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ELBA AND SAINT HELENA – AN “ISLANDS SPECIAL”
First of all, apologies to those of you who did not receive last week's newsletter – technical difficulties prevented it from reaching our entire mailing list. But don't panic if you missed it! You can catch up with the week's Napoleonic news, and read all about Napoleon “Emperor of Tourism”, via our website. As for this week's letter, we've expanded our Summer Series of Napoleonic sites to a full-blown “Islands Special” – everything you need to know about Elba and Saint Helena, from maps to commentary to conservation, right here in one place. We've also got features about the reunification of Holland, the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, and, if you're in need of a rest after all this exciting Napoleonic content, our Object of the Month this month is a deluxe set of accoutrements for the card game L'Hombre, because it's summertime after all, and even on Saint Helena they needed a little R&R from time to time…
Happy reading!
Francesca Whitlum-Cooper
Web Editor
LATEST NEWS FROM THE INSTITUTE ON NAPOLEON AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION AT FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
The Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution has sent through its annual report on graduate student and faculty activity. It's been a productive year for the Institute, with an impressive number of Ph.D. and MA degrees awarded and encouraging results on the job market. Read all their latest news in detail here.
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OBJECT OF THE MONTH > DELUXE ACCOUTREMENTS FOR THE CARD GAME, L'HOMBRE
This deluxe set for use with the card game L'Hombre has been identified as the "set of ivory counters and box, [...] of Chinese manufacture", referred to by Napoleon's doctor on St Helena, Barry O'Meara, in his famous volume of conversations with Napoleon. It was apparently sent to the emperor on 9 July 1817 by Lord Elphinstone, in gratitude for having saved the lord's brother from death the day before Waterloo. According to O'Meara, Napoleon "greatly admired the articles", and intended to send different elements of the set to Empress Marie-Louise, Madame Mère, and the Roi de Rome. This was not to be, however, and the set remained in private hands until it was bought by Benito Mussolini in 1934 for the Museo Napoleonico in Rome. Read more about this extraordinary object here.
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ISLANDS SPECIAL > ELBA
Just twelve miles from the Italian coast, Elba is the largest island in the Tuscan Archipelago – 86 square miles that garnered fame as the site of Napoleon's notorious first exile. The deposed emperor spent ten months on the island, between May 1814 and March 1815, and it was from here that he launched his infamous 100 Days, his attempted return to power. Napoleon's presence is still strongly felt on the island, from various residences and municipal buildings, to commemorative walks around “his” Elba. The island plays a prominent role in Napoleonic scholarship: Peter Hicks' recent article looks at Napoleon's time on Elba as “an exile of consent”, while Roberta Martinelli and Velia Gini Bartolli have focussed on rediscovering Napoleon at his residence, I Mulini. If you're interested in the primary sources on Elba, we've put together, in collaboration with the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, a digital bibliography of Napoleon's exile. And for those of a more visual persuasion, we love the “Plan de l'Île d'Elbe” on the last page of this digitized book.
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ISLANDS SPECIAL > SAINT HELENA
In contrast to Elba, Saint Helena (mapped here in 1815) is one of the most isolated islands in the world, 1,300 miles off the coast of Africa in the South Atlantic Ocean. Napoleon arrived on the island on 17 October 1815 and died there, at Longwood House, on 5 May 1821. We've an outline of Napoleon's time on Saint Helena here, but there's also a wealth of scholarship to be explored – our “Saint Helena Miscellany”, for example, deals with some of the island's enduring questions, while “Napoleon and Saint Helena” looks in depth at the problems faced by the British who installed the fallen emperor there. For up to the date information about Saint Helena, take a look at our International Appeal to save Longwood House – painted by Marchand in 1820. And for those who love a good mystery (and its logical resolution), we recently translated Jacques Macé's masterful article which lays various Napoleonic conspiracies around the death, burial and exhumation on Saint Helena to rest.
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21 JULY 1814 > REUNIFICATION OF THE DUTCH AND BELGIAN PROVINCES
On 21 July 1814, Prince William Frederick of Orange-Nassau signed the “Eight Articles of London”, an agreement between the Netherlands and the Allies (Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia) to reunite the Dutch and Belgian provinces. After Louis Bonaparte's forced abdication and Napoleon's invasion in 1810, Holland had been annexed by France for three years. The treaty between the Prince and the Allies was a crucial step in asserting the Netherlands' independence from France. As well as providing two million pounds from the British to build and fortify Netherlandish defences (a sum William was obliged to match), the agreement also dealt with colonial possessions: the British were to keep the Cape of Good Hope, but Java, the Maluku Islands, Surinam, and Curaçao were returned to Dutch control. It was not until March 1815 that William would crown himself King of the Netherlands, in direct response to Napoleon's return from Elba and at the urging of the Congress of Vienna.
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15 JULY, 1799 > DISCOVERY OF THE ROSETTA STONE
The Rosetta Stone, bearing a tri-lingual decree dated 197 BC inscribed in Hieroglyphic, Demotic and Greek text, was discovered by French soldiers on 15 July, 1799, whilst carrying out work to strengthen their defences at Fort Julien, near Rosetta (modern-day Rashid). The find was immediately announced to the Institut d'Égypte, the research academy Napoleon had founded in Cairo as part of his Egyptian Campaign. Word of the stone's importance (it was immediately recognised as the crucial missing link for cracking of the code of, at that time incomprehensible, hieroglyphics) quickly spread, and Napoleon himself inspected it before his return to France. Upon the capitulation of French forces in Egypt, the stone passed into British hands as part of the 1801 Treaty of Alexandria. It has been housed in the British Museum since 1802, though it was of course French scholar Jean-François Champollion who first understood (in 1822) how it could be used to decipher hieroglyphics… Read our article, "The Rosetta Stone: A Journey from Alexandria to London", to find out more about this major discovery.
NAPOLEONICA.LA REVUE > “VERS L'ILE D'ELBA: DES RAISONS D'ESPERER,” BY PIERRE BRANDA
After the failure of the French Campaign and his abdication on 11 April, 1814, Napoleon left Fontainebleau for the island of Elba, the territory over which he was the new sovereign. In this article, Pierre Branda uncovers the realities of Napoleon's “island prison”, and the realisation that he would have to create a future other than that imposed upon him by his victors (in French).
200 YEARS AGO > ELISA BONAPARTE BACIOCCHI AFTER THE ABDICATION
Whereas her brother-in-law Murat tried to save his kingdom of Naples by allying himself with the Austrians against Napoleon, Élisa Bonaparte Baciocchi, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Napoleon's eldest sister, fled hers. She left Florence on 1 February 1814 to a chorus of jeers, shortly before British troops began to land in Livorno. Although the French Campaign was raging and the Empire was crumbling around it, Élisa tried throughout February to save Elba for Napoleon, ordering General Dalesme to defend the island at all costs. Threatened herself by the advance of the Austrian and British forces, Élisa was forced to leave Lucca on 13 March, first in the direction of Genoa, then, learning of the allied presence in Lyon, rerouting to Montpellier, where she and her husband, Felice Pasquale Baciocchi, arrived ten days later. Pregnant and exhausted by this flight, Élisa made a halt in Montpellier, at the Château de la Piscine: it was here that she learned of the capitulation of Paris, while visiting the city's botanical gardens. Faced with hostility from the people of Montpellier, the fallen emperor's sister was again forced to flee, disguised in a post-chaise. She travelled to Aix, and then on 15 April to Marseille, writing en route by turns to Fouché, Talleyrand, the Tsar, and finally to Metternich in the hope of consolidating her position. On 13 May, the Comte de Ségur confirmed the inevitable: Metternich refused to allow her to keep Lucca. Élisa went on throughout the summer to plead her case in Vienna and then in Graz, where she stayed with her brother Jerome, who had become Prince of Montfort, but she received nothing more from Metternich than a passport for Italy. Felice Baciocchi had taken the lead and installed himself in Bologna to secure the remains of their fortune, the majority of which had been sequestered by the Austrian commander in Lucca. On 10 August, on the way back from Graz to Bologna, Élisa gave birth to a son, Jerome-Frédéric-Felice-Napoleon. Shortly afterwards she travelled to Trieste, to assist in her sister-in-law Catherine's birth in turn. Hoping to attract the benevolence of the Austrians, Élisa limited herself to a modest lifestyle at the Villa Caprara in Bolonga… She had almost succeeded, but then her illustrious brother made his dramatic return to France, and Élisa was arrested and sent under surveillance to Austria.
200 YEARS AGO > JOSEPH AFTER THE ABDICATION
On 28 March, faced with the advance of allied troops towards the capital, Joseph Bonaparte had urged the Empress to leave Paris. He himself escorted her as far as Blois, and then installed himself in Orléans, since it was impossible to reach Fontainebleau where he had hoped to join his brother. He wrote Napoleon a letter on 10 April, calling for the establishment of a constitutional monarchy to avoid the return of the Bourbons, but this letter arrived too late: the Emperor had already abdicated. Learning this news, Joseph discretely set out for Switzerland, burying papers and diamonds close to the border. He chose as his residence the Château de Prangins, which he purchased on 12 July, and he was busy fortifying his assets in Holland and London when Napoleon returned from Elba and contacted him on 12 March 1815. It was under the threat of being taken hostage by the Allies rather than out of bountiful enthusiasm for Napoleon's return that Joseph re-crossed the border and joined the Emperor on the road back to Paris…
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Francesca Whitlum-Cooper
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 723, 18-24 JULY, 2014
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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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EVENTS
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
WHAT'S ON
- Niagara 1812 Legacy Council Programme of Commemorative Events [14/04/2014 - 19/10/2014]
- Germany: The House of Hanover on the British throne 1714-1837 [17/05/2014 - 05/10/2014]
- Napoléon Who?! Prince, Prisoner, President, Emperor. Louis Napoléon (1808-1873) [10/06/2014 - 10/10/2014]
- Models of the Imperial Navy: the collections of the Musée de la Marine at the Château de Versailles [17/06/2014 - 14/09/2014]
- The Mound of Vendôme at the Canadian Centre for Architecture [19/06/2014 - 14/09/2014]
- Carpeaux (1827-1875), a Sculptor for the Empire at the Musée d'Orsay [24/06/2014 - 28/09/2014]
- Napoleon's Bivouac: Imperial Luxury in the Countryside [28/06/2014 - 15/10/2014]
PRESS REVIEW
- Celestine Bohlen, “Italian Island of Elba Clings to Napoleon's Legacy”
- Elie de Rosen, “The British Press and Government: What They Thought of Napoleon Bonaparte” (Academia.edu)
- Martha Sanchéz, “International Napoleonic Society Chooses Cuba for Congress”
- Toulouse: “The Forgotten Battle” (in French)
SEEN ON THE WEB
- Amazing series of photos from last weekend's re-enactment of the 1809 Battle of Znaim in the Czech Republic!
- Penn Dental restores priceless yet unknown Napoleonic art collection - gift from Napoleon III to his dentist!
- Original copies of US Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights to be displayed in UK for first time at British Library's Magna Carta exhibition next year
WAR OF 1812
- War of 1812's ghost battlefields
- The 200th Anniversary of The Battle Of Prairie Du Chien
- Fundraiser benefits Battle of Caulk's Field re-enactment
- Why Ottawa is getting a Treaty of Ghent Rose Garden
- Archeologists seek to unearth Peirce Island's Revolutionary past
- Celebrate history in Star-Spangled Baltimore
- US Brig Niagara brings history to life at Canalside
THE BIBLIOTHÈQUE MARTIAL-LAPEYRE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
Between 30 June and 29 August, the library will operate its summer opening hours: Mondays and Tuesdays between 1pm-5pm and Thursdays 10am-3pm.
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NAPOLEONICA LES ARCHIVES
Site of digitised Napoleonic archival material:
The working papers or 'imprimés' of the Napoleonic Conseil d'Etat, the correspondence of Vivant Denon, etc.
http://www.napoleonica.org
Contact: napoleonica@napoleon.org
NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
International peer-review interdisciplinary e-review on the history of the two Empires, bilingual French-English, 3 issues per year, free access.
Read the review on Cairn.info
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