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DEAR FRIENDS, the increasingly popular bulletin - which you receive every Friday year in year out - is from today onwards to have images, with the aim of making it more pleasant to read. And since many of you have often asked for details from previous letters, next week it will also be possible to have access to four week's worth of back numbers. Let us know what you think of the change - we're here to help. We hope that you like the changes, and that you continue to enjoy reading the bulletin!
Baron Gourgaud, President of the Fondation Napoléon
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THIS MONTH'S OBJECT
'Nécessaire' belonging to the Duchesse d'Otrante
This 'nécessaire' was offered by Joseph Fouché, Duc d'Otrante (1759-1820), to his future wife, Ernestine de Castellane (1788-1850), a few days before their marriage on 1 August, 1815. And it was to the official goldsmith to the Imperial Court that FOuché turned, namely Martin-Guillaume Biennais, when commissioning this sumptuous wedding present.
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RARE VIEW OF SPANISH ENSIGN
This naval ensign, captured from the 74-gun Spanish warship, San Ildefonso, was displayed for one day only at the Museum, on 10 February 2005. The exhibition was part of the lead-up to the opening of the Nelson & Napoleon exhibition and a host of Nelson-related activities as part of the SeaBritain 2005 programme.
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A KEY WEB SITE
The site of the US West Point Military Academy provides an extraordinary collection of clear and detailed maps of the Napoleonic Wars - you can follow each campaign in detail. A site to be bookmarked...
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200 YEARS AGO
The periodical, Journal des Débats, reported on the ceremony of the baptism of Napoléon Louis Bonaparte, second son of Louis Bonaparte and Hortense de Beauharnais, 3 Germinal (24 March):
"The baptism of Prince Napoléon-Louis was celebrated at Saint-Cloud with the greatest pomp. The farthest end of the gallery in the château was set out as a chapel. A columned bed with a canopy over it stood in one of the empress' salons; near to the bed was a huge, sumptuous, ermine-lined cloak, in which the baby was carried to his baptism. There were two sumptuously decorated tables, one for the child's 'honneurs', the other those of the godfather [Napoleon I] and the godmother [Madame Mère]. The godfather and godmother's 'honneurs' were the basin, the jug and the towel; those of the child were candle, the 'chrémeau' [a small piece of cloth or linen to wrap round the head or over the forehead of the infant to be baptised] and the shell. The towel was placed on a square of gold material; all the other 'honneurs' (apart from the candle) were on gold dishes. [...]. Madame, mother of H.M. the emperor, stood to the left. His Holiness [Pius VII] baptised the child with the usual prayers, and the cortege returned in the same order in which it had entered the chapel. His Holiness returned to Paris immediately after the baptism."
This ceremony - worthy of a dauphin - excited the jealousy of Caroline Murat, since Napoleon had refused to allow her recently born daughter to be baptised on the same day. In the evening, after a sumptuous repast, the invitees gave a standing ovation to Talma who performed that evening in Racine's Athalie. They then saw a firework display in the park of the château.
Napoléon Louis Bonaparte was to marry his cousin, Charlotte Bonaparte (1802-1839), daughter of Joseph Bonaparte and Julie Clary, on 10 October 1826. He died on 17 March, 1831 in Forlì, victim of a measles epidemic, while he was fighting with carbonari alongside his brother, Louis Napoléon, the future Napoleon III.
It was however Napoléon-Louis's brother, Napoléon-Charles, born in 1802, who was for a long time treated as the heir to Napoleon; indeed Napoleon treated him as a son and occasionally appeared with him. The child died of croup in 1807. The Emperor wanted him to be buried at Saint-Denis but, contrary to what is often asserted, this burial never took place. The coffin was interred in Notre-Dame and later transferred to Saint-Leu at the beginning of the Restoration.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or in a specific project, by making a donation.
© 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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THIS WEEK
Snippets
- Call for papers International Napoleonic Congress, Dinard 2005
What's on
- For Napoleonic and Nelsonian 2005 bicentenaries, watch our 2005 bicentenaries page
- Exhibition: The man who crowned Napoleon: Cardinal Caprara and his liturgical robes, Museo Civico d'Arte Industriale e Galleria Davia Bargellini, Bologna, Italy
- Fair: The International Napoleonic Fair, St Albans, UK
- Exhibition: Decoration in the Age of Napoleon: Empire Elegance Versus Regency Refinement, New York Public Library, US
Exhibition: The Treasures of the Fondation Napoléon, Paris, France
The monthly titles
- This month's book: William Pitt the Younger: a biography, by William Hague
- This month's painting: Allegorical drawing to the glory of H. M. the Emperor, by Innocent-Louis Goubaud
- This month's article: Napoleon and Charlemagne, by Thierry Lentz
- In the Collectors Corner, 'Nécessaire' belonging to the Duchesse d'Otrante
Got a problem with a link in the letter? Try the homepage http://www.napoleon.org
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