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THIS MONTH'S OBJECT
The Cent-Jours standard Eagle of the 6e Régiment des Chasseurs à Cheval
Using an image taken from the imperial Roman army, Napoleon placed an eagle on the end of his regiments' flagstaffs. The distribution of these eagles was the occasion for a solemn ceremony on the Champ-de-Mars, 5 December 1804, three days after the coronation.
NEW WEB SITE
The network of Napoleonic Museums is an umbrella site for the Napoleonic sites of the Château de Malmaison, the Château de Bois-Préau, the Château de Compiègne, the Château de Fontainebleau, the Maison Bonaparte in Ajaccio and the Napoleonic museum on île d'Aix: they are beautiful web sites, well designed with plenty of images and text (the panoramas of the rooms are particularly fine). Unfortunately, there's no English version, but the pictures speak for themselves!
STOP PRESS: Online access the the catalogue of the Bibliothèque M. Lapeyre-Fondation Napoléon
Access to the catalogue via the site (Reading Room > Library for Study and Research) has been impossible recently, and we are working to resolve this technical problems as soon as possible. Please excuse this disruption in the service.
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
14 Nivôse, An XI (4 January, 1803), a Sénatus-consulte (bill of constitutional value approved in the Senate instigated by the First Consul) was passed instituting a Sénatorerie (a sort of sub-Senate) for each arrondissement of the Tribunal d'appel (court of appeal) (art. 1st). Those nominated, appointed for life, received an official residence and an annual stipend (between 20 and 25,000 Francs). The decree for the first series of nominations was published on 5 Vendémiaire, An XII (28 September, 1803):
Joseph Fouché, Duc d'Otrante (1759-1820) in Aix-en-Provence;
François-Denis Tronchet (1726-1806) in Amiens (on his death in 1806, appointment of Claude, Comte de Beauharnais (1756-1819));
Catherine-Dominique, Comte de Pérignon (1754-1818) in Bordeaux;
Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844), Prince français (1804) in Bruxelles (in 1804 he was replaced by Nicolas-Louis, Comte François de Neufchâteau (1750-1828));
Pierre-Louis, Comte Roederer (1754-1835) in Caen;
Jean-Ignace-Jacques Jacqueminot, Comte de Ham (1754-1813) in Douai;
André-Joseph, Comte Abrial (1750-1828) in Grenoble;
Gaspard Monge, Comte de Péluse (1746-1818) in Liége;
Charles-Antoine, Comte Chasset (1745-1824) in Metz;
Pierre-Roger, Comte Ducos (1747-1816) in Orléans;
Claude-Henri Belgrand, Comte de Vaubois (1748-1839) in Poitiers;
Joseph, Comte Cornudet des Chaumettes (1755-1834) in Rennes;
Antoine-Guillaume, Comte Rampon (1759-1842) in Rouen;
Jean-Nicolas, Comte Démeunier (1751-1814) in Toulouse;
Lucien Bonaparte (1775-1840), in Trier (he was stripped of his Senatorial duties in 1810 and replaced by Germain, Comte Garnier (1754-1821));
Louis-Auguste Juvénal des Ursins, Comte d'Harville (1749-1815) à Turin.
The complete text in French of this Sénatus-consulte (as well as the second series of nominations, dated 1 Prairial, An XII (21 May, 1804) can be found on napoleon.org.
From 4 Vendémiaire, An XII (27 September, 1803), printers and bookshops were required by law to deposit at the Prefecture the books they wished to publish, in order to receive from the Bureau de la presse the relevant authorisation.
8 Vendémiaire, An XII (1 October, 1803), the First Consul passed a bill for the construction of a column in the Place Vendôme in Paris in honour of the Empereur Charlemagne:
" Art. 1st. There shall be erected in Paris, in the centre of the Place Vendôme, a column like that erected in Rome in honour of Trajan.
Art. 2nd. This column shall measure 2 metres 73 centimetres in diameter and 20 metres 78 centimetres tall. The shaft shall be decorated, along its surface or spiral, with 108 allegorical figures in bronze, each 97 centimetres in size, representing the departements of the Republic.
Art. 3rd. The column will be surmounted by a pedestal ending in a semi-circle, decorated with olives leaves, bearing a standing statue of Charlemagne. "
Correspondance, lettre n° 7145
The history of the Vendome column can be read on napoleon.org.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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THIS WEEK:
Press Review
- RNR Rivista Napoleonica
- The Nelson Dispatch
What's on
Conference: King Joachim Murat: the legend and the history
- Days: Napoleonic days in London
- Exhibition: Napoleon in Brazil
- Exhibition: Art booty in the Napoleonic period. The "French gift" to Mainz, 1803
- Conference: the Napoleonic Association autumn conference
- Exhibition: Bonaparte or Buonaparte
- Theatre: The Emperor's last battle, Shreveport, Louisiana
The monthly titles
- This month's book: Parting the desert: the creation of the Suez Canal, by Zachary Karabell
- This month's painting: The Salle des Saisons in the Louvre, by Hubert Robert (circa 1802)
- This month's article: Palmerston's follies: a reply to the French 'threat'
- This month's object: The Cent-Jours standard Eagle of the 6e Régiment des Chasseurs à Cheval
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