Painting by Franz Schrotzberg of Empress Elisabeth (Sisi)
During her short stay in Brittany the Empress literally showered kindnesses upon the families of many poor fishermen, whose thatch-roofed huts clustered so close to the cliffs that they seemed but larger birds’ nests clinging to the rocks for protection from the wind and weather; and although they did not know who their benefactress was, they soon found a befitting name for her, and called her the “Queen of Mercy.”
Marguerite Cunliffe-Owen, The Martyrdom of an Empress (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1902), p. 126.
Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 178
Nobility.org Editorial Comment: —
Empress Sisi was bitterly criticized during her life and afterwards. And undoubtedly she had faults.
However, as this post highlights, there was another side of Empress Sisi that her critics frequently overlook: her goodness and charity.
Indeed, for her to have deserved the encomium “Queen of mercy,” it appears that this goodness and charity were beyond the common run we usually find within ourselves or people we know.
For 200 years, the promoters of revolutionary egalitarianism have defamed, distorted and satirized not just Empress Sisi, but the nobility as a whole, the entire social class. As a result, historical examples like this account by Marguerite Cunliffe-Owen help dispel the lies that have greatly shaped common perception and give us a better understanding of history and society.
