Eleonora of Austria , widow of the King of Portugal, second wife of Francis I , was really an instrument of negotiation for his brother Charles Quint and of revenge for the King of France. During the seventeen years of her life as a wife and French queen, this sister of the enemy will feel the animosity of the king and his sons. Rejected because she was a foreigner, she would return to her country on the death of her husband and would be "erased" from the memory of the French, not even being admitted to the basilica of Saint Denis!
The Youth of Eleanor of Austria
Eléonore, first child of Philippe le Beau and Jeanne la Folle, was born on November 15, 1498 in Louvain, obtaining her surname from her grandfather Maximilian of Austria, her godmother being Margaret of York, the widow of Charles the Bold. Eighteen months later, his brother Charles de Gand, the future Charles V, was born and on the death of their parents, they were entrusted to Margaret of Austria, their aunt.
Smiling, cheerful young girl, horsewoman and expert hunter, she learned music, painting and letters. Her simple tastes, her modesty and her feelings make her "a fool without ambitions". At the age of eighteen, she fell in love with a younger brother without fortune, Prince Palatine Frederick, son of Philip of Bavaria; Charles Quint does not want it and looks for a "correct" suitor, at least a king ... of France, England or Poland, thus dismissing the Duke of Lorraine, the King of Denmark and that of Navarre.
Queen of Portugal
He finally opts for the King of Portugal, Manuel I, born in 1469, ugly, old, hunchbacked, and widowed for the second time. Eléonore was offered to her in 1517 and in September, she left Flanders accompanied by her brother, for a long journey strewn with pitfalls:burning of ships, storm, crossing from Asturias to Madrid which is an arid and desolate country. On July 13, 1518, considered "a masterpiece, so wise, joyful, honest and kind in all things", she married by proxy Emmanuel the Fortunate, became Queen of Portugal for three years, and had a dead boy. young and a little Maria whom the Portuguese will want to marry at their convenience.
When the king died in 1521, she left Portugal to join Charles V in Spain. Promised to Charles de Bourbon, provided that he manages to recover Provence or part of Italy, Charles V hesitates all the same. Bourbon is a traitor since he went to the service of Spain. We do not know exactly what the young woman thinks of it, but it is certain that she was not in favor of it.
Eléonore, Queen of France
In 1525, Francis I was imprisoned in Spain and signed a pact to be freed:among other things, he would marry Eléonore (raving her from Bourbon!). Charles V accepts (it is better to hold on than to run), but Eléonore would remain in Spain with the royal children, until all the terms of the agreement are carried out, among other things the donation of French provinces. Eléonore and François I met during the latter's illness, and was even happy to hear that the Treaty of Madrid "gave her" to the King of France.
A promise of marriage is therefore signed on January 19, 1526, the future spouses have the right to correspond and find each other for the parties given in their honor, but everyone remains on their guard. Eléonore is sincere, has a real affection for the King of France but is torn between the two men:she takes care of the future Philippe II (child of her brother) and tries to ease the conditions of captivity for the children of François Ier
After the Treaty of the Ladies signed in 1529, Eléonore becomes the new queen, but finds herself in a bizarre situation:sister of the enemy, not really honest pledge of friendship, some kind of instrument for his brother. She finally joined her husband in 1530, accompanying the little hostages, but it was Cardinal de Tournon who welcomed her on July 1...the king, waiting in Bordeaux, only came to meet her on July 4.
Testimonials in favor of Eléonore are numerous "she was the happiest lady we ever saw". Pretty, she is blonde with dark eyes, still fresh despite her thirty-two years, dressed in dark velvet, she adopts a white dress and a triple necklace of pearls, rubies and diamonds around her neck. Despite everything, she has the Habsburg lower lip that is too strong and Brantôme adds “under the body of a giantess, pulling down, she looked like a dwarf, she had such short thighs and legs”! Finally, on July 6, the king can kiss his children, greet the queen and go to bed, because the next day is the wedding and the exchange of consents.
A neglected stranger
They take the road to go up to Saint Denis for the coronation of the queen on March 5. Arrived fifteen days late, she received as a gift from the city, a pair of candlesticks surmounted by a phoenix with her motto "unica semper avis", a bird which is reborn from its ashes, a symbol of her double royalty and her faithful love. . She triumphs...but will quickly be dismissed, as her aunt Margaret of Austria had warned her "it is necessary that she behaves by the will of the King, that she does according to his wishes...she will have more by gentleness only by pressing it too much”. Softness and docility!
She therefore expects consideration from the king...but she is quickly disappointed, even hurt:Francis I displays his titled mistress, which he had not done to Claudius. He shows her no affection, is not ready to give her a child (he already has one and does not want a half-brother for his sons). This marriage is part of the treaty that had to be obtained, the king has a big grudge for Charles V, and cannot forgive:Eléonore is the sister of his enemy!
Furthermore, she is shy, reserved, and the king prefers strong women. A maternity would have given her a place with the king, but he does not want it, she will not have one. She goes to her "stepchildren" but receives the coldest reception:Henri has still not forgiven him either. Only François shows her a bit of kindness:Eléonore is a stranger!
Louise of Savoy is already dead, there remains Marguerite her sister-in-law, with whom she had made a little friendship in Spain during the detention of Francis I. But Marguerite had just married Henri d'Albret in 1527 and returned to Navarre. Of a superior intelligence to Eléonore, they do not have the same culture, nor the same ambitions:there is a gap between the two ladies.
An instrument of parade
At court, clans are formed around the royal mistress, but not around the queen! She is therefore confined to her parade role, following the king on the move, without difficulty being in good health, taking her place in the ceremonies, not always as Queen of France, but:as the sister of Charles V !
However, she will not succeed in reconciling these two sovereigns! It was not for lack of trying in 1532 when she called on her sister Marie, widow of the King of Hungary, or again in 1535 during the interviews at Cambrai. And when the war resumed in 1536, Eléonore took it as a personal failure, especially since on this occasion the Dauphin François caught cold and died:Charles V was accused of murder. She resumed her role as intermediary in 1538-1539 for the negotiations between the two sovereigns and Pope Paul III in order to put an end to the wars in Italy...it was a waste of time! These two men will never be able to reconcile, it's mission impossible!
His services were still needed in 1544 after the signing of the Treaty of Cléry-en-Lannois to lead an important delegation (the young Duke of Orléans, the Duchess of Etampes) at the festivities in the Netherlands.
His departure after the death of Francis I
Then the drama happened:François I died in March 1547. Warned two days later, Eléonore the sincerely cries, even if some ambassadors take her tears for "property". Good and pious, she had been his wife for seventeen years! No one liking her, rejected, Eléonore could no longer stay in France. She returns the crown jewels (as is customary), Henry II offers her financial compensation (as is also customary), but no ceremonies, no farewells, no escort to leave the country towards Brussels where she arrived in December 1548.
She ends her life as a dowager, among her own (her sister, her nephew Philip, Maximilian II). In 1556, when Charles V abdicated and ceded the throne to his son, Eléonore and her sister accompanied him and settled not far from his retirement at the monastery of Yuste, in Spain. It was on returning from her meeting with her daughter Maria, on the Portuguese border, that she had a violent asthma attack, so much so that she died in mid-February 1558, shortly before her brother. , who will have a funerary monument erected for him in the Escorial.
Eléonore never felt at home in France, as Anne of Austria would experience it a few years later...except that Anne would have children! Eléonore was not so lucky! Worse:she will not be installed in Saint Denis with François I! Eléonore is truly a rejected queen, almost "erased" from the memory of the French!
The Queens of France in the Time of the Valois, Volume 1:The Beautiful Sixteenth Century, by Simone Bertière. Paperback, 1996.