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This week's letter
We've got plenty to keep you occupied this week, so without further ado... First off, we are pleased to announce that n° 2 of Napoleonica.La revue is now available, with seven fascinating articles and a number of up-to-the-minute reviews for your delectation. Secondly, our congratulations go out to Peter Hicks and Emilie Barthet, who were awarded the Luciano Bonaparte literary prize earlier this month for their edition of Napoleon's Clisson et Eugénie. Moving on, we have this month's painting, depicting the immortalisation of Abd el-Kader's liberation. This beautiful work of art is part of our close-up on the interesting, and at times controversial, life of Abd el-Kader and is certainly worth investigating. Next up we have Jérôme Napoleon and the Kingdom of Westphalia who are the subjects of a new exhibition taking place at Fontainebleau. This is the perfect opportunity to see Jérôme's montre à tact, one of the pieces from the Fondation Napoléon's collection. In preparation, you can take a look at this beautiful object using our new interactive Masterpieces of the Collection section. Rounding things off nicely is a slightly extended version of our weekly 200 and 150 years ago.
Hamish Davey Wright
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NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE: ISSUE N° 2
Issue 2 of Napoleonica.La Revue is now online. This week's highlighted article is Thomas Munch-Petersen's article entitled "Count d'Antraigues and the British political elite, 1806-1812". You can take out an annual subscription for just 60 € or, alternatively, you can purchase an individual article for 7 €. Don't forget that issue 1 and its articles are still available as well.
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THE LUCIANO BONAPARTE PRINCIPE DI CANINO PRIZE, OCTOBER 2008
The fourth Luciano Bonaparte literary prize was awarded at the beginning of October 2008. The winners included Peter Hicks, historian and chargé des affaires internationales at the Fondation Napoléon, and Emilie Barthet, former manager of the Napoleon I correspondence project (a post now held by François Houdecek), for their edition, the most complete ever, of Napoleon's novel, Clisson et Eugénie (Fayard 2007). We extend our congratulations to all the winners of this prestigious prize.
Click here to read an article about the ceremony.
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OCTOBER'S PAINTING OF THE MONTH:
In December 1847, Abd el-Kader, head of the Algerian resistance to French occupation, was forced to surrender and was imprisoned in France. The courage and strength of character that Abd el-Kader demonstrated during his exile in France won him a great deal of respect, notably from Louis-Napoleon. On becoming prince-president, the latter delivered Abd el-Kader his freedom on 16 October, 1852. This event was later immortalised by the painter Ange Tissier. This painting forms part of our close-up on Abd el-Kader.
© RMN
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WHAT'S ON: JEROME NAPOLEON AT FONTAINEBLEAU
The Château de Fontainebleau presents an exhibition dedicated to Jérôme Napoleon. The exhibition revisits a neglected facet of the Emperor's remodelled Europe through the works, numbering nearly 110 on display, of some of the great names from the French artistic scene.
Click here for more information.
© RMN
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THE COLLECTION MASTERPIECES
This week, our highlighted section of Napoleon.org III is the new, interactive presentation of ten of the finest works from the Fondation Napoléon's collection. Make sure you have a look at Jérôme Napoleon's montre à tact, which is currently on display at Fontainebleau as part of the new exhibition dedicated to the Kingdom of Westphalia and its ruler.
200 YEARS AGO
Capri
After the fall of Anacapri, a number of Maltese troops, along with Captain Church and his Corsican troops, succeeded in falling back to Capri town. According to Hudson Lowe, commander on Capri, the remaining Maltese soldiers preferred to surrender. The defence of Capri town was now key. Murat noted in his correspondence with Napoleon dated 8 October that he hoped to announce the capture of the entire isle within the next "two days; we already [hold] the ports, insomuch as the enemy can now receive no further reinforcements." Nevertheless, Lowe and his troops held out for another week, forcing Murat to arrange for further French resupplies.
By the 12 October, having heard very little news regarding the capture of Capri, Murat left for Massa, ordering his gunboats and transport ships to ready for the first opportunity to bring supplies to the French troops on the island. This was completed on 13 October, provisioning Murat's forces for a further three months (on top of the three months' supplies already on the island).
Lowe, on the other hand, received almost no reinforcements from the onset of the attack to his capitulation, except for two officers and sixty marines that were landed on 10 and 11 October. After that, light winds forced Ambuscade, a British frigate, and Mercury, a brig, to withdraw from the area, which in turn forced Sicilian gunboats, which had been limiting French reinforcement efforts in the area, to withdraw as well. Lowe's early drafts of his journal make clear his frustration at this lack of support offered by the British Navy, noting that "...the criminal indifference or contemptible stupidity of the second in command of the naval force off Capri...[is] equal to that of the first." British reinforcements finally arrived, but too late to prevent Lowe's surrender on 16 October. The state of affairs in Capri town is recorded in Lowe's journal: "There were no entrenching tools, sandbags, planks for platforms, nor any implement nor material that had not been consumed in successive repairs, the soldiers' paillasses having been cut up as sandbags and the doors of houses torn down for platforms, whilst the men's camp kettles and haversacks served to carry earth." Nevertheless, the loss of the island of Capri was an utter disaster for Lowe and the English.
Sources
Desmond Gregory, Napoleon's Jailer, Associated University Presses: London, 1996.
Joachim Murat, Lettres et Documents pour servir à l'histoire de Joachim Murat 1767-1815, vol. VI, Paris, Plon, 1912, n°s 3506 and 3520
Erfurt
On 12 October 1808, the Erfurt Convention was signed, renewing the alliance between France and Russia. Our new close-up on the Erfurt Convention will be available online next week, and will include details of what went on, images and a timeline.
150 YEARS AGO
Toads and their uses
The toad, the most disgusting of known animals, appears to have no great use. However, here is what M. L'Abbé Le Noir has to say, in Science for everyone:
"In the vines there lurk a number of different species of beetle which do great damage... These insects attack the vines at the bud and move down the stock, to one or two centimetres underground. They are nocturnal and can not fly. What is their enemy? The toad, and only the toad, at least to our knowledge. Hunting them at night, the toad lies in wait, and catches with its tongue the first insect that passes by. Each time it seizes one, it lets out an unusual noise. M. Rouget opened up a toad after only one hour of hunting and discovered in its stomach about thirty insects. Imagine how many of them one toad must destroy in one night, in one season! [...] Let the toad be, encourage its multiplication and you will have many fewer insects to devour your fruit. Do the same for the grass-snake and all the reptiles; they all have their uses."
[Article in the Moniteur universel, 14 October 1858]
Wishing you the very best "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
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THE BIBLIOTHEQUE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
For the autumn, library opening times are back to normal, namely:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: 1-6pm
Thursday: 10am-3pm
MAGAZINE
Just published
- Theodore Ayrault Dodge, Napoleon's Invasion of Russia
- Denis Orde, In the Shadow of Nelson
Press review
- The Adjutant, issue n° 2008/38
- French History vol. 22, Number 3, September 2008
WHAT'S ON
Conferences
- Napoleonic Association Conference 2008, London (UK), 11 October, 2008
- Napoleonic Historical Society 2008 Conference, Philadelphia (US) from 16 to 19 October, 2008
- Portugal, Brazil and Napoleonic Europe, Lisbon (Portugal) from 4 to 6 December, 2008
- Official celebration of the annexation of the marches of the Kingdom of Italy 1808-2008, Camerata Picena (Italy), 18 October, 2008
Film
- Centro Romano di Studi Napoleonici: Napoleonic film week 2008, Rome (Italy) from 11 to 14 November, 2008
Commemoration
- Bicentenary of Napoleon and Alexander's meeting in Erfurt, September/October 1808-2008, Erfurt (Germany)
Full details (in German) (external link)
Click here for photos of the September events (external link in German and French).
Exhibitions
- "Jérôme Napoleon, king of Westphalia", Fontainebleau, France [10/10/2008 - 08/01/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon Bonaparte and Egypt", Paris, France [14/10/2008 - 29/03/2009]
Full details
- "Paper Landscapes, a celebration of Napoleonic cartography", La Spezia, Italy [04/10/2008 - 11/01/2009]
Full details
- "Fine people. Luxury and Fashion at the Time of the Empire", Erfurt, Germany [14/09/2008 - 11/01/2009], Museum für Thüringer Volkskunde (Museum for Thuringian Ethnology)
Full details
- "Spectacle of Power. Rituals in Old Europe 800-1800", Magdeburg, Germany [23/09/2008 - 04/01/2009], Kulturhistorisches Museum Magdeburg (Museum of Cultural History Magdeburg)
Full details
- "Napoleonic side-arms of the Rocca d'Acquaviva", Acquaviva Picena, Italy [04/10/2008 - 31/12/2008], Fortezza di Acquaviva Picena (Acquaviva Picena Castle)
Full details
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