I guess by now everybody has seen it before me, but just in case somebody has not: Joachim Murat takes the stage in the “Napoleon Blown Apart!” series.
DID I create an entire musical playlist for The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley solely populated with Napoleonic War-era songs and sea shanties, and then end the whole thing with Waterloo by ABBA?
February 26, 1815: Napoleon escapes from Elba. Feeling safe after his exile the previous April, France’s clowns emerged from their underground lairs and chased the mimes from the streets. First viewed as liberators, the nation’s populace soon regretted their elation as they became constantly harassed by clowns, who stalked France’s citizens with big, floppy, honking shoes; flowers that squirted wine; and too-large pants that bobbed up and down on rubber suspenders. Hearing of his nation’s plight, an enraged Napoleon escaped to retake France. Realizing the Emperor was on his way, the clowns ran for it, bandy-legged and with flapping arms, into Belgium with Napoleon hot on the heels of their enormous shoes. While in Belgium, Napoleon was attacked by a coalition of nations at Waterloo.
I am so excited for ‘Kitbag’! I seriously hope that it will be released in theaters all over, in addition to Apple TV.
This is going to be the first time Ridley Scott and Joaquin Phoenix have collaborated after “Gladiator”, and it’s going to be ah-mazing to see Phoenix play another emperor!
Plus, I can see bits of an older Commodus in some of his stills as Napoleon Bonaparte :)
Napoleon witnesses the slaughter in the Tuleries on 10 augustus 1792. (In reality he was never inside the building but he did see the event from the streets, though I guess this painting makes a good effort of forshadowing the future imperial crown)
Napoleon’s funeral carriage crossing the Place de la Concorde, by Jacques Guiaud
AlthoughNapoleon died in 1821, his body was not transported to France until 1840. On December 15 of that year, his remains were conveyed through Paris in a grand funeral procession, culminating in a mass at the Dôme des Invalides. One observer called it “the strangest mixture of sorrow and triumph that human ingenuity could have derived.”
Although the casket didn’t reach the Invalides until 3 p.m., people with tickets to the event started arriving as early as 8 a.m. One of them wrote:
Several hours elapsed ere the procession appeared, and here it is painful to have to remark how little dignity prevailed in the interim. In one place national guards were seen getting planks, and breaking them for the purpose of making fires; in another national guards, soldiers of the line, &c. formed a ring and danced round a flag; elsewhere an officer was in the centre; and in the third place a hat…. At length, however, the funeral car was perceived on the other side of the river, and some order was restored, the troops that had piled their arms hastened to snatch up their muskets and to form their ranks….As the car passed, each head was uncovered; and although the shouts of ‘Vive Napoleon! Vive l’Empereur!’ joined to the cries of ‘Vive le Roi! Vive le Prince de Joinville!’ were few and far between, a certain degree of emotion prevailed, and many an eye was suffused with tears. To be just, however, it must be said that far less enthusiasm prevailed than was expected on the occasion.
Allegory of the Concordat of 1801, by Pierre Joseph Célestin François
Napoleon Bonaparte was religious in that he believed in God. However, he was not devoted to any particular religious doctrines or practices. Napoleon respected the power of religious belief and used religion to further his political goals. For details, see “Was Napoleon religious?”
US President John Quincy Adams was born on July 11, 1767, in Braintree, Massachusetts. As an American diplomat in Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, he had ample opportunity to observe the effects of Napoleon’s military adventures. Adams admired Napoleon’s intelligence and military talent. However, he thought they were overshadowed by flaws in the Emperor’s character. In January 1814 he wrote to his brother from St. Petersburg:
The events of the last two years opened a new prospect to all Europe, and have discovered the glassy substance of the colossal power of France. Had that power been acquired by wisdom, it might have been consolidated by time and the most ordinary portion of prudence. The Emperor Napoleon says that he was never seduced by prosperity; but when he comes to be judged impartially by posterity that will not be their sentence. His fortune will be among the wonders of the age in which he has lived. His military talent and genius will place him high in the rank of great captains; but his intemperate passion, his presumptuous insolence, and his Spanish and Russian wars, will reduce him very nearly to the level of ordinary men. At all events he will be one of the standing examples of human vicissitude, ranged not among the Alexanders, Caesars, and Charlemagnes, but among the Hannibals, Pompeys, and Charles the 12th.
Marie Louise of Austria, Empress of the French and Queen of Italy, by Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, 1810
At the age of 18, Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria was obliged to marry 40-year-old French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who had spent years waging war against her country. Despite the circumstances, the marriage was relatively happy. Napoleon and Marie Louise spent four years together and then never saw each other again. While he was destined for an early death in faraway exile on St. Helena, she went on to govern the Duchy of Parma. For details, see “Marie Louise of Austria, Napoleon’s Second Wife.”
Napoleon died 200 years ago, on May 5, 1821, on the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena. To find out how his remains wound up in Paris, and why there are reports of an intimate part of him being in the United States, see “What happened to Napoleon’s body?”
200 years ago today, Napoleon was on his deathbed. Given the number of people surrounding him during his final days, there should be a clear record of his last words. But, as with most things involving Napoleon, there are several accounts of his dying hours and differences regarding what he actually said. For details, see: “What were Napoleon’s last words?”
Napoleon on St. Helena, by Charles de Steuben, 1828
Napoleon Bonaparte died on May 5, 1821, on St. Helena, an isolated island in the South Atlantic where the British imprisoned him after his 1815 defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. He probably died of stomach cancer. Napoleon noticed that his health was declining in the fall of 1820. By the end of that year, his illness had become apparent to those around him. For a glimpse into Napoleon’s last days, as recorded by those closest to him, see “Vignettes of Napoleon’s Final Months.”
In April 1814, with a European coalition occupying Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte was forced to abdicate the French throne. He was sent into exile on Elba, a small Mediterranean island located 260 km (160 miles) south of France and 10 km (6 miles) west of the Italian coastline. Ten months later, in one of those life-is-stranger-than-fiction episodes, Napoleon managed to spirit himself off the island and regain the French crown. To find out how and why Napoleon escaped from Elba, see: https://shannonselin.com/2016/02/how-did-napoleon-escape-from-elba/.
I am watching a documentary on Napoléon because I woke up and chose violence, and I’m just gonna jot down half-baked, chaotic theories and parallels as I watch.
Napoléon came back over to France from Corsica after he and his family (widowed mother who he adored and seven surviving siblings) had been exiled by Paoli in 1793; in 1794/95, Valjean’s oldest sister was widowed, leaving her to look after him and her seven surviving children all by herself
(I subscribe to Valjean’s birthday being Exactly 15 August 1769 for Reasons.)
I am an instrument of providence. She will use me, then she will break me like a glass.
Providence, you say??????????
Trust my wife @thepiecesofcait to improve everything she’s ever touched. <3
Hey there @sweettangy I hope that you’re well, sweetpea! Thank you so much for this request, it was so so specific which is cool but, I had to stray slightly off path for it all to make sense, I hope that’s okay ^^’
Thank you all so much for reading and sticking by me whilst my uploads have kinda been few and far between, it means the world to me & I hope that I can continue to make content that y’all enjoy!
- JJ x
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Napoleon Bonaparte:
As MC prepared herself for an onslaught of yelling, insults and false accusations from her awful boss, her protective boyfriend Napoleon was just finishing his work teaching for the day. He and MC had agreed to meet after work so that they might go out for dinner together so, he had finished up with the children early that evening so that he could go and pick his darling up from work.
When Napoleon arrived at the art shop, he witnessed a confrontation between MC and her boss from outside the window. His body moved before he could think, rushing into the shop to shield his lover with his own body so that he stood in between her and her boss.
“Pray tell, sir, what business do you have with my employee?” The shop owner smiled condescendingly, nastily at Napoleon but, the ex-emperor stood his ground, protecting MC.
“I am her protector and I’d like to know what business you have showing her such disrespect. It is incredibly ungentlemanly to mistreat a lady.” The vampire, turned his gaze towards MC before speaking to her quietly, “Get you belongings and wait outside for me.”
As MC scrambled to grab her bag and coat, Napoleon took another step towards the shop owner, his right hand resting on the hilt of his rapier, “Now, sir, I don’t wish to cause you or your business any harm, but, mistreating a lady is the most unacceptable of crimes. I’d suggest that you pay compensation to this poor woman and increase her salary … should you want to keep your reputation untarnished in the public eye, that is.”
“Y-you have no right -”
“Oh, I think you’ll find that I have every right to protect the mademoiselle and see that her honour is kept in tact,” Napoleon turned to leave, glaring at the shop keeper one last time, “If I hear that she has come to any harm by your hand, you should expect a visit from the police.”
As soon as Napoleon left the shop, MC rushed into his arms, tucking herself tightly against his warm chest. The lady gently kissed her lover’s shoulder and lifted her gazed to meet his, “You saved me…”
“I promised that I always would, didn’t I?” Napoleon stroked MC’s hair comfortingly, a warm smile spread across her lips as his hand fell to grasp her own, “Would you still like to get dinner? Or do you want to go home and relax?”
“Dinner sounds nice…”
“As you wish, my lady,” he replied sweetly, taking her arm in his own as they walked to their restaurant of choice to enjoy dinner, with Napoleon fiercely protecting MC for the rest of the night.
Unexpected visit to Gdańsk and what a surprise: in the City History Museum in the Town Hall there is a most interesting exposition about the Free City 1807-1813/14 (the title is “Life of the city in the shadow of great war and politics, or: The Free City of Danzig 1807-1813/14”; the banners are in Polish only but the exposition has all explanations and labels also in English). Many objects presented are from private collections and museum storerooms in Poland, so it’s a rare opportunity to see them. I’ll be writing about the exposition in more detail in a short time, as well as about other Napoleonic sites in Gdansk and environs. The exposition will be on until January 2014 (I could not get the exact date from the museum, though). By the way, I must admit that the old town in Gdansk is one of the most beautiful ones in Europe. I haven’t been here for ages, and I was really taken by its charm.
Personally I dislike Josephine, so I’m not donating to this particular purpose (unlike the restoration of Longwood), but if anyone feels like, here is the appeal for funds:
And just for reference here is the piece of furniture in question in the Malmaison museum, status of Sept. 21, 2013:
While this is what the rooms and furniture in the Petits Appartements in Fontainebleau look like (status of Sept. 22, 2013), and no appeal for help in their conservation is being made:
