Eleanor of Austria was a German princess and a member of the House of Habsburg.

She was the daughter of Archduke Charles II of Austria, the son of Emperor Ferdinand I

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...

, and Maria Anna of Bavaria. Her elder brother Archduke Ferdinand

Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand II , a member of the House of Habsburg, was Holy Roman Emperor , King of Bohemia , and King of Hungary . His rule coincided with the Thirty Years' War.- Life :...

, succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

 in 1619.

Life

Born in Graz

Graz

The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...

 and like all of her siblings, Eleanor suffered of the famous Habsburg inferior lip

Prognathism

Prognathism is a term used to describe the positional relationship of the mandible and/or maxilla to the skeletal base where either of the jaws protrudes beyond a predetermined imaginary line in the coronal plane of the skull. In general dentistry, oral and maxillofacial surgery and orthodontics...

. She was regarded as intelligent but moody, mainly for her frail health after suffered from smallpox

Smallpox

Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...

 in her childhood.

Together with her sisters Gregoria Maximiliana and Margaret, Eleanor was a prospective bride for the future King Philip III of Spain

Philip III of Spain

Philip III , also known as Philip the Pious, was the King of Spain and King of Portugal and the Algarves, where he ruled as Philip II , from 1598 until his death...

. After the portraits of the three sisters were sent to the Spanish court, Eleanor however wasn't selected. After this, she was involved in marriage projects with several Italian princes, but all were dashed.

Finally, together with her sister Maria Christina (who returned to Austria after her disastrous marriage), in 1607 Eleanor took the veil in the Haller Convent (Haller Damenstift) in Hall in Tirol

Hall in Tirol

Hall in Tirol is a town in the Innsbruck-Land district of Tyrol, Austria. Located at an altitude of 574 m, about 5 km east of the state's capital Innsbruck in the Inn valley, it has a population of about 12,700 .-History:...

, where she died aged thirty-seven, after spent her last years blind. Eleanor was buried in the Haller Jesuit Church (Haller Jesuitenkirche).

Ancestors