Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg
1655 – 1720 · Generation XIV · Consort
Eleonore Magdalene (1655 – 1720). Consort. Married Leopold in 1676. Third wife of Leopold I; mother of Joseph I and Charles VI. The eldest of seventeen children of Philip William of Neuburg, she was raised in fervent, even self-punishing piety, mastered Latin, French and Italian, and longed to become a Carmelite nun; she turned down five royal suitors, among them James, Duke of York. Leopold chose her partly for her family’s reputed fertility, and she accepted only at her parents’ insistence, marrying him at Passau in December 1676 and receiving the Wittelsbach Diamond as a wedding gift. Six of her ten children reached adulthood. She wielded real influence: she reportedly opened state papers while her husband waited, translated French documents for him, cut court expenses and advanced favoured ministers. Widowed in 1705, she wore mourning for the rest of her life. When Joseph I died in 1711 she governed as interim regent until Charles could return from Spain, and in that time signed the Treaty of Szatmár, securing Habsburg rule in Hungary.
Place in the family
- Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg was a grandmother of Maria Theresa.
- The archive records 27 of her descendants, across 11 generations.
Partners
- Married Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 – 1705) in 1676 — 3 children together
Children
- Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678 – 1711)
- Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1685 – 1740)
- Maria Anna of Austria (1683 – 1754)
Life
- 1655 — Born
- 1676 — Married Leopold
- 1720 — Died