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THIS WEEK IN THE BULLETIN
In celebration of women and Napoleon this week we bring you an essay by Susan Conner on women during the Napoleonic period. This is followed by the year report of the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution, Florida State University in Tallahassee, which has (amongst many other things) created a new Ben Weider Fellowship for non-military matters during the Napoleonic period, and the first beneficiary is Maureen MacLeod whose proposed topic is the role of aristocratic women in achieving reconciliation between the Old Regime and the Napoleonic elites. Next, there is the website of the European Federation of Napoleonic Cities. This is followed by a reminder to subscribe to Napoleonica. La Revue. After this we bring you news of a recent publication recounting the life of Napoleon III written by the curators of the Napoleonmuseum at Arenenberg, Dominik Gügel and Christina Egli. In ‘200 years ago' you can read Napoleon's proclamations to the people of Spain and the translation of the heart of the great ancien regime fortress architect, Vauban, to the Invalides. In ‘150 years ago' there's news of the inauguration and blessing of the new court house in Bastia, Corsica and the marriage of the king of Portugal to Stéphanie de Beauharnais' daughter, Princesse Stéphanie de Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. In the Magazine, you can read the contents of the most recent number of the Nelson Dispatch, you can visit the website of the Friends of Waterloon, and finally scan two recent publications: 1809: Thunder on the Danube: Napoleon's Defeat of the Habsburgs, by John H. Gill and Albuera 1811: the bloodiest battle of the Peninsular War, by Guy C. Dempsey.
Enjoy.
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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
Napoleon's Courtesans, Citoyennes, and Cantinières, by Susan P. Conner
The eighteenth century was an age of women. “The women reigned then; the revolution dethroned them,” wrote painter Elizabeth Vigée-Lebrun. Cultural historians Edmond and Jules de Goncourt confirmed what she had said: “[Woman had been] the governing principle, the source of direction, the commanding voice.” The Flour Wars of the 1770s were largely the work of women at the local level, the querelle des femmes (a literary debate on the role of women) continued unabated, female heads of religious orders held significant power over their properties, and women like Pompadour and DuBarry were household words. Women staged the annual festival of Sainte Geneviève in the heart of Paris, and fishwives testified to the legitimacy of each new royal birth.
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TALLAHASSEE: THE INSTITUTE ON NAPOLEON AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
The Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution (Florida State University, Tallahassee), was founded by Don Horward and is the principal Napoleonic research centre in the US. It is a partner of the Fondation Napoleon, and the current director, Rafe Blaufarb, has just published the report for the academic year 2007-2008. We bring you here the details.
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THE EUROPEAN FEDERATION OF NAPOLEONIC CITIES
The non-profit European Federation of Napoleonic Cities was launched in December 2004 with the aim of encouraging European cities whose history was influenced by Napoleon to collaborate in various ways. Activities include the rehabilitation of historical sites, the encouragement of historical research, the promotion of Napoleonic museums and our culture through live events. Full details can be found on their website.
© DR
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NAPOLEONICA.LA REVUE
Our new historical e-journal Napoleonica.La Revue went on line on Tuesday. Why not take up an annual subscription or simply buy the articles one by one. Details here on the new site.
© La Fondation Napoléon
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ARENENBERG AND NAPOLEON III
For the bicentenary of the birth of Napoleon III, the curators of the Arenenberg Napoleonmuseum have brought out a short guide to the life of the second emperor. It is tri-lingual (German, French, English) and bears the title Napoleon III. The Emperor from Lake Constance. It's the perfect introduction to the life and works of Louis Napoleon.
© Labhards
200 YEARS AGO
Events in Spain
Napoleon proposed to Murat a constitution for the newly annexed Spain. He wrote as follows: «I am sending you a proposition for a senatus-consulte [a planned constitution]. Be careful not to let anyone take a copy. Show it to four or five of the most forward- and right-thinking members of the Junta and council of Castille and tell me their opinion […] I reckon that I could receive your reply, sign the sénatus-consulte, and take a precise line on 31 May or 1 June.» (Letter of 24 May, 1808, Bayonne)
25 May, 1808, in Bayonne, Napoleon published a proclamation to the Spanish announcing his plans for the Spanish nation and his desire to modernise the country. The aim of the ‘pronunciamento' was to calm the populace and discourage them from rising up. On the same day he signed a decree re-organising Spain.
Vauban at the Hôtel des Invalides
On 26 May, 1808, the anniversary of the taking of Danzig, the heart of Marshal Vauban was brought to the « Hôtel impérial des militaires invalides » and laid to rest in the mausoleum opposite Turenne in the Chapelle Sainte-Thérèse, as per Napoleon's decree. This translation (along with that of Turenne, which took place eight years earlier) was a deliberate act on the part of the emperor to place the First Empire in logical sequence after the Ancien Régime and the Revolution.
150 Years Ago
On 12 May, 1858, the new Palais de Justice in Bastia, Corsica, was inaugurated. Mgr the Bishop of Ajaccio came especially to Bastia to be present at the ceremony and to bles the new building. «After the blessing of the building, the court entered the high chamber, called the Salle de l'Empereur.» (Moniteur, 26 May, 1858).
Royal Marriage
On 18 May, 1858, the marriage of Don Pedro V, king of Portugal to Princesse Stéphanie de Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen took place in Lisbon. «More than 40,000 people came to Lisbon to be present at the service and the subsequent festivities» (Moniteur, 28 May, 1858).
The new Queen of Portugal was related to the Beauharnais and Murat families. Her mother, Joséphine de Bade, was the daughter of Stéphanie de Beauharnais, cousin of Hortense, and her father, Charles Antoine de Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, was the son of Marie-Antoinette Murat, sister of the ex-king of Naples.
Stéphanie Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen's brother, Charles, was to become King of Romania under the name of Charles Ist.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 459, 23 - 29 May, 2008
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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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.
Don't forget
The anniversary mass commemorating the death of the Empress Josephine will take place in the church of St-Pierre-St Paul in Rueil-Malmaison, on Monday 26 May at 7pm.
THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
Seen on the web
The Association of the Friends of the Waterloo Committee
Press review
The Nelson Dispatch, Vol. 9, Part 10, April 2008
Just published
- 1809: Thunder on the Danube: Napoleon's Defeat of the Habsburgs, by John H. Gill
- Albuera 1811: the bloodiest battle of the Peninsular War, by Guy C. Dempsey
What's on
Re-enactments
- Newstead Abbey, Nottingham, UK
- Ironfest 2008, The Battle of Lithgow, Blue Mountains, Australia
- Medina de Rioseco, Spain
- Waterloo 1815 - 10th Napoleonic Bivouacs, Waterloo, Belgium
- Valencia: International Battle Re-enactment, Spain
Conferences
- Napoleon's War in Spain: Reactions, Images and Consequences, Alicante, Spain
Exhibitions
- Coinage at War. Catalonia in Napoleonic Europe, National Art Museum of Catalonia, Barcelona
- 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
- 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
- "The trace of the eagle ", the Invalides dome, Paris, France
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