Maximilian I

(mák-se-mil'yan,) Emperor of Germany, B. 1459, was the son of Frederick III., and m. in 1477 Mary of Burgundy, daughter and heire of Charles the Bold, in right of whom he s. to the sovereignty of the Netherlands. After waging war with Louis XI. of France, who coveted his Flemish po e ions, M. ascended the imperial throne in 1494, joined the League of Cambrai, and in 1513 the so-called " Holy League " against France. After having, in 1499, been obliged to acknowledge Swi independence, M. had, later, to submit to the still keener mortification of being compelled by Francis I. of France to cede Verona to his old enemy, the Venetian republic. M. was a liberal and enlightened monarch, considering the age he lived in; he created a standing army, improved military discipline, established the Aulic Council and the Imperial Chamber, and abolished the Vehmgerichte. D. 1519.-M. II. s. his father Ferdinand I. in 1564. He drove the Turks out of Hungary, concluded a truce with them, and showed considerable favor to his Protestant subjects. D. 1576. Maximilian, FERDINAND JOSEPH, archduke of Austria, B. 1832, was a younger brother of Francis Joseph, the reigning emperor. In 1858 he m. Carlotta, daughter of Leopold I., king of the Belgians, and in the following year was appointed to the chief command of the Austrian navy. In 1863, the French emperor, Napoleon III., desiring to consummate the autonomy of Mexica then occupied in great part by a French army, prevailed upon M. to undertake the establishment of an empire in that country, a uring him of the needful support. M. accordingly, and prompted, it is said, by his ambitious wife, consented, and arrived in the city of Mexico in 1864. The majority of the people, wearied of anarchy, gladly received him and proclaimed him their emperor, but a civil war at once ensued, fomented by the partisans of Juarez (q. v.). After the recall of his French allies, 1866, the fortunes of M. darkened, and soon came to a cruel and untimely end. Betrayed by one of his most trusted generals, the emperor was tried before a sort of drum-head court-martial, and sentenced to death. Notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances of the U. States govt. and that of Great Britain, Juarez confirmed the sentence, and M. was shot, along with two of his generals, June 17, 1867. His amiable and devoted wife, Carlotta, has remained since the death ofher gallant, generous, and accomplished husband, a hopele maniac. [s. 586]