#Maximilian i of mexico

[archduchessofnowhere]

Archduke Max in Die Kaiserin: *abandons the illegitimate child he fathered*

Archduke Max in real life: *kidnaps adopts a child and refuses to return him to his mother*

[wandering-cemeteries]

Casket of Maximilian I of Mexico (1832-1867) (r. 1864-1867).

Maximilian, a Hapsburg Archduke, was chosen by Mexican monarchists to be the emperor of Mexico. He alienated his conservative backers by enacting liberal policies. His regime was propped up by French troops but they started to leave in 1866. The French had to leave because the United States stopped fighting itself and started to enforce the Monroe Doctrine (in which the US opposes European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere because that's the US's job). Left on his own, Maximilian was executed by the reestablished republican government.

Vienna, Austria

Feb. 2023

[little-candy-store-of-horrors]

Thought I'd do a thing for @best-habsburg-monarch since they'd just finished their polls and someone i rooted for on my own always nonsense reasons actually clawed his way into the top three

[best-habsburg-monarch]

Maximilian , Emperor of Mexico, reign: 1864-1867

- Possibly the better brother

Carlos I (V) , reign: 1519-1556

-has a chocolate named after him - His two iconic bastards are also in this bracket.

Propaganda under the cut because there was a lot for both of them

Propaganda for Maximilian:

From: anon

-He traveled to Brazil

From: other anon

- He loved plants

- He was a sassy man

- He had good taste

- He learned Nahuatl

- He’s cute (I mean look at him)

- He said “gay rights”

- He banned child labour in Mexico

- He gave many rights back to indigenous people

- Bro was wronged by France (haven’t we all?)

- He’s baby

- Got executed, come on, give him this guys 🥺

From: other other anon

- He loved to design gardens and collect insects which makes me think he would've loved playing animal crossing

From @kaiserin-erzsebet:

An outspoken liberal in a period where the monarchy was still quite conservative.

Vice-Admiral of the Navy who initiated scientific projects and exploration.

Aesthetic girlie. Collected flowers, painted, wrote poetry, and kept a journal. He would have loved Tumblr.

(Probably) gay or bisexual.

Allegedly slapped Franz Joseph for refusing to allow Lombardy to have an elective body.

Sisi's favorite brother-in-law (and not in a romantic way, fuck you Netflix)

Refused to take the Mexican crown until a plebiscite had been held because he wanted to be invited by the Mexican people.

Gave up all of his Austrian titles to go to Mexico because he believed he had made a promise to them.

Understood why his execution was for the good of the Mexican republic.

Also, his wife was amazing and capable and the amount of pure misogyny that certain historians and biographers have thrown at her is ridiculous. I know this isn't a Carlota poll, but she'd want Max to win.

Netflix did him unbelievably dirty. Please give him this.

For Carlos V:

from @master-of-the-opera-house:

- Universal empire babey! Sure he lucked into it, but very much successfully kept it afloat in his time on the throne, more than less anyway.

- Born on a toilet at a party at 3am

- Mommy issues

- Daddy issues

- Shagged his step-grandma when he was 19. Love wins!

- Look at the size of that chin! A peasant had to tell him to close his mouth bc he couldn't keep his jaws shut by default

- If Leopold was the ugliest in the Austrian branch he's probably the ugliest or at least second in the Spanish branch

- Approved of a cocks-out nude statue of himself walked so nsfw fanart commissions could run

- The ✨ confidence ✨ he had to do that uwu

- God complex

- Accidentally shot a peasant dead with a crossbow once as a teen oopsie

- Burnt out and got depressed at the end of his life the least he could win is a poll

- Split the inheritance into the Spanish and Austrian branch so without him we literally wouldn't even be voting today

[archduchessofnowhere]

Hi! I've been wanting to look deeper into that, but I haven't yet, so I can't give a definitive answer. But so far in my very superficial research, the oldest I've been able to track back the rumor was around the beginning of the Second French Empire. What's interesting is that it seems that in the earlier version of the rumor it wasn't Archduke Maximilian the alleged love child, but his eldest brother, the newly ascended Emperor Franz Josef. Which makes you wonder how much the tumultuous political mood of the 1850s played a role in the rumor spreading.

Again, I haven't researched deeper into this, but it seems the switch to believing it was actually Max came after the falls of the Second Mexican and French Empires; in retrospective, Napoleon III's fondness of the ill-fated Max and his decision to put him in the Mexican throne was attributed to them being relatives (which makes his eventual abandonment the more cruel).

Another thing that I found interesting is that this rumor seem to have spread in the old fashion way: mouth to mouth. I can count with the fingers of my hand the mentions of it I found in gossip columns from the 19th century, but right after the Habsburgs fell from power it pops out in almost every book about Archduke Maximilian and the Duke of Reichstadt (and to a lesser degree, Franz Josef). And yet no book presents this as brand new information, all authors assume this is common knowledge. So it seems the origin wasn't a particular gossipy newspaper article or a scandalous memoir, but really just people talking to each other (tho keep in mind I may be completely wrong, I only searched for key words in the archive/google books and tried to look for journals and memoirs). I'm not aware of any primary source (say, the correspondance of anyone involved in this) that mentions it, and to be honest I doubt anyone would've even dared to write it down. So we don't know how they felt about it.

The thing that seems to have been common knowledge since always is that Sophie and Reichstadt were close, you can find mentions in the 1830s of Sophie making him take the last sacraments and feeling very afflicted by his death. For exemple, in this article about Vienna written in 1834 by Napoleon d'Abrantes (is this Junot's son??) for the Paris ou Le livre des Cent-et-un, he quoted a letter written after Reichstadt's death by a woman from Vienna that had this line: "Archduchess Sophie, the wife of Archduke Franz [Karl], is inconsolable: she had an affection for this unfortunate young man that he paid back with the most tender return". So I wouldn't be surprised either if I eventually find evidence of the rumor predating the 1850s.

Sorry that my answer isn't more concrete! Rumors are a mess to track down.

It is known when the rumors about Archduke Maximilian's paternity began? Was it right from his conception and birth or when Napoleon III offered him to became the Emperor of Mexico? Was it has his dethronement and execution? Was it along afterwards? If there was prominent during his lifetime, it is know what his action was or his parents or his wife Empress Carlota?

Sorry, I'm totally out of my depths here. I am only dimly aware of these rumours myself, and the one biography of Napoleon II/Duke of Reichstadt that I have read dismissed the idea out of hand.

Maybe @archduchessofnowhere could help?

[hamilgodd]

You know what I want? To meet the formula E drivers. I’m going this Saturday to the first race of the season and the pitlane walk passes are over 😔

[y2kbugs]

Me visiting a historical landmark that was home to a historical figure: wow I need this guy to be an angsty dumb teenager in clone high now

[ladysophy]

I think the Second Mexican Empire with Maximilian and Charlotte as its Emperor and Empress was doomed from the start. So much duplicity, infighting and betrayal. Both Maximilian and Charlotte meant well, but they were naive (especially Maximilian) about Mexico’s political instability and Napoleon III not being completely truthful with them. However, I do feel pity for them, especially when it comes to their tragic ends.

According to author M.M. McAllen, Maximilian’s intuition tried to warn him to not accept the role as emperor, but he eventually gave in due to pressure.

[queenalexandraofdenmark]

Carlota ain't taking Max's shit😂

Empress Charlotte and Emperor Maximilian of Mexico.

[agelessphotography]

The Shirt of the Emperor, Worn during His Execution, François Aubert, 1867

This grisly photograph depicts the bullet-riddled shirt of the Austrian Archduke Maximilian I, who was appointed Emperor of Mexico by Napoleon III in 1864. Maximilian's puppet regime lasted only three years; when the French army withdrew from Mexico in 1867, he was captured, tried, and executed by the nationalist supporters of Benito Juarez. Aubert, a French photographer working in Mexico, photographed Maximilian's corpse and clothing, producing a sensational and somewhat gruesome record of the execution and the politically charged relics of the slain emperor.

[archduchessofnowhere]

Sorry to bother you again, but can you elaborate the "Maximilian and Charlotte may not have ever consummated their marriage" thing? Because I don't know that much about those two and I always thought one or both of them just had some sort of fertility issue (which really wasn't that uncommon even back then, see Max' own mum before Franz was born).

Hello! Tbh I don't know exactly when the rumor started, but basically one of the theories as to why Maximilian and Charlotte never had a child is because they just weren't even trying to have one. This usually comes in hand with the theory that Max was either impotent or gay, and therefore he simply couldn't or didn't want to sleep with his wife. While we just can't know what truly was happening in their bedroom, I find hard to believe they didn't even try to consummate their marriage.

Now, probably the idea that they never had sex became popular because it seems that during their time in Mexico they indeed weren't sleeping together - in the literal sense, since they had separated bedrooms. This surprised many of their contemporaries, as Max's Mexican secretary José Luis Blasio wrote in his memoirs:

The Emperor made his triumphal entry into Puebla at six minutes to nine in the morning; it was his second visit to the city. After breakfasting, Maximilian visited the rooms which had been prepared for the Empress and manifested his satisfaction at seeing the magnificent double bed, with its canopy of fine lace and silken ribbons, which was waiting for the imperial pair. But as soon as the host was out of the way His Majesty ordered the servants to find a room at a distance from the bedchamber and set up his traveling cot there. He did this almost angrily.

Being completely new to the court, and not having confidence in any of the servants, I was unable to let any of them know how strange Maximilian’s conduct seemed to me. What conjugal drama was concealed by the Emperor’s action? Why was it that two young married persons, who in public seemed to love each other, at the age of vigor shared no marital life, and the husband appeared irritated at the prospect of sleeping in the same bed with his wife?

Later I was completely convinced that some estrangement existed between them, something the nature of which for the moment I was unable to decide; whether it was created because of reasons of state, because of the Emperor’s infidelity or because of some organic defect in Maximilian. For neither in Puebla, nor in Mexico City in the palace, nor at Chapultepec did they ever sleep together. This could not escape the servants’ notice, for the attendants of the Empress slept near her and those of Maximilian in a room adjoining his. (1934, p. 16)

It should be noted that it was common for royals to have different bedrooms, so that isn't really that surprising (although in Mexico it was definitely seen as odd). Now, as Blasio remarks, the servants should've noticed if they were visiting each others rooms - and it seems they didn't. Also because of Maximilian's trips they actually spent a lot of time separated in Mexico, and if we add to that all the stress they were going through, I don't think it's that strange if they just didn't have much energy to get intimate.

But yeah, I also believe it's more likely that they had some sort of infertility problem rather than solely not having sex. In fact among the Wittelsbachs there had been a lot of cases of infertility in the last two generations: Sophie suffering several miscarriages before having FJ; Caroline Auguste, Elisabeth and Marie of Bavaria never had children, as neither did Otto of Greece nor his sister Mathilde (all of them were married for decades). And I also can think of some of Max's Wittelsbach cousins who had one child but then never again were able to have another. I'm not saying it was the same cause for all these cases, but simply pointing out that not being able to concieve was relatively more common than people seem to realize, and even more so in a family were this had happened often. Max for instance seems to have already resignated to not being a father by the 1860s.

Thank you for your question, if I find something else I'll let you know!

SOURCE:

Blasio, José Luis (1934). Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico: Memoirs of His Private Secretary, José Luis Blasio (translated by Robert Hammond Murray)

[reasoningdaily]

Oliver Hernandez’s front yard hums with plenty of bugs for the 12-year-old and his friends to find.

“It’s kind of fun just knowing that there are lots of caterpillars in the yard,” he said.

About a third of the yard looks like a teeny swath of prairie, with wild indigo, bee balm and, until recently, a key plant for monarch butterflies: common milkweed.

Last fall, the city of Overland Park told Oliver’s mother to rip the milkweed out of her pollinator garden.

That bummed Oliver because it’s a plant where brightly striped yellow, black and white caterpillars would appear each summer, grow fat on leaves and transform into the feather-light marvels of nature most famous for what they do next.

“They are pretty,” he said. “Also, whenever they become butterflies, they fly to Mexico. I think that’s pretty cool.”

Across the U.S., milkweed bans are disappearing. But this Kansas suburb and plenty of other towns and cities across the Midwest continue to define it in their city codes as flora non-grata.

Sometimes city, county and state rules conflict, leaving homeowners to navigate mixed messages from local governments that can’t see eye-to-eye on whether to promote milkweed or kill it off.

City workers may not have much heart for enforcing these rules. The plight of the continent’s dwindling monarch population is, after all, well-known.

Ginger Werp, Oliver’s mother, got the impression that the city worker who showed up at her door in late September didn’t really like telling her to remove environmentally beneficial plants.

“Our world is becoming degraded and needs us to change,” Werp said. “Not all of the cities in Johnson County have this rule.”

In fact, Werp points out, this county encourages homeowners to plant common milkweed and reimburses part of the cost for people who replace grass turf with native plants — including this one. The goal is to feed wildlife and fill the soil with deep roots that absorb stormwater and slow the pace of pollution washing into streams.

Werp knows about the program because she works at a nonprofit organization that, among other things, helps the county run it.

And she knows about native plants because wading into prairies to identify species and collect seeds for habitat restoration projects is her full-time job.

A clash of aesthetics

Oliver’s front-yard insectary likely came to the city’s attention because his mother and her neighbors have very different tastes in landscaping.

On a street lined with neatly trimmed bushes and traditional lawns, Werp’s little meadow is perhaps 12 feet by 7 feet. The tallest plants, native Maximilian sunflowers, tower above her head.

Instead of mulching the bed in the typical Suburban style (with cedar chips or other store-bought options), Werp lets fallen sycamore leaves mulch her plot.

Rather than chopping down plant stalks in the fall, she lets them stand, so her family can watch finches raid the garden for seeds all winter.

Werp knows this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

“I’ve had some uncomfortable conversations with neighbors about it,” she said of her flower bed. “But it doesn’t bother me. … I think it’s pretty, I think it’s fun. My son and I have a good time out here.”

She supposes a neighbor became concerned that her naturalistic landscaping would hurt home resale values.

A monarch caterpillar and a milkweed beetle munch on common milkweed in Ginger Werp's garden in Overland Park last summer. Ginger Werp

But when a city worker showed up to inspect her handiwork, he said most of the plants could stay. She only had to remove the contraband common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca.

Werp agreed and the matter ended there.

Had she refused, the city could have sent someone to remove the milkweed and charge her for the work.

Overland Park’s code allows it to prosecute violators, though it’s not clear that the city would actually pursue something so stringent against a butterfly enthusiast. The penalties include a fine of $50 to $500 and/or up to 10 days in jail.

City codes vs. conservation

Other cities in Kansas and nearby states frown on milkweed, too — usually common milkweed but sometimes its relatives, as well.

Winfield, Kansas, puts common milkweed on its list of “rank” plants that harbor rats and insects, pose fire risks or blight neighborhoods.

Sometimes, city codes hinge on context.

Prairie Village lists common milkweed as a no-no, followed immediately by this caveat: “Native plants contained in a native garden, such as common milkweed and other pollinators (sic), would be considered a cultivated garden and not classified as a rank weed.”

City bans on milkweed are on the way out, the National Wildlife Federation says, a fact that it welcomes.

“They have been historically very, very common,” said Mary Phillips, head of the group’s Garden for Wildlife program that aims to integrate habitat into cities and suburbs. “Particularly in the central United States.”

She traces that history to the region’s agriculture. Milkweed can sicken livestock when they eat enough of it. Animals tend to steer clear of the toxic plants, but accidental poisonings do happen, particularly if milkweed infiltrates a hayfield and gets cut, dried and served up to livestock mixed into their hay.

Cities that no longer worry about keeping cattle safe have nevertheless retained the historical opposition to milkweed.

“The real trend is that those bans are being reversed,” Phillips said. “There’s a lot of pushback to get those overturned.”

In 2017, Illinois passed two state laws. One forced cities and counties to drop milkweed bans on common milkweed. The other declared milkweed the state wildflower.

Illinois cities such as Ottawa still have bans on their books, but the state law trumps it.

Asclepias syriaca, or common milkweed, is the species that cities most commonly target.

This species spreads not just through its seeds, but also through underground runners.

It takes work to control it in a flower garden, which might explain city bans where they still exist.

Bug chow

The reality is, many cities may not have anyone on staff who knows when or why milkweed was banned.

An Overland Park spokesperson said the city considers common milkweed a noxious weed because the Kansas Department of Agriculture does.

But the state agency refuted that. It says all Kansas milkweeds are “native and beneficial.”

“As far as we know it has never been listed as a noxious weed and there is no indication that there is any interest in listing it as noxious,” a Department of Agriculture spokeswoman said by email. “While it’s not healthy for cattle to eat, they generally avoid it.”

The center of the country is a significant flyway for migrating monarchs. And on their way north from Mexico each spring, they lay eggs.

Common milkweed was a key feature of Ginger Werp's front yard in past years. In September, Overland Park asked her to remove it. Ginger Werp

These famous travelers — by some counts, they were five times as numerous in the 1990s — can’t survive without milkweed.

A monarch butterfly can happily nectar on the blossoms of a wide variety of plant species, but its offspring eat just one thing: milkweed leaves. Without that, the females can’t produce descendants any more than humans can rear babies without breast milk or formula.

But milkweed has gotten harder to find.

“That entire (central) flyway was so heavy with milkweed many, many years ago,” Phillips said.

But today, as Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas notes, genetically modified corn and soybeans allow aggressive glyphosate herbicide (sold most commonly under the brand name Roundup) application that kills, among other things, milkweed. The plants have disappeared from tens of millions of acres of cropland.

Monarch Watch founder Chip Taylor and other researchers wrote in 2020 that restoring milkweed “is the conservation measure that will have the greatest impact” for helping the insects.

Monarch Watch distributes milkweed plants for habitat restoration, encourages the creation of pollinator gardens in cities and suburbs, and mails free plants to eager schools.

Common milkweed holds particular significance.

A 2018 study by researchers at Iowa State University and the USDA compared nine types of milkweed at 10 sites across Iowa from 2015 to 2017. They found Asclepias syriaca was one of two types where monarchs laid the most eggs.

Its decline makes some homeowners passionate about offering their yards as refuge by planting the long-maligned species, with its large leaves and spheres of pink blooms.

Mixed messages

As some governments see the plant in a new light, it can lead to conflicting messages, such as the discrepancy between Johnson County and Overland Park.

In 2014, Canada’s most populous province, Ontario, ended its battle against common milkweed. But as recently as last summer, a butterfly enthusiast there lost her milkweed-heavy pollinator garden to Toronto workers with weed wackers enforcing the city’s landscaping rules.

Lawrence lists common milkweed as a weed in its city code, but its parks and recreation department grows the plant in pollinator gardens.

“Our stance is that common milkweed in a properly maintained garden is perfectly acceptable,” a city spokeswoman said by email.

The city, which is part of a National Wildlife Federation pledge to support monarchs, says it can enforce its weed rule when properties aren’t properly tended.

But a citizen advisory board has asked the city commission to strike milkweed and other plants from Lawrence’s list of 56 weed species. It recommends using the state’s far shorter list.

“The list has kind of grown (over the decades) and nobody knows where a lot of this stuff came from,” said advisory board vice chairman Ben Sikes, a biologist. “Many of the species that are on there, we know are native species. Many of them are important for habitat or for food for native animals and insects.”

The Lawrence City Commission hasn’t acted on the recommendation.

[sisionscreen]

Showrunner Katharina Eyssen shared her To Do List for the day of preparing the writing for the third season as well as overseeing the promotional material for the second season of The Empress (2022).

It seems promotional posters are planed for Empress Elisabeth (Devrim Lingnau), Emperor Franz Joseph (Philip Froissant), Archduke Maximilian (Johannes Nussbaum), Archduchess Sophie (Melika Foroutan) and the new character of Princess Marie (Josephine Thiesen).

Furthermore, the third season very likely will include Otto von Bismarck and German Emperor Wilhelm I. There are also two new characters called Teresa and Juarez which I can't place yet but make me guess that we may eventually see Archduke Maximilian becoming the Emperor of Mexico and his short rule there.

[best-habsburg-monarch]

Margaret of Parma, Duchess of Parma reign: 1547-1586

- Illegitimate girlboss

Maximilian , Emperor of Mexico, reign: 1864-1867

- Possibly the better brother

From: anon

-He traveled to Brazil

From: other anon

- He loved plants

- He was a sassy man

- He had good taste

- He learned Nahuatl

- He’s cute (I mean look at him)

- He said “gay rights”

- He banned child labour in Mexico

- He gave many rights back to indigenous people

- Bro was wronged by France (haven’t we all?)

- He’s baby

- Got executed, come on, give him this guys 🥺

From: other other anon

- He loved to design gardens and collect insects which makes me think he would've loved playing animal crossing

From @kaiserin-erzsebet:

An outspoken liberal in a period where the monarchy was still quite conservative.

Vice-Admiral of the Navy who initiated scientific projects and exploration.

Aesthetic girlie. Collected flowers, painted, wrote poetry, and kept a journal. He would have loved Tumblr.

(Probably) gay or bisexual.

Allegedly slapped Franz Joseph for refusing to allow Lombardy to have an elective body.

Sisi's favorite brother-in-law (and not in a romantic way, fuck you Netflix)

Refused to take the Mexican crown until a plebiscite had been held because he wanted to be invited by the Mexican people.

Gave up all of his Austrian titles to go to Mexico because he believed he had made a promise to them.

Understood why his execution was for the good of the Mexican republic.

Also, his wife was amazing and capable and the amount of pure misogyny that certain historians and biographers have thrown at her is ridiculous. I know this isn't a Carlota poll, but she'd want Max to win.

Netflix did him unbelievably dirty. Please give him this.

[eccentrickleptomaniac]

Can I get any Mexico headcanons perchance?

(Mexico representation in this America-focused fandom go brrrrrr)

i am always willing to contribute to the end of eurocentrism in this fandom 🫡 (still sad that nobody talks about african countries)

mexico is probably a middle ground in north america, personality-wise atleast. she doesn't have the outgoing and almost robotic nature of america, and she doesn't have the incredibly timid nature of canada. by all means, she's just a middle ground inbetween the 3. the grounder that makes sure neither of the other two get out of hand. does it work? perhaps.

on her own she's a very cheerful person, almost never letting others get her down. her happiness often radiates onto others, its infectious. is there some dark secret she's hiding behind it? no! not really, she accepts her problems and tries to fix them, but she's still an optimist at heart. tries her best despite all her issues

i can't say i know much about mexican international relations, but from what i can tell i can say she's pretty good friends with austria? while mexico did have some issues previously with his mother (cough the execution of maximilian i) generally the two hang out a lot and enjoy good times together, including flying! mexico does care for austria despite everything, and like all her friends she cares a lot about him.

she loves to swim. she fucking loves to swim its one of her favorite activities aside from flying. she finds it really fun and she loves the ocean in general! she also likes football (soccer) a lot, moreso watching than playing though.

her "govt assigned" username is mysteriousXylograph.

hope this suffices! <3

[barbucomedie]

Ornate Sabre of Juan Nepomuceno Almonte Ramírez from the Second Mexican Empire dated between 1864 - 1867 on display at the National Museum of History in Mexico City, Mexico

Juan Almonte was the son of the military leader José María Morelos who led the Mexican War for Independence movement after the execution of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1811. Juan worked with the rebels in Tejas (now the state of Texas) and assisted in the treaty with Great Britain, the first treaty Mexico made as a new nation. He would then lead soldiers during the Texas Revolution, become Minister of War during the Federalist Revolt of 1840 and the Mexican American War and remained in government during the Reform War.

During the French Intervention, he alongside many other Conservatives supported the reign of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico. Almonte was one of the three officials appointed to be the Regents for Maximilian before his arrival in 1864.

Photographs taken by myself 2024