#john r elting

[cadmusfly]

Tag Yourself: Unabridged Shitty Drawing Marshal of the Empire Edition

Yes All 26 Of Them + Bonus 2

drawn and compiled by yours truly, initial and probably inaccurate research assisted by Chet Jean-Paul Tee, additional research from Napoleon and his Marshals by A G MacDonnell, Swords Around A Throne by John R Elting and a bunch of other books and Wikipedia pages

captions under images

mike (Michel Ney)

- full of every emotion

- always has ur back

joe (Joachim Murat)

- it's called fashion sweetheart

- will not stop flirting

lens (Jean Lannes)

- bestie who will call u out on ur shit

- does not like their photo taken

bessie (Jean-Baptiste Bessieres)

- actually nice under the ice

- was born in the wrong generation

dave (Louis-Nicolas Davout)

- overachiever

- 20 year old boomer

salt (Jean-de-Dieu Soult)

- people think ur up to no good

- doesn’t cope with sudden changes 2 plans

andrew (Andre Massena)

- actually up to no good

- sleepy until special interest is activated

bertie (Louis-Alexandre Berthier)

- carries the group project

- voted most likely to make a stalker shrine

auggie (Pierre Augereau)

- shady past full of batshit stories

- will not stop swearing in the christian minecraft server

lefrank (François Joseph Lefebvre)

- dad friend

- in my day we walked to school uphill both ways

big mac (Étienne Macdonald)

- brutally honest

- won't let you borrow their charger even if they have 100%

gill (Guillaume Brune)

- love-hate relationship with group chats

- pretends not to care, checks social media every 2 minutes

ouchie (Nicholas Oudinot)

- needs to buy bandages in bulk

- a little aggro

pony (Józef Antoni Poniatowski)

- can't swim

- tries 2 hard to fit in, everyone secretly loves them anyway

grumpy (Emmanuel de Grouchy)

- can't find them when u need them

- complains about the music, never suggests alternatives

bernie (Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte)

- always talks about their other friendship group

- most successful, nobody knows how

monty (Auguste de Marmont)

- does not save u a seat

- causes drama and then lurks in the background

monch (Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey)

- last to leave the party

- dependable

morty (Édouard Mortier)

- everyone looks up 2 them literally and figuratively

- golden retriever friend

jordan (Jean-Baptiste Jourdan)

- volunteers other people for things

- has 20+ alarms but still oversleeps

kelly (François Christophe de Kellermann)

- old as balls but still got it

- waiting in the wings

gov (Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr)

- infuriatingly modest about their art skills

- thinks too much before they speak

perry (Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon)

- low-key rich, only buys things on sale

- “let’s order pizza” solution to everything

sachet (Louis-Gabriel Suchet)

- dependable friend who always brings snacks

- lowkey keeps the group together

cereal (Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier)

- unnervingly methodical and precise about fun

- will delete your social media after u die

vic (Claude Victor-Perrin)

- loves spicy food but can’t handle it

- says they're fine, not actually fine

Bonus!

june (Jean Andoche Junot)

- chaotic disaster bisexual

- will kill a man 4 their bestie

the rock (Géraud Duroc)

- keeps a tidy house

- mom friend with snacks

[deceptigoons-attack]

"Probably the outstanding surgeon was Dominique Jean Larrey (1766-1842), who was also an organizer, teacher, and inventor. He became surgeon-in-chief to the Imperial Guard, a baron, Commandant of the Legion of Honor, and Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown. Napoleon considered him the most virtuous man he had ever known. Practically his equal was Pierre François Percy, inspector general of military hospitals and surgeon-in-chief to the Army.

Both men hoped to make the Service de Santé an independent, self-sufficient organization with its own trains and full control over its hospitals. Sadly, some soldiers did not appreciate even their most devoted services. While Percy and his surgeons worked in the freezing cold at Eylau, stragglers stole their horses, swords, and baggage.

Swords Around A Throne, John R. Elting

[crazyf0rswayze]

Btw I'm in New York. I went to a War of 1812 museum, and I got a book! Obviously it's about the war...but I'm so excited! It's called 'Amateurs, To Arms. A Military History of The War of 1812' by John R. Elting. It's about 353, and that's including the epilogue and sources n' stuff.

[kaxen]

I think Jacques Chevillet will be my next memoir to finish. He is interesting to me and Thomas Cardoza is like very good about footnoting info and his translation decisions compared to how I would like.... fight John R. Elting in Hell.

It starts when he is 15 and he has already gotten beat up by the guys he was traveling with and gotten in a duel in like 9 pages. Though the duel didn't get very far because the other guy's mom showed up to smack him with a broom for dueling.

He also mentions riding lessons starting without saddle and stirrups and falling off a ton of times.

Since Chevillet was of modest means, all the pictures on his memoirs are generic paintings, so it is like... how do I draw the boy... Currently the only physical description provided is that he has short legs.

He was in the 8th chasseurs à cheval which at least gives me an excuse to draw pink facings. Gotta have the pink.

[kaxenart]

At dinner I was very happy to find myself seated next to the pretty countess; all the time while eating, while drinking the detestable wine from the Lake Constance region, I talked sweet nonsense to her; the lady gave every indication of enjoying it, but seldom answered because her husband never lost sight of us. That unfortunate man! As you will see later on, it was not I whom he should have suspected. To foil the count I therefore said very little more to his wife, but I carefully continued my conversation with my feet; you can say very pleasing things in that fashion. That day I must have been very eloquent, for she responded most charmingly. Go find me a husband, the most jealous in the world, who can tell what is going on in a case like that. The Count of Ille___ saw no more than anyone else did, and when we got up from the table we were already in full accord.

Elting also felt it was important to point out that Blaze would be wearing pumps not boots.

[first-empire-fancy-boys]

ELTTTIINNNNGGGGGGGG

YOU PUT THAT ANECDOTE BACK IN YOU BASTARD.

ONE REVIEW SAID THE NON-ELTING TRANSLATION OF ELZEAR BLAZE IS WORSE AND I CAN'T IMAGINE WHAT THAT WOULD LOOK LIKE. ELTING IS ALREADY OBNOXIOUS.

I will necromance him just to kick his ass

I don't care if he's retired military

He died at age 89 I can take him

[histoireettralala]

"The Good Marshal"

Augereau's lines had fallen into pleasant places. He was wealthy, comfortably established, happily married, honored among men. Napoleon had made him a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, and would ennoble him in 1808 as Duke of Castiglione. The only shadow was Gabrielle's worsening health.

Good fortune noticeably mellowed Augereau. He loaned Marshal Bernadotte 200000 francs without interest as casually as Sergeant Augereau might have stood Sergeant "Pretty-Legs" Bernadotte a drink before the Revolution - "When a Marshal is fortunate enough to oblige a comrade, the pleasure of doing him a service is enough." There was no more looting. Marbot, Augereau's aide-de-camp during 1803-1807, wrote with obvious sincerity: "Of the five marshals under whom I served, [Augereau] was without a doubt the one who most alleviated the evils of war, who was the most considerate of civilians and treated his officers the best, living among them like a father in the midst of his children." To him, Augereau was the "good marshal".

John R. Elting, in David Chandler's Napoleon's Marshals

[joachimnapoleon]

Guillaume Brune (13 March 1763 - 2 August 1815), Marshal of the French Empire

Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune came among them from the murk of Paris politics. His father, a lawyer in the central France town of Brive-la-Gaillarde, sent him to Paris to study law. Paris proved unsettling for a country boy. Brune sowed wild oats and harvested debts. To live, he worked as a printer, and eventually became co-founder and editor of a radical newspaper. He was a friend of such revolutionary leaders as Danton, who nicknamed him the “Patagonian” because of his great height. Much involved in the early riots, he was given a commission in the Volunteers and had a shifting, obscure career in the “Army of the Interior,” which was employed against counterrevolutionary movements and anyone suspected of incivisme. That involved him in some of the Revolution’s bloodiest police actions, but apparently he was a fanatic enough to think such dubious work was his patriotic duty.

This back-alley service made him a general of brigade by 1793. In 1797 he secured assignment to Napoleon’s Army of Italy; there, surprisingly, he showed courage, drive, and tactical skill and won promotion to general of division. In 1798 he occupied and plundered Switzerland for the Directory, not forgetting himself. Sent to Holland in 1799, he showed judgment, energy, and bravery in defeating an Anglo-Russian invasion, much helped by the incapacity of his opponent, “the Noble Duke of York.” Informed of Napoleon’s coup d’état, he proposed to march on Paris, but his troops refused.

Making his submission to Napoleon, he put down troubles in Vendée in 1800. Next year Napoleon gave him command of the Army of Italy, some 95,000 men. Brune’s struggle to handle that force (while also looting and tinkering in Italian politics) inspired a new French Army term for hopeless confusion: “à la Brune.” In 1807, detached to cover the Grand Armée’s left rear, he defeated the Swedes, became involved in muddled negotiations with their mad King Gustav IV, and refused to explain his actions to Napoleon. Also, he had plundered northern Germany. Napoleon put him on inactive status.

Recalled in 1815, Brune saw no combat before his murder. He was capable of handling a small force, especially in difficult terrain. Brave to the last, he also was something of a disciplinarian. He stole but looked with disfavor on stealing. He also wrote sentimental poetry.

—-John R. Elting, Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon’s Grande Armée

[For more on Marshal Brune’s murder in 1815, see here.]

[newmusickarl]

Top 50 Albums of 2021

4. Prioritise Pleasure by Self Esteem

Experimental pop artist Rebecca Lucy Taylor returned with her incredible new solo album back in October under her Self Esteem stage name and it seems to have been all the music world has spoken about since then. Rightfully receiving widespread critical acclaim, Taylor’s aim for Prioritise Pleasure was quite simple – build on her debut album, Compliments Please. In her own words, she wanted everything to be “bigger and bolder” in the production of this new record, turning strings into orchestras and back-up singers into choirs. The result? Undoubtedly the finest pop record of 2021 and an album that I think will ultimately come to define 2021 over time.

Whilst I wasn’t as immediately enamoured as some music critics, this is an album that grew on me in a very short space of time, and I found myself returning to an awful lot. In fact, it is another album released at the end of October that has found its way into my Top 10 most played of the year and it’s easy to see why. There is no doubting this is a mightily impressive and utterly intoxicating listen, with Taylor exploring themes of love, self-care, sexuality, misogyny and toxic relationships across the album’s grand 13 tracks. The lyrics are meaningful, the instrumentation is extravagant and most importantly the songs are just downright excellent. After 2020 and the COVID pandemic had given everyone’s mental health a battering, this was the open and honest pick-me-up record the world needed in 2021.

Beginning on a rumble of acidy synths, I’m Fine is quite the statement-making opener where Taylor makes clear no man is going to tell her what to do or how she should behave. It then ends on the darkly humorous yet poignant note of:

“Everyday, I have my keys in my hand. This is like… and it sounds so stupid but it's genuinely something that me and my friends actually do; if we are approached by a group of men we will bark, like dogs. And people always laugh and they're like "Haha, that's so funny" but there is nothing that terrifies a man more than a woman that appears completely deranged.”

It is the perfect tone-setter for the rest of the album, with Taylor making it clear that she isn’t going to hold anything back, sonically or lyrically, on this record.

Prioritise Pleasure also contains probably the strongest three track run you’ll find on any record this year, with Hobbies 2 the track to kick it off. With its playful drums, groovy synths and wonderful gospel-like chorus, Taylor has said she was influenced by Kate Bush when writing this track and that inspiration comes through strongly. The title track is then probably my favourite song on the whole album. Boasting a euphoria of distorted synths, some stunning string arrangements and more gospel-like vocals yelling the liberating chorus of “I’m free”, it’s an addictive track that will have you immediately pressing the repeat button. 

I Do This All The Time then arrives for a real star-making moment that has rightly been heralded as one of, if not THE finest song of the year by numerous music publications. It is just utterly fantastic, a spoken-word R&B groove where Taylor acts as an Agony Aunt to both herself and the listener, offering inspiring advice and words of wisdom. As the line “It was really rather miserable trying to love you” rings out and a flurry of orchestration flutters in, it is a true goosebump-inducing moment.

Those three year-best songs aside, the rest of the record is just as enthralling. Still Reigning is a soulful sequel to Compliments Please track She Reigns, built around more stunning gospel-like vocal harmonies singing out “the love you need is gentle, the love you need is kind, I figured that out after all this alone time.” This powerful soul number is then followed by the contrasting acid-punk sounds of How Can I Help You which recalls the thunderous drums and energy of Kanye West’s Black Skinhead. The string-drenched majesty of ballad John Elton then sees Taylor showing a slightly more melancholic and vulnerable side of herself, describing her struggles with loved ones coming in and out of her life at different stages. 

The album is then brought to a triumphant close through the pure-pop majesty of You Forever and string-tinged conclusion of Just Kids, where the central theme for both tracks is that it’s ok to be on your own and you will be ok on your own – so stop trying to make a relationship work for fear of isolation. In a year where a lot of people have felt isolated and alone in some way due to the pandemic, it is once again an uplifting message that needs to be heard.

All in all, there is no doubt this is a towering work from Taylor and it is absolutely no surprise to see it clean up in the Album of the Year polls, gain her a Brit Awards nomination and, most likely, earn her a Mercury Prize nod sometime next year. With Prioritise Pleasure, Taylor has crafted a daring and exciting pop masterpiece that has plenty of wit, words of encouragement and moments of sonic splendour. Most importantly though, this is an honest, unconventional pop record that says the things other modern pop artists might be too afraid to say – and for that, Rebecca Lucy Taylor deserves the highest of praise.

Best tracks: I Do This All The Time, Prioritise Pleasure, Hobbies 2, Still Reigning, John Elton

Listen here

[cuirassier]

Private of the Danish Siellandske Jager Corps, 1813; plate by H. Knotel, text by John R. Elting

[cadmusfly]

The Dream That Dreams Once Dreamt Of

Summary:

“… many of Napoleon's senior officers have become characters of folklore, if not downright fiction. His marshals, especially, have been so bedaubed by careless writers' ink that the true personalities of some of them remain almost unknown.” — Swords Around A Throne, John R. Elting

A strange surreal fairytale about a man-eating ogre and a heroic knight with legs of stone.

Relationship: Napoleon Bonaparte/Jean Lannes

Characters: Napoléon I de France | Napoléon Bonaparte, Jean Lannes, very brief mentions of the following: Michel Ney, Jean-Baptiste Bessières, Andre Masséna, Charles-Victor Perrin

Fandoms: Napoleonic Era RPF, Historical RPF

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Afterlife, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Body Horror, mentions of cannibalism, Mentions of Ensemble Cast

Words: 3,076

Chapters: 1/1

[deceptigoons-attack]

Afterward, Lieutenant Jean-François Faure de Saint Romain of the 3d Chevau-Légers Lanciers had the oddest tale to tell. He had been a soldier since he was seventeen and had been wounded nine times. In the fighting around Wellington's squares he became separated from his regiment when his horse was killed under him. A supply train driver found him another mount, but he was then swept along in the retreat. At Philippeville, some 40 miles south of Waterloo, he and his horse gave out and took shelter in an inn. He woke next morning to find a British officer sharing his bed.

The Englishman was lost, and thought the French had won!

(Swords Around A Throne, John R. Elting)

[arsnovacadenza]

an excerpt on Girard of Regiment Neustrie from Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon’s Grande Armee by John R. Elting

@weird-profiterole @kasu-gay-ama 

So there was some truth in the Jeanpoleon crossdressing fic I’m working on. This book is aggressively reminding me to finish the thang.

[kaxen]

DAMMIT ELTING, YOU PUT THAT ANECDOTE BACK IN THERE.

Blaze refers to a lying braggart acquaintance as Monsieur de Blaguenville which is like Mr. Joke Town (I think?) but Elting goes with Mr Humbug Town which I think hits different.

Mr. Blaguenville brags about having a ton of money, but it turns out he just won it gambling against He Who Got His Anecdote Cut.

[first-empire-fancy-boys]

Review of Military Life Under Napoleon by Elzear Blaze, translated by John R. Elting

Post-it-o-meter: 106 post its to 216 pages

I feel like the proportion would be slightly different if the book was more novel-shaped/sized like my other memoirs. The Meras version is 310 pages despite more cuts and the original French is 437 pages.

Score: Recommended if you love anecdotes of various amounts of usefulness. Elting's footnotes may make you rage.

People who criticize Blaze's memoirs consider him as a guy who rambles too much about useless things.

In my opinion, it is a feature not a bug. Blaze is great. But if you want something more chronological and to the point about more big-picture events, Blaze is not your man.

The book is loosely split into topics rather than by time so he does jump around the timeline and despite the title, also talks about post-Napoleonic time a bit and occasionally goes into history and fiction.

Unfortunately for those of us that can't read French well, both English translations of Blaze's memoirs have some issues.

John R. Elting is a man who writes footnotes that aren't helpful a portion of the time, and because he also uses old American slang, which already confuses me, a native English speaker in the USA, so I can only assume it could be even worse for people from other backgrounds. There is a footnote for "petty details² of garrison service" that explains it as "2 with us, chicken, Mickey Mouse, or less polite terms." ....what am I even supposed to do with that? It's literally less coherent than what was literally said.

Some of the footnotes also tell you to just reference his book Swords Around A Throne, so you might want to have that on hand.

He trimmed out three different instances of Blaze's diversions. The book also has a number of typos such as dropping letters off the end of words. Whoever at Emperor's Press was doing the editing did not go over it nearly enough!

E. Jule Meras's version of Blaze, Recollections of an Officer of Napoleon's Army, seems to have trimmed away even more, but as this was published in 1911 rather than 1995, it is easier to get for free if you use Hathitrust. His footnotes seem less wacky at a quick glance, but I have not read it in its entirety.

Despite these problems, Blaze still shines through with an amusing recollection of his time in the army and it isn't too difficult to read. I find him very appealing due to my interests in ordinary soldiers and I feel it's easier to connect with history when I have some of the more "guys just going through it" type stories in addition to more drily factual material. It doesn't need to have a world-changing point to be interesting.

Some excerpts of Blaze that I have posted on the blog:

Blaze Recovers Because Gil Blas Did

Setting Up Huts

[histoireettralala]

I've got a major soft spot for Oudinot. He may not have been a stellar marshal but taking three dozen injuries throughout the years and still trucking along is pretty awesome. What's your opinion on the human colander?

Hello!

I’m very pleased to meet someone who likes Oudinot! He needs more appreciation.

I’m not an expert on Oudinot -or anybody, really, I’m just someone who likes History :) - but he has some pretty endearing and interesting traits.

First of all, yes, all these wounds ? Pretty wild. And he also survived typhus! The guy just won’t die. @joachimnapoleon posted something about how he “attracted bullets” and was an “inextricable mix of fury and gentleness” (John R. Elting’s words). I guess his staff must have hated him sometimes, but on the other hand, look at how proud he was of his grenadiers - who became known as “Oudinot’s grenadiers” very fast, by the way. And they were just as proud as he was of this association. What about the day they arrived at the battle of Heilsberg having force marched 60 km non stop, and finding the battle almost over, just refused to take part to the final assault against the Russians because, well, they hadn’t done the hard work in that battle, and thus wouldn’t steal this glory :)

Little snapshots:

Oudinot wounded and still fighting down his attackers while he’s literally in bed; Oudinot and Eugénie helping each other during the Retreat from Russia; Oudinot’s many children; Oudinot laughing while running at the head of his troops to give them his enthusiasm; Oudinot who was naturally affectionate but adopted brusque manners in the hope to hide his lack of education; Oudinot who died at eighty after taking all the risks he did! (By the way, did you know that one of his seven daughters, Louise, born in 1816, died in 1909 ? They have the secret of longevity!)

I don’t know much about his qualities as a General and Marshal - maybe he wasn’t the best, but we can’t deny his courage, his dedication, and his energy. Maybe that’s something he gave his descendants (many, many soldiers and officers, among them at least four died in combat).

I’ll try to find out more about him; I hope I’ll be able to have a pretty good idea about all of those guys someday - but if we have an impressive collection of works on Napoleon, the Marshals are very neglected.

I hope this messy little answer was a good start :)

Thank you very much for asking!