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THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
The Empress Eugénie in 18th-century costume, by Franz-Xaver Winterhalter
Eugénie almost worshipped Marie-Antoinette. The tragic end of that 'martyr queen' obsessed the Empress throughout her reign, and especially after the fall of the Second Empire, when Eugénie began strongly to identify herself with her royal predecessor. See here Winterhalter's masterpiece.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
21 Germinal, An XI (11 April, 1803), regulations were laid down for the profession of pharmacy: from now on, all pharmacists had to to spent 8 years in a laboratory (officine) before being able to claim the title Pharmacist, and that work experience had to be officially sanctioned by a departmental examination submitted to a jury: furthermore, pharmacists could only operate in departments where they had received the sanction. In order to operate anywhere in France, pharmacists had to have spent three years in a laboratory and done three years of study at a school of pharmacy. As a result of this Germinal law, six schools of pharmacy were to be set up, whilst three were opened in Paris, Montpellier and Strasbourg. All the examinations (whether deparmental or pharmacy school) had two theory modules concerned with the principals of pharmacy and botany, one practical module concerned with the making of at least nine chemical and pharmaceutical preparations. Finally, it was formally forbidden to sell secret cures, and the monopoly on the sale of medicines and remedies was confirmed.
The law of 22 Germinal, An XI (12 April, 1803), brought back the infamous 'worker's book' (livret ouvrier) which made it possible for the police and employers to keep an eye on the circulation of workers in France. This law also reintroduced the ban on corporations (the Le Chapelier law of 1791), 'combinations' and strikes (with a penalty of three or more months in prison for any contraventions of the law - employers however were only threatened with a one-month (or more) prison sentence). This law also governed the manufacturing industry and provided protection for trademarks.
24 Germinal, An XI (14 April, 1803), Bank de France granted a fifteen-year exclusive privilege for the emission of paper money. With the disastrous 'bubble' (share scandal) caused by the Law affair (1720) and the catastrophic introduction of assignats still very fresh in the memory, paper money remained 'reserved' for important transactions: indeed the lowest note value was 500 hundred francs. This law also provided legal tools for the verification of money in circulation with the aim of ridding it of counterfeit and clipped coins, etc.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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THIS WEEK:
COMMEMORATION: the 'Germinal Franc'
- The 5 Franc piece, Napoleon Emperor, 1806, by K. Huguenaud
A history of the Franc: the key moments, by I. Delage
Snippets
- British Public Records Office to become National Archives
Web sites
- The Battle of Waterloo: database of British participants
Go to The Napoleonic Directory, Websites, then select 'Databases'. Click on Search, then scroll down to find the site mentioned.
- Waterloo (Battlefield photos)
Go to The Napoleonic Directory, Websites, then select 'Enthusiasts' pages'. Click on Search, then scroll down to find the site mentioned.
What's on
- Exhibition: Jefferson's America, Napoleon's France
- Exhibition: Napoleon's 'vows of love', in and around Arenenberg, Switzerland
- Exhibition: Napoleon and Alexander I in Hildesheim (Germany)
The monthly titles
- Book of the Month: The Oxford History of the French Revolution, by William Doyle
- This month's picture, The Empress Eugénie in 18th-century costume, by Franz-Xaver Winterhalter
- Article of the Month, Napoleon's Administrative Army – His Prefects, by Robert D. Williams
- In the Collectors Corner, The Prince Impérial and his dog Néro, by Carpeaux
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