Eleanor de' Medici | |||||
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Duchess consort of Mantua and Montferrat | |||||
Portrait of Eleonora de' Medici
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Duchess of Mantua and Montferrat | |||||
Reign | 14 August 1587 – 9 September 1611 | ||||
Born |
Florence, Italy |
28 February 1567||||
Died | 9 September 1611 Cavriana, Italy |
(aged 44)||||
Spouse | Vincenzo I Gonzaga | ||||
Issue |
Francesco IV, Duke of Mantua Ferdinando I, Duke of Mantua Margherita, Duchess of Lorraine Vincenzo II, Duke of Mantua Eleonora, Holy Roman Empress |
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House | Medici | ||||
Father | Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany | ||||
Mother | Joanna of Austria |
Full name | |
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Eleonora di Francesco de' Medici |
Eleonor de' Medici (28 February 1567 – 9 September 1611) was a daughter of Francesco I de' Medici and Joanna of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and Anna of Bohemia and Hungary. She was a family member of the famous House of Medici and the sister of Marie de' Medici the Queen of France. By marriage she was Duchess consort of Mantua.
Eleanor, born Eleonora, was born in Florence, Tuscany, Italy, on 28 February 1567, as the eldest child of Francesco I de' Medici and his first wife Archduchess Joanna. Her baptism took place the same year and was attended by Cardinal Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte an adoptive nephew of Pope Julius III. Cardinal Spinello de' Benci performed the ceremony on behalf of Pope Pius V. The baptism was celebrated also with hunting excursions and parties.
It was at first believed Eleanor would marry Francis, Duke of Anjou, son of Henry II of France and Catherine de' Medici. In 1570 it was feared Eleanor had contracted smallpox but this was not the case, she had only a fever from which she recovered. Her parents and grandfather Cosimo sent her flasks of holy water as she recovered from her illness.