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THE NAPOLEON. ORG BULLETIN, N°681, 13-19 SEPTEMBER, 2013
EDITORIAL
Every year in September, here in France, the Journées du Patrimoine are a big affair. People queue up round the block to get into state buildings around Paris and in other French cities. Sites otherwise closed are made open to the public. It's huge. And that's perhaps not surprising given that this idea of making culture accessible to all was created in France nearly 40 years ago. It has not always been the case in the rest of Europe. We have been writing our weekly bulletins since the late 90s and drawing our conclusions from our annual scouring of the web we can confidently report that it is only recently that European heritage days have really spread beyond ‘the Hexagon'. Even two or three years ago, though the European Union supported them, activity was limited to a poor web site and a few internationally minded figures outside France. This year however it seems that the doors have really been thrown wide open for European Heritage Days - or ‘Heritage Open Days' (England), ‘Door Open Days' (Scotland), ‘Open Doors' (Wales), ‘European Heritage Open Days', Northern Ireland', ‘National Heritage Week', Republic of Ireland, ‘Tag des Denkmals' (Austria), ‘Tag des offenen Denkmals' (Germany), ‘Journées du patrimoine'/'Open Monumentendagen', Belgium, Giornate europee del Patrimonio (Italy), Open Monumenten Tag (Netherlands), ‘Europejskich Dni Dziedzictwa' (Poland), Jornadas Europeias do Património (Portugal), ‘Las Jornadas Europeas de Patrimonio' (Spain)… It is furthermore charming to note that some of the national stereotypes shine through, with Italy presenting not one web site, but a multiplicity, one for each region…, and Belgium having four different sites, one national in French, one national in Flemish, one local for Flanders (in Flemish) and another local for Wallonia (in French).
But hey, vive la différence!
With a little bit of imagination (and careful searching) you could combine your EHD with a bit of N…
Europeans, rise up and take possession of your culture!
Peter Hicks
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PAINTING OF THE MONTH >DUROC, by Baron Jean-Antoine GROS
This portrait of Grand-Maréchal Duroc, one of Napoleon's closest colleagues, was painted by Jean-Antoine Gros (a friend of Duroc's) in 1804. The Grand-Maréchal is shown here wearing the robes he wore to Napoleon's coronation, with his Legion d'Honneur clearly visible. Duroc had not only a brilliant military career, but he was also a cunning politician and one of the First Consul's (and later Emperor's) most trusted aides. A version of this work is currently on show at the exhibition Duroc, l'ami de Napoléon (in French) in the municipal museum Au fil du papier in Pont-à-Mousson from 14 September to 15 December, 2013.
Gros was a prolific painter during the Empire. Other works by this artist here include:
Bonaparte First Consul, 1802
Interview between Napoleon I and Francis II after the battle of Austerlitz, 4 December, 1805
Napoleon visiting the battlefield at Eylau, 9 February, 1807
Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, 1808
Général de Lariboisière bids adieu to his son, just before the battle of Borodino, 7 September, 1812
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FONDATION NAPOLEON NEWS
Closing date for Fondation Napoléon study grants coming up soon! Apply now; application forms must arrive in Paris no later than 30 September, 2013.
Please note that the Fondation Napoléon Library will be exceptionally closed on Thursday 19 September.
You can reserve your place on Friday 19 September for the first talk of the year at the Fondation Napoléon's Cercle d'Etudes, where Jacques Jourquin will talk on the Mamelouk Ali on Thursday, 3 October, at 5:30 pm (in French). Programme and reservation details (in French).
The Masséna Society, named after Marshal André Masséna, is (quite naturally…) of special interest to the Fondation. The society was founded to promote scholarly work in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. As one of its first operations, the Society is sponsoring the inaugural Masséna Society panel at the Society of Military History (SMH) annual conference, 3-6 April 2014 in Kansas City, Missouri. If you're a young scholar, think about applying – there's a $500 travel grant if your proposal is accepted! The application deadline is 23 September, 2013.
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WHAT'S ON
Plenty of Napoleonic events happening all around the world this week, and some to put in your diaries for the coming weeks.
- The Napoleonic Historical Society Conference 2013 is coming up this week, from 13 to 15 September, in historic Alexandria, Virginia (USA).
- As part of the H. Lee White Marine Museum history lecture series in Oswego (USA), Michael Pittavino will discuss the economic impact of the War of 1812 in his talk on: "Ghent: Foreign Policy & Commerce on Lake Ontario after 1814” on 14 September at 1:30 pm.
- National Army Museum Lunchtime Lectures in London
Coming soon! Dr Neil Faulkner's talk on “Redcoats: The Rise and Fall of British Battlefield Supremacy, 1759-1815” on 26 September at 12:30 pm.
- "The Great Game in South-East Asia during the Second Empire"
Study-Day on 30 September, with the participation of Professor Peter Hicks, organized by the Souvenir Napoléonien at the Auditorium Austerlitz, Hôtel des Invalides, Paris, 4pm to 7:30 pm (in French).
- Also don't forget that the Musée Marmottan is preparing an exhibition about “The Sisters of Napoleon, Three Italian Destinies”, opening early October, which means that the museum will be exceptionally closed from 23 September to 2 October. More news coming soon about this forthcoming exciting exhibition!
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DIGITAL LIBRARY
A new addition to the Fondation Napoléon Digital Collection is John Sainsbury's Napoleon Museum, the catalogue of his remarkable collection of Napoleonica, marbles, bronzes, carvings, gems, decorations, medallions, drawings, miniatures, portraits, pictures ..., all on show to the public in London in 1840. Read online or download this sumptuous volume.
200 YEARS AGO > Bavaria turns her coat…
On 10 September, 1813 Austria managed to engage negotiations with her historic enemy, Bavaria, negotiations which would finally lead to an agreement signed in Ried on 8 October. After having signed an armistice on 17 September, Bavaria then came over to the coalition as Austria's ally. She had however proved a reticent bride, Bavaria's ruler and diplomats tried to hold out for strict neutrality, but when Napoleon could no ensure the integrity of Bavaria's border against Austria and when the Tsar refused to aid Bavaria against possible Austrian invasion, the south German kingdom feared for her survival if she did not join the alliance. Austria vowed to guarantee the kingdom's sovereignty and independence, promising fully contiguous German territory as compensation for the lands which Austria would repossess on the peace. In fact, the political ramifications of Bavaria's defection were much more important than Bavaria's participation at Leipzig or afterwards, in that the treaty at Ried and Bavaria's actions provided a pattern which other Napoleonic client state could emulate, actions furthermore which they saw could succeed. Frederich of Württemburg, for example, was to leave the French cause just before the battle at Leipzig causing the implosion of the Confederation of the Rhine, and Frederick August of Saxony too was to attempt to join the allies, although his cozying up to Napoleon in the run up to Leipzig meant that Russia and Prussia refused his overtures and his lands were taken.
150 YEARS AGO
On 13 September, 1863, the state newspaper, the Moniteur Universel, reported the fact that Napoleon III had ennobled the Comte de Persigny, a key player in the instauration of the Second Empire. Persigny (taking his name after a family estate), was officially made Duc de Persigny in November, as a reward for his fidelity to Napoleon III. Jean-Gilbert Victor Fialin de Persigny was then 55 years old. He had been an ardent Bonapartist right from the start and had published his opinions on the subject as early as in 1834 in a review he founded called Revue de l'Occident français. In his writings put forward the idea that the deep-rooted institutional legacy of the first French Empire was an immense treasure for France, and of far more importance than its military genius. After having sought support of his imperial ideas from Joseph Bonaparte, it was in Louis-Napoleon that he was to find the leader he desired, spurring the future emperor on in the latter's attempted coup d'état in Boulogne in 1840. On the failure of this, he was to be sentenced to 20 years in prison. Freed in 1848 on the establishment of the Second Republic, Persigny launched a lobbying campaign in the name of Louis-Napoléon, and when the latter was elected Prince President, Persigny was made French ambassador in Berlin. The success of the coup d'état on 2 December, 1851, brought him rapid advancement, first to Interior Minister and then to Senator on the 31 December, 1853. Falling from grace in 1854, he put this time to good use by forging a Franco-English alliance, which was to prove useful at the time of the Guerre de Crimée. He was recalled to the Interior Ministry in 1860 with the hope of counterbalancing the liberals, who had managed to impose their influence on Napoleon III; to no avail. His ennoblement came as a sort of compensation for the disgrace into which he had fallen after the elections of 1863, together with the Empress' hostility.
Source: ‘Persigny', in Jean Tulard (ed.), Dictionnaire du Second Empire, Fayard, 1995.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Lucie Louvrier
Historians and Web Editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N0 681, 13-19 SEPTEMBER, 2013
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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 the prolongation of its 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.
You can still donate online to the project via the Friends of the Fondation de France in the US here.
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- Editorial by Michael K. Shaffer for SWVA Today, about Napoleonic War tactics in 1863 America.
- “The Battle of Lake Erie, 200 years ago”, by Christopher Klein in History. com
- Article and radio broadcast by Jeff St Clair about US Navy Master Commandant Oliver Perry, and the Battle of Lake Erie.
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.
- 12-15 September: European Heritage Open Days.
- 13-15 September: Napoleonic Historical Society Conference 2013 in Alexandria, Virginia (USA).
- 14 September, 1:30 pm: H. Lee White Marine Museum history lecture series in Oswego (USA), Michael Pittavino will discuss the economic impact of the War of 1812 in his talk on: "Ghent: Foreign Policy & Commerce on Lake Ontario after 1814” on 14 September at 1:30 pm.
- 19 September: opening of reservations for the first talk of the year of the Fondation Napoléon's Cercle d'Etudes, for Jacques Jourquin's talk on the Mamelouk Ali on Thursday 3 October at 5:30 pm (in French). Programme and reservation details (in French).
- A 1812 bicentennial grave marker ceremony to honour Col. James Kerby and the veterans of the War of 1812 will be held at 2 pm on Sunday at St Paul's Anglican Church in Fort Erie, Ontario (Ca). The public is invited to attend.
SEEN ON THE WEB
- Project website on the “French Presence in Pietermaritzburg/KwaZulu-Natal: La route du Prince Impérial”
- Qualified artists and designers are called to submit their designs for the erection of a monument to commemorate the bicentennial of the War of 1812 in the City of Saskatoon (Ca). Deadline for applications is on 25 September at 3 pm. The monument will be unveiled next autumn. Download the official project document. Project announcement.
- The National Gallery in London is sending Edouard Manet's “The Execution of Maximilian” on a tour of the UK.
NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
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