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THERE ARE TWO PRIMARY THEMES...
... running through the letter this week: the twilight of Napoleon I's career, and nineteenth-century horticultural history. First up, we bring you details of a new exhibition on the curious history of Napoleon's fleet of carriages and his personal effects which went missing after the Battle of Waterloo. The Fondation Napoléon is a partner in this event, which will see a number of objects displayed for the first time on French soil. Secondly, our new book of the month is John Bew's Castlereagh: Enlightenment, War, and Tyranny, which offers a re-evaluation of one of the key players behind the Congress of Vienna. We also have an interview with the author, which serves as a fascinating introduction to the biography. We continue the Congress of Vienna theme with details of a new project aimed at furthering our understanding of this important moment in the geopolitical history Europe. As we get towards the bottom of the letter, our second theme comes in, beginning with information on a new book detailing Thomas Jefferson's "Revolutionary Garden" at Monticello. Green fingers are also very much on show at the new exhibition in Ismaning, Germany, which traces the history of the Bonaparte and Beauharnais family gardens. We round off the letter with 200 (riots break out in the provinces) and 150 years ago (the Prince of Wales visits Egypt and the Near East).
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FONDATION NAPOLEON NEWS
"La Berline de Napoléon: le mystère du butin de Waterloo", Paris, France
After the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon's defeat was compounded by the theft of his berlines and carriages, containing not only his personal effects (such as his hat and grey overcoat) but also a large collection of silverware and medals. The story of these items, which changed hands on numerous occasions between the battlefield and their eventual homes in some of the grandest museums in London, Berlin, Moscow and France, and their journey is retold in this exhibition at the Musée de la Légion d'honneur et des ordres de chevalerie. Many of these items, such as the emperor's decorations of the Russian Order of St Andrew and the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece - loans from the State Historical Museum in Moscow - have never been on display in France. The Fondation Napoléon, a partner in this exhibition, has also donated a number of objects from its own collection, including Napoleon's nécessaire dentaire.
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BOOK OF THE MONTH
Castlereagh: Enlightenment, War, and Tyranny, by John Bew
Viscount Castlereagh, arguably one of Britain's most important Foreign Secretaries and a key architect of the Congress of Vienna, nevertheless came out of the nineteenth-century with a poor reputation. John Bew's biography, Castlereagh: Enlightenment, War, and Tyranny, re-evaluates the man whose political career took in the 1798 Irish rebellion, the Walcheren debacle, and a European-wide coalition that led to Napoleon's defeat, but ended in great mental strain and eventually suicide. In this short interview, the author discusses the fascinating character of Castlereagh, the changes in his political philosophy, and the thorny issue of identity. Those interested in hearing more about the issue of British identity can listen to John Bew's report from 2010, "Analysis: Britishness", via the BBC iPlayer. And on the French side, the new book of the month is Napoléon. De la guerre, by Bruno Colson.
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SEEN ON THE WEB
The Congress of Vienna project
The Congress of Vienna project is in actual fact three distinct projects in one, each with a defined objective aimed at improving historians' understanding of this pivotal moment in history. Project one sets out to analyse (and hopefully publish) the primary sources relating to the European political system and in particular the relatively under-exposed court in Vienna. Part two undertakes research into the presentation of the congress in the press and contemporary media's role in political communication, whilst project three proposes to investigate and retell the history of the private library that belonged to the Austrian emperor, Francis I and catalogue the books and publications that it housed. Full details can be found on the project's website (external link), available predominantly in German with certain pages translated into English.
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Sneak preview: "A Rich Spot of Earth": Thomas Jefferson's "Revolutionary Garden" at Monticello
The Yale Press Log has a sneak preview of the forthcoming book on Thomas Jefferson's "Revolutionary Garden". The publication, written by Peter J. Hatch, Monticello Garden and Grounds Director, and featuring over two-hundred illustrations, takes a look at the garden begun in 1770 and maintained during Jefferson's retirement years (1809-1826). The book also discusses Jefferson's experimental fusion of Virginian and French cuisine and the many different vegetables that he cultivated. The gardens at Monticello have been restored to reflect the varieties of vegetables and plants put down by Jefferson in the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-centuries.
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WHAT'S ON
"The gardens of the Bonaparte and Beauharnais families", Ismaning, Germany
Napoleon I is known for having led his armies across Europe, for his legislative work that lives on today, and for his exile in St Helena. But what about his gardening skills? It is not just Josephine and her roses that have gone down in green finger history: many Bonaparte and Beauharnais family members have left behind evidence of their horticultural passion. This exhibition, which is organised by the Kalmann-Museums and Schlossmuseums Ismaning and runs until 22 April, takes the visitor on a journey through the "green history" of the two families and introduces them to the cultural, historical and social aspects of garden architecture of the nineteenth century. A short introduction to the new exhibition (in German) can be found on the website of the regional television station Bayerisches Fernsehen (external link).
200 YEARS AGO
Riots in the provinces
If 1811 was the year of the comet, then 1812 was to be the year of famine. Food shortages, brought about by a poor harvest the summer before, had already begun to bite in the Paris region (see bulletin n° 613): in March, it spilled out into the provinces as riots broke out across France. On 2 March 1812, a riot broke out in Caen. There were similar scenes in Elbeuf (6 March), Dreux (9 March), Rouen (10 March) and Le Havre (13 March), all in Normandy. One witness to the Le Havre riots reported how "the people went around the bakeries, broke windows, and seized the bread for themselves". Violence in Château-Renault (Indre-et-Loire) saw sacks of wheat seized and handed out, with gendarmes (of which there were just two in the town) unable to intervene. The Caen riots were notable for the authorities' harsh, indeed disproportionate, clampdown: the département of Calvados – its population heavily reliant on agriculture – was particularly affected by the poor harvest. After a local mill was pillaged, the prefect wrote to the Minister of Police:
"The city of Caen holds great influence over Lower-Normandy; it would be most grievous were such troubles to occur again and not be punished."
Three hundred members of the National Guard were mobilised. On 5 March two hundred additional soldiers from the 113e infantry regiment arrived from Cherbourg. More was to come: General Dursonel was dispatched with no fewer than four thousand troops. They remained in Caen until 17 March. Tried before a military tribunal, eight individuals, including four women, were found guilty of conspiracy to incite a civil war and sentenced to death. Others were sentenced to hard labour or dispatched to the navy. Nevertheless, the state did also endeavour to react in a positive manner, passing a decree on 8 May 1812 which set a maximum price that could be paid for cereals.
For more on the Caen riots, take a look at Gaston Lavalley's Napoléon et la Disette de 1812, published in 1896 and available via the BNF's Gallica online service (external link in French).
150 YEARS AGO
The Prince of Wales visits Egypt and the Near East
In his early twenties, the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward (known as Bertie and later Edward VII), had developed a taste for the high life which subsequently would have unfortunate consequences. A dalliance with Nellie Clifden, an actress, almost torpedoed his engagement with the Danish princess Alexandra of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg whilst Queen Victoria, devastated by the death of her husband, Albert, soon afterwards, blamed the scandal for Albert's passing. It was decided that it would be better for everyone if the prince left the country for a while. So in February 1862, he left for Egypt and the Near East. The royal trip is notable for the photographs taken by Francis Bedford, who accompanied the prince on his travels. News of the prince's tour was widely reported in the European news - appearing in the Gazette de Savoie on 3 March 1862 - and much was made of the photographs that appeared upon their return. After stops in Jerusalem, Cairo and Constantinople, plus a visit to the pyramids of Giza on 4 March 1862 (external link), the prince returned to Britain in June 1862. You can find a selection of the photos taken by Francis Bedford on the Royal Collection website (external link).
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 617, 2 - 8 MARCH 2012
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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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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...
MAGAZINE
Just published
- Eminent Victorians on American Democracy: the view from Albion, by Frank Prochaska
Press review
- History Today January 2012
- Interview with Alexander Vikhrov on "The Two Emperors" exhibition
- Yale University Press: preview of book on Thomas Jefferson's horticultural experiments
- Book review: How Britain won the War of 1812: The Royal Navy's Blockades of the United States, 1812-1815
- Napoleon Bonaparte on the ballot paper in Moscow test elections
- Reuters Africa: Vladimir Putin evokes Russian campaign of 1812
Seen on the web (external links)
- The Congress of Vienna project
- Napoléon et la Disette de 1812, by Gaston Lavalley
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.
Conferences
- "1812, la campagne de Russie: Regards croisés sur une guerre européenne", Paris, France [04/04/2012 - 05/04/2012]
Full details
Exhibitions
- "La Berline de Napoléon: le mystère du butin de Waterloo", Paris, France [07/03/2012 - 08/07/2012]
Full details
- "The gardens of the Bonaparte and Beauharnais families", Ismaning, Germany [17/02/2012 - 22/04/2012]
Full details
- "The Two Emperors", Moscow, Russia [15/02/2012 - 15/03/2012]
Full details
Lectures
- Annual Christianson Lecture: "Travels with Alexis de Tocqueville: Tocqueville's Journey into America", Bristol, UK [06/03/2012]
Full details (external link)
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
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