However, Maria now also wished to see her mother despite her brother’s attempt to persuade her. She had renounced all possibilities of a marriage, forcing her brother to make another decision. She “decided to remain single and in the kingdom, in the midst of her friends, her books and the poor, devoting herself from now on to the sciences and arts, to charitable works and religious care.”1
At last, in April 1557, he decided to let Maria join her mother in Castile. Eleanor’s brother, Charles V, wrote letters of thanks to King John and Queen Catherine and shared the good news with Eleanor. Her departure was announced for 15 June, but then King John died suddenly. Maria changed her mind and refused to leave Portugal. The new King was Maria’s great-nephew, King Sebastian I, who was just three years old.
Eleanor was hurt and confused by Maria’s change of heart, but Maria wrote back that she feared that King John’s death would mean that she would not be allowed to return to Portugal and that she might face financial difficulties in Castile. However, she offered to spend several days with her mother on a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe. It seemed like any permanent move was entirely off the table. Time passed as Maria refused to travel in the winter, and Eleanor offered to travel to Badajoz, which was not far from the border. Finally, at the end of 1557, Eleanor set off towards Badajoz with her sister Mary.
Eleanor and Mary arrived first, on 23 December 1557, and she waited anxiously for Maria to arrive. She finally arrived on 18 January 1558. One chronicler wrote, “It is not easy to describe the tears of joy that were shed on both sides: the Queen of France (Eleanor) admiring her daughter, and the Queen of Hungary (Mary) admiring her niece, who by her presence and appearance was dignified, serious in her words and modest with the natural grace and pleasantness of her person; the Queen of Hungary was spellbound, even though she lacked the bond of blood.”2
The festivities of the reunion lasted for 20 days while Eleanor tried to convince her daughter to come live in Castile with her. It was written that “she wanted nothing more in this life than to be comforted by her company.”3 Nevertheless, Maria remained steadfast in her determination to return to Portugal. On 7 February 1558, Maria left Badajoz and returned to Portugal.
Deeply upset at being separated from her daughter again, Eleanor set off to Guadalajara a few days later with Mary. Just a little while later, she was forced to stop at Talaveruela after a severe asthma attack. She became ill with a high fever and violent cough. She died on 18 February as her brother Charles arrived just in time to say goodbye. She had remained lucid until the end and asked to be buried in a modest ceremony.
Maria only learned of her mother’s death upon her return to Lisbon. She was to be her mother’s universal heir, which made her immensely wealthy. Eleanor was followed in death by her brother Charles on 21 September 1558 and her sister Mary on 18 October 1558.
Maria established her own literary salon at the Portuguese court, filling it with learned women. She actively promoted their writings and the building of several churches.
Pierre de Bourdeille later wrote about her, “I saw the Infanta of Portugal, daughter of the late Queen Eleanor, in the same resolution; died a girl and virgin at the age of sixty or more. This was not for lack of greatness, for she was great in every way; nor for lack of possessions, for she had plenty of them, even in France […] nor for lack of natural gifts, for I saw her in Lisbon at the age of forty-five, a very beautiful and agreeable girl, of good grace and good looks, gentle, pleasant, and well deserving of a husband in every way. Courteous even to us French. I can say this because I had the honour of talking to her often and privately.”4
Maria became ill in July 1577 and wrote her will. She died of tuberculosis on 10 October 1577. She was 56 years old.
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