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ARTICLE OF THE MONTH
The empire. Dictatorship? Monarchy?, by Jean Tulard
The debate regarding the real nature of Napoleonic power is still lively today. What exactly was that power? A dictatorship? A monarchy? A mixed system? If it was a dictatorship, what type of dictatorship was it? If it was a monarchy, was it parliamentary, absolute or enlightened? The following is an attempt at clarification.
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DID YOU KNOW?
In December 1977, the Archives nationales de France bought the papers of Joseph Bonaparte from the Eighth Duke of Wellington. It was during the war in Spain that the administrative papers for the kingdoms of Naples and Spain during the Joseph's reign (between 1806 and 1813) fell into the hands of the Iron Duke. Wellington was to annotate many of the documents when he studied them on his return to England. © Fondation Napoléon
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200 YEARS AGO
On 16 Floréal, An XII (6 May, 1805), Napoleon made peace with his younger brother, Jerome, who had arrived in Turin on 24 April. He had agreed to get a separation from Elisabeth Patterson, the American women he had married without family approval, on 24 December, 1803, in Baltimore, US: Jerome had been a minor at the time and as such had required the agreement of his mother if he wanted to marry. Several months later, Elisabeth Patterson, a refugee in Britain as a result of the ban preventing her from setting foot on French soil, gave birth to a boy on 7 July, 1805, Jérôme-Napoléon. On her return to the US, she was to receive an allowance granted to her by Napoleon I, up until 1815. After several stays in Europe, during which time Jérôme-Napoléon and his family met the imperial family, the family council (on 4 July, 1856) gave Jérôme-Napoléon the right to carry the name Bonaparte, but nevertheless confirmed the nullity of the 1803 marriage.
On 22 August, 1807, Napoleon I had Jerome marry Catherine, Princess of Wurtemberg, with whom he had three children.
Under surveillance
The 'Ministère de la police générale' (ministry of general police) published a bulletin on 21 Floréal, An XIII (9 May, 1805), with Fouché's visa, noting the existence of a secret chapel of royalists, possibly a hotbed of sedition: "We are certain that 'The parents of the victims of the Revolution' meet in rue Picpus [today in the 12the arrdt] to set up a chapel in which they say daily masses for the dead and at other times solemn services which the whole association attends. The whole association then meets in one of the rooms in the house in a sort of committee of deliberation. It seems that they intend to place some ex-canonnesses in this house in order to cloak the real aim of the establishment." Fouché simply demanded confirmation of the accuracy of the information.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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© 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
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
- Mass on the anniversary of the death of the Empress Josephine, 30 May, 2005 at 7pm, in the church of St-Pierre-St-Paul in Rueil-Malmaison.
WHAT'S ON
- Conference: Europe at War: the Trafalgar campaign in context, Senate House, London University, UK
- Conference: The Battle of Trafalgar Conference, at Action Stations,
- Conference: Joint Napoleonic Alliance/Napoleonic Society of America Conference, 2005
- Concert: Beethoven, Napoleon and Wellington in Finland
- For Napoleonic and Nelsonian 2005 bicentenaries, watch our 2005 bicentenaries page
THE MONTHLY TITLES
- This month's book: Mrs (Betsy) ABELL, To Befriend an Emperor: Betsy Balcombe's Memoirs of Napoleon on St Helena
- This month's painting: The Empress Eugénie surrounded by her ladies in waiting, by Winterhalter
- This month's article: The empire. Dictatorship? Monarchy?, by Jean Tulard
- In the Collectors Corner, Blue damask with a shield motif decoration
Got a problem with a link in the letter? Try the homepage http://www.napoleon.org
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