Eleanor of Sicily (1325–1375) was

Queen of Aragon This is a list of the kings and queens of Aragon. The Kingdom of Aragon was created sometime between 950 and 1035 when the County of Aragon, which had been acquired by the Kingdom of Navarre in the tenth century, was separated from Navarre ...

from 1349 until 1375 as the third wife of King Peter IV.

Early life

Eleanor was the daughter of

Peter II of Sicily Peter II (1304 – 8 August 1342) was the King of Sicily from 1337 until his death, although he was associated with his father as co-ruler from 1321. Peter's father was Frederick III of Sicily and his mother was Eleanor, a daughter of Charles II of ...

and

Elisabeth of Carinthia Elizabeth of Carinthia (1298–1352) was Queen of Sicily by marriage to Peter II of Sicily. She was the regent of Sicily during the minority of her son Louis, King of Sicily from 1348 until her death in 1352. The daughter of the Otto, the penu ...

. She was the second of eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood.

Queen of Aragon

Eleanor married in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

on 27 August 1349 to Peter IV of Aragon, on the condition that he renounce all rights to any Sicilian Crown. He was twice-widowed, had two surviving daughters: Constance and

Joanna Joanna is a feminine given name deriving from from he, יוֹחָנָה, translit=Yôḥānāh, lit=God is gracious. Variants in English include Joan, Joann, Joanne, and Johanna. Other forms of the name in English are Jan, Jane, Janet, Janice ...

but no surviving sons. Eleanor became a powerful influence at the Aragonese court, replacing Bernardo de Cabrera as Peter's chief adviser. Eleanor's brother

Frederick III the Simple Frederick III (or IV) (1 September 1341 – Messina 27 July 1377Setton, Kenneth M. (1975) "iarchive:AHistoryOfTheCrusades14th15thC, Volume III: The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries", Edited by Harry W. Hazzard, page 214.), called the Simple, ...

, married

Constance of Aragon Constance of Aragon (1179 – 23 June 1222) was an Aragonese infanta who was by marriage firstly Queen of Hungary, and secondly Queen of Germany and Sicily and Holy Roman Empress. She was regent of Sicily from 1212 to 1220. She was the second c ...

(Eleanor's stepdaughter). Frederick and Constance had a daughter,

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

, but no sons. Then in 1357 Frederick proposed to transfer the duchies of

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and

Neopatria The Duchy of Neopatras ( ca, Ducat de Neopàtria; scn, Ducatu di Neopatria; gr, Δουκάτο Νέων Πατρών; la, Ducatus Neopatriae) was a principality in southern Thessaly, established in 1319. Officially part of the Kingdom of Sici ...

to Eleanor in return for military help from her husband in Sicily, but was refused. In 1373 Eleanor's eldest son John married

Martha of Armagnac Martha of Armagnac (after 18 February 1347 – 23 October 1378) was the youngest child of John I, Count of Armagnac, and his second wife Beatrice of Clermont. She was the first wife of John I of Aragon but never became Queen of Aragon because she ...

, a calm and conciliatory woman. Eleanor treated Martha as her own daughter. Upon a stay at her home in

Empordà Emporda (from the official name in ca, Empordà, , name in es, Ampurdán, ) is a natural and historical region of Catalonia, Spain, divided since 1936 into two ''comarques'', Alt Empordà and Baix Empordà. The city of Figueres, an important ...

, Eleanor made Sibila of Fortia her lady-in-waiting; she eventually married Eleanor's widower.

Death

Lérida Lleida (, ; Spanish: Lérida ) is a city in the west of Catalonia, Spain. It is the capital city of the province of Lleida. Geographically, it is located in the Catalan Central Depression. It is also the capital city of the Segrià comarca, as ...

on 20 April 1375, Eleanor died leaving her husband a widower and her three surviving children. Her husband remarried to Sibila, a girl that was over thirty years his junior. Most of the family, including Eleanor's children, came into conflict with Sibila.

Issue

Eleanor and Peter had four children: *

John I of Aragon John I (27 December 1350 – 19 May 1396), called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance, but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of Aragon from 1387 until his death. Biography John was the eldest son of Peter IV and his third ...

(1350–1396), succeeded his father and was father himself of

Yolande of Aragon Yolande of Aragon (11 August 1384 – 14 November 1442) was Duchess of Anjou and Countess of Provence by marriage, who acted as regent of Provence during the minority of her son. She was a daughter of John I of Aragon and his wife Violant ...

, however he had no male issue so the throne passed to his younger brother *

Martin I of Aragon Martin the Humane (29 July 1356 – 31 May 1410), also called the Elder and the Ecclesiastic, was King of Aragon, Valencia, Sardinia and Corsica and Count of Barcelona from 1396 and King of Sicily from 1409 (as Martin II). He failed to secure the ...

(1356–1410), succeeded John but had no surviving issue *

Eleanor Eleanor () is a feminine given name, originally from an Old French adaptation of the Old Provençal name ''Aliénor''. It is the name of a number of women of royalty and nobility in western Europe during the High Middle Ages. The name was introd ...

(1358–1382), who married

John I of Castile John I ( es, Juan I; 24 August 1358 – 9 October 1390) was King of Castile and León from 1379 until 1390. He was the son of Henry II and of his wife Juana Manuel of Castile. Biography His first marriage, to Eleanor of Aragon on 18 June 137 ...

and was the mother of

Ferdinand I of Aragon Ferdinand I (Spanish: ''Fernando I''; 27 November 1380 – 2 April 1416 in Igualada, Òdena) named Ferdinand of Antequera and also the Just (or the Honest) was king of Aragon, Valencia, Majorca, Sardinia and (nominal) Corsica and king of Sic ...

. * Alfonso (1362–1364), died young

References

Sources

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External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eleanor Of Sicily 1325 births 1375 deaths House of Aragon House of Barcelona (Sicily) Aragonese queen consorts Countesses of Barcelona Majorcan queens consort 14th-century Sicilian people 14th-century Italian women People of Byzantine descent Burials at the Poblet Monastery Daughters of kings