count Palatine of Neuburg, and his second wife, Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was baptized shortly after her birth; the Jesuit and poet Jakob Balde composed a Latin poem for the occasion and remained her spiritual mentor until his death. In August 1655, the family moved to Neuburg. Eleonore grew up in a strictly Catholic environment and received an exceptionally comprehensive education. She mastered Latin, German, French, and Italian, studied finance, literature, and theology, and took an interest in art and hunting. Her greatest passion, however, was reading and translating religious texts into German. From childhood, Eleonore displayed a deeply religious and compassionate nature. After seeing a particularly vivid depiction of the Crucifixion of Jesus, she wept out of sympathy and began devoting herself intensely to religious exercises. She visited the poor, sick, and needy every day and was strongly drawn to the penitential and ascetic aspects of Catholic faith. Her piety sometimes took self-mortifying forms. At the same time, she treated the poor with great humility and asked them to regard her as an ordinary person, since she believed that all people had equal worth before God. From 1672 onward, she spent periods at Benrath Palace, where she was prepared for courtly duties and manners. In 1669, Eleonore joined the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Sorrows. She supported the monasteries of the Discalced Carmelites in Düsseldorf and Neuburg and would have preferred to live as a Carmelite herself. Her parents, however, refused their consent. Several princes sought her hand, including the widowed James, Duke of York and future King of England and Scotland, who proposed to her in 1671. Eleonore rejected them all. After the death of his second wife in April 1676, Emperor Leopold I sought a new consort, above all in the hope of producing a male heir. Eleonore was selected from among numerous candidates. Her father used diplomatic connections at the Viennese court and the support of influential figures to promote the match. Rumors about Eleonore’s supposedly poor health or lack of beauty could not prevent the marriage plans. Following a medical examination, she was declared healthy. The news that she was to become empress did not initially make Eleonore happy, since she still preferred a life in a convent. Nevertheless, she had to submit to her parents’ wishes. The betrothal was celebrated on 25 November 1676. Eleonore and Leopold were related and therefore required a papal dispensation. The wedding took place in Passau on 14 December. The couple had first met two days earlier and made a favorable impression on each other. On 7 January 1677, the Imperial couple arrived in Vienna. Eleonore gave birth to ten children in total, six of whom reached adulthood. Her children included the future emperors Joseph I and Charles VI, the Archduchesses Maria Elisabeth, Maria Anna, Maria Josepha, and Maria Magdalena, as well as other children who died young. Maria Anna married King John V of Portugal; Charles VI later became the father of Empress Maria Theresa. The first years of Eleonore’s marriage were marked by severe crises. In 1679, a plague epidemic forced the Imperial family to leave Vienna. Mariazell and Prague also proved unsafe for long, and a Bohemian peasant uprising led to their flight to Linz. In addition, the Ottoman Empire threatened the Habsburg lands. In 1683, the family withdrew to Passau because of the Turkish danger; in September of the same year, the Ottomans suffered a heavy defeat outside Vienna. Eleonore was therefore crowned only later: Queen of Hungary in Pressburg in 1681 and Roman-German Empress in Augsburg Cathedral on 19 January 1690. She accompanied Leopold on his travels, including the Imperial Diet of Augsburg in 1689, and personally supervised the education of her children. As empress, Eleonore exercised considerable political influence. She read and opened important political correspondence, translated foreign-language documents for her husband, and actively participated in matters of court administration and foreign relations. Through improved organization, she succeeded in reducing the expenses of the Imperial court. The resulting revenues made it possible to build hospitals, orphanages, and Carmelite convents in Graz and Vienna, as well as to support numerous churches, monasteries, and religious brotherhoods. She also promoted her husband’s confidants and advisers, restored the Order of the Starry Cross, and received spiritual counsel from the Capuchin Marco d’Aviano. Eleonore also supported her family of origin. She arranged advantageous marriages for her sisters, promoted the ecclesiastical careers of her younger brothers, and advocated the political interests of her eldest brother, the Elector Palatine. She likewise arranged the marriages of her two sons. However, she strongly disapproved of the private life of her eldest son Joseph and took action against his mistresses and the people who procured them for him. Her court followed the strict Spanish court ceremony and was profoundly shaped by her religiosity. Daily life was simple and disciplined, governed by numerous religious festivals and prescriptions. Eleonore combined this piety with participation in hunts and shooting exercises. From 1688 onward, she devoted particular attention to devotion to the Virgin Mary and also introduced her daughters-in-law to this religious practice. Among other honors for her religious and charitable activities, she received the papal Golden Rose and was admitted to the Order of the Starry Cross. After Leopold’s death in 1705, Eleonore remained politically active as empress dowager. During the reign of her son Joseph I, she sought to preserve her influence in opposition to her daughter-in-law, Wilhelmine Amalia. Although both women disapproved of Joseph’s mistress, Marianne Pálffy, they were unable to end his relationship with her. Eleonore also oversaw the Catholic education of Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, the future wife of her son Charles. When Joseph I died in 1711 and Charles was in Spain, Eleonore was appointed provisional regent of the Habsburg lands. Despite Charles’s distrust of her emotional stability, she proved capable of governing. After negotiations concerning peace with Hungary, she signed the Treaty of Szatmár, which confirmed the rule of the House of Habsburg in the Kingdom of Hungary. She also presided over the Imperial election and supported the election of her son Charles. During Charles’s reign, Eleonore joined Wilhelmine Amalia in defending the inheritance rights of Joseph’s daughters. Both women sought to clarify the secret succession arrangement of 1703 and to persuade Charles to establish a public order of succession. In 1719, Eleonore also helped her niece Maria Clementina Sobieska, who was to be detained because of her planned marriage to the Jacobite pretender. She delayed the transmission of the arrest warrant and ultimately supported her niece’s escape to Italy. In her final years, Eleonore increasingly lived like a nun. On 1 January 1720, she suffered a stroke that paralyzed the right side of her body. She received the last rites and bade farewell to her children and grandchildren. Her two daughters-in-law cared for her until her death in Vienna on 19 January 1720. Eleonore was buried in the Imperial Crypt; her heart was placed in the Herzgruft of the Augustinian Church. Her secluded, ascetic life and her political effectiveness made her an unusual figure among the female rulers of her time.