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The Fondation Napoléon history prizes & research grants: an excellent cru
The newsletter this week reveals the winners of the Fondation Napoléon's history prizes and research grants for 2011. Once again, as with previous years, the jury has been particularly lucky regarding the quality on offer. In fact, we might even go as far as to say that this year has been particularly good. The successful works recognised here are, in each case and in their own way, new, fascinating and - if I may be so bold - refreshing.
First of all, credit where credit's due: Michel Dancoisne-Martineau's work on the supporting actors of the St Helenian episode will prove to be a particular high point. His book shines a light on the characters active behind the scenes, previously unknown events, and - above all - the general atmosphere of life on the island between 1815 and 1821, all based on unpublished archive material and rare first-hand accounts. This is a work of history that no Napoleonic library should be without. This year has been particularly kind to the curator of the French domains on St Helena: the Fondation's history prize, Operation St Helena's resounding success (more on that to come next week), and the croix de chevalier from the French Ordre national du mérite.
Equally original and fresh is the uninhibited account of Napoleon III's summer of 1870 and his struggles with Prussia, political reversals and illness. Nicolas Chaudun retells the story in his own inimitable way, already present in his previous work on Haussmann. Drawing the reader in, he releases us only at the end of the last page, leaving us stunned by the book's epilogue even if the denouement to the emperor's "summer of hell" is already well-known.
The prize for a work in a language other than French goes to Alison McQueen and is once again richly deserved. The award is recognition of ten years of research and writing that the author has put into a book presenting the empress Eugenie in an entirely different light. Greatly removed from the traditional image of the religious zealot that has been imposed on her by negative historiographical trends, this work is proof positive that France's last empress deserves better.
And so to our research grants. The eclecticism evident in the jury's choice is testament to the dynamism of early-career Napoleonic research at the moment. These students' proposals offer yet more new stimulation to our ever fertile discipline.
All the prize winners will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in Paris on 8 December. Their success is well deserved, and all that remains for us to do is wish them the very best in their future work.
A very good week to you all,
Thierry Lentz
Director, Fondation Napoléon
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FIRST EMPIRE PRIZE 2011
Chroniques de Sainte-Hélène Atlantique sud, by Michel Dancoisne-Martineau
In October 1815, Napoleon and his companions, accompanied by a British garrison charged with guarding him, landed on a remote and rocky island in the middle of the South Atlantic. The quiet history of this tiny colony was to be changed forever by this unexpected arrival. With the history of Napoleon Bonaparte on St Helena already well-known, Michel Dancoisne-Martineau approaches it from a different angle, and takes a look at the lives of those who were caught up in the episode. In addition to Hudson Lowe, the reader is introduced to the decidedly odd Reverend Boys, Solomon "the Jew", the feisty Betsy Balcombe, Cipriani the major-domo, the slaves working on the island, the East India Company's Chinese natives, and the prostitutes hanging around the prison; in short a microcosm worthy of Balzac's Comédie humaine. The fifty-four short histories compiled here, based on the (never-before-used) archives in Jamestown, give the historian the chance of catching something they very rarely get, namely: what it was like there at the time.
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SECOND EMPIRE PRIZE 2011
L'été en enfer, Napoléon III dans la débâcle, by Nicolas Chaudun
August 1870, the imperial army is defeated, the regime collapses, France is invaded. The sudden collapse of the Second Empire shook the whole of Europe and ushered in one hundred years of unstable decline for France. Much has been written about this "debacle", this "annus horribilis". However, in all these writings, there is nothing about Napoleon III, except the eternal refrain of a sovereign wandering the battlefield in search of a death to save him from dishonour. The futility of a leader dispossessed of power, then stripped of military command, could justify this lack of attention. The impeccable reserve which his companions in misfortune imposed upon themselves is even more understandable. And yet for an author, Napoleon III is the perfectly embodiment of a hero of classical tragedy. There is the premonition of disaster, but also its acceptance, there is the physical suffering that he endured and the cruelty of his relationship with the empress; there is a dramatic tension right from the beginning of the crisis.
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PRIZE FOR A BOOK IN A LANGUAGE OTHER THAN FRENCH 2011
Empress Eugénie and the Arts, by Alison McQueen
Reconstructing Empress Eugénie's position as a private collector and a public patron of a broad range of media, this study is the first to examine Eugénie (1826–1920), whose patronage of the arts has been overlooked even by her many biographers. The empress's patronage and collecting is considered within the context of her political roles in the development of France's institutions and international relations. Empress Eugénie and the Arts: Politics and Visual Culture in the Nineteenth Century also examines representations of the empress, and the artistic transformation of a Hispanic woman into a leading figure in French politics. From her self-definition as empress through her collections, to her later days in exile in England, art was integral to Eugénie's social and political position.
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FONDATION NAPOLEON RESEARCH GRANTS 2011
As part of the Fondation Napoléon's ongoing commitment to encouraging and facilitating the study of the Napoleonic period, every year research grants are awarded to students beginning their PhD (or MPhil, with a view to going on to a PhD) on a First or Second Empire subject.
The First Empire research grants 2011 support research in the following areas:
- "Espace créé, espace vécu. Le rôle de Milan capitale dans les stratégies de représentation du pouvoir napoléonien (1796-1814)", by Romain Buclon
- "L'adhésion au régime napoléonien dans les départements nord-orientaux du Premier Empire (1810-1813) – étude de l'Esprit public dans la Moselle, les Forêts, l'Ourthe et la Roër", by Pierre Horn
- "The Empire and the construction of the State: Corsica in the 1790s", by Joshua Meeks
- "Armand-Louis de Caulaincourt, duc de Vicence (1773-1827) : étude d'une carrière diplomatique sous le Premier Empire, de la cour de Napoléon au ministère des Relations extérieures", by Olivier Varlan
The Second Empire research grants 2011 support research in the following area:
- "Satire des règles du Savoir-vivre sous le Second Empire, approche sociopoétique de la comédie chez Emile Augier, Alexandre Dumas fils et Victorien Sardou", by Hanan Hashem
The First and Second Empire research grants 2011 support research in the following areas:
- "Les Didots, amateurs de livres illustrés à Paris (1754-1855)", by Mélanie Salitot
- "François Rude (1784-1855), sculpteur romantique", by Wassili Joseph
NAPOLEONIC NEWS
The Ordre national du mérite
Michel Dancoisne-Martineau - Grand Prix winner, French honorary consul and curator of the French domains on St Helena - and David Guillet, deputy director at the Musée de l'Armée, have been nominated to the rank of Chevalier in the French Ordre national du mérite. The Fondation Napoléon offers its heartiest congratulations to both for this well deserved recognition.
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THE FONDATION NAPOLEON & NAPOLEONIC RESEARCH
The Fondation Napoléon is heavily involved in furthering and encouraging research into the history of the two empires. As well as annual research grants and financial support for specific activities, the Fondation Napoléon has also undertaken several of its own large-scale projects:
- the publication of the General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte
The product of a desire shared by the Baron Gourgaud, then president of the Fondation Napoléon, Thierry Lentz, director of the Fondation Napoléon, and the board of trustees, this project was launched in 2002. The first volume was released in 2004; volume eight, covering the period between January 1808 and January 1809, was published in November by Editions Fayard.
- the Fondation Napoléon digital library
This online library indexes not only the sixty works housed in the Bibliothèque M. Lapeyre that have been digitised by the Fondation Napoléon, but also a huge range of digital texts available elsewhere on the internet. Thousands of documents can be accessed via this portal.
- Napoleonica. La Revue, the Fondation Napoléon's academic review
Napoleonica. La Revue is an international scholarly online history journal on First and Second Empire subjects. Three issues are released per year, featuring articles, reviews and bibliographies in French and in English. This review is available for free via the Cairn.info portal.
- Napoleonica archives online
Napoleonica.org houses a wide variety of digitised archives, including papers from the Conseil d'Etat of the First Empire, and the correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte and Bigot de Préameneu - Conseiller d'Etat and later Minister for Religion - as well as Vivant Denon's correspondence.
200 YEARS AGO
Napoleon on history
An entry in Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, dictated to Las Cases on 20 November 1816, saw Napoleon announce grandly, "But really, what is this historical truth? A fable that has been agreed on..." Yet the emperor's understanding of the importance of history, of preserving for posterity the glorious events of his career, was not simply characteristic of his years in exile but rather a concern that he carried throughout his life. On 30 November 1811, his attention turned to the immortalisation of his great military deeds, and he wrote to Alexandre Berthier, Prince de Neuchâtel (letter n° 18,297, Edition du Second Empire):
"As Major General of the Grande Armée, you [are tasked] with relating every event from the campaigns of Ulm, Austerlitz, Jena, Friedland, Eckmühl and Wagram: yet you have produced nothing. You should be working continuously on this duty, and spending four or five hours a day; without [this work], there will be nothing left of these campaigns. Bulletins written in haste are negligible [...] You would need to start by having a collection of these bulletins printed, having altered them, having removed anything that is considered false, and having corrected any errors in style. [...]"
Clearly in Napoleon's eyes, the officer's retelling of a battle was a duty almost as important as his actual participation. And key to a ruler's success was ensuring that any event that took place was remembered correctly.
150 YEARS AGO
The Trent Affair continues
As the Trent Affair dragged on into December, war between Britain and the Unionists remained a distinct possibility. Although Napoleon III had decided on neutrality regarding the Civil War, Lord Cowley, British ambassador to France, informed Sir H. Bulwer, ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time, that Britain would nevertheless have France's backing should war break out. In a remark that betrayed British suspicion of French motives (George Cornewall Lewis, British Secretary of War, would also express a similar sentiment), he described that French support would come "not for our beaux yeux or for the righteousness of our cause, but because they hope that we shall go to war, open the Southern ports, and give them cotton." Indeed, the southern states, under blockade from the north since 19 April 1861, provided the French textile industry with 114,000 tonnes of unrefined cotton, ninety-three percent of the total amount coming into the country. The Confederates, all too aware of the importance of the Southern states in the cotton market, also reduced the amount being exported, in a policy designed to force European powers to give them diplomatic recognition. Such was French reliance - it has been suggested that 700,000 French jobs depended on the industry - that Horace de Viel Castel, writing on 18 December, noted simply: "We shall recognise the Confederation [of the Southern States]". A reluctance to support a confederation fighting in favour of slavery would eventually do for any official diplomatic recognition from the liberally-influenced French emperor.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 606, 2 - 8 DECEMBER, 2011
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© This Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
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The Fondation Napoléon History Prizes, the fruit of the generosity of the industrialist, Martial Lapeyre, are awarded by a jury composed of the following specialists:
• V.-A. Masséna, Prince d'Essling (President)
• Jean-Claude Lachnitt (Secretary general)
• Professor Jacques-Olivier Boudon
• Prince Gabriel de Broglie, Chancelier of the Institut, member of the Académie française
• Jean Favier, of the Institut
• Professor Bruno Foucart
• Jacques Jourquin
• Dr Jean-François Lemaire
• Anne Muratori-Philip
• Jean-Marie Rouart, of the Académie française
• Laurent Theis, historian and publisher
• Professor Jean Tulard, of the Institut
Click here for the previous winners.
Furthermore, the same jury awards at least six research grants worth 7,500 Euros to French or non-French students in the first year of their PhD (or MPhil intending to go on to PhD) on First or Second Empire subjects.
Click here for the previous research grant winners.
Where are they now? An update on the careers of some of our research grant winners (in French).
For further information regarding the Fondation Napoléon History Prizes and Research Grants, please contact us.
OPERATION ST HELENA
The Fondation Napoléon and the Souvenir Napoléonien, in association with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have announced an international fund-raising campaign to restore and save Napoleon I's residence on the island of St Helena. All the details regarding the campaign as well as donation forms and advice for donating from outside France, can be found on napoleon.org.
FONDATION NAPOLEON ON THE WEB
Each week we offer you a "mystery link" to somewhere on napoleon.org. Click on the link to discover a part of the website you might not have visited before...
EVENTS
On now and coming up
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
Auctions
- Vente Empire, Fontainebleau, France [04/12/2011]
Full details
Cinema
- The Risorgimento in Italian cinema, Paris, France [06/12/2011 - 09/12/2011]
Full details
Festivals
- Twelfth Marie-Louise Week at the Museo Glauco Lombardi, Parma, Italy [10/12/2011 - 18/12/2011]
Full details
NAPOLEON.ORG
The best of the month:
- Book of the month
- Painting of the month
- Objet d'Art of the month
- Article of the month
NAPOLEONICA.LA REVUE
Available free on Cairn.info
NAPOLEONICA ARCHIVES ONLINE
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
Online catalogue
Digital Library
Contact
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