by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Princess Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua was the second wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia. Born on September 23, 1598, in Mantua, Duchy of Mantua, now in Lombardy, Italy, she was the youngest of the six children and the younger of the two daughters of Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Duke of Montferrat and his second wife and first cousin Eleonora de’ Medici. Eleonora was named Eleonora Anna Maria for her mother and two maternal aunts Anna de’ Medici (who died in 1584 aged 14) and Marie de’ Medici, the future Queen Consort of France. Eleonora’s paternal grandparents were Guglielmo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, and Archduchess Eleanor of Austria, the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her maternal grandparents were Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his first wife Joanna of Austria, also the daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor.

Eleonora had five elder siblings:

• Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Duke of Montferrat (1586 – 1612), married Margaret of Savoy, had two daughters and one son, only one daughter survived childhood
• Ferdinando I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Duke of Montferrat (1587 – 1626), married Caterina de’ Medici, no children
• Guglielmo Gonzaga (1589 – 1591), died in early childhood
• Margherita Gonzaga (1591 – 1632), married Henri II, Duke of Lorraine, had four daughters, only two survived childhood
• Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Marquess of Montferrat (1594 – 1627), married Isabella Gonzaga di Novellara, no children

Eleonora grew up at the ducal court in Mantua, one of the centers of European culture and science. When she was ten, her education was entrusted to her paternal aunt Margherita Gonzaga, Dowager Duchess of Ferrara and Modena who ensured her niece was well-educated, learning foreign languages, history, music, and painting.

After being widowed for six years, 44-year-old Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor arranged to marry Eleanora, his 24-year-old first cousin once removed. A marriage contract was signed on November 21, 1621, and on the same day, a proxy marriage was held in the Basilica Palatina di Santa Barbara at the Ducal Palace in Mantua. The couple was married in person on February 2, 1622, in Innsbruck, Duchy of Austria, now in Austria.

Despite their twenty-year age difference, Eleonora and Ferdinand II had a happy marriage. Like her husband, she was deeply religious and a strong supporter of the Counter-Reformation, the reaction of the Roman Catholic Church to the Protestant Reformation. After arriving in Vienna, Eleonora worked on learning the German language and hired the servants of Ferdinand II’s first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, sending most of her servants from home back to Mantua. Eleonora was not interested in politics but she tried to be a good Empress for her subjects. She often accompanied her husband to meetings with the imperial electors and the heads of state of the constituent members of the Holy Roman Empire. Eleonora and Ferdinand had no children, but Eleonora had a close relationship with her stepchildren.

Eleonora’s stepchildren, the four surviving children out of the seven children of Ferdinand II and his first wife and first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria:

• Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (1608 – 1657), married (1) his first cousin Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, had six children (2) Maria Leopoldine of Austria, had one son (3) Eleonora Gonzaga, had four children
• Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1610 – 1665), married her uncle Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, had two sons
• Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (1611 – 1644), married Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, had two children
• Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614 – 1662), unmarried

On February 15, 1637, at the age of fifty-eight, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor died in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now Austria. He was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (link in German) which he had built next to the Graz Cathedral, with his first wife Maria Anna of Bavaria, and his son Johann Karl, who died in his teens.

At first, Eleonora lived in Graz Castle near her husband’s mausoleum but then she settled in Vienna, living mostly at the Discalced Carmelites Monastery she had founded in 1622. Eleonora spent part of her time in the palaces outside Vienna, especially Schönbrunn Palace where she influenced the landscaping’s Italian baroque style. She lived a pious life and returned the jewelry she received from her husband during their marriage to the treasury of the House of Habsburg.

In 1651, Eleonora’s great-niece and namesake Eleonora Gonzaga, nicknamed “the Younger”, became the third wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, the son and heir of Ferdinand II. Eleonora amended her will and named her great-niece as her main heir. In addition, she left considerable amounts for charity and memorial services.

Eleonora, Dowager Holy Roman Empress died, aged fifty-six, in Vienna on June 27, 1655. She was buried in Vienna at the Discalced Carmelites Monastery she had founded. Her heart was placed next to the tomb of her husband Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II in Graz. In 1782, Eleonora’s remains were reinterred in the Ducal Crypt at St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.

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Works Cited

• Eleonora Gonzaga (1598–1655) (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonora_Gonzaga_(1598%E2%80%931655) (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
• Eleonora Gonzaga (2023) Wikipedia (Italian). Available at: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonora_Gonzaga (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-ii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
• Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/matthias-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-archduke-of-further-austria-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
• Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincenzo_Gonzaga,_Duke_of_Mantua (Accessed: 23 June 2023).
• Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
• Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.