[av_heading heading=’Celebrating History’s Most Badass Moms’ tag=’h1′ style=” subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#745f7e’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-1sccjt’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

 

A mother’s love is bottomless, just like Olive Garden’s never-ending pasta bowl. So in observance of Mother’s Day, here are seven of history’s most badass moms.

[av_heading heading=’Gunnhild, Mother of Kings (ca. 910 – 980)’ tag=’h4′ style=” subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#745f7e’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-1iqvtl’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

 

 

The story of Gunnhild is part legend, part truth, and 100% hardcore.

During her marriage to Erik Bloodaxe, she ruled over Norway, Orkney, and Northumbria.

In Norwegian history, the most powerful women typically weren’t the wives of kings, but rather, the mothers of kings.

Gunnhild, however, is a unique case, as she amassed serious clout during her both husband and sons’ reigns.

After Erik Bloodaxe died on the battlefield, England — which was a little upset about the Vikings’ scourge during Erik’s reign — sought revenge on Gunnhild.

To escape certain death, Gunnhild organized a strategic marriage of alliance between her daughter and Thorfinn Skullcleaver, the Earl of Orkney, that guaranteed her safety in the earldom.

Further showcasing her political savvy, she went to work putting her sons in positions of authority, including helping her son Harald ascend the Norwegian throne — a move that cemented her grip on political power for the rest of her life.

During her son’s rule, Gunnhild stood as Queen Regent and became a significant factor in many decisions.

[av_heading heading=’Hoelun (12th Century)’ tag=’h4′ style=” subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#745f7e’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-1f2m8x’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

 

 

Hoelun endured kidnapping, widowhood, and exile. But eventually, she became one of the most badass moms in history — and the advisor to her son, Ghengis Khan.

Hoelun was kidnapped on her way home from her wedding by Yesukhei, the leader of a small clan. After forcing her to marry him, Yesukhei made Hoelun his chief wife, which meant her children would be his heirs.

However, when Yesukhei died, the clan forced Hoelun and her five children into exile. During their time as outcasts in Mongolia’s Khentii Mountains, Hoelun taught her children how to forage, fish, hunt, and survive in the harsh steppes, but also stressed the importance of family unity and support.

When Temüjin rose to power as Ghengis Khan, Hoelun became his primary advisor. He placed her in charge of caring for war orphans, which, as part of the Mongol leader’s inclusionist policies, were adopted into the family to foster loyalty among conquered tribes.

[av_heading heading=’Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122 – 1204)’ tag=’h4′ style=” subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#745f7e’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-17sc49′ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

 

 

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the most affluent and influential women during the High Middle Ages. An ardent supporter of literature, she helped pioneer the concept of courtly love and chivalry.

Considered by many to be a proto-feminist, Eleanor led several armies during the Second Crusade and played a significant role in managing the royal estate throughout the Crusades.

After her father’s death, Eleanor inherited the title Duchess of Aquitaine and married King Louis VII of France three months later. However, after 15 years of marriage and no male heir, the king annulled the union because he and Eleanor were second cousins (as if it mattered at that time).

Not to worry, though — she soon married the future King Henry II, who later united England and Normandy. Out of her eight children, three became kings, including Richard the Lionheart.

After some royal family drama between Eleanor, King Henry II, and Richard, her son assumed the throne. When he left to lead the Third Crusade, Eleanor effectively ran the kingdom in his absence.

[av_heading heading=’Maria Theresa (1717 – 1780)’ tag=’h4′ style=” subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#745f7e’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-10jshl’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

 

 

Maria Theresa was the last in line to the Hapsburg House of Austria. When her father died, Maria found herself empress of a country devastated by financial mismanagement caused by multi-front wars.

Although she was the last Hapsburg heir, Maria was never formally educated in matters of state. So for a while, she relied on her husband and father’s ministers for advice — until realizing that they were as bad at ruling as her father was.

After assessing the situation — which included a bankrupted country, unpaid, angry soldiers, and a continent hungry for a piece of the Austro-Hungarian Empire — Maria removed the foreign kings who were a literal drain on Austrian society.

Not only did she do this with no official training, but as the mother of 16 children (including Mari Antoinette), Maria Theresa did it while being pregnant almost year-round.

[av_heading heading=’Ann Jarvis (1832 – 1905)’ tag=’h4′ style=” subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#745f7e’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-xxi75′ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

 

 

Ann Jarvis was an activist, community organizer — and the inspiration for Mother’s Day.

Throughout the Civil war, Jarvis tended to both Northern and Southern soldiers wounded in battle. She also created an event called Mother’s Friendship Day, so mothers on both sides could make peace with each other.

Inspired by her mother’s actions during the war, Jarvis’s daughter, Anna, began a years’-long campaign to make Mother’s Day a nationwide observance. Woodrow Wilson finally officialized it in 1914.

But by 1920, Anna lamented the way the country commemorated the holiday — specifically the use of greeting cards, saying, “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world.”

[av_heading heading=’Zelia Nuttall (1857-1933)’ tag=’h4′ style=” subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#745f7e’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-2hkyx’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

 

 

Zelia Nuttall was an American archeologist who led pioneered pre-Aztec and pre-Columbian research in Mexico, which earned her the nickname the Queen of Mexican Archeology. Not only that, but she did it as a single mother — who managed to keep her maiden name.

After her four-year-long marriage ended, Nuttall followed her childhood dream of becoming an archeologist. Soon after her first dig, she published her research and was offered a spot as Special Assistant at Harvard — a position she kept for 47 years.

Nuttall made several important discoveries, including finding one of the most intact collections of pre-Conquest Mexican manuscripts and writings from Sir Frances Drake.

Nuttall faced numerous gender-related obstacles throughout her career but overcame them at every point. She spent the latter part of her life making efforts to include native Mexican celebrations in schools and reviving traditions like solar worship.

[av_heading heading=’Irena Sendler (1910 – 2008)’ tag=’h4′ style=” subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#745f7e’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-ixq3l’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

 

 

Irena Sendler was a humanitarian, social worker, nurse, member of the Polish Underground Resistance — and badass mom who rescued an estimated 2,500 Jewish children escaping Nazi-occupied Poland.

From 1935 to 1943, Sendler worked in Warsaw’s Social Welfare Department. For eight years, she and other volunteers from the Resistance smuggled children out of ghettos, gave them false identities, and sheltered them in new homes across the country.

In 1943, she headed the children’s section of Żegota, or the Polish Council to Aid Jews. Suspecting her activities, the Gestapo arrested Sendler that year. Despite torture and a death sentence, Sendler never gave up the names of the children or her work.

On the day of her execution, German authorities released Sendler after receiving a bribe from Żegota.

Sendler’s daughter recalled waiting for hours for her mother to return home safely and described her as “walking good.”

[av_heading heading=’Cheers to Every Mom’ tag=’h4′ style=” subheading_active=” size=” av-medium-font-size-title=” av-small-font-size-title=” av-mini-font-size-title=” subheading_size=” av-medium-font-size=” av-small-font-size=” av-mini-font-size=” color=’custom-color-heading’ custom_font=’#745f7e’ margin=” margin_sync=’true’ padding=’10’ link=” link_target=” id=” custom_class=” av_uid=’av-hnllt’ admin_preview_bg=”][/av_heading]

 

 

 

It doesn’t take an act of heroism to be a badass mom. The simple act of loving unconditionally is truly a remarkable thing in itself.

So to moms, stepmoms, bonus moms, and every other mom: thanks a lot for everything.

 

 

 

 

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Sources

• Chainey, Dee Dee. “Gunnhild, Mother of Kings: A Viking Witch Queen Slandered by the Sagas.” All About History, 23 June 2017, https://tinyurl.com/y86jmjnv.
• Dutton, Judy. “10 Badass Moms Who Deserve Their Own Holidays.” Mental Floss, 9 May 2014, https://tinyurl.com/ycd97r2q.
• Nachampassack, Mandy. “30 Things To Learn From Bad*Ss Historical Moms.” Mommyish, 11 Jan. 2019, https://tinyurl.com/ybja9wlq.
• Porath, Jason. “Zelia Nuttall: The Queen of Mexican Archaeology.” Rejected Princesses, https://tinyurl.com/y9n4wkog.
• Redd, Wyatt. “The 5 Most Badass Moms in History.” Wably, 26 Apr. 2016, https://tinyurl.com/ycjvrpzs.