page_title: Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg
section_title: Regency
hierarchical_section_title: Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg / Empress Mother / Regency
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Originalurkunde des Friedens von Sathmar, unterzeichnet am 1. Mai 1711
context_page_description: Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg was a Holy Roman Empress, German Queen, Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia as the third and last wife of Leopold I. Before her marriage and during her widowhood, she led an ascetic and monastic life, during when translated the Bible from Latin to German and defended the Order of the Discalced Carmelites. Reputed to be one of the most educated and virtuous women of her time, Eleanore took part in the political affairs during the reign of her husband and sons, especially regarding court revenue and foreign relationships. She served as regent for a few months in 1711, period in which she signed the Treaty of Szatmár, which recognized the rights of her descendants to the Hungarian throne.
context_section_description: In 1711, Emperor Joseph I died, and was succeeded as ruler of the Habsburg lands by his younger brother Charles, at that point absent in Spain. Eleonore was invested as Interim Regent of the Habsburg lands by the privy conference while Charles traveled from Barcelona to Vienna. As such, she was supported by her daughters. Despite his mother's political capacity, Charles had no confidence in her rule because of her emotional instability and ordered his confidant chancellor Count John Wenceslau Wratislaw von Mitrowitz to report to him about her rule, which placed him in conflict with Eleonore. The only known hostile acts the Empress Regent made were the confiscation of the gifts Joseph I had given to Marianne Pálffy, the order towards her late son's mistress to marry if she didn't wish to be expelled from court for good, and firing Feldmarschall Johann Graf Pálffy von Ungarn, brother of the former mistress, who was at that point negotiating the peace with Hungary after the Rákóczi Rebellion. His colleagues, however, persuaded Eleanore to restore him in his posts.
  Despite those actions, Eleanore's regency was considerably successful. After negotiations were completed, she signed the Treaty of Szatmár, which recognized the rule of the House of Habsburg in the Kingdom of Hungary. She congratulated the successful diplomat Alexander Károlyi by appointing him as general. There was a fear among the ministers that she would use her position to defend the rights of her brother, the Elector Palatine, to the Upper Palatinate in a time when the interests of Austria would be better benefited by sacrificing his lands to Bavaria, who claimed it. Despite those fears, the Empress Regent presided over the congress to determine the succession of a new Emperor and favoured the election of her son Charles as Emperor.
caption: Treaty of Szatmár's contractual document, Austrian National Archives.
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