the Cardinal:
the Great:
Maurice FitzGerald de Windsor:
the Invader of Ireland: "Maurice Fitzgerald de Windsor, son of Gerald Fitzwalter and Nesta ap Todor Mawr, was born in 1100 in Wales. He was known as the Invader of Ireland, and he was a principal leader under Strongbow (Richard de Clare) of the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. In 1176, Strongbow granted him land in Kildare for his part in the invasion, and shortly after, he married Alice de Montgomery. Henry II appointed him Chief Governor of Ireland in 1173. He died September 1, 1176, in Wexford, Ireland, and was buried in the Abbey of the Grey Friars." (Carson)
the Mad:
the Magnanimous: " . . . His epithet, and that of each previous and subsequent head of his family, was coined by John Smyth of Nibley (died 1641), steward of the Berkeley estates, the biographer of the family and author of Lives of the Berkeleys." (Wikipedia)
the Brave
Maurice FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond
the Lame:
Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Baron of Offaly, 1232–1257
the Friar
Maurice FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Desmond
the Warlike:
Maximilian: " . . . .justified the Italian nickname bestowed on him of Massimiliano pochi denari, by humbling himself so far as to offer mortgages of part of his land as securities for the pensions he promised them (i.e., the escort in his coronation-progress to Rome). . . ."
Kaiser Max: "Full of the joy of life which rose superior to every disappointment, a most gallant soldier who created the splendid 'landsknechte' for his country's services, a fearless, unrivaled hunter, a writer on every subject under the sun; he was also the very mirror of knightly courtesy. The wonderful fascination of his genial, gracious manner, and his sympathetic tact in personal intercourse with rich and poor, won all hearts. Kaiser Max, as his people called him, was the darling of his German and Tyrolese subjects. . . ." (Hare: xx)
the Always Broke (: It. Pochi Denari):
--" . . . inheritance, war, shrewd matrimonial diplomacy and purchase . . . and the administration of the geographic regions under his authority so heavily taxed the imperial coffers that the ruler's contemporaries referred to him as Massimiliano pochi denari ('Maximilian always broke'). . . ."
the First Patriot King of Modern Times: " . . . He was the first patriot king of modern times, and his proud motto 'My honour is German honour, and German honour is my honour,' shows us how he felt himself one in joy and sorrow, in defeat and in glory, with his people." (Hare: xx)
the Idealist & the Dreamer: "Maximilian stands forth as a typical figure of his time; heir to the great traditions of a Caesar, a Theodoric, and a Charlemagne, he dreamed of mighty deeds and sought to carry out his high ideal, inspired at once by real patriotism and a lofty ambition for his race. He could never rest satisfied with the near present, but laboured with enthusiasm for distant aims whose fruition he could never see. Again and again he was doomed to disappointment in his political career, for his restless energy and many-sided point of view interfered with that narrow, dogged persistence in one definite aim which wins success. The will-o'-the-wisp of Italian conquest had an invincible attraction for him, and lured him on---as it did many a King of France---to failure and disaster. An idealist and a dreamer, the Emperor won his truest claim to greatness, not so much by his wars or his diplomacy, as by his warm sympathy with every phase of modern thought and aspiration. His keen appreciation and eager encouragement of the new spirit of the age in literature and art made him the beloved of the scholar and the poet, who both welcomed him as the ideal Emperor of Dante's vision." (Hare: ix-xx)
The Knight of Adventurous Thoughts (Ger. Theuerdank): "Theuerdank, literally meaning 'The Knight of Adventurous Thoughts', is an allegory in the form of epic verse that retells the adventures of Maximilian as he traveled to woo his future wife, Mary of Burgundy. Although she died after only five years of marriage, Maximilian regarded the years of his courtship as the ideal romantic interlude and the epitome of a knightly adventure. Mary was indeed the daughter of his own knightly hero, Charles the Bold of Burgundy. The book is largely fictitious, characterizing Maximilian as a chivalric knight in the Arthurian sense. The text is supposedly written by Melchior Pfintzing, a friend of Maximilian, but Maximilian himself probably composed the majority of the work. (Bibliopolis - Theuerdank)
the Last Great Knight of Europe:
the Mayor of Augsburg: " . . . Maximilian's friendship with the Fugger and Welser banking families led to his nickname 'the mayor of Augsburg'. . . ." (Kumin: 39)
the Moneyless: "The epithet of 'moneyless,' bestowed on Maximilian, and better applied than the cognomens usually given to princes, was a consequence no less of his political situation, than of his personal character. A portion, and not the larger portion, of his dominions consisted of the Netherlands, the most industrious and wealthy states in Europe; states which not long before had supported the splendid and voluptuous court of Philip of Burgundy, and of which a few provinces, in this same century, were indebted for their success in a protracted war against Spain, the mistress of the treasures of the new world, chiefly to their superior regularity in the payment of their troops; yet Maximilian, lord of ,these rich provinces, was, from his poverty, an object of mistrust to his allies, and of contempt to his enemies. The principal cause of this seeming anomaly is to be found in the new system introduced by Louis XI of France. . . The poverty of Maximilian was the more conspicuous, because, while in appearance sovereign of a vast empire, he was in fact lord only of an assemblage of independent states, in not one of which, except his hereditary duchy of Austria, did he possess the power of taxing his subjects; and his schemes, begun without consideration, and abandoned without cause, were seldom sufficiently popular to induce his states to open their pursues in his support." (History of Holland: 619)
the Patron of Humanistic Romanticism: One of the most important patrons of art in the sixteenth century was the German emperor Maximilian I. He has been noted as the last great knight of Europe and the 'patron of humanistic romanticism'."
the Penniless, the Penniless Maximilian:
the Second Founder of the House of Habsburg:
the White King: "The day after the arrival of the young White King, his marriage with the Queen of the Flaming Iron was carried out with great pomp in the Cathedral, at six o'clock iin the morning, in the presence of a splendid company, the Bishop of Tornach at the altar, supported by the Papal Legate, while the young Charles of Gulders and his sister bore the tapers before the bride...." (Hare, p.45)
A German Mithridates:
the Delight of Mankind: " . . . Here, on the 12th of October, 1576, expired the Emperor Maximilian II, in whose favour Germany revived the surname of Titus, or the Delight of Mankind. No stronger proof of his great and amiable qualities can be given, than the concurring testimony of the historians of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and Austria, both Catholics and Protestants, who vie in his praises, and in representing him as a model of impartiality, wisdom, and benignity. . . ." (Planche: 8)
the Prince of Peace: "The Prince of Peace. The epithet conferred on Maximilian II of Austria, with whom the desire of aggrandizement was but a secondary consideration, but the maintenance of peace, which he deemed the greatest blessing he could confer on his people, was the ruling principle of all his actions. From the adoption of this principle, Germany and Austria enjoyed under him a series of years of almost uninterrupted peace, while the rest of Europe was exposed to all the evils of civil commotion, religious discord, or foreign war." (Frey: 287)
the Pacific
the Blue King
the Blue Elector
the Blue Prince-Elector
"...Max Emanuel, 'the Blue Elector,' [was] so called from the blue uniform he wore in the war against the Turks...." (Troost, p. 189)
Maximilian II Emanuel of Bavaria was " . . . called by the Turks the 'Blue King,' and greatly feared by them. . . ." (Peake: 382)
the Barracks Emperor
the Emperor of the Army
the Thracian (Lat. Thrax)
the Younger: "Maximinus the Younger was a most beautiful prince. In the letter of Maximinus, the father, to the Senate concerning him, it is thus written: 'I have suffered my son Maximinus to be saluted Emperor, as in respect of the natural affection I bear him: so also that the people of Rome, and the honourable Senate may swear they never had a more beautiful emperor.' His face had such a beauty in it, that when it was black and discoloured with death, yet even then there was a loveliness upon it. To conclude, when the head of the father being fastened to a spear, was carried about, and there was a mighty rejoicing at the sight, there was almost an equal sorrow at beholding that of the son when it was borne about in like manner." (Museum Europæum: 438)
Archdupe Maximilian: "A dreamy romantic, he was selected by Napoleon III to be the puppet Emperor of Mexico in 1862. He and his wife Charlotte (Carlota), daughter of King Leopold of Belgium, traveled to Mexico in a sincere attempt to improve the country. When the naïve Maximilian accepted the offer, he was derided as the 'Archdupe' Maximilian. When the Mexican adventure of Napoleon III collapsed in 1867, Maximilian was captured and executed by a Mexican firing squad." (Thompson) [Ref1]
"The Archdukes, who did a bit of trampling on maidenly toes, made up a boisterous hilarity what they lacked in august reserve. Ferdinand Maximilian, the Dowager Sophie's second son, had also an adolescent fancy. Two years younger than the Emperor, he had only a small share of the latter's handsomeness. (Franz Joseph was one of the few Habsburgs who did not inherit the well-known Habsburg lip) In Maxl's case this family trait combined oddly with a mildly slanting chin. The flaw was offset by a pair of singularly striking blue eyes and bright, wavy blond hair. He was the tallest of the Archdukes, having taken after the gigantic Sophie.
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| Maximilien de Béthune Duke of Sully the Iron Duke @Wikipedia |
the Iron Duke: "A nickname given to Maximilien de Bethune, Duc de Sully, the French statesman under Henry IV. He granted very few pensions, established order and the strictest economy in all branches of the administration, revised the funds, abolished numerous imposts, exposed the frauds of the tax-farmers, abolished a host of state offices, established manufactories, encouraged agriculture, and by his wise advise to the king, who followed his counsel, greatly improved France in many other ways." (Frey. Sobriquets and Nicknames, Volume 1888: 165)
"After the assassination of Henri, Sully retired from public life, and resigned most of his offices. On one occasion, Louis XIII sent for him, and he appeared at court in the same suit which he had worn in the reign of the Bearnais. This being old-fashioned, cause a titter among the courtiers: 'Sire,' said the iron duke, with all the dignity and coolness of a patrician, 'when your great father condescended to consult me, he never allowed business to be interrupted by puppies and buffoons." (Brewer. The Political, Social, and Literary History of France: 182)
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