#Joseph Fesch

[indristian]

Super specific austrian/german slang words/phrases for my König Headcanons

By an austrian for an austrian character

I feel like this is more for people who already know german, but I did my best to translate or explain the words anyway.

Dodl/Wappler/Kipferl/Lappen (all of them mean "idiot" and imply some sort of clumsiness. The first two don't really have a literal translation, but the third and the fourth translate to "(small) croissant" and "(wash/cleaning)cloth" respectively)

Sacklpicker (slang for "inmate", but most commonly referring to someone disrupting your plans. Could be used interchangeably with "asshole". It isn't really as strong as a word as asshole, like you could say it around children without getting reprimanded)

Teifl! (Lit. "Devil"; interjection meaning "damn it!")

Zefix! (Also meaning "Damn it!", comes from the word Kruzifix/crucifix)

Heilige Maria (und Josef)! (Lit. "Holy Mary (and Joseph)!"; interjection; pretty much just the austrian version of saying "Jesus!" or "Jesus Christ!" when surprised)

Gemma! ("Let's go!"; dialect for "gehen wir")

Gemmas an! ("Let's get (this) started!"; dialect for "gehen wir es an")

Bua/Bursch ("boy" or "young man")

Haberer/Hawerer ("man" or "guy"; very casual)

Mander/Manderleit ("men"; most commonly used when directly speaking to a group of men; example "Gemmas an, Mander!" "Let's get started, guys!")

Madl/Mädl/Gitsche/Menschin/Dirndl/Mötz/Dirn (all of them mean "girl" or "young woman"; not interchangeable with each other bc each word heavily implies dialects from certain regions in Austria "Madl/Mädl" being the most neutral)

Weibische ("woman", casual; depending on region either just a neutral way to say woman or kinda derogatory)

Watschn/Watsche ("slap")

Sich eine fangen ("(to) catch these hands")

Zipf mi nit an!/Geh mir nit aufn Geist! ("Don't annoy me!")

Halt die Goschn!/Halt's Maul! ("Shut up!"; lit. "Hold your mouth!")

Pfiat di!/Habidere! ("Goodbye!"; the first one is specifically saying bye to a single person, saying it to multiple persons would change it to "Pfiat eich!"; the second one literally translates to "have the honor")

Griaß di! ("Hello!"; lit. "I greet you (singular)", to make it plural change it to "Griaß eich!")

Servus!/Seas!/Servas! ("Hello!" and "Goodbye!")

Bim (slang for "tram", apparently for the sound it makes instead of honking)

Tschigg/Tschick ("cigarette" or "cigarettes")

Bussi/Busserl ("kiss" or "peck"; example: "Soll i dir a Bussi drauf gebn?" "Should I kiss it better?")

Bist derisch!? ("Are (you) deaf!?")

Ja no na nit! (Very sarcastic response to something super obvious)

Ja, eh! ("Yeah, duh!")

Extrawurst (Lit. a type of thinly sliced sausage; a person needing special treatment)

Fladern ("(to) steal")

Gschamig ("shy"; example "Was bist'n so gschamig?" "Why are you being so shy?")

Habschi/Hapschi ("Loverboy")

Gspusi (genderneutral "lover" or "affair")

Piefke (is what we more or less lovingly call Germans)

Ge, jetz hea auf zum raunzen! ("Now, stop complaining/whining already!")

Schiach ("ugly" or generally not good; something can taste, look or feel "schiach")

Fesch ("gorgeous"; referring to people, their attributes or their clothing; example: "Heut schaust fesch aus!" "You're looking good today!")

Heisl/Häusl ("outhouse" or "toilet")

Chefität(en) ("Chef" in german means "boss"; "Chefität" is someone superior to your job position and "Chefitäten" is just the plural; if someone were to complain about a stupid rule some superior implemented they'd say something like "Na, da habn sich die Chefitäten mal wieder was eingebildet!" "Well, the superiors thought they did something there")

Gendarm/Gendarmerie/Kiberer/Kiwara ("policeman" or "police"; the first two are kind of old words and almost only used by people that are like 35+ y/o or children playing "Räuber und Gendarm"/"cops and robbers")

Wallischer (This one's kinda very specific to the region I'm from and means "Italian")

Sesselreiten (Lit. "riding a chair"; balancing on the two back legs of a chair)

Schau zu, dass Land gewinnst! (Lit. "See, that you win land!"; meaning "Scram!")

Notgroschen ("emergency fund"; "Not" meaning "emergency" and "Groschen" being the old Austrian currency)

Mahlzeit! (Lit. "meal time"; kinda like "Bon Appétit"; something we say at lunchtime, when we are eating or when we see someone eating; sometimes we also use it when we something really gross, implying it's so gross we lost our appetite)

If you want to use any of these, but aren't sure on how to use them correctly for a fic or something, please don't be afraid to ask me. I don't bite.

Same goes for general german translations, please don't use google translate

[jeanfrancoisrey]

Buste en hermès de Jérôme Bonaparte

Roi de Westphalie (1784-1860)

François-Joseph Bosio, Musée Fesch.

[microcosme11]

Check, Napoleon and the Cardinal by Jehan-Georges Vibert.

At the Haggin Museum, “The Jewel of Stockton” CA.

The famous general, who wears the uniform of the Grenadier of the Foot Guard, has just been placed in check by his wily uncle, Cardinal Joseph Fesch.

[empirearchives]

I’m dying at this letter from Napoleon to his uncle, Joseph Fesch, during the French Revolution.

“Liberty is fairer then they and eclipses them.”

Napoleon really called them ugly for not supporting the revolution. Wtf 😂😂😂

[josefavomjaaga]

Joseph wants to return to Naples...

... as late as November 1810! 😮 I’ve just come across no less than two letters, adressed to Julie and to Fesch, where he expresses that idea. Without even mentioning the new king of Naples since 1808, a certain Joachim Murat. He just pretends Murat doesn’t exist.

[shannonselin]

Coronation of Emperor Napoleon I and Coronation of Empress Josephine in Notre Dame Cathedral of Paris, December 2, 1804, by Jacques-Louis David and Georges Rouget, 1805-1807

Napoleon was crowned Emperor of the French on December 2, 1804 at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Things did not go smoothly.

The Pope (Pius VII) was wary of Napoleon and reluctant to go to France in the absence of some concessions for the Catholic church, which had been decimated during the French Revolution. Napoleon begged, threatened and bargained, using his uncle Cardinal Joseph Fesch as an intermediary. Pius finally agreed.

The Bonaparte family disliked Napoleon’s wife Josephine and objected to her being crowned Empress. When Napoleon told his sisters Elisa, Pauline and Caroline that he expected them to carry Josephine’s massive velvet train in the coronation ceremony, they made a scene and refused. Napoleon’s brother Joseph sided with his sisters and protested to Napoleon on their behalf. Napoleon was furious and threatened them all with loss of titles and wealth. The sisters fell into line. But they sulked during the ceremony and at one point may have pulled back on the train, preventing Josephine from moving forward.

Instead of remaining in Paris for the coronation, Napoleon’s mother Letizia headed to Rome to be with Napoleon’s brother Lucien, whom Napoleon had exiled for marrying against his wishes. Napoleon instructed Jacques-Louis David to insert her in his coronation painting anyhow.

The weather was bad, no one showed up to organize the crowd, the procession started late, the tired and hungry spectators couldn’t see the ceremony, Josephine stumbled going up the steps, etc. For details, see “The Coronation of Napoleon.”

[handfuloftime]

In 1806, Vivant Denon, the director of the Louvre, commissioned two series of portraits of state officials to be displayed in the imperial palaces. One set, intended for Fontainebleau, depicted the six grand officers of the Maison impériale in court dress. 

Grand chambellan: Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord, Prince de Bénévent - Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, 1807 (Musée Carnavalet)

Grand veneur: Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Prince de Neufchâtel et Wagram, maréchal de France - Jacques Augustin Catherine Pijou, 1808 (Palais de Versailles)

Grand écuyer: Armand de Caulaincourt, duc de VIcence, en habit de Grand écuyer - Féréol Bonnemaison, 1806 (private collection)

Grand maréchal: Maréchal Duroc, duc de Frioul, Grand Maréchal du palais de S.M. l’Empéreur Napoléon Ier - Antoine-Jean Gros, 1805 (Musée de beaux-arts de Nancy)

Grand aumonier: Joseph Fesch, cardinal - Charles Meynier, 1806 (Palais de Versailles)

Grand maître des cérémonies: Louis-Philippe de Ségur - Artist Unknown (Palais de Versailles) [Denon commissioned the official portrait of Ségur from Marie-Guillemine Benoist, but I can’t find it online anywhere (maybe it’s in a private collection?), so here’s another portrait of Ségur instead.]

[joachimnapoleon]

"Everything captures the imagination"

Two letters from Caroline Murat, newly-crowned Queen of Naples; the first to her uncle, Cardinal Fesch; the second, to her sister-in-law/friend/rival Hortense de Beauharnais, Queen of Holland. Caroline has only recently arrived in Naples, and is not quite adjusted to her new home yet; her accommodations are dreadful and she already feels forgotten by her friends and family back in Paris; but it's obvious as she gets further into the second letter that she's already beginning to be charmed by what Naples has to offer.

[Both letters are translated from Lettres et documents pour servir à l'histoire de Joachim Murat, Vol 6]

***

Queen Caroline to Cardinal Fesch Naples, 13 October 1808

You must permit me, my dear uncle, to make you some reproaches; you have not yet written me a word since I left you, I do not have your news, or Mama's, it seems that the whole family wants to forget about me. I am still suffering, I have not yet been able to occupy myself with either the arts or antiquities this city contains.

I'm arranging at this moment another apartment than the one in which I'm living; I am lodged in the sky, I have to go up two hundred and sixteen steps to arrive at my place. You see that without going out, I can get a lot of exercise. I do not go up this stairway a single time without thinking how amused you would be at my expense if you could see me.

I cannot sleep, because the arsenal is below my room. In short, my uncle, I am very badly lodged and I'm going to try to parry these inconveniences. My children are doing well, they offer you their respectful homages. The King is always working so much, I hardly see him.

Adieu, my dear uncle, give me your news and that of all the family, because I have none of it here.

Caroline

***

Queen Caroline to Queen Hortense Naples, 16 October 1808

I am angry with you, my dear Hortense; in the more than a month since I left Paris, you haven't written one word to me, I am sensitive to this forgetfulness, I would have never thought that you, who are so good to everyone, would not have been so to me. I've received a letter from Eugène, you see how better cared for one is by new friends than by old ones. Eugène was very charming to me on my passage through Milan, caring, gallant, all that one could desire to find in a kind prince; I told him about what we had agreed upon, he did not evince too much curiosity, he was very fine and he promised me everything. If ever you see him, I'm counting on you to talk to him about this matter.

I am sad here, you can conceive it, my dear Hortense, I am still not lodged, I have no apartment, my room has the air of a furniture storage: hats, jewelry, cows,

... It literally says cows (vaches). I'm assuming Caroline is just being wry. Unless there is a translation for vaches I'm unaware of; if so, somebody please tell me, because so far I’ve found nothing else.

everything is in my midst. My writing desk was broken en route. When I need something, everything has to be turned upside down. It's like I'm still on a trip. M. de Westerholt will tell you all this.

I hope in fifteen or twenty days to be better established in another apartment, then I'll write you in more detail. I'm still not accustomed to the air of this country; it is necessary, when arriving here, to pay a tribute to the climate. I have refused the balls, the fêtes, because of my health, and I've been too ill to go out much.

It's hard to tell how much of the rest of this is Caroline just trying to rub in how beautiful Naples is (she was undoubtedly aware of how generally unimpressed Hortense was with Holland). Regardless, Caroline, like Joachim, definitely falls in love with Naples in short order, especially its scenery and ancient ruins.

I've seen Portici, the park of Capo di Monte which is beautiful, large, and well covered, it dominates Naples, the sea, and the delightful countryside. The most frequented promenade of the city is the beautiful quay of Chiaia, at the end of which is the tomb of Virgil, on the mountain of Pausilipe. The Palace of Naples is built on the edge of the sea, facing Vesuvius, which, in a quarter of an hour, buried Pompeii and Herculaneum. I will see what is left of those two cities with interest. This country is rich in souvenirs and curious objects.

It is here especially that one can say that to the very stones, everything captures the imagination.

Capri has just capitulated. The King has been in Castellamare for several days, he is well and works a lot. My children embrace you tenderly, they speak to me of you often. Achille and Letitia want to write to you. Adieu, my dear Hortense, give me your news and tell me if you've absolutely forgotten me. I embrace you.

And now we embark on a postscript that is roughly as long as the preceding text.

P.S. I haven't written in my hand because I'm angry with you and I've written at least fifteen letters today. It's during my toilette that I dictate, because I must receive the deputations of the provinces. I'm sending you the views of Naples and its environs that I've made right now, I've worked day and night to send them to you. It suffers a little from the haste put into it, because all the royal houses which are charming, appear ugly on the engraving. Caserta, for example, cannot be described, it is more beautiful than anything one can imagine. Versailles is nothing near it. I'm going to give you an idea, there is only a small wing inhabited and in this small body of buildings, there are lodged five thousand people. The chapel is bigger than the Room of the Marshals.

(A massive chamber in the Tuileries Palace, lined with portraits of Napoleon's marshals.)

The Queen's apartment has fifty salons, its library alone is composed of six rooms lined with bookcases, but no books.

It is the promised land here. In the country, one sees festoons of vines attached to the trees, of fat clusters of grapes more beautiful than those the Israelites brought to Moses. The apartment being prepared for me will be superb, not by the beauty of the furniture, but by the manner in which it is situated, I'm making a little drawing that I will send you.

I hope that everything I tell you makes you want to come and visit this country, it is well worth the trouble of taking five hundred leagues to see.

You must be very sad at the Emperor's absence. When he returns, you will be very kind, my dear Hortense, to remind him that he promised me his portrait, that I've made Letitia and Louise hope for it and that we are awaiting it very impatiently.

Best wishes on my part to M. de Lavallette. You see how much I chatter. I hope that you will show the engravings to the people who show you such pretty English engravings, that you will speak of me sometimes and that you will make beautiful plans to come see me.

M. de Ségur has been very kind, he writes to me often. The archchancellor also, but the Queen of Holland not at all. She is not kind, the Queen of Holland. However, I prefer to believe that her letters are lost.

[Autograph in Caroline's hand] I kiss you and I love you.

Caroline

If you have some news of General Excelmans, give it to me, because I am very anxious.

***

[Cross-posted to my Project Murat blog.]

[napoleondidthat]

The Grand Chaplain, Joseph Fesch, Cardinal and Prince of France

The Grand Chaplin Joseph Fesch, Cardinal and Prince of France

"The Grand Chaplain...is the Bishop of the Court wherever it may be. He supervises everything related to divine service. He administers the sacraments to the Emperor and to the children of the Imperial Family, and baptizes and marries them in the presence of the Emperor. He also baptizes the Emperor's prayers and at the imperial feasts, saying the blessing and grace."

Joseph Fesch was the younger half-brother of Laetitis Ramolino-Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother. The son of a Swiss officer in the service of the republic of Genoa, he was ordained in 1785 after studying at the seminary of Aix. As a priest in Ajaccio, he lived closed to his widowed half-sister and her children, whom he saw growing up. Expelled from Corsica in 1793, the Bonapartes settled in Toulon and Fesch enlisted in the armies of the republic. Appointed commissary of war, he became responsible for provisioning  the troops in Lombardy under the Directory. When Bonaparte became head of state in 1799, Fesch was able to resume his clerical vocation and thereafter rose to great prominsence.  His particpation in the negotiations for the signing of the Concordat in 1801 earned him the archbishopric of Lyon and the primacy of Gaul, the supreme head of the heiarchy of French prelates. In 1803, he was sent as ambassador to Rome, where he received his cardinal's biretta and in 1804 was entrusted with a major negotiation on behalf of his nephew the emperor: to induce Pope Pius VII to travel to Paris for Napoleon's coronation. During the early years of the Empire, Fesch appointed Grand Chamberlin in July 1804, received various honours, positions at court and diplomatic missions to Rome. As a member of the Imperial Family, he was made a prince of France in 1807.

His portrait by Meynier, commissioned in the summer of 1806, is one of a series of full-length portraits of the Grand Officers of the Imperial Household originally executed for a gallery in the Chateau de Fontainebleau and ultimately moved to the Tuileries then to Compiegne.

Here, the artist repeats the pose and compostion of the famous portrait of Bossuet by Rigaud, showing his subject as a successor to the great prelate of the court of Louis XIV. Unlike the other Grand Officers, the Grand Chaplain was not obliged to wear any prescribed dress other than the cardinal's crimson vestment: holding his biretta in one hand, he is also wearing the sashes of the Leigon of Honour and the insignia of the Golden Fleece.

Fesch wished to be depicted as an active contributor to the religious policy of the Empire. He is proudly pointing to copy of the Catholic catechism of the Empire, for which he wrote some of the articles and obtained the approval of the Holy See.  The only discreet reference to the Imperial Household may be on the table beside him; the bees embroidered on a heavy tablecloth of green velvet, the colour of the imperial livery. Meynier's painting is the most political picture of the cardinal, in contrast to other portraits, such as the one at the Chateau de Fontainbleau, in which the artist celebrates Fesch the connoisseur (the cardinal was undoubtedly one of the most important collectors of the entire nineteenth century).

Throughout Napoleon's reign, there were frequent periods of friction in the relationship between uncle and nephew, caused by the Grand Chaplain's refusal to condone the Emperor's treatment of Pope Pius VII after 1808. The image painted by Meynier in 1806, showing Fesch as of Napoleon's inner circle in terms of policy, hides what was in fact increasingly open hostility. Fesch even lost his position for some months in 1809, and although he agreed to perform the marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise (April 2, 1810) and the baptism of the King of Rome (June 9, 1811) he refused the archbishopric of Paris. By this time, the Emperor was in open conflict with the pope, who had been arrested in 1809 when the Papal States were annexed to the Empire. Appointed to preside over the national council of France in 1811, which was convoked to find a solution to the institutional crisis caused be the arrest of the pope, Fesch defended the pointiff. The relationship between the Emperor and his uncle is a fascinating subject: it seems to have been impossible to reconcile the viewpoints of an authoritarian sovereign and an increasingly ultramontane prelate, as well as the emotional strain within a complex family clan. In March 1812, Napoleon exiled the archbishop to his diocese in Lyon. After the fall of the Empire, Fesch made his way to Rome, where the pope welcomed him warmly, and with him other members of the Bonaparte family, most notably Madame Mere. It was Fesch who in May 1821 first learned of Napoleon's death and informed his half-sister. He died in 1839, a recipient of many honours and surrounded by his immense collection of art.

Napoleon The Imperial Household, Montreal Museum of the Arts, page 45.

Meyiner:

Anonymous: Chateau de Fontainbleau painting:

[claselitlatsigxix]

El argumento, visto desde una perspectiva actual, puede resultarnos ingenuo, chocante y extemporáneo. La acción de la novela se sitúa en la Luisiana, antigua colonia española incorporada a Francia por Napoleón en 1800, tras el acuerdo secreto con España por el Tratado de San Ildefonso.

TRAMA

La novela se basa en la narración que hace el viejo indio Chactas, hijo adoptivo de un cristiano llamado López, a un francés llamado René que huyó de Europa y se refugió en la tribu de los Natchez, a la que Chactas pertenece. Hecho prisionero por una tribu enemiga y condenado a muerte, Chactas es salvado de la muerte por una joven india cristiana, llamada Atala. Enamorado de ella, escapan ambos al desierto encontrando refugio junto a un misionero, el padre Aubry. Pero Atala, que resulta ser la hija de López y de una india cristianizada, rechaza el amor de Chactas y ella misma se envenena al haber prometido a su madre moribunda mantener su voto de castidad y consagrarse a Dios. Toda la narración gira en torno a la voluntad de pureza de la protagonista, aderezada con descripciones de una naturaleza exótica, todo ello hábilmente entremezclado con la religiosidad y la pasión avasalladora del amor juvenil. 

Buena parte de los pliegos decimonónicos acogen temas y motivos de la novela romántica en un proceso de intertextualidad y de adaptación de obras dramáticas. Los pliegos de cordel adaptan, abrevian, condensan o fragmentan obras para un público lector-oidor que, a través de sus variadas prácticas lectoras, satisface de algún modo sus necesidades.

ATALA

Buena parte de los pliegos decimonónicos acogen temas y motivos de la novela romántica en un proceso de intertextualidad y de adaptación de obras dramáticas. Los pliegos de cordel adaptan, abrevian, condensan o fragmentan obras para un público lector-oidor que, a través de sus variadas prácticas lectoras, satisface de algún modo sus necesidades.

FRANÇOIS-RENÉ DE CHATEAUBRIAND 

Nacido el 4 de septiembre de 1768 en la provincia de Saint-Malo, en el seno de una familia aristocrática venida a menos, fue educado junto con sus cinco hermanos en el castillo de Combourg, cerca de Saint-Malo, y estudió en los colegios de Dol y Rennes, antes de superar la prueba de admisión para ser guardia marino en Brest, en 1782.México, D.F..- El escritor francés Francois-René de Chateaubriand, considerado uno de los iniciadores del romanticismo literario, político y diplomático en la época napoleónica, falleció el 4 de julio de 1848, en Par��s.  De acuerdo con sus biógrafos, en 1786 se enroló en Cambrai y aprovechó los largos permisos para frecuentar los círculos literarios de París, en los cuales lo introdujo su hermano Jean-Baptiste, quien ocupaba el cargo de magistrado. Francia en enero de 1792 e ingresó en el ejército contrarrevolucionario, en febrero de ese mismo año. Obligado por su madre contrajo matrimonio con Celeste Buisson de la Vigne. Exiliado de nuevo en Bélgica, en 1793 se desplazó a Londres, donde, en medio de grandes dificultades económicas, redactó "El ensayo histórico, político y moral sobre las revoluciones". Al año siguiente, su hermano Jean-Baptiste fue guillotinado. En ese entonces, Chateaubriand enseñaba francés en Beccles y gozaba de cierto renombre en los salones, gracias a su crítica de los filósofos del siglo XVIII.

Fue entonces que regresó a París y publicó el primer tomo de "De las bellezas poéticas y morales de la religión cristiana" (1800), redactado en respuesta a un poema de Parny. Gracias a ciertas relaciones de Fontanes, su amigo, conoció cuatro años de paz, durante los cuales se relacionó con Joubert y la condesa Pauline de Beaumont y, seducido por el ímpetu con que ésta se proponía restablecer el orden religioso, compuso en su compañía las novelas de "Atala" y "René", publicadas en el semanario "El genio del cristianismo" y reeditados por separado en 1805. En 1803, Napoleón lo nombró secretario de Embajada en Roma, a las órdenes del cardenal Fesch, tras la muerte de Pauline de Beaumont, y a raíz de numerosos conflictos con el embajador fue destituido de su cargo y nombrado embajador en el Valais. A pesar de este ascenso, la ejecución del duque de Enghien y de varios amigos más en 1804, le enemistó con Bonaparte y dimitió para emprender un viaje a Grecia, Creta y Palestina, lo cual relató en su novela "Itinerario de París a Jerusalén". Chateaubriand, ardiente defensor del sistema monárquico, ingresó en 1811 a la Academia Francesa, que elogió su trayectoria literaria. Su vida política comenzó con la caída del imperio. Fue nombrado par de Francia, embajador no residente en Suecia y, más tarde, ministro del Interior, pero fue destituido en 1815; entonces entró en la oposición ultramonárquica y hasta 1820 publicó artículos políticos muy polémicos en el diario "El Conservador". Con la Restauración, entre 1820 y 1824, obtuvo sucesivamente los puestos de embajador plenipotenciario en Berlín, embajador en Londres y comisionado en el congreso de Verona. Como ministro de Asuntos Exteriores organizó la expedición de los "Cien Mil Hijos de San Luis". Nunca reconoció la legitimidad de Luis Felipe de Orleans, pronunció su último discurso en la C��mara de los Pares en agosto de 1830 y se refugió en una vida de escritor independiente. Fiel a la Casa Real de los Borbones, compuso todavía algunos panfletos edificantes a favor de la monarquía y visitó al rey, exiliado en Praga. Sus últimos años los vivió de las rentas que le proporcionó su obra maestra: "Memorias de ultratumba".

[lesser-known-composers]

Willem de Fesch - Joseph: Ouverture

Performers: Conductor: Jed Wentz. Ensemble: Musica Ad Rhenum.

[spartasanks]

“‘This extraordinary mark of favor earned me the ill-feeling of the captains who claimed it was insulting to them that a mere lieutenant be charged with such an important task[,] and that if there were more than 50 men involved one of their rank should be in command,’ he wrote to Joseph Fesch on 29 August [1788]. He nevertheless pacified them and even gained their friendship; considering him an intellectual, they tasked him with drawing up the ‘Calotte,’ a regimental code of conduct. He rose to the challenge and produced a document that was both reasoned and idealistic, very much in the spirit of Rousseau, which could have been the constitution for a popular dictatorship. From his essays and notes it is clear that he was already a republican, having, like Rousseau, come to the conclusion that existing forms of government were absurd and that kings had no right to rule. In the introduction to what was to be a dissertation on royal authority, he argued that this was entirely ‘usurped,’ since sovereignty resided in the people, adding that there are very few kings who have not deserved to be dethroned.’ He also adopted Rousseau’s thesis that religion was destructive, since it was in competition with the state as it held out the promise of happiness in another world, when it was for the state to provide people with the means to achieve it in this. He continued to read, annotating and commenting as he went, on subjects as varied and ancient and modern history, geography, the fiscal systems of different states, the role of artillery and ballistics, Greek philosophy, Arab culture, biology, natural history, the possibility of digging a canal through the isthmus of Suez, and many more. That summer he read Richardson’s ‘Clarissa’ and Goethe’s ‘Sorrows of Young Werther,’” - Adam Zamoyski, chapter four, Freedom, page 41 of “Napoleon: A Life” (at Fatima Shrine Boston) https://www.instagram.com/p/CFft_rZnr9T/?igshid=dw5lx04bwtrn

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Wrack and Ruin

Part I

Part II

Part III

Joseph is cheerful at breakfast and Napoleon is congenial. Arthur considers Napoleon's nocturnal visit a strange fever dream. He considers most of the man's nocturnal visits strange fever dreams. It is easier to parse them as the imaginings of his evidently disturbed mind than things he allows because he has become fond of the wretched man.

Joseph says, 'we will start directly after breakfast. Better to get in a full day I think.'

'Just the three of us?' Napoleon asks. 'Wouldn't a wider search party be better?'

'Unfortunately it's planting season so most everyone is occupied. We're still making up for the weather a few years ago. Did you get red snow? We got red snow. In July!'

Napoleon brightens, 'oh yes. We got that. I thought that was just a result of some of the strange magic happening on our side of the pond.'

'Volcano,' Arthur says as he butters toast. 'I read a thing on it.'

Napoleon makes a face at him, 'be more precise. What thing when?'

'Hm, Royal Society, a year ago? This time? Or in the autumn? Whenever their annual journal comes out. I was reading it and there was something or other about a volcano.'

Napoleon looks to Joseph, 'volcano, brother.'

'Indeed, brother, volcano.'

Arthur looks up from his toast. Both Bonapartes stare at him. He takes a bite. Chews very slowly and upon swallowing says, 'you're hair is sticking up.' Both reach up to check. Arthur stares at them. Napoleon is the first to break with a grin.

'You're wicked, Arthur Wellesley. Positive rascal.'

'Pot, kettle,' he waves his knife.

Joseph turns in his chair and says with firmness, 'tell me of mother.'

Napoleon, switching into Italian, 'mother is well. She remains in Rome with Fesche.'

'Good, good. She is keeping her spirits up?'

'She is, though I have heard worrying things about the company she keeps. Lucien wrote me about it.'

Joseph raises his eyebrows. Napoleon bats his arm. Lucien and I, he declares, are quite made up.

'I don't believe it.' Joseph turns to Arthur, still speaking in Italian, 'do you believe it?'

Arthur shrugs.

Joseph takes this as confirmation of bias, 'he doesn't believe it either.'

'He doesn't speak Italian,' Napoleon replies in French. 'He knows. He is on my side.'

'Who?'

'Wellesley.'

'Something for the history books.'

Napoleon leans over and flicks Joseph's nose. Joseph returns the sentiment and the rest of break is spent with the brothers bickering over who Lucien favours most between the two of them. Arthur is deeply relieved when Napoleon finally stands and says that it is time to look for devils. Joseph spreads his hands, 'by all means, run my table.'

Napoleon, although not in a grudging manner but certainly stilted, says 'my apologies. Force of habit.'

Joseph is mollified for the moment. Dabs his lips with his napkin before standing and leading the way to the gun room.

--

Napoleon is not sure what he expected when they set out into the Pine Barrens but given the name and the rough translation from Wellesley he had not expected quite so many trees. He takes up the point of confusion with Joseph who explains that the name comes from the poor soil. He says it is not sufficient for most plants to thrive and so we have pine trees. Pines and pines and pines. The monotony of the forest, which is wide and never ending, creates a disjointed effect.

It is nothing like the Shrubbery in Woodford with it's cool, quiet, claustrophobic English atmosphere. No, no this is a little like some parts of Austria. But not quite. He attempts to think of a comparison but all he calls to mind are either lacking something or have too much of something. But, as he is not botanist, he does not wrestle with the subject for long.

'I think it was loitering around your estate last night,' Napoleon says as they stop for Joseph to tie a piece of ribbon to a tree. 'I heard something hissing very early this morning.'

Arthur glances, sidelong, towards him.

'I happened to be up.'

Joseph rejoins them nodding, 'Yes I've heard it around before. I dislike that it can fly. Makes me want to reinforce the windows.'

Napoleon is uncomfortable with that reminder. Indeed, if it can fly then it can reach their first floor rooms. What he had seen had been on the ground but who is to say it had not been up in the air spying. He looks towards Arthur who is scanning the trees with a resolute expression.

Joseph explains the history of the Pine Barrens to them as they continue to pick their way through the forest.  They had forgone horses as they were tracking and it is best to be on foot for such work. Joseph had also said that many of the accounts he and his friend Nicholas Biddle has accumulated over recent months have most encounters occurring to people on foot. Being without sturdy animals adds a layer of unease to the group.

'There are people who make their living out in these woods,' Joseph says. 'We may run across them or signs of them. They are friendly if wary. They do not trust easily but, in my experience, they will cause no trouble to us. It is lucky we have his grace here to translate. I have run into them on my own and by the grace of God one of their wives was an Acadian woman and had something like French. Down from Nova Scotia. We made piece-meal sense. It worked.'

'How do they survive?' Napoleon wonders. It is clear that the sand beneath foot is barren of nutrients. What grows here much suck bare minimal of survival from dusty earth.

'There is some industry. Bog iron is mined although that is slowing down of late. It was apparently quite big thirty, forty years ago. There are mills here and there, paper, saw, grist and the like.' Joseph hums for a moment as he considers the forest around them. 'I think, if someone were to be enterprising, they could have a fair go at a sawmill. But you would have to be intelligent about it but I do believe it entirely manageable.'

'Not going into trade are you?' Napoleon teases.

'No, no. It was just a conversation I had with Mr. Biddle recently. We usually talk banks. He picks my brain about France's and I am woefully inadequate when it comes to answering his questions.'

Spying Arthur's quietude and pensive features Napoleon asks him what it is he is so concerned about. This is merely one creature. We've dealt with more.

'I dislike the quiet,' Arthur says. 'I do not trust a quiet forest.'

Napoleon agrees and the three find themselves glancing over their shoulders more. The peaceful transforms into the sinister. It is the unheimlich, the familiar becoming the terrifying. Horror in a place of safety. Perhaps a bit much to apply it to a forest that is, for two of them, foreign. But Napoleon likes the word and so uses it when he can.

He had first applied it to his home after the Fairy Incident in Woodford. Everything was uncanny, then. What had been safe bore memories of terror. The Bertrand children regularly woke crying. He wishes he had the word earlier in his life. He might have been able to explain things with greater ease to Josephine and Louise.

Things can make the familiar alien. The obvious one for him is war. It gets worse, too, the more he is removed from it. He had mentioned it to Bertrand who had said that it is because the body understands it is safe now to be weird. The way bodies are weird. He had said, It is how you become ill only after big events. It's as if your body knows it is safe to be weak.

//

It is in the late afternoon that they come upon a bog. Reeds and dead, over salted tree stumps jut up from the mire. Mosquitoes, midges and a few early black flies buzz around making a nuisance of themselves.

'I haven't seen anything yet,' Arthur says waving away the pests. 'Just a damn lot of bugs.'

'July is worse,' Joseph mutters. 'Can barely go out shooting for the things. Anyway, there's not much of way through here without a boat but I do know an alternative path back so we won't be covering the same ground twice.'

To get to the path they follow the edge of the bog for half a mile and just as they turn to head back into the trees Arthur grabs Napoleon's arm.

'There,' he says. He points to tracks in the mud. 'Hoof prints. Fresh too. They'd be more shallow if the mud had time to fill them in.'

Napoleon looks around them and sees little sign of the creature then scans the trees and heavens above. All equally void. Joseph inspects the prints and confirms that they are identical to the ones he saw the previous winter.

'It clearly stood here for a time,' Joseph says. 'Judging by the depth of them.'

The three again look out to the bog. It is, baring the bugs, a peaceful place. There is a beauty in it and Arthur says that isn't it odd? A creature such as this devil admiring the view?

Returning to the forest they follow a clear hunting trail back towards the township. The pines thin the closer they get to Bordentown and the air cooler. Shoulders relax, grips on muskets more friendly. Napoleon teases Arthur about being nervous. Arthur says he is never nervous, only ever prepared. Joseph says that he remember Napoleon almost pissing himself once, as a boy on Corsica.

'With good reason,' Napoleon sagely replies. 'We were cornered by Antonia di Piero Vezzani's dog in an alleyway. I almost wet myself. You actually did.'

Leaving the Pineland they are laughing. There is relief, for a moment. Napoleon glances back towards the trees and thinks he sees something watching them. Hovering six feet above the ground. Large wings flapping. Then, gone. As if it had never been.

He returns his attention to Joseph and Arthur. Listens amiably to Joseph's stories of their youth and only corrects when absolutely necessary and not nearly as often as he usually would. The urge to take command of the narrative is only an ember, not even a flicker of a flame. The land around them worth looking at. The sky, something to admire. He looks up to clouds and blue and the gold of an afternoon sun. He wonders when he will learn how to speak to Joseph again. When they will rediscover that lost language they had as brothers.

Part IV

[josefavomjaaga]

Metternich on Napoleon’s family

This is taken from “Mémoires, documents et écrits divers”, Vol. 1:

Napoleon had a great weakness for his family. There is no doubt that many of the sovereign' s moves were due to the desires of his brothers and sisters.

Not all members of this too large family were equally ambitious, however. Napoleon's mother loved only money. Neither her mind nor her tastes led her towards social advancement. She had an immense income, and, without her son's precise orders, she would have thought only of investing her funds. When her children took the liberty of ridiculing her extreme thriftiness, she said to them: "You don't know what you are doing; the world does not always go in the same direction, and if you all fall on my hands again, you will be grateful for what I am doing today.

In 1814 Madame Lætitia had amassed a large sum of cash, which she had buried in a hiding place covered by the portrait of her late husband. The fact, and the place where the treasure was deposited, were denounced to Napoleon, who went to his mother and had the money removed. She may have taken with her from France a fortune of about six million francs.

I never knew either Joseph or Lucien Bonaparte personally, so I cannot express an opinion on their behalf. Napoleon had a favourable opinion of Lucien's mind, but he never ceased to accuse him of excessive and misguided ambition.

In an interview which Lucien had with his brother in Milan, he offered as a token of reconciliation a declaration by his wife giving, of her own free will, the assurance that she did not wish to impede her husband's fortune. The Emperor, on leaving one of their conferences, said to the people gathered in his anteroom: "Lucien does not want to give up his little rascality; he wants to prove to me that he has a hard head, I will prove to him that I have a harder head than he has. - And there was no further question of mending fences from then on. It is indeed known that in consenting to leave his wife he insisted on the recognition of his children. His conduct in 1815 provided the true measure of the severity of his republican principles.

Napoleon has often depicted Joseph to me as a gentle man of character and spirit, but incapable of undertaking a career which would require vigour.

Louis was placed in the family like an outsider. Injustice alone could have found fault with his moral character.

Jerome was gifted with a lot of spirit. The depravity of his morals, an exalted vanity and his mania for imitating his brother in every way, covered him with ridicule.

Two of Napoleon's sisters were remarkable for their wit, the third for her great beauty. Elisa, the eldest of the sisters and at the same time older than Napoleon, had a male spirit, and in character as well as in figure a great resemblance to her brother. Ambition was her dominant passion, and had not the low extraction of her husband, Baciocchi, and the latter's complete lack of intellectual faculties been an obstacle to it, there can be no doubt that this branch of the family would have risen to a high fortune. Of the three sisters, this was nevertheless the one who had the least power over Napoleon, who feared her and knew how to resist her.

Caroline combined a lovely appearance with an uncommon spirit. She had studied her brother's character thoroughly and was under no illusion as to any of his faults, nor as to the risks which his fortune ran as a result of his excessive ambition and domineering spirit; she also knew perfectly well the weak sides of her husband, and she would have led him, if he could have been led.

Aww, Clemens. Still fuming over 1814/5, are we?

Murat was only a soldier, but a soldier of the Revolution and endowed with a certain instinct for domination which I have always seen as the prerogative of the Jacobins. Caroline had great power over her brother's mind, and it was she who held the family together. Her ambition was to create for herself and her family an existence placed as far as possible beyond the reach of Napoleon, and even beyond the chances of his fortune, a fortune which she judged to be compromised by every excess arising from his insatiable lust.

Pauline was as beautiful as it is possible to be; she was in love with herself, and her sole occupation was pleasure. Of an affable character, gifted with an extreme benevolence, Napoleon devoted to her a feeling different from that which he bore to his other parents. He cited her as a unique example in the family. Pauline," he often told me, "never asks me for anything. The Princess Borghese, for her part, used to say, "I do not like crowns; if I had wanted them, I would have had them; but I have given up the taste for them to my relatives." She had a veneration for Napoleon which approached worship.

Josephine had exercised a long reign over Napoleon; she was gifted with a benevolent character and a peculiar social touch. Her mind was not great, but it followed a good direction. Her excessive taste for spending often led to painful explanations between her and her husband. It would be unfair to put any of the failings caused by Napoleon's ambition on her shoulders. If she had been able to do so, she would undoubtedly have stopped the wagon onto which, however, she had contributed directly, in the beginning of his fortune, to place the future Emperor.

Gifted with more wit and a far greater measure of ambition, his daughter Hortense never ceased to play a part in Napoleon's career. He loved her, and his condescensions for her were the cause of perpetual and active jealousies between her and her sisters-in-law. More than one friction in Napoleon's personal situation and even in the course of business was due to this cause.

Cardinal Fesch was a singular compound of bigotry and ambition. A devotee in good faith, he was not far from seeing in Napoleon an instrument of heaven and an almost supernatural being. He believed his reign to be written in the book of fate and regarded his deviations as decrees of God.

Napoleon knew all the individualities of his family, and he did not conceal from himself the fault he had committed in abandoning himself to the spirit of domination and the insatiable greed of some of them.

He said to me one day, in 1810, on the occasion of a long interview in which he had just told me the story of his life: "I have obscured and hindered my career by having placed my relatives on thrones. One learns by walking, and I see today how wise and necessary is the fundamental principle of the ancient monarchies, to keep the princes of the ruling house in great and perpetual dependence on the throne. My relatives have done me much more harm than I have done them good, and if I had to do it all over again, my brothers and sisters would have palaces in Paris and a few millions to spend in idleness. The fine arts and charity would have been their domain, and not kingdoms, which some do not know how to run, and in which others compromise me by parodying me.

Napoleon was careful to place a man of confidence with each of his brothers and relatives. The fortune of M. Decazes dated from the position he held as secretary of the commands of Madame Laetitia.

There’s so much I would love to answer to that, dear Metternich ... But mostly I find it rather funny to hear Napoleon go all judgemental over other people’s ambitions. Particularly as he had to coerce both Joseph and Louis to even accept their crowns, and as he did not even succeed with Lucien.

Also of note: Both of Napoleon’s adopted children, Eugène among them, are not even listed as “family” here.

@joachimnapoleon: I think the first two volumes of Metternich’s published papers might be of real interest to you!

Clemens Wenzel Lothar Prince de Metternich: “Mémoires, documents et écrits divers”

Volume 1

Volume 2

[shannonselin]

3 January 1763: Birth in Ajaccio, Corsica of Napoleon’s art-collecting uncle, Cardinal Joseph Fesch

Portrait by Jules Pasqualini

[wikitopx]

The capital of Corse-du-Sud has a knack for packing all the things that people admire about Corsica.

You’ve got history because Napoleon Bonaparte was born and baptized in the city, and his family donated lots of exciting memorabilia to the museums. There's a cinematic nature setting at Pointe de la Parata a few minutes from the city, or the mountains in the background are covered with wild herbs, heather, and shrubs. And then you come to the beaches, which are plentiful, white and bathed by pale blue seas with mind-blowing clarity. Discover the best things to do in Ajaccio.

[toc]

1. Pointe de la Parata

On an island where spectacular natural spectacles are almost common, Pointe de la Parata will still make you speechless. This is a black granite tomb announcing the northern limit of Ajaccio Bay, near the end of a series of stubborn rock peaks that continue offshore to create the Sanguinaires Islands.

The headland is capped with a Genoese watchtower, 55 meters above the water and built as part of a network to defend the coast against Barbary pirate attacks in the 16th century. Drive down to the restaurant, and from there you can follow the walking path for a closer view of the tower or take a dip in the clear waters.

2. Route des Sanguinaires

Pulling off the southern coast of Ajaccio is a coastal route that leads to Pointe de Parata. It combines with Corn Corn Ajaccienne, a winding road, winding around the rugged contours of the rugged coastline.

It has all the scenery, off the Sanguinaires Islands and on the best beaches in Ajaccio, like Plage de Marinella. On the way is the Saint-Antoine Cemetery, where the Corse singer Tino Rossi has been laid to rest.

Now, you can make a similar journey through the Sentier des Crêtes (walk of the peaks), just by your own two feet. You'll runs along the ridge above coastal development in a world of pines, prickly pears and flowers, for beautiful views of the sea.

3. Musée Fesch

Ajaccio Museum of Fine Arts is named after Uncle Napoleon, Joseph Fesch, who is archbishop of Lyon.

In the early-1800s he founded this museum by donating his extravagant painting collection, and it constitutes one of the largest sets of Italian baroque and renaissance paintings anywhere in France.

Cosmè Tura, Giovanni Bellini, Michelangelo, Veronese, Titian, and Salvatore Rosa are just some of the most famous artists introduced.

The Fesch Museum is also a place where you can start tracking the history of the Bonaparte family, as there are about 700 works dedicated to the First and Second Empire, and the bust of the Bonaparte family.

4. Maison Bonaparte

Napoleon’s birthplace is one of those attractions that is more about the significance of the place rather than what is there.

Really, all you need to know is that you are inspecting the house where an epocharian was born on August 15, 1769. The house was decorated with Bonaparte family furniture, even if You have to use your imagination to figure out what it would be like in the 18th century.

The first Bonaparte to live at this understated four-story house was Napoleon’s great-great-grandfather in the late-17th century and the building remained in the family’s hands until 1923. Napoleon only spent his first years here, so there's a lot to learn about the rest of the royal family and their relationship with Ajaccio.

5. Salons Napoléoniens

Clusters of art and memorabilia were so large that they swept into the city of Fesch. But the most fascinating pieces are in the town hall, where you can continue your small journey through the history of Ajaccioùi Bonaparte by looking at the register of Napoleonic baptism.

On the damask walls, there is a full portrait of Napoleon, the painting of Napoleon III and Queen Eugénie, as well as his brother Joseph Napoleon when he was declared King of Spain during the Peninsular War.

6. Plage de Capo di Feno

There are more than 20 beaches in or near Ajaccio, mostly lively corners with smooth, transparent water and white sand. You may feel the urge to break from the crowd and if so you can drive the 10 kilometers to the coast just north of Pointe de la Parata.

Plage de Capo di Feno has a more barbaric beauty, with bushes and forests, and an offshore sand beach that causes a break for surfers. It's not just for regular swimmers, but you can paddle in the bathing area and sunbathe on the light sand.

Bring friends and a blanket, and stay in the evening because the sunsets are unbeatable on this west-facing beach.

7. Place Foch

Next to the town hall is an elongated square ringed by impressive old palm trees. There is a familiar face to meet you: Growing up on a pedestal along the plaza to the port is a marble Napoleon statue in the guise of a Roman consul, sculpted by Massimiliano Laboureur of Italy.

If you want to zip around Ajaccio’s sights in comfort you can catch the Petit Train at Place Foch.

But maybe the best reason to stop is for the Marchés des Producteurs de Pays on Saturday mornings, when the sheep’s cheese, cured meats, olives and wine made and grown in the countryside near Corsica are laid out irresistibly on stalls on the square.

8. Ajaccio Cathedral

Back on the trail of Napoleon, Ajaccio cathedral is the church where the emperor was baptized on 21 July 1771. Not only that, but his mother Letizia started going into labor with him while attending the Mass of the Assumption on 15 August 1769. The marble font in which he was baptized is just inside the entrance.

In addition to its relationship with Napoleon, the Church is handsome if the building is a strict 16th-century building with brown walls illuminated by sunlight.

Pause for a moment in the Chapel of the Madonna of Pianto, adorned with murals by Domenico Tintoretto (son of Jacopo) and Eugène Delacroix.

9. Tête de Mort

Get up early one summer morning and beat the heat for a walk on Ajaccio, with breathtaking coastal views. The zigzag trail rises from Bois des Anglais through mastic shrubs, cacti and wild olives of legendary Corsican vampires.

After a time you’ll arrive at a sinister-looking granite boulder, named the Tête de Mort (Head of Death), which according to local legend is the petrified head of Lucifer himself! The path then detours to see the sea at Parc Berthault, a few steps from du Trottel Beach, a 90-minute walk.

10. A Cupulatta

Turtles and tortoises from five continents live in this sanctuary and research center 20 kilometers northeast of Ajaccio.

There are a total of 3,000 animals, from 170 species, Corsican climates and carefully configured tanks and tanks at the two-hectare park that allows them to thrive. The turtle hatchery and nursery are sure to make you smile; if you come on the right day you can see a baby turtle breaking out of its egg.

Passing from Galápagos tortoises to diminutive European pond terrapins it’s food for thought to see how these animals have evolved in different parts of the world.

More ideals for you: Top 10 things to do in Saint Denis

From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-10-things-to-do-in-ajaccio-706985.html