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THIS WEEK IN THE BULLETIN
In this week's Bulletin we bring you Don Barry's excellent account of the war in the Iberian peninsular. This is followed by news of the reopening of the Masséna museum in Nice. Thereafter in ‘200 years ago' there's the creation of the ‘palmes académiques', and the decrees regulating Jewish affairs. In ‘150 years ago' there's the execution of the ‘martyr to Italian unity', Orsini. In ‘Just published' we bring you five new books which deal with subjects as varied as Betsy Patterson, Napoleonic fighting technique, Josephine's collection at the Hermitage, and Waterloo.
Enjoy.
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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
"Bleeding ulcer": the commencement and long-term consequences of guerilla warfare in Iberia, by Don BARRY
The month of May, 1808 marked the commencement of a terrible tragedy for the peoples and nations of Spain, Portugal, and France. Six months earlier French armies of the Napoleonic Empire had begun their invasion and occupation of the Iberian Peninsula. But the conservative, proud, religious, and xenophobic native populations had reacted initially to these foreign forces with a fear and loathing that exploded eventually into fury and violent opposition in the form of a spontaneous, general, leaderless, and massive insurrection. This uprising quickly coalesced into an armed popular movement that the French were never able to suppress over a period of nearly six years. Furthermore, these Peninsular Wars (1808-14), known also to the Spanish and Portuguese as the “War of National Independence”, would become one of the two most important military causes for the rapid demise of Napoleon and the First Empire.
See the complementary article in French on the French side of the site, "La guerre d'Espagne. De Bayonne à Baylen", by Jacques-Olivier Boudon.
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SNIPPETS
Re-opening of the Musée Masséna in Nice
After seven years of refurbishment work, the Musée Masséna in Nice re-opened on 1 March, 2008. The collection is housed in a building designed to resemble an Italian villa of the First Empire period, built in 1898-1901 following plans by the Parisian architect Thiercelin. The villa was commissioned by a grandson of the Marshal, Victor Masséna, Duc de Rivoli, who on the death of his elder brother in 1898 had become the 5th Prince d'Essling.
Musée Masséna © www.nice.fr
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200 YEARS AGO
Creation of the award of the ‘Palmes académiques'
On 17 March, 1808, Napoleon emitted a decree defining the organisation of the Imperial University. The "Palmes universitaires" formed part of this legislation. The aim was to "highlight eminent positions and to recompense services rendered to teaching". The ‘Palms' were therefore awarded not to the person but to the post, and three honorific titles were associated with the award, Titulaire, Officier de l'université and Officier des academies.
The decoration consisted of a double palm (comprising a palm and an olive branch, art. 33), embroidered onto the left-hand breast of the professorial robe - blue and white silk for Officiers d'académie, silver for Officiers d'université and finally gold for Titulaires (Grand dignitaires).
In 1850 (decree dated 9 December), the decoration was made independent of university rank, and the title Officier de l'Instruction Publique replaced that of Officier de l'université. The group of recipients of 'Palmes' was broadened to include teachers from elementary schools and private school teachers (Falloux Law). Under Napoleon III, the embroidery became a badge (decree dated 7 April, 1866): two metal palms on a violet moiré ribbon, hence the affectionate title for the award the "Légion violette".
Jews
On 17 March, 1808, Napoleon emitted three decrees, two of which dealt with the creation of thirteen regional parish councils or consistories for Jews in France (in conformity with the discussions pursued in the Great Sanhedrin several years earlier). Their role was principally to oversee management of the synagogues. The third decree aimed at providing "social reform for Jews" in France. In later years this decree has been described as ‘infamous', given that it wiped out all debts owed to Jews, it required that all Jews wanting to deal in commerce had to have permits from the prefect, and that non-French Jews could only come to live in France if they first bought a country residence and turned to agriculture and did not deal in commerce. It would however be unhistorical to consider this as a sort of proto-Shoah. Napoleon's distrust of Jews (unfortunately banal for the period) was not religious in its origin. He was more concerned with public order and the assimilation of all into the ‘Nation'. As Thierry Lentz has shown (Nouvelle Histoire, vol. III, p. 258), in the period post-1810 Jews living in the French Empire were the only ones in Europe to have the benefits of freedom to worship, a statute and rabbis recognised by the state.
See our Minidossier on the Great Sanhedrin
150 YEARS AGO
Orsini's assassination attempt on Napoleon III (the continuing story…)
On 13 March, 1858, the instigator of the assassination plot of 14 January, 1858, Felice Orsini, and one of his accomplices, Joseph-André Pieri, were guillotined.
Orsini had pleaded guilty, and he and the three accomplices caught (Pieri, Rudio and Gomez) had appeared before the Seine criminal court on 25 and 26 February. Orsini, Pieri and Rudio were condemned to death and Gomez to perpetual hard labour. Rudio's sentence was later commuted also to hard labour.
The imprisonment and execution was to end however in a sort of martyrdom for Orsini. Letters addressed to Napoleon III which Orsini wrote in prison (one read out during the trial by his defence, Jules Favre, and the other sent to Napoleon III from prison on 9 March) expressed Orsini's deep Italian patriotism and recognised Napoleon Iii's ‘sympathy for Italy' (Orsini had been visited by prefect Piétri who had assured the prisoner of the emperor's generous intentions towards Italy).
All this talk about Italian unity however could only have one effect; the extreme irritation of Austria with her territorial pretensions in Northern Italy. Indeed, when at the end of the month Orsini's two letters were published in the Gazette officielle du Piémont, they were perceived as a direct threat to Austria. Italian historians maintained that the Piedmontese government would not have dared published the letters without the authorisation of the French emperor, and that this permission came in fact from the imperial cabinet. And so, paradoxically, an attempt to kill Napoleon III in order to bring about Italian unity was to lead precisely to that result, but only through its failure…
Three days after the execution, the Police prefect Pierre-Marie Piétri resigned under pressure on all sides for his negligence during the assassination attempt. He was replaced by Symphorien Boitelle.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 449, 14 - 20 March, 2008
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REMINDER
The new Bibliothèque Fondation Napoléon library times are: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, from 1 to 6pm, Thursday from 10am to 3pm.
During the French school holidays the library openings times are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, from 1-30 to 6pm.
THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
Recently published
- BOURGUIGNON-FRASSETO Claude, Betsy Bonaparte: The Belle of Baltimore
- SCOTT Chris, Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics
- BABIN Alexandre, France in Russia: Empress Josephine's Malmaison Collection
- HAYTHORNTHWAITE Philip J., Waterloo Armies: The Men, Organization and Tactics
- NOFI Albert A., The Waterloo Campaign: June 1815 (Great Campaigns)
What's on
Exhibitions:
- Napoleone Fasto imperiale. I Tesori della Fondation Napoléon, Rome, Italy
- A passion for Parma violets: Napoleon and Marie Louise, Parma, Italy
- Gustave Courbet, Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA
- König Lustik!? Jérôme Bonaparte and the Model State: the Kingdom of Westphalia, Kassel, Germany
- The Eye of Josephine, High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, United States
- Goya: the Disasters of War, Berkley Art Museum, University of California, USA
- Marquis de Lafayette, The New York Historical Society, NY, USA
- Chronicles of Riches: Treasures from the Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada
- La Rose Impériale: The Development of Modern Roses, Boone Gallery, The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA, USA
- "The trace of the eagle", the Invalides dome, Paris, France
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