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EVERYONE

SHUT UP!

BE QUIET!

THIS NAPOLEON IS SLEEPING!!!!

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1815: The Return of Napoleon by Paul Britten Austin.

I'm reading it and like it a lot. It's a page-turner. From amazon:

"This unique and atmospheric volume presents the dramatic story of Napoleon's escape from Elba and his march on Paris in the words of eyewitnesses and participants. Drawing on hundreds of firsthand accounts by Napoleon's supporters and opponents, Paul Britten Austin recreates the drama of those tumultuous days of the spring of 1815: Napoleon's dramatic landing at Antibes in the south of France, the first heady days of his arrival after almost a year of exile, his almost miraculous march across France, his arrival in Paris, and the coup which led to the fall of the Bourbons.

"Paul Britten Austin's technique, so brilliantly presented in his earlier 1812 trilogy on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, brings historical events to life and gives a dramatic insight into the hopes and fears of the French nation in that spring of 1815."

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For a spot in the second round, we have a French face off.

Antoine-Jean Gros

"One of Napoleon’s main painters. Pioneer of French Romanticism. Inspired many artists such as Delacroix and Géricault. He was very pretty.”

the tags on his polls also keep mentioning Le Mis

Louis-Alexandre Berthier:

“Prodigial brainpower!!!! (I am sapiosexual!!!!) Able to work long hours!!! The fact that he would be so devoted to the love of his life (Madame Visconti), so much that he arranaged a ménage à trois. Very powerful. He was also always laughing before everything fell apart.”

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Aaahhhh!!! I've been obsessing over it lately and I thank you for creating your blog, it's very informative! But I would like to know please how Murat got along with most of the Marshals, I also read that he got along well with Bessiéres, reply when you can!

Sorry for the late reply, I haven’t had energy for social media for the past month or so. Glad you’ve been enjoying the blog though!

As for Murat’s relationships with his fellow marshals, I think in general the tensions/conflicts he had with several of them have been overblown. I’ve written a bit about my view of his relationship with Lannes before (here, and a little follow-up here), and I still remain convinced that they were closer than the ongoing mainstream narrative based on dubious memoirs. Murat also butted heads with Ney on various occasions during campaigns, but I don’t believe there was any deep hatred between them or anything like that, and they got on well enough during the 1812 campaign and seemed pretty much on the same page. Oh, but Murat, Lannes, and Ney were all hanging out at Bareges together taking the waters when Murat found out he was going to be the new King of Naples, so there’s that.

Murat’s relationship with Berthier is interesting and I wish I knew more about it. Early on, Murat (who was pretty prone to paranoia) was convinced that Berthier was his enemy, as a result of Murat having been critical of him. But their relationship seems to have grown better over the years judging from some tidbits I came across in some of Berthier’s letters to Murat. Berthier also serves as kind of a go-between when Murat is in Naples and Napoleon wants to criticize him and needs someone to word it in such a way as to not wound Murat’s delicate feelings too deeply; he takes a much more gentler approach while still making sure Napoleon’s points get through to Murat.

Murat doesn’t seem to have gotten along very well with Soult, but I think @josefavomjaaga has posted more details on that on her page before, I really don’t know much about Soult in general.

Bessieres and Murat were supposedly good friends but it’s just another one of those things that unfortunately doesn’t have enough documentation on it one way or the other. Most of their correspondence I’ve ever comes across has been very formal and businesslike. It’s also hard to glean too much about Murat’s relationship with Bernadotte either. They had similar political views early in their careers, and Murat invited Bernadotte to his wedding (I’ve always wondered if it was just to spite Napoleon, who refused to attend), but also expressed criticism of Bernadotte in a letter to Joseph Bonaparte for having refused to side with the Bonapartes during the Brumaire coup. I really haven’t found much else about their relationship at all.

If there’s one marshal we can say for sure Murat absolutely did not like or get along with, it’s Davout. These two were just oil and water, unalike in pretty much every fathomable way. Their relationship got so bad during the 1812 campaign that Murat’s chief of staff had to physically restrain Murat from going out to either challenge Davout to a duel, or maybe just to shoot him on the spot (Murat had just grabbed his pistol and was on his way out of his tent). When Murat dared to speak against Napoleon for abandoning the army during the retreat and threatening to leave himself, Davout upbraided him for “black ingratitude”. I’ve never found exactly how Davout reacted to news of Murat’s defection in 1814, but it’s pretty easy to imagine.

Thanks for the ask!

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Okay Hudson Lowe could be a bit of a dickmuffin sometimes but you know what?

Napoleon also could have a little bit of a type-A personality, sometimes, okay, he could be a tad difficult! He’s not exactly made of sunshine and roses and shooting rainbows out of his ass

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Totteridge Gallery

An illustration for The London Magazine, published in January 1928, which accompanied a story written by Frederick Britten Austin.

Thanks to @largecucumber for including this in a post and knowing the name of the artist!

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why this version of him look like he bite 😟🫢🤭

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More of Fortunino Matania’s illustrations of Napoleon. He draws him so well! 😚💗

The Princess Caraboo story is so hilariously ridiculous though. So she is an English lady (Mary Willcocks) who pretended to be a princess from some unknown island and she managed to fool everyone in Gloucestershire. When she finally got exposed, she was sent to Philadelphia. Along the journey, the ship was caught in a storm near St. Helena and Princess Caraboo apparently got on a boat and rowed ashore by herself. This somehow impressed Napoleon so much that he wanted to marry her 😭 Of course, this story is probably bollocks but it’s fun to think about!

Pics in order:

Princess Caraboo and Napoleon

Napoleon and Josephine

Napoleon With His Officers in an Encampment

Bernadotte and Napoleon

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The Duke also carried on a long correspondence with this Christian lady who (if I recall correctly) was always scolding him and trying to reform him.

THE LETTERS OF THE DUKE OF WELLINGTON TO MISS J. 1834-1851

So, I saw that you had no propaganda for the Iron Duke himself and thought that should be corrected, because I cannot let this man go unloved.

He is the ultimate sexyman. I don't really get that title or the requirements but I do know this man and he is the ultimate in Regency-era sexiness.

Field Marshal Sir Arthur Wellesley, First Duke of Wellington, whose full list of titles merits its own Wikipedia page, he had so many (including Prince of Waterloo of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), was so well known for his debonairness that he was often called "the Beau" or Beau Wellesley.

Our dear Duke with his eyes of "a brilliant light blue," is quite the underdog made good. The fourth son of an Anglo-Irish aristocratic family, he was a bit of a loner as a child, whose star was eclipsed by the academic success of his older and younger brothers. Yet he had a remarkable talent for the violin, which as we know from Mrs. Jefferson is quite a good quality for a man to have. As a young man he was considered extremely good humored and drew "much attention" from female society. The Napiers of Celbridge thought he was a "saucy stripling" and he was also considered quite mischievous. Yet he also had a rich inner life, reading and contemplating the great philosophers of the day.

Yes, we know about his military victories in the Peninsula (the position of Field Marshal of the British Army and the accompanying baton were created for him) and his success at Waterloo, but he was also both romantic and a ladies' man. (I could go on about the military success but that's not really what this is about, is it?)

Want the romantic side? He fell in love with Kitty Pakenham while a lowly aide-de-camp in Dublin but, with no real position or prospects, was laughed away by her brother when he sought to marry her. In a fit of pique he destroyed his violin and turned firmly toward progressing his career. Over a decade later, after he had made something of himself in India, he learned she hadn't married, supposedly because she was still pining for him. Reader, he married her, despite thinking she'd grown ugly, and got two children from her in less than two years. I'm not kidding, this man was virile. They married in April of 1806, their first son was born in February, 1807, and their second son was born in January 1808. Although he wasn't sexual faithful to her, Wellington wore an amulet she gave him for over twenty years, and was still wearing it when he sat with her on her deathbed. When she was surprised he still wore it, he told her if she'd just bothered to check in the last twenty years, she'd have found it. Despite surviving her by twenty years, the Duke never remarried.

Now, please don't think badly of him for the lack of sexual fidelity. It was the Georgian era. Sexual fidelity was not a part of marriage in high society. Men didn't sleep only with their wives and some wives could be quite happy with that (for one, it's much easier not to have one pregnancy after another when your husband is sleeping with someone else). Not that women weren't also sleeping around. Which brings me to one of Wellington's more... interesting conquests: Lady Caroline Lamb, wife of William Lamb (the future Second Viscount Melbourne and Prime Minister). Why do I know that name, you ask? The OG pixie manic dream girl, Caro's much more notably known for her affair with Lord Byron. After that particular bit of nonsense, she was in Brussels with the rest of the English aristocracy during the 100 Days/post Waterloo. She and the Duke supposedly slept together and she took his cloak away as a souvenir.

Who else did the Duke liaise with? Well, there were the usual flings with actresses and singers, such as La Grassini. As previously noted in another post on this tumblr, he was noted as a stronger, better lover than Napoleon by another of their mutual lovers. Wellington also was a client of Harriette Wilson. He visited her when she was in Paris after the Duke of Beaufort bought her off, though this was before Beaufort stopped paying her, prompting her to publish her memoirs. She canvassed her old lovers, including Wellington, to see if they'd pay her not to be in them. Wellington send her a note in return saying "Publish and be Damned." Something about his succinct dismissal of her is just so hot.

Oh, want a bit more of Wellington being a bad boy? In 1829, while Prime Minister, he got into a duel that still is commemorated almost two hundred years later. King's College, London, was set up while Wellington was also advocating for Catholic Emancipation and this led to Lord Winchilsea publicly insulting Wellington's honor to the point that the Duke (who'd never dueled before or supported dueling generally) called him out. They went to Battersea Fields and settled the matter with pistols. Wellington won and Winchelsea apologized. King's College celebrates "Duel Day" every March.

Even better, want to read about Elizabeth Bennet and the Duke being witty and falling in love? Complete with scenes of the Duke showing he knows what to do with his cannon? Then let me recommend the third variation of An Ever Fixed Mark, A Dalliance with the Duke. I dare you not to vote for him for all eternity with that portrayal in your head.

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Young Englishman meets Napoleon on St. Helena

When the late Admiral Eden was a senior midshipman he was told by his Admiral that he should accompany him on a visit to the fallen Emperor at St Helena. “We waited for Napoleon in an outer room,” he afterwards told a friend, “and you must imagine how eagerly I expected his entrance. The door was thrown open at last, and in he came. He was short and fat, and nothing very attractive but for his eye! My word, sir, I had never seen anything like it.

“After speaking to the Admiral he turned to me, and then I understood for the first time in my life, what was the meaning of the phrase ‘A born ruler of men.’ I had been taught to hate the French as I hated the devil; but when Napoleon looked at me there was such power and majesty in his look that if he had bade me lie down that he might walk over me, I would have done it at once, Englishman although I was. The look on Napoleon’s face was the revelation of the man and the explanation of his power. He was born to command.”

The Story of Napoleon, Harold F.B. Wheeler, 1921.

(I think Admiral Eden might be Henry Eden, 1798-1888.)

gutenberg.org

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A very sweet letter from his stepfather

Saint-Cloud, 8 thermidor an XIII (27 juillet 1805).

Je suis instruit que vous avez des correspondances avec une nommée D—. Je ne sais pas si vous savez que cette femme n'est qu'une fille, une intrigante, dont la police s'est souvent servie. Une femme de cette espèce ne devrait pas recevoir de lettres de vous; c'est la boue de Paris. Je crois devoir vous en prévenir, que cela vous serve de règle.

---translation by google and me---

I am informed that you have corresponded with someone named D—. I don't know whether you know that this woman is nothing but a girl, an intriguer, who has often been utilized by the police. A woman of this type should not receive letters from you; this is the scum of Paris. I believe I must warn you, this will serve you as a rule.

Napoléon adultère by Hector Fleischmann, 1909

BnF Gallica

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Le vrai nez du maréchal Augereau

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Napoleon, on the way to the ship to Elba, randomly encountered Marshal Augereau. They had an argument where each accused the other of fucking up and/or being a traitor. I think Augereau still tried to return to Naps during the 100 days but Naps said forget it.

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Oh no!!! While I was flying, the airline lost my napoleon in baggage! They released him in the middle of Europe! What are we going to do?! He has no natural predators!!!!!!!

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Napoleon pulling a soldier's ear.

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An actor who played Napoleon before Abel Gance did (Jean Napoléon Michel). He is very pretty! Reminds me of Patrice Alexsandre who played St. Just in la force des choses

From pinterest which took it from instagram.