Print

Frederick V: marriage
and offspring
Frederick was married to Eleonora of Portugal (1436–
1467; also called Helena), daughter of King Edward of
Portugal and Leonora of Aragon. A major naval power,
Portugal was enjoying a period of prosperity at that
time.
Eleonora came to be considered as a marriage candidate for
Frederick through the connection of her aunt, who was
married to Duke Philip of Burgundy. Although from a material
point of view Frederick represented only a modest catch for a
daughter of a royal dynasty of considerable riches, as ruler of
the Holy Roman Empire he was considered a worthy partner.
The wedding took place in 1452 in Rome, where the couple
were staying for the coronation of Frederick as emperor by
Pope Nicholas V. Eleonora was crowned empress at the side of
her new husband.
Cold reality obtruded once the couple had returned to the
Austrian lands: Frederick’s position in his ancestral dominions
had been more or less eroded, and while as emperor he bore a
sacred and venerable title, he had hardly any means at his
disposal to occupy his lofty position in an appropriate fashion.
The marriage was characterized by the marked differences
between the couple. Frederick was twenty-one years older than
his wife, and with his secretive character and modest court at
the castle in Wiener Neustadt hardly an adequate partner for
the vivacious Portuguese princess, who was used to a
Mediterranean climate and a life of refined luxury. She
combined an engaging manner with a regal appearance, in
complete contrast to her rather eccentric husband. At times
Eleonora felt she had been forced to live among barbarians: in
1466 her travelling party was attacked by robber barons, and
while she herself was unharmed, her baggage was plundered
right down to her underlinen.
Small and slender but energetic, the Portuguese princess
carved out a life for herself without interfering in her husband’s
politics. Despite limited funds she attempted to preserve her
accustomed lifestyle, bringing Mediterranean customs,
including culinary practices, to the court. Her husband
Frederick attributed the early death of some of their children to
her having spoiled them with exotic delicacies, and ordered
spartan fare for their surviving offspring.
The couple had five children:
Their first-born child Christophorus died in infancy.
Maximilian, born in 1459, was their only surviving son.
Eleonora idolized her son and did everything she could to make
him into an ideal antithesis of her unloved husband, and it is to
her that Maximilian owed important influences, particularly his
pronounced sense of outward display and – to use a modern
phrase – high-profile publicity.
A daughter named Helene who died in infancy was followed by
Kunigunde (1465–1520), who closely resembled her mother.
Like the latter she had a pronounced character and was
strong-willed. She briefly figured in an unrealistic scheme of her
father’s as a potential bride for Sultan Mehmed II, who had
conquered Constantinople in 1453: Frederick offered the
imperial princess to the Ottoman sovereign on condition that
he converted to Christianity.
Kunigunde was eventually married to Duke Albrecht IV of
Bavaria in 1487. The marriage was arranged by her brother
Maximilian and Duke Siegmund of Tyrol, who were seeking
rapprochement with Bavaria. Frederick was against this union
but was presented with a fait accompli.
After the death of her husband in 1506 Kunigunde played an
influential role in the conflict over the succession between the
various branches of the Wittelsbach dynasty. Through her
children she was connected to all the major princely families of
the Empire. Her endeavours in the cultural sphere opened the
Bavarian ducal court to the influences of the Renaissance and
humanism. After being widowed she joined a convent of
Franciscan nuns in Munich, where she led a model life of virtue,
dying at the age of fifty-five in 1520.
The last child born to Frederick and Eleonora, a son named
Johann, survived barely a year.
Fragile and not very robust, Eleonora died in 1467, after a long
period of illness, while visiting the thermal springs at Baden for
her health. She was buried in the Cistercian abbey (Neukloster)
in Wiener Neustadt that had been endowed by Frederick and
where her epitaph by Nikolaus Gerhaert van Leyden, a major
work of the late Gothic age, is still preserved today.
Author
Martin Mutschlechner
Literature
Friedrich III. – Kaiserresidenz Wiener Neustadt. Katalog der
Friedrich III. – Kaiserresidenz Wiener Neustadt. Katalog der
Ausstellung in Wiener Neustadt 1966, Wien 1966
Hamann, Brigitte (Hg.): Die Habsburger. Ein biographisches
Lexikon, Wien 1988
Lhotsky, Alphons: Friedrich III., in: Neue Deutsche Biographie 5,
Berlin 1961, S. 484-487
Nehring, Klaus: Matthias Corvinus, Kaiser Friedrich III. und das
Reich, München 1975
Niederstätter, Alois: Das Jahrhundert der Mitte. An der Wende vom
Mittelalter zur Neuzeit (= Österreichische Geschichte 1400–1522,
hg. von Herwig Wolfram), Wien 1996
Vacha, Brigitte (Hg.): Die Habsburger. Eine europäische
Familiengeschichte, Graz 1993
Vocelka, Karl / Heller, Lynne: Die Lebenswelt der Habsburger.
Kultur- und Mentalitätsgeschichte einer Familie, Graz 1997
Vocelka, Karl / Heller, Lynn: Die private Welt der Habsburger,
Wien 1998
Wandruszka, Adam: Das Haus Habsburg. Die Geschichte einer
europäischen Dynastie (5. Aufl.), Wien u. a. 1984