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Archduchess Eleanor of Austria

Vienna, 12 Nov 1534 – Mantua, 5 Aug 1594

9 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 12 Nov 1534

    Born in Vienna

  2. 1562–1566

    2 children are born

  3. 5 Aug 1594

    Dies in Mantua, aged 59

Family

See the tree

Parents

Partner

Children · 2

During her lifetime

She lived through 7 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Vienna.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1530s · Archduchess is born in Vienna

In the news1539

Record of food prices in Linz

By 1539, the price of food was recorded in Linz as 5 pfennigs for a pound of beef and 4 pfennigs for a pound of mutton.

Getting around

Fast travel via river boats

Travelers used rivers for faster journeys, covering up to 150 kilometers in 24 hours when moving downstream by boat.

In the news1535

Currency reform introduces the gulden

A currency reform in 1535 introduced the gulden, which was worth 60 kreuzers or 240 pfennigs.

Daily life

Fetching water daily

Water was scarce and had to be fetched from distant public fountains or wells, as only few houses had their own water supply.

What people wore

Strict dress codes regulated social classes

Common citizens and artisans were legally prohibited from wearing luxury items like velvet, silk, pearls, or gold; their wives were limited to a gold ring worth no more than five or six guilders. Jewish people were forced to wear a yellow ring on their jackets or caps to ensure they were publicly recognizable.

Music

Paying Musicians for Weddings

City wedding regulations in 1489 set specific fees for musicians, such as two guilders for brass and wind players or half a guilder for bagpipers, fiddlers, and drummers. Status often dictated which musicians could be hired for celebrations.

At the table

Staple diet of ordinary people

Ordinary families relied on staples like soup, porridge (made from oats, barley, or legumes), cabbage, turnips, and bread. Meat was a luxury for commoners, reserved primarily for festive occasions like the slaughtering of pigs or geese.