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THIS WEEK IN THE BULLETIN
We bring you a report of the commemoration of the birth of Napoleon III two hundred years ago, held on 20 April in Farnborough UK.
Don't forget the mass of the 5 May in commemoration of Napoleon and the soldiers of the Grande Armée.
In ‘200 years ago' there's the trap in Bayonne and the weaving of regime portraits as part of a propaganda policy. And in ‘150 years ago' there the discovery of the a plesiosaurus in France.
And in the Magazine there are the usual events and also a chance to ‘hear' the Second Empire national anthem, Partant pour la Syrie, on Youtube.
Enjoy.
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SOLEMN MASS AT FARNBOROUGH IN HOMAGE TO NAPOLEON III
Last Sunday, 20 April, 2008, in honour of the bicentenary of the birth of Napoleon III, a solemn mass was held in St Michael's Abbey, UK. Members of the imperial family were present, as were members of the official French delegation. After the mass, wreathes were laid on the tombs in the imperial crypt. The Prince Napoleon spoke a few words on the occasion, in English and French, in homage to Napoleon III.
The Prince Napoleon speaking in the imperial crypt, 20 April, 2008 © Lord James Findlay of Lochaber
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MASS IN COMMEMORATION OF NAPOLEON AND THE SOLDIERS OF THE GRANDE ARMEE, 5 MAY, 2008, AT THE HOTEL DES INVALIDES, PARIS
As every year, a solemn mass will be celebrated in the cathedral of Saint-Louis des Invalides in Paris, by Monseigneur Patrick Legal, bishop to the French army, in commemoration of Napoleon (who died on 5 May 1821) and the soldiers of the Grande Armée. Present at the service will be HIH Princesse Napoléon, General H. Gobilliard, gouvernor of the Invalides and Brigadier General R. Bresse, director of the Musée de l'Armée.
The mass will begin at 6-30pm. Please be seated by 6-15pm.
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200 YEARS AGO
Spanish affairs: the ‘trap' in Bayonne
In Bayonne in April 1808 Napoleon, posing as arbiter, invited Spanish king Charles IV and his son to come to a summit meeting to discuss the crisis surrounding the occupation of the Spanish throne. Napoleon's ultimate plan was to use the strategy of fait accompli (French troops occupied key points in Spain) to depose both father and son and to take possession of Spain, placing a French ruler on the throne. Though fearing to leave Spain, Ferdinand was the first to reach Napoleon, and he hoped that the French emperor would support his bid to become king. Manuel Godoy, the Prince of Peace, arrived a few days later. Charles IV and his wife arrived at Bayonne on 30 April, also hoping for Napoleon's support. Isolated from Spain, surrounded by French troops, the Spanish sovereigns were in no position to oppose Napoleon's demands. Charles IV agreed to renounce his previous abdication, cede his throne to Napoleon, and to go into exile. The ex-monarch was to reside successively at Fontainebleau, Compiègne, Marseille, and after 1811, in Palazzo Barberini in Rome. Ferdinand VII hesitated but was finally also forced into abdication. He was to be held under house arrest in Talleyrand's château Valençay, near Bourges. After Paris and Naples, Bourbon dynasty found itself also ceding Madrid to the Bonapartes.
Imperial art propaganda: the Gobelins manufactory
Not only was art used as a propaganda tool, newspaper articles were also published to tell those too humble to see the works firstly that the paintings existed and secondly that reproductions were being made. In April 1808, the Moniteur newspaper informed readers that the Gobelins weaving manufactory had begun to make tapestry reproductions of celebrated portraits of the Emperor and others. “Bust portraits of HM the Emperor are to be made at the Gobelins manufactory. […] As for works already begun, the news is as follows: the painting of the plague at Jaffa, by Gros, is two-thirds finished. David's painting of HM's crossing of the St Bernard Pass on horseback and Gros's picture representing HM distributing honour sabres to brave soldiers in his army after the Battle of Marengo are already started. The painting by Regnault, showing the death of General Desaix, is well advanced. Thes four pieces have been given to the manufactory's best artists. Standing portraits of Madame mère and of HM the Empress, by Gérard, are already on the looms.” (Moniteur 15 April, 1808).
150 YEARS AGO
Science
“Recently, while digging for iron ore workers have made a most interesting paleontological discovery. In a field [near Châteauvillain], two metres down, they found huge bones […] which belonged to an antediluvian reptile of gigantic proportions, known in history by the name of «Plesiosaurus». The bones have been taken to the Museum of Natural history.”
(Moniteur universel, 26 April, 1858).
Paleontology was being discovered on both sides of the channel with the work of the French anatomist Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) and the British geologists Gideon Mantell (1790 - 1852) and the Rev William Buckland (1784-1856). The term dinosaur was coined by paleontologist Richard Owen and the term paleontology was coined by the French scientist Henri Ducrotay de Blainville in 1822, as a term for the study of fossils. It was during the Second Empire that the first chair in paleontology was created at the Paris que Muséum d'histoire naturelle in 1853, to be occupied by Alcide d'Orbigny (1802-1857).
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 455, 25 April - 1 May, 2008
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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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Got a problem with a link in the Bulletin? Go to the homepage: http://www.napoleon.org
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
Seen on the web
- Partant pour la Syrie on Youtube
What's on
Re-enactments
- Waltham Abbey Gunpowder Mills, Essex, UK
- Call to Arms History Fair 2, Rockingham Castle, Leicestershire, UK
- The Battle of Bourtange in 1814, nr Groningen, Netherlands
- International Napoleonic Fair, Essex, UK
- Newstead Abbey, Nottingham, UK
- Ironfest 2008, The Battle of Lithgow, Blue Mountains, Australia
Conferences
- War, Empire and Slavery c. 1790-1820, York, UK
- Napoleon III, man and politician, Paris, France
Exhibitions
- Treasures of Napoleon, New Orleans, USA
- Napoleon III, der Kaiser vom Bodensee (The Emperor from Lake Constance), Arenenberg, Switzerland
- Napoleon – genius and tyrant, Namur, Belgium
- Royal weddings 1840-1947: from Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II, Windsor, England
- Napoléon. Symboles des pouvoirs sous l'Empire (Symbols of Power: Napoleon and the Art of the Empire Style, 1800–1815), Paris, France
- 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
- 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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