Eleonora Gonzaga was Holy Roman as the wife of Emperor Ferdinand III.
Background
She was a daughter of Charles Gonzaga (1609–1631) and his wife and cousin Maria Gonzaga, heiress to the Duchy of Mantua. Her father was a son and co-ruler of Charles I, Duke of Mantua but predeceased his father. Catherine of Mayenne was a daughter of Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne and Henriette of Savoy, Marquise de Villars.
Career
Foreign other women of the same name, see Eleanor Gonzaga (disambiguation) Her paternal grandmother was Catherine of Mayenne. Her maternal grandparents were Francesco IV Gonzaga and Margaret of Savoy. Margaret was a daughter of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy and Catherine Michelle of Spain.
Catherine Michelle was in turn the second and last daughter of Philip II of Spain and Elisabeth of Valois.
Eleanor is described as cultivated and religious. She continued to play a very important part of the court also as a Dowager after 1657, was active as a patron of culture, arranging ballets and festivals.
She had the imperial palace, the Hofburg, expanded. She was also active in religion and founded several convents, such as an Ursuline convent in Vienna (1663).
She founded the orders Sklavinnen der Tugend for noble ladies (1662) and served as Grand Mistress of the Sternkreuzorden, the "Order of the Starry Cross" (1668).