Eleonore von Schwarzenberg

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Maximilian Hannel: Princess Eleonore Amalia with her son Joseph Adam, oil on canvas, around 1727

Princess Eleonore Elisabeth Amalia Magdalena von Lobkowitz (born June 20, 1682 in Vienna ; † May 5, 1741 in Palais Schwarzenberg in Vienna) was a member of the House of Lobkowitz and by marriage was Princess zu Schwarzenberg .

Life

Eleonore Amalia was born in Vienna and not, as is often wrongly stated, in Mělník and was baptized in St. Michael's Church. A certified copy of the baptismal register is kept in the Třeboň State Regional Archives (SOA Třeboň). She was the daughter of Prince Ferdinand August von Lobkowitz (1655–1715), Duke of Sagan , and his second wife, Margravine Maria Anna Wilhelmine of Baden-Baden (1655–1701), daughter of Margrave Wilhelm and his second wife, the Countess Maria Magdalena von Oettingen-Baldern .

On December 13, 1701, Princess Eleonore Amalia married the Hereditary Prince (from 1690) Adam Franz Karl Eusebius zu Schwarzenberg (1680–1732), later 3rd Prince of Schwarzenberg (from 1703) and 8th Duke of Krumau (from 1723), the second-born son of Prince Ferdinand Wilhelm Eusebius and Countess Maria Anna von Sulz. Married life was difficult from the start; since 1710 it was marked by a marriage crisis that lasted almost twelve years, while Eleanor Amalia was banished from Vienna by her husband. She spent the first year of separation with her father on trips and in his castles in the empire and in Bohemia. Afterwards Adam Franz answered their requests to accommodate them at least on one of his estates. For the summer of 1711 he assigned her the Chřešťovice chateau , from autumn 1711 the Frauenberg chateau . The reason for the banishment was alleged infidelity of the princess. The actual cause was probably that Adam Franz's marriage to Eleonore Amalia was forced by his father. Adam Franz had as crown prince during his Grand Tour met in Rome Maria Karoline Countess Althann and given her a promise of marriage without parental consent. The father had the secret engagement declared invalid; it was dissolved in July 1701, shortly before the engagement to Eleonore Amalia. Further motives were far more prosaic: Of the contractually guaranteed dowry of the Lobkowitz princess of 20,000 guilders, only 3,000 guilders were transferred to her husband during her father's lifetime. The princess had to take legal action to force the payment. After she had successfully arranged the wedding of her daughter Maria Anna, Adam Franz allowed her to move to the new main residence of Schwarzenberg, Krumau Castle , which he had just inherited , and the relationship between the princely couple gradually improved. According to legend, the couple reconciled after a chance meeting in Prague's St. Vitus Cathedral at the grave of John Nepomuk , who has since been considered the patron saint of the Schwarzenberg family. The reconciliation was sealed with the birth of the first and only male offspring.

Her husband died after 31 years of marriage in a hunting accident while hunting deer on the imperial estates near Brandeis on the Elbe . Emperor Charles VI gave the fatal shot . in whose line of fire the prince had gotten. After the death of her husband, the emperor took Eleonore's son to Vienna and paid the widow a princely maintenance of 5,000 guilders a year.

Princess Eleonore Amalia died on May 5, 1741 in the Schwarzenberg Residence in Vienna. Franz von Gerstorff, the personal physician of Emperor Charles VI, applied for an autopsy . Based on the autopsy report, there are indications of metastatic, cystic ovarian cancer. At her express request, recorded in the will of April 28, 1741, her body was not buried in the Schwarzenberg family grave in the Vienna Augustinian Church , but in the St. Nepomuks Chapel in the St. Vitus Church in Krumau , her innards were buried transferred to the Augustinian Church in Třeboň and her heart is buried next to that of her husband in the Nepomuk Chapel in the St. Vitus Church in Krumlov.

family

The marriage had two children:

⚭ 1741 Princess Maria Theresia von und zu Liechtenstein (1721–1753)

Names in different phases of life

  • 1682–1701 Princess of Lobkowitz
  • 1701–1703 Hereditary Princess of Schwarzenberg
  • 1703–1732 Princess of Schwarzenberg; Duchess of Krummau and Countess von Sulz
  • 1732–1741 Princess widow of Schwarzenberg

Others

In 2007 the Austrian documentary Die Vampirprinzessin tried to collect evidence for the theses that Princess Eleonore Amalia was taken for a vampire during her lifetime and served as the namesake for Gottfried August Bürger's ballad Lenore and as one of the sources of inspiration for Bram Stoker's novel Dracula .

literature

  • Karl Fürst von Schwarzenberg: History of the Imperial House of Schwarzenberg. Degener, Neustadt an der Aisch 1963.

Web links

Commons : Eleonore von Schwarzenberg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kristina Swiderová: Adam František a Eleonora Amálie ze Schwarzenberku. Příčiny a průběh jejich manželské krize v letech 1710–1722 ("Adam Franz and Eleonore Amalia von Schwarzenberg. Causes and course of their marital crisis in the years 1710–1722"). In: Theatrum Historiae. 9, 2011, p. 359.
  2. ↑ The Imperial Hunt. In: lobkowitz.de. Retrieved April 10, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Václav Grub Hoffer: Pod závojem smrti: Poslední věci Schwarzenbergů v letech 1732-1914. České Budějovice, 2013, pp. 181–182.
  4. ↑ Alan G. Freer: Saxony 2. Karl I Zähringen. In: william1.co.uk. Retrieved April 10, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Eleonore von Schwarzenberg
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lobkowitz, Eleonore Elisabeth Amalia Magdalena von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Member of the Bohemian House of Lobkowitz
DATE OF BIRTH June 20, 1682
PLACE OF BIRTH Mělník Castle
DATE OF DEATH May 5, 1741
Place of death Vienna