Fondation Napoléon in English

17/01/2021

Obituary | Jean-René Aymes (1937-2020)

Jean-René Aymes (Professor at Paris III-Sorbonne Nouvelle) passed away on 8 November 2020, from Covid-19. This specialist in Spain and Franco-Spanish relations in the 18th and 19th centuries published numerous books and articles on both sides of the Pyrenees, such as La déportation des espagnols sous le Premier Empire. Les Espagnols en France (1808-1814) [The deportation of the Spaniards during the First Empire. The Spaniards in France (1808-1814)] or L'image de la France en Espagne de 1808 à 1850 [The image of France in Spain from 1808 to 1850], etc. His best-known work, published for the first time in 1975 and updated several times, is La guerra de la Independencia en Espana [The Spanish War of Independence]. Translated from the outset into French, it was republished once again in 2003 by the Fondation Napoléon et Nouveau Monde éditions under the title L'Espagne contre Napoléon [Spain against Napoleon].

Professor Aymes was a regular visitor to our library [the Bibliothèque Martial Lapeyre], and continued to participate in numerous colloquia and collective works. Whilst not strictly speaking a "Napoleonist", he greatly contributed to the knowledge of the "Iberian" aspects of Consulate and Empire politics.

To his family, the Fondation Napoléon extends its sincere condolences.

[Image: portrait by LUIS DÍAZLA RAZÓN]

16/01/2021

📽 Napoleon on screen | An incarnation of Napoleon among many others...

Number two hundred forty-seven in a series.
Pierre Aditi as General Bonaparte in AMOUREUSE JOSÉPHINE, a 1974 French TV movie.

15/01/2021

Memoirs of Cambaceres acquired by the town of Montpellier (November 2020) - napoleon.org

📜 Archives | These memoirs, which were written after the fall of the Empire, remained unpublished until 1999 and the edition by Laurence Chatel de Brancion with the support of the Fondation Napoléon.

On 19 november 2020, the town of Montpellier acquired at auction an important collection of manuscripts of the Memoirs of Cambaceres. Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambaceres (1753-1824) came from a family of magistrates in Montpellier. He was the Second consul of Bonaparte, and took part in the drafting o...

14/01/2021

🎨 This month's painting | This image of a moment of prayer at the end of a day working in the fields is surely one of the most enduring images of French rural life in the 19th century 👉 "The Angelus" by Jean-François Millet: https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/paintings/the-angelus/

12/01/2021

🔘 Talking Point with Elodie Lefort | "Looking after your collection - Episode 1: Books and your library" 👉 Find out what you will need with our collection manager Elodie Lefort: https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/talking-point-with-elodie-lefort-looking-after-your-collection-episode-1-books-and-the-library/

10/01/2021

Les Archives nationales vous présentent leurs meilleurs vœux pour l'année 2021

🗄 #2021AnnéeNapoléon x archives x restoration | In September 2017, the Archives nationales (France), with the help of the Fondation Napoléon, launched an appeal to restore the drawings, maps and plans made for Napoleon, to which many of you contributed.

🔜 From 10 March 2021, the institution will present the results of this exceptional rescue operation to the public, in an exhibition at its Hôtel de Soubise site (Paris). What's more, a fine catalogue will be published on this occasion.
For more information

Here to whet your appetite is a small trailer, presented by the National Archives:

Collecter, classer, conserver, communiquer, faire comprendre et mettre en valeur leurs fonds et collections sont les missions fondamentales des Archives nati...

09/01/2021

Napoleon Bonaparte Origin Story Series In Works From Tod Williams & Timberman-Beverly Productions

📺 Napoleon in TV | According to deadline.com, the #series, to be directed by Tod Williams, will explore “Napoleon the son, brother, and husband; member of a turbulent clan made up of equally fascinating individuals, emotionally ruled by a powerful matriarch, who achieved her ultimate exhaustive ambition to rule without limitation through her children”.

EXCLUSIVE: Timberman-Beverly Productions has partnered with filmmaker Tod Williams (The Door In the Floor) on a drama series focused on the rarely explored origin story of one of history’s m…

08/01/2021

📖 This month's book | "Miniatures from the Time of Napoleon in the Tansey Collection", Tansey Miniatures Foundation: https://www.napoleon.org/en/magazine/publications/miniatures-from-the-time-of-napoleon-in-the-tansey-collection/ #fridayreading

07/01/2021

Musée national de la Marine, Brest

Heritage | The Emperor's barge is unveiled to the public!

The French Musée de la Marine’s most emblematic and imperial item, a barge built for Napoleon in 1810, and later embellished for Napoleon III, was moved in late 2018 from Paris to the Ateliers des Capucins in Brest, where over two months this summer it has been restored with the help of the Fondation Napoléon.

Since 11 December, visitors can admire the 62-foot barge from all possible angles, thanks to an ingenious installation including a mirror that hangs above it and video displays beneath.

▶️ The stunning images in this short video (3-minutes) are sure to whet your appetite!

-- CANOT UN JOUR... --

Le Musée national de la Marine restera fermé pour les vacances de Noël, il sera toutefois présent sur les réseaux.

Pour cette fin d'année, quelques belles images du Canot de l'empereur dans son nouvel écrin aux Ateliers des Capucins à Brest. Avec lui, les collections du musée restent accessibles en cette période !

https://youtu.be/ndIBAHB2RU0

06/01/2021

[🔴 2021 Année Napoléon : Symposium] #Did you know ? Nearly 2,000 Napoleonic soldiers took part in the struggle for independence in Latin America! 👉 "From Waterloo to Chacabuco: The contribution of Napoleonic soldiers in the Andean army", THIS EVENING, 6:30 pm (local time), attend the first online conference of the Chile-France Bicentenary Committee (in Spanish).
🧑 With Patrick Puigmal, Walter Bruyère Ostells, Armando Cartes Montory, René León.
💻 Link to attend the conference via Zoom (estimated duration: 1h30): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86389024187

01/01/2021

2021: the Fondation Napoléon presents its New Year message

It's time! We are ready... are you?
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
#2021​ #2021AnnéeNapoléon

31/12/2020

🥳 Music | Pop Idol! Our napoleonic pop songs playlist (in French and English!) to celebrate new year's eve in a most napoleonic way:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5yRUkdg1evbwz4peOCXGQZkmXKi-ZgLT

28/12/2020

🍾 Napoleonic pleasures | If you’re still looking for inspiration for your last end-of-year meals, we have plenty of culinary specialities from the Napoleonic period 👉 https://bit.ly/2SXHtV4 🍽

27/12/2020

🖍 Games for up to 6 years old | Napoleon, Josephine, a soldier... Click to print and colour 👉 https://www.napoleon.org/en/young-historians/up-to-6/games-for-up-to-6-years-old/

26/12/2020

👧 Young Historians | Family time! Napoleon I, Josephine, Hortense, Napoleon III, the Prince Imperial… Discover the connections between these different individuals, who wrote the history of the First and Second French Empires: https://www.napoleon.org/en/young-historians/napodoc/imperial-family-tree/

26/12/2020

🔘 Talking Point with Peter Hicks | "In March 1796, a twenty-six-year-old Corsican general harangued his raggle-taggle troops in the mountains above Nice. “You are naked”, he cried, [...]" 👉 Read more: https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/talking-point-with-peter-hicks-soldiers-you-are-naked/

25/12/2020

🤓 Christmas Selection 2020 | Oops... forgot grandma's Christmas stocking? Need to exchange a present you didn't expect (promise, your mother-in-law won't find out...)? Take a last look at our Christmas Selection 2020: https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/christmas-selection-2020/

Illustration: Gerald Scarfe for Punch Magazine.

24/12/2020

Fondation Napoléon 2021 New Year's message

2021 is coming... are you ready?
We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

24/12/2020

HAPPY CHRISTMAS to all our readers!
🌟 Bonaparte family Nativity Scene: https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/objects/bonaparte-family-nativity-scene

22/12/2020

✨ Imperial Advent Calendar | Day 2️⃣2️⃣ : The Hermès silk scarf is today probably THE most iconic item produced by the famous company. But did you know that over a hundred of the designs produced between 1937 and the 1980s bear witness to the art or history of the First Empire?
👉 Open our window on this day of Advent to learn more about the "Carré": https://tinyurl.com/Advent-Nap22

21/12/2020

🆕 Fondation Napoléon | In celebration of its 20th birthday, the Napoleonica® Les Archives project, launched in 2000, now has a brand-new (and bilingual French-English) website design, created with the company, Logilab. Welcome to a new https://www.napoleonica.org/en/ !

The website napoleonica.org makes available original First and Second Empire archival material as part of partnership agreements between the Fondation Napoléon (in the role of distributer) and the holders of the archives and documents, whether institutions or individuals. It is aimed both at researchers and the general public. Consultation of the site, printing and downloading of documents is entirely free of charge.
👉 More: https://fondationnapoleon.org/en/2020/12/01/fondation-napoleon-napoleonica-les-archives-a-new-version-of-the-website-napoleonica-org/

20/12/2020

St Helena Napoleonic Bicentenary

▶️ St Helena | Discovering the island...

Memoirs from Beyond the Grave (Scene 2) features the tale of Juan da Nova, the Portuguese navigator on encountering St Helena.

For further translations in French and English, vist St Helena Tourism's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvpIbc3vTOET4c7duJ2QYOA #NapoleonStHelena #NapoleonBicentenary

19/12/2020

✨ Imperial Advent Calendar | Day 1️⃣9️⃣: the “brave of the brave”'s heart...
👉 Open the window to reveal all...: https://tinyurl.com/Advent-Nap19

18/12/2020

✨ Imperial Advent Calendar | Day 1️⃣8️⃣ : Give a Napoleonic flavour to your Christmas stocking…
👉 Open the window on a few suggestions for a sprinkling of this year’s literary offerings and other napoleonic treats: https://tinyurl.com/Advent-Nap23

Don’t forget to support small independant local businesses when you can!
📷 Capricesdechats/Etsy

17/12/2020

✨ Impérial Advent Calendar | Day 1️⃣7️⃣ : This medal is now on display as part of the museum’s Second-Empire collection, which reopened in March 2020.

👉 Open the window to learn who it was awarded to: https://tinyurl.com/Advent-Nap17

16/12/2020

📅 #OTD | 16 December 1858: a secret agreement signed between Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel II.

Following a secret meeting in the Vosges spa town of Plombières in July 1858, a military agreement between Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel II was reached. It was officially dated mid-December 1858 and was drawn up in detail in January 1859. The arranged marriage between the Prince Napoleon and Victor Emmanuel II's daughter, Clothilde which would take place on 30 January 1859 in Turin, strengthened the relationship between the two crowns, and partly explains Napoleon III's action against Austria to help his Piedmontese ally a few months later.
👉Find out more in our Close up on "the battles of Magenta and Solferino, 1859, the consequences of which would change the face of Europe almost overnight": https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/close-up/a-close-up-on-the-battles-of-magenta-and-solferino-1859/

Image: Napoleon III and his military staff at the Battle of Solferino, 24 June, 1859, by Ange-Louis Janet-Lange

15/12/2020

#OTD 15 December 1840 | "Retour des Cendres de Napoléon"
"O frozen sky! and sunlight pure! shining bright in history!
Funereal triumph, Imperial torch!
Let the people's memory hold you forever,
Day beautiful as glory,
Cold as the tomb".
Victor Hugo in "Les Rayons et les Ombres, 1840" - 🇬🇧.

[🇫🇷: "Ciel glacé ! soleil pur ! Oh ! brille dans l’histoire ! / Du funèbre triomphe, impérial flambeau ! / Que le peuple à jamais te garde en sa mémoire / Jour beau comme la gloire, / Froid comme le tombeau."].

Victor Hugo’s powerful poetry depicts that memorable day of 15 December 1840. Despite the fact that the temperature never rose above minus 10 degrees Celsius, a huge crowd of spectators gathered in Paris to see Napoleon’s coffin arriving in Paris.

14/12/2020

⏺ Talking Point with Thierry Lentz | "Vaccination: When Napoleon declared war on smallpox": https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/articles/talking-point-with-thierry-lentz-vaccination-when-napoleon-declared-war-on-smallpox/

13/12/2020

Obituary | Susan Conner (1947-2020)
We are very sad to announce that Dr Susan Conner, scholar of Napoleon and friend of the Fondation Napoléon, died of throat cancer on 28 November 2020.
She was born and reared in Madison, Wisconsin until 1959. Graduating from Armstrong State College (Georgia), magna cm laude, in 1969, she began her master's and doctoral studies in 1972, at the Institute for Napoleon and the French Revolution at Florida State University under Donald D. Horward.
She was awarded an NDEA Fellowship and other grants, and spent nearly six months in France on her dissertation research on Laure Junot, Duchesse d'Abrantès. She then went on to have a distinguished academic career first as a tenured professor at Tift College in Forsyth, Georgia, and then at Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan where she was named Professor of History emerita and joined the ranks of the administration as Associate Dean of the College of Humanities, Social & Behavioral Science. She continued her career as Vice-President for Academic Affairs at Florida Southern College in Lakeland, Florida, and Provost and Professor of History at Albion College in Albion, Michigan from which she retired in 2014. Though she published widely, including the book, The Age of Napoleon (2004), she was also recognised for teaching excellence. She was a conscientious director of the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era and sat on the boards of the Masséna Society (alongside Victor André Masséna Prince d’Essling and Peter Hicks) and of the Napoleonic Historical Society.

Victor-André Masséna, Thierry Lentz, Peter Hicks and the entire Fondation Napoléon team sends it sincere condolences to Ronald J. Conner, her husband of fifty-two years, and all her family, friends and colleagues. She will be sorely missed.

12/12/2020

✨ Imperial Advent Calendar | Jour 1️⃣2️⃣ : Plebiscite!... just before the fall.
👉 Open our window on this day of Advent to learn more about this medal: https://tinyurl.com/Advent-Nap12EN

12/12/2020

🆕🎁 Napoleonica® Les Archives:
A new version of the website napoleonica.org!

In celebration of its twentieth birthday, the Napoleonica® Les Archives project, launched in 2000, now has a brand-new website design, created with the company, Logilab.

The website napoleonica.org makes available original First and Second Empire archival material as part of partnership agreements between the Fondation Napoléon (in the role of distributer) and the holders of the archives and documents, whether institutions or individuals. With its bilingual French-English interface, it is aimed both at researchers and the general public. Consultation of the site, printing and downloading of documents is entirely free of charge.
👉More: https://fondationnapoleon.org/en/2020/12/01/fondation-napoleon-napoleonica-les-archives-a-new-version-of-the-website-napoleonica-org/

09/12/2020

✨ Imperial Advent Calendar | After the fall of the Empire in 1815, Napoleonic emblems were banned. The Eagle and the Tricolour flag were no longer to be brandished by the army. The Second French Empire, in memory of victories past, brought back the Eagle as the symbol of the State and the Army.

👉 Open our window on this eighth day of Advent to learn more about this flag: https://tinyurl.com/Advent-Nap9

08/12/2020

Napoleon's Last Battle w/Adam Zamoyski and Alan Forrest

🔜 Online event | "When Napoleon was sent to exile on Saint Helena, the final battle of his life commenced - for his legacy."

A discussion on Napoleon's legacy with Adam Zamoyski and Prof Alan Forrest.

08/12/2020

✨ Imperial Advent Calendar | 8️⃣: Can you guess the origin of this fan given to Empress Eugenie around 1860?
👉 Open our window on this eighth day of Advent to find out: https://tinyurl.com/y2os2e82

07/12/2020

✨ Imperial Advent Calendar | 7️⃣: Can you guess which Napoleonic personalities wore such a sword? A clue to the weapon's fuse, decorated with mother-of-pearl plates adorned with a female figure in chiselled gilded bronze!