Lets have some mothers from history who influenced their off spring for our better or  worse.

But nothing about Plato's, mm? Like for a change? Or Mary.

Julia Domna - ruled the Roman emperor through her husband and two sons. She looked after philosophers too, bless 'er. One of very few Roman women who were deified after death.

My late Mum read a book about Shaka Zulu and she became annoyed because (at least according to that biography), he dealt very harshly with his those of his own Zulu people who he thought did not grieve enough at his old Mum's funeral.  He was of course still a great warrior.  I suppose Margaret Beaufort could be considered to have influenced her son who became Henry VII (and before everybody jumps on me metaphorically from a great height I am not basing that statement on a certain hsitorical "romp" TV series or a certain historical "romp" novel).

The thread has not inspired a wealth of interest in influential mums but there must be some more to blame or praise; Queen Victoria, for one.

Catherine de Medici's brood were a rum lot. She wasn't the easiest of mothers. Her daughter-in-law, Mary Queen of Scots, loathed her.

Priscilla wrote:

The thread has not inspired a wealth of interest in influential mums but there must be some more to blame or praise; Queen Victoria, for one.

My problem, Priscilla, is that I am much better at remembering ones that were blameworthy than ones who did an excellent job. Women were so often vilified through the ages I don't really want add to their vilification unnecessarily (like in the Bible it was Eve who tempted Adam to eat the apple - uh, he was an adult, didn't he have a brain??). I seem to recall from school history lessons that George III's mother told him to "Be King" - well he did become king but his reign was questionable at best though if he had an illness that was not his fault.  I feel very sorry for poor Queen Anne (James II's daughter - and I do hope I have written "Anne" correctly - sometimes have difficulty remembering who was an "Anne" and who was an "Ann").  She had so many children and they all died in infancy except the Duke of Gloucester and he died while he was still a child.  She must have gone through heartbreak though I know losing children was not rare in those times.  Mrs Pankhurst should get an honourable mention as a positive mother I feel because she worked with her daughters to improve women's rights (though Daddy Pankhurst was a "good 'un" too - think he introduced Bank Holidays).  Alexander the Great [for whom I have found it hard to have much empathy even if he was a great warrior since I heard that he hanged the physician of one of his friends after his friend died] I believe was influenced by his mother Olympias (though I don't think she was necessarily a nice baggage of goods either).  If anymore mothers of note randomly occur to me I will come back and post again.

Livia Drusila, second wife of Augustus, seems to have been the mother and grandmother from Hades considering her unbridled ambition for her chosen offspring ... at least if one accepts Robert Graves' interpretation of Suetonius and Tacitus.

But whatever the truth about her scheming, plotting and murdering to remove any rivals, she was nevertheless the mother of the emperor Tiberius, paternal grandmother of the emperor Claudius, paternal great-grandmother of the emperor Caligula, and maternal great-great-grandmother of the emperor Nero .... all of whom might well have been pushed aside by other claimants. And she ended up a goddess too.

How about Constantine's mother?

I’ve recently been reading about the life of Nikola Tesla. He is one of those figures whom many people have heard of, but few know much about in any detail. I’m one of them. I knew that he invented the Tesla coil which made electricity safely visible. But I was unaware that he had taken the practical application of alternative current electricity to the next level with his successfully patented electromagnetic induction motor. I was, however, aware that he was an early proponent of wireless power transmission. That last, in fact, is a technological advance which, even 130 years later, has the ability to leave me wide-eyed and gaping. For instance, I’m still not sure exactly how Mrs V’s electric toothbrush charger actually works and, moreover, wonder why all electrical appliances don’t charge that way.

And that’s just with regard to his scientific legacy. As for his personal biography then I knew even less. I was aware that he had emigrated from Europe to America and had worked for one of the new electrical companies there, but I didn’t know whether it was for Thomas Edison or George Westinghouse or another. It was actually both Edison and Westinghouse but at different times. Neither did I have any idea where in Europe he was from. Was he Italian (like so many other of the pioneers in the history of electricity) or was he Hungarian or maybe Czech? Not sure. It turns out that he was a subject of the Habsburg Empire and had studied in Graz and Prague and had got his first job in Budapest but he himself was from Croatia. He was born in 1856 into a Serb Orthodox family and was thus ethnically Serbian. And the phrase ‘a Serb Orthodox family’ is used literally here. His father Milutin Tesla was an Orthodox priest while his maternal uncle Petar Nikolaj Mandić was metropolitan of Sarajevo in neighbouring Bosnia.



(Nikola Tesla)


But it’s Tesla’s mother Georgina Djuka who is of interest here. Born into an educated and well-to-do peasant family, she was illiterate herself and yet it is to her that Tesla attributed his abilities in mental arithmetic, calculus, linguistics, technical innovation and problem solving. He also credited her with instilling in him mental fortitude and resilience following the (several) reverses he experienced in his early life such as dropping out of college, becoming addicted to gambling and then failing to properly enrol at the Charles University in Prague thus throwing away a second chance at a formal education. By the age of 25 Nikola could be described as having been a bona fide mess-up. Yet, suddenly he turned his life around. Some suggest that at this point it was his mother’s use of reverse psychology regarding his gambling habit which had the desired effect of shaming him:

“You go enjoy yourself son. I’ll wager it’s odds on that you can blow every last penny we have. I bet you’ve got it in you.”
 
Thus chastened, he seems to have then never looked back. And whereas he had failed at academia, it would be in practical employment where his genius would shine and recognition would come – first as an engineer with the Budapest Telephone Exchange and then with Edison in Paris. While Milutin had wanted his son to study theology and follow him into the priesthood, it seems that it was the multi-faceted Georgina who was the greater influence upon and inspiration to young Nikola and spurred his career.
 


(Georgina Djuka Mandić Tesla)

 
P.S. One wonders what the sensible, practical-minded and grounded Georgina would have made of a self-promoting billionaire using the Tesla name and launching sports cars into space.
  
P.P.S. I had originally intended to post this last Sunday thinking that it would be of particular interest to Paul with his background in electrical engineering only to learn the sorrowful news that morning.