Eleonora was the daughter of the Spanish viceroy of Naples.

You might look at her and think, "wow, beautiful, well dressed, and looks smart, a triple threat". You would be wrong; she was actually a sextuple threat, because she also came with:

1) noble blood 2) big time management skills 3) an outstanding Linkedin contact list

In one of the great happy accidents of history, Eleonora's awesome feature list was just what the doctor ordered for Cosimo di Medici, who was a total n00b at governing Tuscany when he met her. Her noble blood added to Cosimo's governing cred, her management skills allowed her to run Florence when her husband was away on business, and her Linkedin contacts included the who's who of Spanish royalty, who were the real power in Tuscany at the time. In fact, by marrying Eleonora, Cosimo convinced the Spanish of his loyalty to them, and they withdrew their troops from Tuscany.

Basically, Eleonora was the first modern first lady, and played an important role in getting one of the biggest art sponsoring family empires off the ground. We owe her big time.