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2010 "and beyond"!
2009 was an exceptional year for our website, napoleon.org: more than 3.3 million hits were received over the course of the year, while the number of recipients of our weekly newsletters rose to 8,200. Confounding all expectations, internet activity on the Fondation's various websites has risen by twenty-five percent.
Whilst doing our best to avoid that most heinous of sentiments, self-satisfaction, these figures do justify the decision, made fifteen years ago, to launch the Fondation onto the World Wide Web, and we intend to continue developing that presence. The web has become an essential tool in the diffusion and circulation of culture and information. It is up to us to ensure the quality of what is found online, and it is up to you, our readers, to decide whether our efforts are sufficient.
Today we take a new, and important, step forward: the launch of our Digital Library. On offer are a number of rare books of otherwise limited availability which can now be accessed in their entirety by all. Further titles will be added to the library, without looking to compete with the internet giants and their digitisation en masse, and it is our intention to select works which will be of particular interest and quality to researchers and enthusiasts alike.
We shall of course be following with interest the progress of the 'digital book', a medium that made huge advances towards the end of 2009: reportedly, fifty percent of all book orders on Amazon.com were for the digital form. This statistic is certainly food for thought and, if confirmed, would imply a serious transformation in our reading habits.
This vigilance and desire to stay at the cutting edge of technology will not, however, distract us from our projects of a more "traditional" variety. On the cards for 2010: a conference, concerts, the release of volume VII of the General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte, a (traditional) library which continues to grow, numerous exhibitions... Of course, your weekly newsletter will keep you informed of each and every one of these plans.
On behalf of both the Board of Trustees and the Fondation Napoléon team, and, on a personal note, I should like to wish you all a very happy and prosperous 2010.
Victor-André Masséna, Prince d'Essling
President of the Fondation Napoléon
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NAPOLEON.ORG
Access the Fondation's library from your very own home!
The Bibliothèque Martial-Lapeyre at the Fondation Napoléon has just launched its new bilingual (French and English) Digital Library. The first texts available through this service serve to illustrate the incredible richness to be found in the Fondation's library collection, and include, most notably, works in French and English on Napoleon I's exile and death on St. Helena, some of which are unique and can only be consulted in otherwise private or academic collections.
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The Digital Library also features cartographical documents (an 1815 map of St. Helena) and a first-edition almanac, the Almanach des bâtimens, also from 1815. Using the powerful zoom function, which can magnify documents upto 150 % of the original, users can uncover every little detail of the Livre du Sacre, with its forty magnificent engravings, and the Romances de la Reine Hortense, as well as investigate and unscramble with ease documents in their original form.
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As well as the standard print and download functions, the Digital Library also features a full text search tool: the search query duly launched, the results page shows the user both the pages of the original document (left-hand side) and the digitised text with the highlighted search query (right-hand side). Further additions to the Digital Library are planned for 2010.
Click here to access the Digital Library.
Support the development of the Digital Library
The Digital Library is just one of a number of the Fondation Napoléon's large-scale projects intended to safeguard and preserve Napoleonic heritage and provide the general public with access to rare Napoleonic works. You can support this project through your donations.
Click here for more information on making a donation.
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BOOK OF THE MONTH
I Gioielli di Maria Luigia d'Asburgo, edited by Francesca Sandrini
This sumptuously-illustrated volume is an exhaustive account of the jewellery worn by Marie-Louise. It is divided into four parts. The first is articulated in seven chapters written by the editor. These deal (respectively) with: the jewels she wore for her wedding; the political and emotional importance of the jewels which she wore during her period as empress of France; the expenses engaged as empress and queen; her suppliers of gold, silver and jewels; the end of the imperial period and the beginning of the parmesan period; her acquisitions as duchess; and a consideration of her last will and testament...
And on the French side: Paris a besoin d'eau. Projet, dispute et délibération technique dans la France napoléonienne, by Frédéric Graber
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NEWS
Obituary: Philippe Séguin
Philippe Séguin, the first President of the Cour des Comptes, passed away after a heart attack during the night of the 6/7 January, 2010. He was 66. The former Minister of Social Affairs and Employment, he served as President of the Assemblée nationale between 1993 and 1997 and was President of the French political party, Rassemblement pour la République, between 1997 and 1999. It was during his mandate as deputy-mayor of the town of Epinal that he demonstrated his interest for Napoleonic history, and more notably the Second Empire, in publishing the highly acclaimed Louis Napoléon le Grand (Editions Grasset), which went on to win the Fondation Napoléon's History Grand Prix for 1990. Whilst serving as President of the Assemblée nationale, he also published his work on the presidents of the lower house since its inception (240 dans un fauteuil). In 2007, he was behind the particularly grand bicentenary commemorations of the Cour des Comptes, which included in particular a national conference entitled "La Cour, un passé, un destin", held at the Musée du Quai Branly, and a reconstruction, which was attended by the President of the Republic, of the first session of the Cour which took place on 5 November, 1807.
The Fondation Napoléon extends its sincere condolences to M. Séguin's family, friends and colleagues.
200 YEARS AGO
In honour of the fallen
On 1 January, 1810, Napoleon announced in a decree: "Statues of Generals Saint-Hilaire, Espagne, Lasalle, Lapisse, Cervoni, Colbert, Lacour [and] Hervo, [who] died on the field of glory, will be installed on the pont de la Concorde, as set out in the project that will be presented by [the] Minister of the Interior."
Louis Vincent Le Blond de Saint-Hilaire (Aspern-Essling), Jean-Louis-Brigitte Espagne (Aspern-Essling), Antoine Lasalle (Wagram), Pierre Belon Lapisse (Talavera), Jean-Baptiste Cervoni (Eckmühl), Colbert (Spain), Lacour (Wagram) and Hervo (Eckmühl) had all died on the various campaigns of the previous year. [Decree, 1 January, 1810, n° 16,100, Correspondance de Napoléon Ier, Second Empire edition, 2002 reissue]
The religious bond annulled
On 9 January, 1810, Abbé Rudemare, the Diocesan promoter, pronounced in favour of the annulment of Napoleon and Josephine's marriage, bringing to an end over two years of scheming, plotting and procrastination. This decision was confirmed by the Metropolitan promoter, Abbé Corpet, on 11 January, 1810.
Click here for our close-up on: Napoleon's "divorce".
150 YEARS AGO
The planet Vulcan
On 5 January, 1860, the Moniteur Universel published a small announcement that had originally appeared in the Le Bulletin météorologique de l'Observatoire impérial de Paris:
"M. Lescarbault observed, on 26 March, 1859, the passage of a planet on the disc of the sun.
Informed of this, M. Le Verrier travelled to Orgères, a village in Eure-et-Loire where the observer lives, [where] he was persuaded as to the authenticity of the observation." [Moniteur Universel, 5 January, 1860]
Urbain Le Verrier, a French astronomer, initially became famous for his predicted (and subsequently proven) existence of Neptune through observation of the discrepancies between the expected movements of Uranus as per Newton's laws of gravity and the planet's actual orbit. Widely celebrated for this discovery, he turned his attention to the planet nearest the sun, Mercury, the orbit of which experienced similar perturbations. The theory of a new, previously-undiscovered, planet, which would be given the name Vulcan (after the Roman blacksmith god of fire), was presented to the Académie des Sciences on 2 January, 1860, and was adopted by numerous astronomers who spent years searching for it. Le Verrier died in 1877, but it was not until Einstein's theory of General relativity in 1915 that Mercury's erratic orbit was explained due to the influence of the sun's gravitational pull and not the existence of a new planet.
Cabinet reshuffling?
On 4 January, 1860, Viel Castel noted in his journal that a ministerial reshuffling might be on the cards for the new year:
"Walewski may take the ambassadorship in St. Petersburg, and would probably be replaced [as Minister for Foreign Affairs] by Thouvenel, our current ambassador in Constantinople [modern-day Istanbul]. This choice would be met with public approval.
Maréchal Niel would receive the war portfolio [something that did eventually happen in 1867]. The hope is that this role will not be given to him: he is not at all liked [and] the army holds him in low regard.
Laity would enter the Interior [Ministry]. This nomination is very similar to the mistake that took General Espinasse to the same ministry. Laity has not even been a prefect [yet] supporters of the more accomplished ministers claim that we are all wrong and that Laity is an intelligent man.
Baroche may leave the Conseil d'Etat, where he would be replaced by Rouher, to take a position at Justice. Nothing more is said of the other ministers. [...]"
Nothing would come of these rumours, although Thouvenel did become Minister for Foreign Affairs in January 1860. Further changes followed in November 1860, but the men involved were Persigny [who became Interior Minister], Forcade la Roquette [Finance Minister] and Chasseloup-Laubaqt [Naval Minister].
Paris reorganised
On 1 January, 1860, Paris was reorganised into twenty arrondissements, as set out by the law announced on 16 June, 1859 [see bulletin n° 515]. This reorganisation took into account the adjoining communes and villages which now fell within the boundaries of the Thiers wall. As a result, the population of Paris rose from 1.2 to 1.7 million inhabitants. Like the ancient city of Thebes before it, Paris had become the city of one-hundred gates.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 524, 8 – 14 January, 2010
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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THE BIBLIOTHEQUE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
Winter opening times:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: 1pm-6pm
Thursday: 10am-3pm
(Closed Friday)
FONDATION NAPOLEON ON THE WEB
Each week we offer you a "mystery" link to somewhere on napoleon.org. Click on the link to discover a part of the website you might not have visited before...
Statistic of the week:
2009 saw the Fondation Napoléon's website, napoleon.org, receive 3,307,800 hits, a 25% increase on the figures for 2008.
The Fondation Napoléon's triumvirate of Napoleonic websites:
- Napoleon.org
- Napoleonica. La Revue
- Napoleonica. Archives Online
The best of the month:
- Book of the month
- Painting of the month
- Objet d'Art of the month
- Article of the month
PRESS REVIEW
- Further screenshots of Napoleon: Total War
- History Today January 2010
EVENTS
On now
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
Exhibitions
- At the Russian Court: Palace and Protocol in the 19th Century, Amsterdam, Netherlands [20/06/2009 - 31/01/2010]
Full details
- Josephine's wine cellar: wine during the Empire at Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison, France [18/11/2009 - 08/03/2010]
Full details
- "Under Napoleon's Eagle", Ljubljana, Slovenia [15/10/2009 - 25/04/2010]
Full details
And finishing soon...
Exhibitions
- "With Napoleon in Egypt: the Drawings of Jean-Baptiste Lepère", Cologne, Germany [02/10/2009 - 10/01/2010]
Full details
- A la table de l'Impératrice Eugénie, le service de la bouche dans les palais impériaux, Compiègne, France [02/10/2009 - 18/01/2010]
Full details<<
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