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SPECIAL DOSSIER: Napoleon crowned king of Italy, 26 May 1805 in Milan
"God gave it me. Beware he who touches it!". Reciting these words - which Charlemagne had pronounced in 774 - Napoléon put on his head the Iron Crown of the Lombard Kings, on 26 May, 1805, in Milan.
Timeline
- Follow the preparation and order of the coronation ceremony and festivities
Article
- How Napoleon became ‘King of Italy', by Peter Hicks
Biographies
- Eugène de Beauharnais (1783-1867), viceroy of Italy
- Marescalchi (1754-1816) and Melzi d'Eril (1753-1816)
Gallery
- Napoleon I, King of Italy, oil on canvas by Andrea Appiani
- Prince Eugène viceroy of Italy, oil on canvas by Andrea Appiani
- Napoleon returns to Rome the lawcode, sketch attributed to Jacques-Louis David
- Woman in white (Auguste-Amélie, vice-reine of Italy), study by Giuseppe Bossi
- Veduta della piazza del Duomo col Palazzo Reale in Milano (View of the piazza del Duomo with the Palazzo Reale in Milan), eau-forte de Francesco Bellemo
- Veduta della R.Villa Bonaparte presa dai Giardini Pubblici di Milano (View of the Villa Bonaparte seen from the Giardini Pubblici in Milan), résidence of viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais
Bibliography
- Context and discussion of Napoleon's coronation ceremony as king of Italy (1805)
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THIS MONTH'S OBJECT
Napoleon as legislator, by Eugène Guillaume (1822-1905)
Circa 1859, the Prince Napoléon (1822-1891), son of Jérôme Bonaparte, commissioned a full-length statue of Napoleon I as a Roman emperor wearing a toga and holding in his hand the Code civil. It was to be part of the decoration for his new antique-Roman style villa on Avenue Montaigne, Paris. Remaining in Guillaume's atelier, the original plaster version was later to be handed down to his descendants, hence its survival to this day.
© Fondation Napoléon - Patrice Maurin-Berthier
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200 YEARS AGO
Milan, 20 May, 1805
Napoleon received the high clergy of the kingdom, from Milan, Brescia, Bergamo, Pavia, Como, Crema, Novara, Vigevano, Cremona, Lodi, Bologna, Modena, Reggio, Imola, Carpi, Ravenna, Cesena, Forlì, Faenza, Rimini, Cervia, Ferrara, Mantua, Comacchio, Adria, and Verona.
Milan, 21 May
The ceremonial for the coronation ceremony (the Programme) was published – the ceremony still planned for two days later.
22 May
Decree passed ordering that the Concordat signed by Napoleon and the Pope for Italy on 16 September, 1803, be enacted in June 1805.
The 22/23 were to be the days planned for the coronation and transfer of the Iron Crown, but the coronation day was moved to 26. Nevertheless, the fetching of the iron crown nevertheless took place on 22 May.
22 May, Midday
One the masters of ceremonies for the events (Salmatoris or Dargainaratz) took three carriages and 50 cavalry with him to Monza to fetch the Iron Crown of the kings of Italy.
The Iron Crown was made with one of the nails from the True Cross found by Saint Helena mother of Constantine in the Holy Land. Since the Lombard Queen Flavia Teodolinda gave the crown to the city of Monza, circa 594, the tradition grew up that archpriests in Monza, as well as archbishops in Milan (technically the senior priests in the kingdom of the Lombards) were able to crown kings of Italy.
Cortege bearing the Iron crown of the kings of Italy set out from Monza cathedral.
On reaching Milan cathedral at 3pm, the crown was received by the Cardinal Archbishop of Milan at the head of his clergy and carried ceremonially into the cathedral, where it was set on a credenza.
According to the programme, the deputation which accompanying the crown was to mount a guard over it over the night before the coronation. However since the crown arrived three days early, it is not clear where the crown spent the intervening time.
25 May
Cardinal Caprara, archbishop of Milan, received a private audience with Napoleon. He handed to the Emperor his papal letters patent making him the channel for negotiations between Napoleon and the Holy See.
25 May
Notice published regarding the coronation and festivities
26 May, coronation day, illuminations in the city and fireworks in the Foro Bonaparte, 28 May, Horse races and raising of a balloon, 29 May, In the Sala del ministero, prizes awarded for industrial endeavour. Public amusements and illuminations in the streets and parks in the evening, 31 May, Teatro Grande: concert and ball given by the Milan commune.
Extract from our timeline of the coronation of Napoleon as king of Italy
In the meantime, the Prefect of Police noted, laconically, in his daily report to the Emperor that on 30 Floréal, An XIII (20 May, 1805) "the broadsheets of today do not present anything that was not published in the Moniteur yesterday."
150 YEARS AGO
Birth of Emile Verhaeren, near Antwerp, 21 May, 1855. French-language Flemish poet, author of naturalist and later mystical poems, Verhaeren became interested in the changes of his times, industrialisation and Romantic socialism. His works include "Les Campagnes hallucinées" (1893), "Les Villages illusoires" (1894), and "Les Villes tentaculaires" (1895). He also experimented in personal psychology in his play, Le cloître, (the Cloister) staged at the Théâtre du Parc in Bruxelles in 1900. He was to die falling under a train in Rouen station, having gone there to give a public lecture on 27 November, 1916.
His French poems can be read online
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
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: Fourth "5 maggio" conference, Reggio Calabria, Italy
- Commemoration: Annual ceremony of commemoration of the death of the Prince Imperial, South Africa
- Conference: Europe at War: the Trafalgar campaign in context, Senate House, London University, UK
- Conference: The Battle of Trafalgar Conference, at Action Stations, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, UK
- 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: Napoleon I, King of Italy, by Andrea Appiani
- This month's article: The empire. Dictatorship? Monarchy?, by Jean Tulard
- In the Collectors Corner, Napoleon as legislator, by Eugène Guillaume (1822-1905)
Got a problem with a link in the letter? T
Try the homepage http://www.napoleon.org
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