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EDITORIAL > 1814, A PIVOTAL YEAR; 1815, A SPECTACULAR YEAR
This week saw the signing of the “Chaire Napoléon” partnership between the Institut catholique d'études supérieures, the Fondation Napoléon, the Conseil général de la Vendée and the Centre Vendéen de Recherche Historique. After Professor Jean Tulard delivered the inaugural lecture, the first symposium was held to mark the beginning of this collaboration: “1814: A Pivotal Year” (you can see some photos of the event on Facebook). Politically, militarily, and diplomatically, 1814 was a dizzying year, and the huge number of bicentenary commemorations we've seen in 2014 – for the French Campaign, the “Adieux de Fontainebleau”, the arrival on Elba, the Congress of Vienna – proves it.
But is the tumult at its peak? Doesn't the “Pivotal Year” necessarily imply that we're about to swing headfirst into commemorating an even more extraordinary year, that which saw the flight of the Eagle, the Hundred Days, Waterloo itself? The excitement and enthusiasm surrounding 2015's bicentenary activities suggests so: Belgian newspaper Le Soir recently reported that more than 28,000 people from 29 different countries have already reserved their places for the re-enactments of the Battle of Waterloo, with the French (11.5%), British (8.4%), Germans (5.35%) and Dutch (3.74%) leading the charge to salute the final hours of Napoleon's Empire.
As 1815 was, 2015 is shaping up to be a spectacular year. Get a taste of what's to come in this week's letter, alongside features on the Congress of Vienna and the Coronation, and a wealth of other information about the two Empires.
Marie de Bruchard
Web Editor
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PAINTING OF THE MONTH > THE ROTUNDA, BY PIERRE-FRANCOIS-LEONARD FONTAINE
This pen, ink and watercolour drawing depicts the rear façade of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame as – or almost as – it appeared on 2 December, 1804 for the coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French. The east end of Notre-Dame had been augmented with an elaborately decorated rotunda for the use of the most important dignitaries, but it was almost destroyed by a storm the night before! Read more about this drawing and the decorations for the coronation here, or in our entry for another watercolour by Fontaine, depicting The Oath.
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DECEMBER 1804 > THE CORONATION OF NAPOLEON
In addition to our Painting of the Month, you can find a wealth of information about Napoleon's coronation here, in our mini-dossier – everything from timelines to biographies to images of the day itself. We also have on napoleon.org a 3D animation of the coronation, produced in conjunction with Bath University. As well as Napoleon and Josephine's procession through Paris, the coronation and the oath, you can see the Rotunda depicted by Fontaine at 2 minutes and 8 seconds...!
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WATERLOO RE-ENACTMENT VIDEO > A TASTE OF 2015
The BBC's Chris Morris reports from Belgium, where a 3D movie of Waterloo is being ahead of next year's bicentenary. This video clip from the BBC gives you a real taste of the mud and the hardship, and the extraordinary lengths the creative teams are going to to recreate the infamous battle. For more multimedia Waterloo material, you can also listen to the podcast "Napoleon and Wellington in War and Peace", recordings of a recent study day held at the British Ambassador's residence in Paris. We'll keep you up to date with all the latest Waterloo news - you can already search our Agenda page for next year's exciting events, and we're adding to our Waterloo Reading List all the time.
> And, for the fashion and military historians amongst you, think about submitting a proposal for the international and interdisciplinary conference "From Battlefield to Drawing Room: Textile and (Military) Fashion around 1815", taking place next June. Deadline is 15th December!
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THE CONGRESS OF VIENNA > A RECAP OF RESOURCES
With the bicentenary of the Congress of Vienna well underway, we wanted to remind you of some of the excellent resources on the Congress emerging during this 200th anniversary year. There have been a host of exciting new publications, such as Mark Jarrett's The Congress of Vienna and its Legacy: War and Great Power Diplomacy after Napoleon, Brian E. Vick's The Congress of Vienna: Power and Politics after Napoleon, and Maartje Abbenhuis's The Age of Neutrals: Great Power Politics, 1815–1915. The exhibition, “Coaching the Congress Along”, is running at the Carriage Museum in Vienna until June 2015. And for week by week coverage of the Congress, drawn from the latest scholarship, you can read back over our “200 Years Ago” segments in this autumn's letters (see 729, 731, 732, 733, 734, 736, and 737, for example).
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NATIONAL ARMY MUSEUM > BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
Having received £11.5 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the National Army Museum is undergoing a major redevelopment, “Building for the Future”, which aims to transform the museum into a 21st century visitor experience. Explore the National Army Museum's microsite about the redevelopment, which includes full details of the work and artists' impressions of the new building, and find out where to access their object and book collections until the grand reopening in 2016. In the meantime, the Army and Navy club will be hosting a series of exciting Waterloo-themed lectures on the NAM's behalf, such as “Living in Britain through Napoleon's Wars” by Jenny Uglow, "Waterloo, Stories of Love, Death and War" by Alwyn Collinson, and "The Hundred Days: Napoleon's Road from Elba to Waterloo" by Mark Adkin. Book your tickets now!
200 YEARS AGO > SEVERE UTICARIA AND DEADLY ERYSIPELAS IN VIENNA
The end of November and the beginning of December were dangerous times for the great and the good assembled in Vienna. The Tsar had already been ill, and now it was the turn of the Austrian minister. Metternich was suffering from uticaria (hives) and was unable to lead the meetings which had been planned for the Congress. This greatly angered Talleyrand, who read unwillingness into Metternich's absence: “to avoid finishing anything, he calls on his current condition: convalescence.” Talleyrand was not alone. Other delegates could not understand how Metternich kept to his bed during the Congress, but found the time to direct a comedy on 9 December, 1814 for the Empress of Austria. Le Pacha de Suresnes, designed by the painter Isabey and the architect Moreau, allowed the young women of the Viennese aristocracy to showcase their talents for French drama… Not everything was merriment, however. During this period, the Prince de Ligne, a leading figure in the celebrations of the Congress, was dying from erysipelas, an acute infection of the upper dermis and lymphatic system: he passed away on 13 December. “His life was the first thing the Congress actually finished,” noted the Marquis Astolphe de Custine.
150 YEARS AGO > THE QUANTA CURA AND THE SYLLABUS OF ERRORS
On 8 December, 1864, in response to the September Convention which had been signed by Napoleon III and Victor-Emmanuel of Italy, Pope Pius IX issued two documents: the Quanta Cura and the Syllabus of Errors (in Latin, Syllabus Errorum). These were intended to “condemn[…] the chief errors of this most unhappy age”, especially those committed by “wicked men, who… have striven by their deceptive opinions and most pernicious writings to raze the foundations of the Catholic religion and of civil society.” In fact, these texts, and especially the Syllabus, are most remembered for their condemnation of what many consider now (and considered then) the tenets of modern society – secular education, the separation of church and state, and the right of individuals to follow their own beliefs, whether political, religious, or moral. Setting himself and the Holy See in opposition to modern liberalism, Pius used these documents to reassert Rome's dominance in Europe. The Syllabus was controversial in France, where Napoleon III's government tried to limit its circulation. Opponents of the Church saw the Syllabus as the ultimate proof that the Catholic Church was incompatible with modern life. Figures within the Church, however, tried to limit this damaging perception: Monseigneur Dupanloup, Bishop of Orléans, wrote, “the papal documents formulate the ideal of a Christian society, an ideal to which we must all hold, but which does not forbid us from adapting to the conditions of modern life, and introducing the Christian way to them, insofar as they are able to be assimilated.”
Wishing you an excellent Napoleonic week!
Peter Hicks and Francesca Whitlum-Cooper (with Emma Simmons)
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN No 738, 5-11 DECEMBER, 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 that the international fund-raising campaign to restore and save Napoleon I's residence on the island of St Helena will accept donations until 31 December, 2014. 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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JUST PUBLISHED
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- Treasures from the Royal Archives [17/05/2014 - 25/01/2015]
- "Coaching the Congress Along" - Exhibition at the Carriage Museum, Vienna [18/09/2014 - 09/06/2015]
- "Death Becomes Her: A Century of Mourning Attire" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art [21/10/2014 - 01/02/2015]
- "Les Adieux à l'Impératrice" at Malmaison [05/11/2014 - 02/02/2015]
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WAR OF 1812
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