Eleonora di Toledo

Eleonora di Toledo (1522-1562) is credited with being the first modern style first lady, or consort, as we understand the terms today. She achieved this through the high profile role she created for herself in her adopted country. Eleonora di Toledo was a member of the Spanish Aragón family, the daughter of the Viceroy of Naples, Don Pedro Alvarez de Toledo. She became the wife of Cosimo I de' Medici, the ruler of Tuscany, whom she married in 1539.

Consort

Eleonora's high profile in Florence as consort was initially a public relations exercise promoted by her husband whose predecessor as first sovereign Grand Duke Alessandro de' Medici had died without legitimate heirs after years of politically damaging speculation about his sexual irregularities and excesses; Alessandro himself was reputed to have been the son of a black serving woman, his father was the seventeen-year-old Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, later Pope Clement VII, and Clement VII was in turn the illegitimate son of Giuliano de' Medici, who was assassinated in the Pazzi Conspiracy against the Medici. Alessandro became the first sovereign ruler of Tuscany belonging to the house of Medici, but was assassinated in 1543 by another member of the Medici family, Lorenzaccio de Medici, before consolidating his dynasty's strength in Tuscany. The last of the old Medici line, Alessandro bequeathed, to the Medici name, a legacy and reputation of sex, scandal, and murder.

Related Topics:
Alessandro de' Medici - Cardinal - Giulio de' Medici - Pope - Clement VII - Giuliano de' Medici - Pazzi Conspiracy - Medici - Lorenzaccio de Medici

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Alessandro's distantly related successor, Cosimo I, needed to reassure the public of the stability and respectability of not only his family, but the new reign. Thus Eleonora, his attractive, charitable and fertile wife, was brought to the forefront, and the artist Agnolo Bronzino was commissioned to paint one of the first ever state portraits depicting a consort with her child and heir. While the portrait in no way depicts the cosy middle class stability that the British royal family liked to portray in the 19th century, the message is the same: "We are a nice stable normal family — trust us."

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During her marriage, despite her initial unpopularity as a Spaniard, she gained great influence in Florence, she encouraged the arts and was patron to many of the most notable artists of the age. A pious woman, she encouraged the Jesuit order to settle in Florence; she also founded many new churches in the city. She was interested in agriculture and business, helping to expand and increase not only the profitability of the vast Medici estates, but also through her charitable interests the lot of the peasantry. She also supported unhesitatingly her husband and his policies, So great was his trust in her, that in his frequent absences he made her regent, a station almost unheard of for a mere woman at the time, but one which also established her position as more than just a pretty bearer of Medici children.

Related Topics:
Patron - Jesuit - Agriculture - Peasant - Regent

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As a consequence, it became known that Eleonora was the key to her husband, and those unable to gain an audience with Cosimo realised that through his wife their causes could at least be pleaded. No evidence exists, however, which proves she influenced him greatly; but the importance of her usefulness to him cannot be ignored.

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