Mother's Day: May 13
The first official Mother's Day celebration took place in 1908 -- though it wasn't, at the time, anything more than a locally-celebrated holiday. Now celebrated in many countries all over the world, Mother's Day has its roots in Egyptian, Greek, and Roman mythology; the English tradition of Mothering Day; and even the Civil War. (You can read more about the history of Mother's Day here.)
So in honor of this upcoming Sunday, let's take a look at some of the most famous (and infamous!) mothers from history.
(And my thanks to Erma Bombeck for our subject line.)
1. Cleopatra VII
Cleopatra VII (yup, there were six other royal Cleopatras before her) was the last person to hold the pharaoh's throne in Ancient Egypt. She originally ruled Egypt as the consort of her ten-year-old brother, Ptolemy XIII (as the Egyptian pharaohs were considered gods, it was common for royal siblings to marry one another, even though the same practice would have been taboo among the average Egyptian citizen). She eventually gained complete power, however, becoming pharaoh in her own right.
She was famous for her romantic relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony (was she motivated by love, political power, or both? Your call). Less often discussed is the children she had with both men: Caesarion (meaning "Little Caesar") and, later, three children of Marc Antony's.
This mom was able to position three-year-old Caesarion as the "official" king of Egypt, while Cleopatra herself continued to hold the reins of power. After Cleopatra's death (at the age of 39, after a 22-year reign), Caesarion was acknowledged as the true ruler of Egypt by his supporters, but was shortly after murdered. Of Cleopatra's three children with Marc Antony, her daughter, Cleopatra Selene, eventually became the queen of what is now Algeria.
Fun Fact: Cleopatra is famous for being the most beautiful woman in history, but this commonly-known fact may not be true! Her physical appearance is still up for debate; what seems to have made her so attractive to her subjects -- and the rest of the ancient world -- was her wit, charm, and an elegantly cultivated speaking voice.
Fun Fact: Cleopatra is famous for being the most beautiful woman in history, but this commonly-known fact may not be true! Her physical appearance is still up for debate; what seems to have made her so attractive to her subjects -- and the rest of the ancient world -- was her wit, charm, and an elegantly cultivated speaking voice.
2. Helena Augusta
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This mom may have had the biggest impact on Western Civilization of all time -- and yet, precious little is known about her. The mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, Helena gave birth to her son in the late third century A.D. Her husband, Roman Emperor Constantius I Chlorus, eventually divorced her in order to marry someone else. Helena left for Trier (now a city in Germany) and is presumed to have converted to a new religion while she was there: Christianity.
At the time, the new Christian religion was still illegal in Rome. It was Constantine, Helena's son, who became the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity -- and who legalized the religion in Rome. It paved the way for Christianity to become the major religious, political, and social powerhouse that majorly shaped the Western world throughout the Middle Ages (for better or ill!).
It's argued whether it was Helena who implored Constantine to convert to Christianity, or if it was the other way around. But if Helena did indeed convince her son to become a Christian, she had an effect on history that lasted for millennia.
Fun Fact: Helena is now a saint in the Catholic Church, credited with making a pilgrimage to Palestine, having multiple churches built throughout the Empire, as well as -- so the legend goes -- finding the True Cross, the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
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This mom may have had the biggest impact on Western Civilization of all time -- and yet, precious little is known about her. The mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, Helena gave birth to her son in the late third century A.D. Her husband, Roman Emperor Constantius I Chlorus, eventually divorced her in order to marry someone else. Helena left for Trier (now a city in Germany) and is presumed to have converted to a new religion while she was there: Christianity.
At the time, the new Christian religion was still illegal in Rome. It was Constantine, Helena's son, who became the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity -- and who legalized the religion in Rome. It paved the way for Christianity to become the major religious, political, and social powerhouse that majorly shaped the Western world throughout the Middle Ages (for better or ill!).
It's argued whether it was Helena who implored Constantine to convert to Christianity, or if it was the other way around. But if Helena did indeed convince her son to become a Christian, she had an effect on history that lasted for millennia.
Fun Fact: Helena is now a saint in the Catholic Church, credited with making a pilgrimage to Palestine, having multiple churches built throughout the Empire, as well as -- so the legend goes -- finding the True Cross, the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
3. Eleanor of Aquitaine
If you haven't heard of Eleanor, you might have heard of her son. Richard I of England, or "Richard the Lionheart," is remembered in medieval mythology as the king who came back from the Crusades to save England from the rule of his brother, the evil Prince John -- who was the nemesis of Robin Hood.
The character of Robin Hood is almost certainly not based on any one real person -- but Richard I and Prince John did exist. And their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was not only a real person -- but a powerful figure in her own right.
Highly educated (she'd become a valued patron of poets and writers), Eleanor was only fifteen when the deaths of her father (the duke of Aquitaine) and her brother left her the inheritor of a vast fortune. Already the Duchess of Aquitaine, she would become the queen of both France and England, thanks to her marriage to King Louis VII of France, and -- after Louis divorced her for producing only daughters -- a second marriage to King Henry II of England.
Aside from her own wealth and her arts patronage, Eleanor had a hand in politics as well. She had accompanied Louis on his Second Crusade to Constantinople and Jerusalem, and during Henry's English reign she play an active part in his rule, traveling back and forth between England and France. Henry would eventually imprison her for conspiring with their two sons to overthrow him; but when Henry died, the new king, Richard, set his mother free. She continued an active role until her second son, John, became King, at which point she returned to Aquitaine and remained engaged in the politics of her duchy until her death.
Fun Fact: Eleanor's first father-in-law, who had also been her guardian, was Louis VI of France -- also known as Louis the Fat.
4. Heloise d’Argenteuil
Heloise and her One True Love, Peter Abelard, shared a true-life tragic romance story on par with Arthur and Guinevere or Romeo and Juliet ... if with, perhaps, a touch more strangeness.
During the twelfth century, Heloise was an ingenious scholar (and probably from a noble family, given that she received an education at all). So ingenious, in fact, that her uncle and guardian hired a tutor for her -- a philosopher by the name of Peter Abelard.
Trouble began brewing when Abelard and Heloise fell in love. The two hid their relationship until Heloise had a son. The two of them were married in secret, but Heloise's uncle -- who eventually became aware of the relationship -- was furious with Abelard, believing that Heloise's husband was trying to distance himself from her in order to keep his scholarly career from being affected by his marriage. Heloise's uncle eventually had Abelard severely beaten and mutilated, and Heloise and Abelard went their separate ways: Abelard to a monastery, Heloise to a convent. Their story survives because they spent the rest of their lives in correspondence with one another -- and those letters have survived to this day. What became of their son is more of a mystery, although he's thought to have joined a monastery himself.
Fun Fact: Heloise named her and Abelard's son "Astrolabius" -- after the scientific navigational tool.
The character of Robin Hood is almost certainly not based on any one real person -- but Richard I and Prince John did exist. And their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, was not only a real person -- but a powerful figure in her own right.
Highly educated (she'd become a valued patron of poets and writers), Eleanor was only fifteen when the deaths of her father (the duke of Aquitaine) and her brother left her the inheritor of a vast fortune. Already the Duchess of Aquitaine, she would become the queen of both France and England, thanks to her marriage to King Louis VII of France, and -- after Louis divorced her for producing only daughters -- a second marriage to King Henry II of England.
Aside from her own wealth and her arts patronage, Eleanor had a hand in politics as well. She had accompanied Louis on his Second Crusade to Constantinople and Jerusalem, and during Henry's English reign she play an active part in his rule, traveling back and forth between England and France. Henry would eventually imprison her for conspiring with their two sons to overthrow him; but when Henry died, the new king, Richard, set his mother free. She continued an active role until her second son, John, became King, at which point she returned to Aquitaine and remained engaged in the politics of her duchy until her death.
Fun Fact: Eleanor's first father-in-law, who had also been her guardian, was Louis VI of France -- also known as Louis the Fat.
4. Heloise d’Argenteuil
Heloise and her One True Love, Peter Abelard, shared a true-life tragic romance story on par with Arthur and Guinevere or Romeo and Juliet ... if with, perhaps, a touch more strangeness.
During the twelfth century, Heloise was an ingenious scholar (and probably from a noble family, given that she received an education at all). So ingenious, in fact, that her uncle and guardian hired a tutor for her -- a philosopher by the name of Peter Abelard.
Trouble began brewing when Abelard and Heloise fell in love. The two hid their relationship until Heloise had a son. The two of them were married in secret, but Heloise's uncle -- who eventually became aware of the relationship -- was furious with Abelard, believing that Heloise's husband was trying to distance himself from her in order to keep his scholarly career from being affected by his marriage. Heloise's uncle eventually had Abelard severely beaten and mutilated, and Heloise and Abelard went their separate ways: Abelard to a monastery, Heloise to a convent. Their story survives because they spent the rest of their lives in correspondence with one another -- and those letters have survived to this day. What became of their son is more of a mystery, although he's thought to have joined a monastery himself.
Fun Fact: Heloise named her and Abelard's son "Astrolabius" -- after the scientific navigational tool.
5. Abigail Adams
This wife of Founding Father (and second president of the United States) John Adams, Abigail had no formal education of her own but was taught to read and write at home. The daughter of a Congregationalist minister, Abigail had particular interests in philosophy, theology, Shakespeare, history, and government and law.
A decade into their marriage, John Adams went to Philadelphia to start a political career in earnest, while Abigail remained in Boston, managing their household, the farming on their property, and their children. Despite the distance between them, Abigail and John were very much in love -- and (not unlike Heloise and Peter Abelard) they are famous for the the lifelong correspondence they kept with one another. Their letters give today's historians a window not only into the couple's lives, but into the era of the American Revolution.
This mom would go on to receive a semi-official political appointment from the Massachusetts Colony General Court, was something of an early women's-rights activist -- and was not only the wife of a president, but the mother of one, too! (Her son, John Quincy Adams, was the country's sixth president.)
Fun Fact: Though published posthumously, a collection of Abigail's political letters became the first published book written by a First Lady.
6. Marie Antoinette
A decade into their marriage, John Adams went to Philadelphia to start a political career in earnest, while Abigail remained in Boston, managing their household, the farming on their property, and their children. Despite the distance between them, Abigail and John were very much in love -- and (not unlike Heloise and Peter Abelard) they are famous for the the lifelong correspondence they kept with one another. Their letters give today's historians a window not only into the couple's lives, but into the era of the American Revolution.
This mom would go on to receive a semi-official political appointment from the Massachusetts Colony General Court, was something of an early women's-rights activist -- and was not only the wife of a president, but the mother of one, too! (Her son, John Quincy Adams, was the country's sixth president.)
Fun Fact: Though published posthumously, a collection of Abigail's political letters became the first published book written by a First Lady.
6. Marie Antoinette
She probably never said "Let them eat cake." In fact, if her last words are any indication, she was a kinder woman than history gives her credit for: her final words, "Pardon me sir, I meant not to do it," were directed to her executioner, after she accidentally stepped on his foot on her way to the guillotine.
The wife of Louis XVI (the last king of France), Marie was heavily involved in politics, and spent her private life in such activities as sleigh racing, opera balls, and gambling. Criticized for her "partying" lifestyle (particularly when so many of her subjects were starving), Marie confessed to an ambassador that her hobbies were only her attempt at filling a hole in her life: her lack of children.
She'd go on to be a mother of four, two daughters and two sons. One son would die at the age of seven; one daughter did not survive infancy. When Marie and Louis XVI were placed under house arrest, their two children were imprisoned with them -- and their remaining son, ten years old at the time, died from what was probably tuberculosis.
Marie Antoinette was executed at the age of 37. Her daughter, Marie Therese, was the only surviving member of the family. Marie Therese was released from prison at the age of 17, but lived an unhappy life that was spent mostly in exile from France. She died fifty years later -- and, like her parents, is said to have forgiven those who made her life so miserable.
Fun Fact: To obey the customs of the time, Marie Antoinette gave birth to her children ... in front of the entire royal court.
7. Julia Ward Howe & Anna M. Jarvis
The inventors of our modern Mother's Day! Julia Ward Howe was so affected by the brutality and death of the American Civil War that she wrote a poem imploring the mothers of the nation to band together and protest their sons being sent to fight one another. Her initial call for an International Mother's Day was as much a celebration of peace as it was of motherhood.
Though Howe pushed for July 4th as a proper symbolic date for the holiday, Mother's Day initially was placed on June 2. The holiday was celebrated for several years in cities around the country, but the celebrations were being funded by Howe -- and once she stopped funding, the cities stopped celebrating.
But in 1908, Anna M. Jarvis revisited the idea of a day celebrating mothers after her own mother passed away. The first celebration took place at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, the church where Anna's mother had taught Sunday school for over twenty years. That same year, a U.S. Senator proposed making Mother's Day an official holiday, but it was Woodrow Wilson who finally signed the holiday into observance in 1914.
Fun Fact: Julia Ward Howe created more than Mother's Day -- she also wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic!
8. Ma Rainey
Gertrude Pridgett's stage name came about from her husband William "Pa" Rainey, who she married in 1902. Coming from a family of performances, Ma Rainey and her husband toured the country with a song-and-dance act that included popular songs ... and Blues music.
When Ma Rainey signed a recording contract in 1923 with Paramount, she was billed as the "Mother of the Blues." The name was apt. She wasn't just one of the best Blues singers -- she was, quite possibly, the first real Blues star. She is the first female performer known to have blended Blues music into vaudeville, minstrel, and tent shows, and she had spent over a quarter of a century performing before signing her Paramount contract. Over a six-year period at Paramount, she recovered over 100 songs, accompanied by musicians like Louis Armstrong, Tommy Ladnier, Fletcher Henderson, and Coleman Hawkins. Though the popularity of the Blues faded in the 30s, her influence on the world of music is undeniable.
Fun Fact: After retiring from the performance world, Ma Rainey built and operated two theaters of her own in Georgia.
9. Jackie Kennedy
A writer since childhood, Jackie Kennedy received a B.A. in French literature and worked as an "Inquiring Camera Girl" (taking pictures and doing local interviews) for the Washington Times-Herald.
After her marriage to John F. Kennedy, her occupation would become less official but decidedly political: that of the nation's most-beloved First Lady.
Although it was her style and quiet charisma that she seems to be most remembered for, Jackie's role as First Lady went far beyond that. During the campaign, Jackie gave interviews to the press and wrote a column entitled "Campaign Wife," as well as recording radio spots in various foreign languages. She also helped polish John F. Kennedy's speeches, giving him historical references and literary quotations he could work into his rhetoric.
After the election, Jackie worked hard to shield her children from the public eye. But her duties didn't stop there. Jackie oversaw the restoration of the White House's public rooms to their historical roots, which became part of a larger campaign to draw national interest in historic preservation. She was a patron of the arts, hosting opera performances, ballets, jazz concerts, and Shakespeare plays at the White House. She was also said to have had a passionate interest in the political issues of the day -- but wanting to keep public focus on her history and cultural projects, she tried to steer attention away from her stances on more hot-button issues.
Jackie Kennedy would spend her later years as an editor at Viking Press and Doubleday, returning to her roots as a writer. She never lost her passion for history and the arts -- something she deserves being remembered for just as much as her position as First Lady.
Fun Fact: As "Inquiring Camera Girl," Jackie interviewed Pat Nixon, Vice President Nixon -- and Senator John F. Kennedy.
10. Mother Teresa
This Novel Peace Prize winner was born in Macedonia in 1910. At eighteen years of age, she left home to join the Sisters of Loreto, a group of Irish nuns who often sent missionaries to India. She had been sent there as a teacher for well-off students at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but her attention and heart were captured by the poor she saw outside the school walls. At the age of 38, she left St. Mary's to start a school for impoverished children -- and, despite having no money to fund such a school, was soon receiving aid and volunteer help from others. Two years later, she gained permission to start her own order, The Missionaries of Charity.
Mother Teresa seemed tireless. With the single exception of a five-week hiatus in 1959, her work was constant and unending. And yet, in the past few years, recently-discovered correspondence between Mother Teresa and her spiritual advisors reveal that she was filled with her own troubles and doubts. For me, this makes her not less admirable, but more -- at it shows her to be a person with the same fears and struggles as anyone, but who did not let this stop her from working and fighting to help others. That's a "mom" we can all admire.
Fun Fact: A Mother Teresa quote --
"There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives -- the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them."
The inventors of our modern Mother's Day! Julia Ward Howe was so affected by the brutality and death of the American Civil War that she wrote a poem imploring the mothers of the nation to band together and protest their sons being sent to fight one another. Her initial call for an International Mother's Day was as much a celebration of peace as it was of motherhood.
Though Howe pushed for July 4th as a proper symbolic date for the holiday, Mother's Day initially was placed on June 2. The holiday was celebrated for several years in cities around the country, but the celebrations were being funded by Howe -- and once she stopped funding, the cities stopped celebrating.
But in 1908, Anna M. Jarvis revisited the idea of a day celebrating mothers after her own mother passed away. The first celebration took place at Andrew's Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia, the church where Anna's mother had taught Sunday school for over twenty years. That same year, a U.S. Senator proposed making Mother's Day an official holiday, but it was Woodrow Wilson who finally signed the holiday into observance in 1914.
Fun Fact: Julia Ward Howe created more than Mother's Day -- she also wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic!
8. Ma Rainey
Gertrude Pridgett's stage name came about from her husband William "Pa" Rainey, who she married in 1902. Coming from a family of performances, Ma Rainey and her husband toured the country with a song-and-dance act that included popular songs ... and Blues music.
When Ma Rainey signed a recording contract in 1923 with Paramount, she was billed as the "Mother of the Blues." The name was apt. She wasn't just one of the best Blues singers -- she was, quite possibly, the first real Blues star. She is the first female performer known to have blended Blues music into vaudeville, minstrel, and tent shows, and she had spent over a quarter of a century performing before signing her Paramount contract. Over a six-year period at Paramount, she recovered over 100 songs, accompanied by musicians like Louis Armstrong, Tommy Ladnier, Fletcher Henderson, and Coleman Hawkins. Though the popularity of the Blues faded in the 30s, her influence on the world of music is undeniable.
Fun Fact: After retiring from the performance world, Ma Rainey built and operated two theaters of her own in Georgia.
9. Jackie Kennedy
A writer since childhood, Jackie Kennedy received a B.A. in French literature and worked as an "Inquiring Camera Girl" (taking pictures and doing local interviews) for the Washington Times-Herald.
After her marriage to John F. Kennedy, her occupation would become less official but decidedly political: that of the nation's most-beloved First Lady.
Although it was her style and quiet charisma that she seems to be most remembered for, Jackie's role as First Lady went far beyond that. During the campaign, Jackie gave interviews to the press and wrote a column entitled "Campaign Wife," as well as recording radio spots in various foreign languages. She also helped polish John F. Kennedy's speeches, giving him historical references and literary quotations he could work into his rhetoric.
After the election, Jackie worked hard to shield her children from the public eye. But her duties didn't stop there. Jackie oversaw the restoration of the White House's public rooms to their historical roots, which became part of a larger campaign to draw national interest in historic preservation. She was a patron of the arts, hosting opera performances, ballets, jazz concerts, and Shakespeare plays at the White House. She was also said to have had a passionate interest in the political issues of the day -- but wanting to keep public focus on her history and cultural projects, she tried to steer attention away from her stances on more hot-button issues.
Jackie Kennedy would spend her later years as an editor at Viking Press and Doubleday, returning to her roots as a writer. She never lost her passion for history and the arts -- something she deserves being remembered for just as much as her position as First Lady.
Fun Fact: As "Inquiring Camera Girl," Jackie interviewed Pat Nixon, Vice President Nixon -- and Senator John F. Kennedy.
10. Mother Teresa
This Novel Peace Prize winner was born in Macedonia in 1910. At eighteen years of age, she left home to join the Sisters of Loreto, a group of Irish nuns who often sent missionaries to India. She had been sent there as a teacher for well-off students at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, but her attention and heart were captured by the poor she saw outside the school walls. At the age of 38, she left St. Mary's to start a school for impoverished children -- and, despite having no money to fund such a school, was soon receiving aid and volunteer help from others. Two years later, she gained permission to start her own order, The Missionaries of Charity.
Mother Teresa seemed tireless. With the single exception of a five-week hiatus in 1959, her work was constant and unending. And yet, in the past few years, recently-discovered correspondence between Mother Teresa and her spiritual advisors reveal that she was filled with her own troubles and doubts. For me, this makes her not less admirable, but more -- at it shows her to be a person with the same fears and struggles as anyone, but who did not let this stop her from working and fighting to help others. That's a "mom" we can all admire.
Fun Fact: A Mother Teresa quote --
"There is a terrible hunger for love. We all experience that in our lives -- the pain, the loneliness. We must have the courage to recognize it. The poor you may have right in your own family. Find them. Love them."
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