Eleonora de Moura

Eleanor de Moura (, ; – 28 November 1706)

Biography Her father was Francisco de Moura Corte Real, 3rd Marquis of Castelo Rodrigo and her mother was Anna Maria Moncada y Aragón. Her father had served as a viceroy of Sardinia and Catalonia, and later as governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. In 1664 Leonor married .

When Eleanor's father died in 1675, she inherited his titles becoming Marquise of Castel Rodrigo and Duchess of Nocera. In 1676 Aniello was named interim Viceroy of Sicily and so the couple moved into Castello a Mare, Palermo. When Aniello died on 18 April 1677, he named his widow his successor in a letter. She was sworn in before the Royal Ministers and quickly passed a large number of progressive reforms: re-establishing the Conservatorio per le Vergini pericolanti (collegium for endangered girls), such as girls (especially orphans) who were vulnerable to exploitation and at risk of prostitution offering a royal dowry so poor girls could marry re-establishing an asylum for older prostitutes establishing the Conservatorio delle Ripentite (Collegium of the Penitents), to help prostitutes who wanted to give up their profession. cutting taxes on men with large families lowering the price of bread establishing the Magistrate of Commerce

Eleanor's actions earned her the opposition of the established power-brokers of Sicily, and they were able to force her out by pointing out that the Viceroy was also the papal legate, a role that could not be fulfilled by a woman; she was dismissed, and a law was passed forbidding the viceroy from passing his role on to his wife.

On 28 February 1680 Eleonora had also given birth to another son from her second marriage, but he died in October of the same year.

When she too died in 1706,

Cultural depictions

Eleanor's story is retold in the 2013 Andrea Camilleri novel The Revolution of the Moon.