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.

Legacy

Since Eleonora di Toledo's death, historians have tended to overlook her importance to Florentine history, and today she is often thought of as just another Medici consort and lover of luxury. This is probably due to the numerous portraits painted of her, which always show extravagance of dress. Many of her clothes still survive and are exhibited in museums around the world, including in one of her own homes, the Palazzo Pitti, which she purchased as a summer retreat in 1549, and which later became the principal home of the Tuscan rulers.

Related Topics:
Portrait - Museum - Palazzo Pitti - 1549

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For centuries after her death the myth pervaded that her 16-year-old son Garcia had murdered his 19-year-old brother, Giovanni, following a dispute in 1562. Their father Cosimo I, it was said, then murdered Garcia with his own sword, and Eleanora, distraught, died a week later from grief. The truth, proven by modern day exhumations and forensic science, was that Eleanora and her sons, as the Medici family had always claimed, died together from malaria in 1562.

Related Topics:
Myth - 1562 - Malaria

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~