empirearchives

[empirearchives]

They’re just like me

[empirearchives]

once you visit France , would you rather go to Paris or Montbard ? :3

Probably Paris because there’s a wider range of things to see and do 🤔

Although sadly Paris lacks juju stuff so I’ll have to go to Montbard + Bussy-le-grand to see his grave and everything else

[empirearchives]

Found a podcast episode that focuses on Marmont's role during the 1830 July Revolution. Having not studied this period in French history, it was fascinating to learn about Marmont in this time and how his military career effectively ended with his failure to put down the Revolution.

Some key takeaways:

1. Marmont was no ultra-Royalist despite his actions in 1814.

2. Marmont was appointed as the commander of the Paris military district at the very last minute and was never abreast of information during the crisis.

3. Marmont's conduct during the Revolution was less than ideal. He was passive and didn't take much initiative, he was basically like a lame duck.

4. The host suggests that had Marmont's sheep business thing didn't fail so badly and left him in debt, Marmont would have been able to quit his job when the government was turning more and more away from his principles and retired quietly.

[empirearchives]

Was reading a translated version of Gourgaud's journal on St. Helena and came across an interesting comment from Napoleon regarding Lannes' "exile" to Portugal

"One day Madame Lannes came and told me that her husband was restless in his sleep; that he was always muttering about the Republic, about tyrants, and about consuls; that he looked anxious and excited, and was often visited by former Jacobins. I at once superseded him in command of my Guard. That was the real cause why he lost his reason, not the deficit of three hundred thousand francs in his accounts, as was supposed. I sent him as ambassador to Portugal, and replaced him by four captains who were entrusted with the command of the Guard." Source: Talks of Napoleon at St. Helena with General Baron Gourgaud : together with the journal kept by Gourgaud on their journey from Waterloo to St. Helena

Interesting that all other sources I've read do mention the overspeanding as being the reason for his "diplomatic mission". Also it's quite hard to imagine Lannes as scheming against Napoleon, but i suppose (like with most other events, frustratingly) we will never truly know what actually transpired behind the scenes. If someone else has more insight on the situation, I'd love to know

[empirearchives]

XD a tighter-hug version of the famous medallion

source: http://catherine-catty.livejournal.com/149947.html

[empirearchives]

Chatelaine, 1860s

[empirearchives]

very funny how people ask how did napoleon pull josephine but she was literally writing letters to charles saying she would rather kill herself than be with napoleon after marrying him

[empirearchives]

A note from Napoleon to Junot, 1794

-In the form of a postscript added to a letter sent to another general. The letter is from Nice and dated '27 Brumaire An III', or 17th November 1794...

"P. S. (for Junot). I am flattered, my friend, by the interest that you take in me; be sure that no one more than I desire all the good you deserve to happen to you. We would be delighted if your employment could bring you to us."

source

[empirearchives]

fr why are y’all simping over napoleonic era dudes??? I feel like someone needs to point out that some of these guys’ portraits and depictions were definitely edited to be more attractive.

Especially people like Napoleon’s close marshals and other royals. A large part of why all these paintings were painted in the first place was propaganda. Especially on Napoleon’s end. Napoleon used propaganda and art to glorify his actions to the French people. Of course, he’s going to make himself more attractive on a portrait he commissioned! Of course he’s going to make everyone’s clothes fit perfectly, of course he’s going to make their faces an bodies look impeccably clean mid battle, of course he’s going to make them look tones muscular and young. And his rivals would do the same to appeal to their citizens.

Napoleon literally created a whole aesthetic to promote these things, so obviously he would touch up everyone he likes’ portraits.

This might be hot take, but I think it’s not really valid to simp for people who’s public image was altered to convince the masses that they were safe under a dictator. And I think this perspective should be acknowledged more when we look at historical art and records from this time period.

I can’t be the only one on this front guys pls tell me I’m not just a hater

[empirearchives]

old art i finished months ago but here's napjuno loosely based on a scene from the 1927 Napoléon film 🥰 👇

[empirearchives]

Alexandre Walewski wanting to skip Wellington’s funeral

This is an excerpt from the Greville memoirs. According to Greville, Louis Napoleon, then President of France, “ordered Walewski to attend the funeral” of the Duke of Wellington, who died in 1852.

“Count Walewski, then French Ambassador in London, expressed some reluctance to attend the funeral of the conqueror of Napoleon I [the Duke of Wellington], upon which Baron Brunnow said to him, ‘If this ceremony were intended to bring the Duke to life again, I can conceive your reluctance to appear at it; but as it is only to bury him, I don’t see you have anything to complain of.’”

————

Source: The Greville Memoirs: A journal of the reign of Queen Victoria from 1852 to 1860. Date: November 21, 1852 (google books)

[empirearchives]

Photograph taken c. 1850-1860 of a painted portrait of Napoleon. If Napoleon had still been alive when this photograph was taken, he would have been between 81 to 91 years old.

Daguerreotype by Southworth and Hawes

Source: MFA Boston

[empirearchives]

a British perspective on Junot

"One of Bonaparte's relations had formed an attachment to Junot, who was one of the handsomest men in France; Junot was immediately after sent to Portugal; and upon his defeats there he was disgraced publicly by Bonaparte, and killed himself, it is believed, in a fit of despair."

source: Archibald Alison, 1816

What's interesting about this summary of Junot's downfall is that it is the first publication I could find that explicitly mentions suicide - the French publications of the time are ambiguous about what happened to him. But this article was written based on gossip picked up in France in 1814-15, and so it was certainly known to the public that Junot had committed suicide.

[empirearchives]

i like when they make him look like this

[empirearchives]

Sorry if you've been asked this before but how did your obsession with junot started? Curious how u met ur historical blorbo..

At first I was only really into Napoleon, but as I learnt more about him I learnt more about his friends. I'm pretty sure my Junot obsession started when I saw a post by @empirearchives with a quote from Junot's last letter to Napoleon, which I thought was very poetic so I clicked on the link to the source, which was the 'Napoleonic Friendship' article (aka the Napjuno Bible).

Reading that article made me interested in Junot, and so I read lots of Junot posts on Tumblr to find more about him, and everything I read only made me more interested in him. I was very depressed at the time (and still today but now I've got meds) and so I found him relatable, and I found his whole personality very endearing. (contrary to what some might think, I don't just like him because he's pretty; I actually didn't know what he looked like until after I'd read up about him.)

Also, he's quite similar to characters from the books and movies I enjoy, and I like tragedy. He sort of fits into the middle of the Venn diagram of my favourite things.

[empirearchives]

hi i went to london today . and i saw loads of napoleon related stuff!! heres some of it

not napoleon but still napoleon related!! ^_^

[empirearchives]

About Napoleon son Alexandre Walewski, why do you Believe Marie’s old husband Count Anastase Walewski recognised the child as his?

The only things I can think of is maybe Napoleon commanded him too as the “emperor” and well who’s going to reject the emperors son , Or Anastase was old and already had trueborn older children from other marriages so he didn’t care, Or just embarrassment on his part idk.

Cause she divorced him anyway like right after so…. lol.

I don’t know, but he was pretty old. He was in his seventies during the whole thing. And did he really have any other choice but to accept? Idk.

I always imagined his reaction to the affair and getting a new “son” being like: