Eleanor of Sicily

Eleanor of Sicily (1325–1375) was Queen of Aragon from 1349 until 1375 as the third wife of King Peter IV.

Eleanor was the daughter of Peter II of Sicily and Elisabeth of Carinthia. She was the second of eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood.

Eleanor married in Valencia 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 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, married Constance of Aragon (Eleanor's stepdaughter). Frederick and Constance had a daughter, Maria, but no sons. Then in 1357 Frederick proposed to transfer the duchies of Athens and Neopatria to Eleanor in return for military help from her husband in Sicily, but was refused.

Eleanor and Peter had four children:

• John I of Aragon (1350–1396), succeeded his father and was father himself of Yolande of Aragon, however he had no male issue so the throne passed to his younger brother
• Martin I of Aragon (1356–1410), succeeded John but had no surviving issue
• Eleanor (1358–1382), who married John I of Castile and was the mother of Ferdinand I of Aragon.
• Alfonso (1362–1364), died young

In 1373 Eleanor's eldest son John married Martha of Armagnac, a calm and conciliatory woman. Eleanor treated Martha as her own daughter.

Upon a royal stay at her home in Empordà, Eleanor made Sibila of Fortia her lady-in-waiting. This led to an eventful future for the girl.

In Lérida 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.

• Hulme, Edward Maslin (1915). The Renaissance, The Protestant Revolution and the Catholic Reformation in Continental Europe. The Century Co.
• Jaspert, Nikolas (2019). "Testaments, Burials and Bequests. Tracing the 'Franciscanism' of Aragonese Queens and Princesses".In Jaspert, Nikolas; Just, Imke (eds.). Queens, Princesses and Mendicants: Close Relations in a European Perspective. LIT Verlag.