Eleanor of Aragon

Eleanor of Aragon (in Portuguese : Leonor, infanta de Aragão ) (* 1402 , † February 19, 1445 in Toledo ) was a princess of Aragon (Aragón) and queen and later regent of Portugal .

Life

Eleanor of Aragon was born to King Ferdinand I of Aragon and Eleanor Urraca of Castile , Countess of Albuquerque . She had six siblings, including the Aragonese kings Alfonso V and John II.

On September 22nd, 1428 Eleanor married the Portuguese heir to the throne Edward and brought the enormous sum of 200,000 gold florins into the marriage as a dowry . When the Crown Prince ascended the Portuguese throne as Edward I in 1433 , his wife became Queen of Portugal (as a wife, not as regent in her own right).

In his will, Eduard, who died of the plague in September 1438, had appointed his wife Eleonore to be regent for his underage son Alfonso (V). In addition, at the time of her husband's death, Eleanor had four other minor children and was expecting one more, her daughter Johanna, who was born the following year. However, the queen widow was inexperienced in government matters and as an Aragonese, i.e. foreigner, was unpopular with the Portuguese nobility, who were afraid of too great an influence from the Aragonese royal dynasty. This was followed by a regency dispute with Edward's brother Peter, Duke of Coimbra , with whom Eleanor had to share power in 1439. She was only allowed to raise her children and control the royal income, but did not accept her loss of power and almost sparked a civil war. But the Infante Peter retained the upper hand and was eventually appointed sole regent by the Cortes. Eleonore was deported to a widow's seat with her young daughters, while her two sons were cared for by her brother-in-law, the regent Peter. In 1440 she renewed the power struggle, but could not compete militarily with Peter and had to go into exile in Castile. She died in Toledo in 1445. There were rumors that she had been poisoned; The Portuguese regent and later the ambitious Connetable of Castile, Don Álvarez de Luna , were suspected of being the masterminds .

progeny

• Johann (* 1429; † 1433)
• Philippa (27 November 1430 - 24 March 1439). She died of the plague.
• Alfonso V (January 15, 1432 - August 28, 1481); Heir to the throne
• Maria (7 December 1432 - 8 December 1432)
• Ferdinand (November 17, 1433 - September 18, 1470), second Duke of Viseu
• Eduard (July 12, 1435 - July 12, 1435)
• Eleonore Helena (* probably September 8 or 18, 1436; † September 3, 1467), she married the Roman-German Emperor Friedrich III in 1452 .
• Katharina (born November 25, 1436 - † June 17, 1463)
• Johanna (* March 20, 1439; † June 13, 1475), she married King Henry IV of Castile in 1455

See also: List of the Queens of Portugal , List of the Kings of Portugal , Portugal under the House of Avis , History of Portugal , Timeline of the History of Portugal .

literature

• Bettina Pferschy-Maleczek: Empress Eleonore. In: Karl Schnith (ed.): Women of the Middle Ages in life pictures. Styria, Graz 1997, ISBN 3-222-12467-1 , p. 423f.

Remarks

1. ^ So Bettina Pferschy-Maleczek, 1997, p. 421.

predecessor	Office	Successor
Philippa of England	Queen of Portugal 1433–1438	Isabel of Portugal

predecessor	Office	successor
Edward I.	Regent of Portugal 1438–1439	Peter of Portugal