Meanwhile, Over at My Other Blog, Maximilian~Carlota

I am still (whew) working on the next podcast, the 21st of a projected 24, for the Marfa Mondays Podcasting Project, which is apropos of my book in-progress on Far West Texas. (And by the way, as of today, when I finally posted the first one, all the transcripts are now available on-line.) It looks like podcast 21 will be a long one. In the meantime, I invite you-- most especially if you happen to be a Mexican history aficionado--to visit my other blog, Maximilian~Carlota, where I post about the research behind my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire-- plus tidbits ex-post.

I don't post as frequently there as I do here at "Madam Mayo," but I've been at it for a few years now so researchers of Mexico's Second Empire and the French Intervention will find heaps of both useful and exotically crunchy items in the archives. Herewith a list of the top crunchiest posts to date:

+ A Conversation with M.M. McAllen about her book, Maximilian and Carlota

+ "A Court Ball at the Palace of Mexico" by William Wells

+ José Luis Blasio, author of Maximiliano íntimo: A few Notes and Reflections

+ Dr. J. Marion Sims

+ Confederates in Mexico: A Brief Bibliography

+ Kaiser Maximilian von Mexiko Archive in the Library of Congress

+ The Memoirs of Charles Blanchot, General Bazaine's Aide-de-Camp

+ Reglamento y ceremonial de la corte (Maximilian and Carlota's Book of Court Etiquette)

+ Countess Paula von Kollonitz's Eine Reise Nach Mexiko im Jahre 1864

+ How Mad Was Carlota?

+ Maximilian in Mexico: A Woman's Reminiscences of the French Intervention 1862-1867 by Sara Yorke Stevenson

+ Doña Cordelia (Otilia) Jordan de Degollado

+ The Memoir of Maximilian's Gardener, Wilhelm Knechtel

+ Q & A with Mexican Historian Alan Rojas Orzechowski on Santiago Rebull

P.S. You can also download the curious little gem My Recollections of Maximilian by "Marie de la Fere," edited and introduced by Yours Truly. 

Madam Mayo's Top Posts in 2015

Ye Olde "Giant Golden Buddha" Refreshed

Thirty Deadly-Effective Ways to Free Up Bits, 

Drips & Gimungously Vast Swaths of Time for Writing

For Mexicophiles

CLICK HERE.

Lift Off! War and Peace

So, I started War and Peace. Again. Dagnabbit, 2011 is the year! I'll be posting the first blog about that later this evening at the Reading Tolstoy's War & Peace blog.

For those of you who follow the Maximilian ~ Carlota blog, the Tuesday update is on-line.

No, I don't blog every day. Just Mondays here, some Tuesdays at Maximilian ~ Carlota (that's to share my research on the Second Empire /French Intervention of the 1860s) and, from now through December 31, the Reading Tolstoy's War and Peace blog. I aim to finish by December 31.

So what happened to the Wednesday guest-blogs? Well, never say never. But reading War & Peace and preparing the translation of Francisco I. Madero's secret book of 1911, are keeping me more than busy.

Rosedale, the Historic Estate in Washington, D.C.

UPDATE over at my other blog, Maximilian ~ Carlota, for researchers, both serious and "armchair," of Mexico's Second Empire, the tumultuous period also known as the French Intervention:

Pictured here is my pug dog, Picadou, a little tuckered out after her walk at Rosedale, when we were visiting just the other day. Rosedale plays an important part in my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, because it was the family home of (prince) Agustín de Iturbide y Green's mother and, later, his home for many years, on and off, until it was sold in the early 20th century.

As I recount in the epilogue of my novel, "The Story of the Story or, An Epilogue by Way of Acknowledgements," when I first began researching the novel in the late 1990s, there was nothing-- and I mean absolutely nothing-- available on-line about Rosedale.

I found my way into the story ... CONTINUE READING

On the Death of Maximilian: A Translation from the Hungarian

Over at my other blog, Maximilian ~ Carlota, where I share my research on Mexico's Second Empire, a tumultuous period also known as the French Intervention, the Tuesday update:

An eyewitness memoir by Dr Szender Ede, who served with the French in Mexico from 1865, and later had quite a bit to do with the aftermath, was published in a Hungarian newspaper in 1876, and has been translated into Spanish. Warning: it's not for the timid of stomach.... CONTINUE READING

More anon.

Doña Cordelia (Otilia) Jordan de Degollado

Herewith the Tuesday update my other blog, Maximilian ~ Carlota, where I share my research from my novel based on the true story, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire. Doña Cordelia (Otilia) Jordan de Degollado

In 1923, shortly before the death of the ex-Empress Carlota in Belgium, a Mexican newspaper reporter (or perhaps a pair of them), tracked down the then elderly Doña Cordelia (Otilia) Jordan de Degollado, the American widow of the Mexican Empire's never-received ambassador to Washington. I found the newspaper clipping in the Joaquín and Mariano Degollado archive at the University of Texas, Austin. Here is my translation from the Spanish. (Alas, the article did not carry the reporter's name. It opens with mutliple subtitles, as it appears here.)

A Lady of Carlota's Court Tells How She Lived in Mexico

The sovereign is near death Señora Cordelia Jordan de Degollado

Yesterday She Recalled the Times of the so-called Empire of Maximilian

—A VERY INTERESTING STORY—

During that Ephemeral Empire, this Lady was Maximilian's Ambassadress Near the White House

The rumors of the ex-empress Carlota's grave illness published in European newspapers and later, in the Mexican press, inspired us to interview a distinguished octogenarian resident in this capital who was a member of the court of Maximilian von Habsburg's ephemeral imperial government.

We refer to the elderly Doña Cordelia Jordan, widow of Degollado, who lives in an apartment at number 41, Calle de Roma, in the Colonia Juárez, and that is where we arrived, accompanied by our photographer.

After inquiring with the concierge of this immense apartment building, we presented ourselves at the door that belongs to Degollado's widow and although at first the servants who attend her showed great reluctance in admitting us . . .

CONTINUE READING

Miramar Castle or, Il Castello di Miramare

Miramar Castle or Il Castello di Miramare, in Trieste, was Maximilian and Carlota's residence before coming to Mexico. It's a very curious place, and my own visit, back in 2003 . . .

CONTINUE READING over at my other blog, Maximilian ~ Carlota, a blog for researchers, both serious and "armchair," of Mexico's Second Empire, a tumultuous period of history also known as the "French Intervention."

Maximilien: Ópera historique

A couple of years ago, the late great Mexican art historian el maestro Ricardo Pérez Escamilla very generously gave me his copy of a rare French libretto and program of the opera performed in the Académie Nationale de Musique et de Danse, "Maximilien . . . CONTINUE READING over at my other blog, Maximilian ~ Carlota (for researchers of the Second Empire or "French Intervention").

Matías Romero's Visit to Springfield in 1861

Apropos of William Moss Wilson's excellent piece for the NYT's on-line "Opinionator," a new post on my other blog, Maximilian ~ Carlota.

More anon.

Ein Kaiser unterwegs (An Emperor en Route)

New post over at the Maximilian ~ Carlota blog , on Konrad Ratz and Amparo Gómez Tepexicuapan's book on Maximilian's travels 1864 - 1867.

The Maximilian ~ Carlota blog, a blog for researchers (both serious and armchair) on Mexico's Second Empire / French Intervention, is updated on Tuesdays.

My Recollections of Maximilian by Marie de la Fère: A Rare English Language Eyewitness Memoir

The historian Robert Ryal Miller mentioned this rare manuscript, a circa 1910 English language handwritten eyewitness memoir of Maximilian, in a letter to me some years ago. He had found it at the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, and was preparing an edited and annotated version for publication. Alas, Miller died in 2004 without, as far as I know, having published it. I have not seen what Miller wrote, I am sad to say, for I understand he had identified the author whose name was not — as I too, immediately suspected -- "Marie de la Fère." When I visited the Bancroft as part of my own research for my novel, The Last Prince of the Mexican Empire, I dutifully looked up this manuscript. I was glad I did, for, among so many other things, it gave me insight into the strong feelings of the monarchists and Maximilian's character. After Miller's death, as I felt this memoir deserved more readers than we intrepid few who have eyes for microfiches... Continue reading about it at my other blog, "Maximilian ~ Carlota."

How Mad Was Carlota?

The Tuesday post is up over at the Maximilian ~ Carlota blog.

Henry R. Magruder's Sketches of the Last Year of the Mexican Empire

The Tuesday post is up over at the Maximilian ~ Carlota blog, on Henry R. Magruder's Sketches of the Last Year of the Mexican Empire.

This is part of a series of blog posts on eyewitness accounts of the Second Empire / French Intervention. So far:

-> Charles Blanchot, L'Intervention Française au Mexique
(aide-de-camp to General Bazaine, Supreme Commander of the French Forces in Mexico)

-> José Luis Blasio, Maximiliano íntimo
(Maximilian's secretary)

-> Paula von Kollonitz, Eine Reise Nach Mexiko im Jahre 1864
(Member of the court who came with Maximilian and Carlota to Mexico)

-> Sara Yorke Stevenson Maximilian in Mexico
(Daughter of an American businessman resident in Mexico City)

Many more to come. The Maximilian ~ Carlota blog is updated on Tuesdays.

Sara Yorke Stevenson's Maximilian in Mexico

New post over at Maximilian ~ Carlota Blog, on Sara Yorke Stevenson's treasure of a memoir.

More anon.

Update on Maximilian ~ Carlota Blog: Eine Reise Nach Mexiko im Jahre 1864

Read the post here.
The Maximilian-Carlota blog is updated on Tuesdays.

Maximilian ~ Carlota Blog Updated

It's Tuesday, the day for the update on the Maximilian ~ Carlota blog, with a story (and very plummy video) sent in from my "Austrian correspondent" in Los Angeles, about the diamonds. The blog is meant to serve as a resource for researchers (both serious and armchair) of the tumultuous period of Mexican history known as the Second Empire or "French Intervention."

Maximilian ~ Carlota Blog

Tuesdays only: updates at the Maximilian ~ Carlota blog, a resource for researchers of the tumultuous period of Mexican history known as the Second Empire or "French Intervention." More anon.