Key figures of the era

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March 6, 2023

General Louis-Henri Loison

I was wondering if somebody could point me to more information about general Loison aka "Maneta", of questionable reputation. I have already found some sources in German (some rather dubious tales from his time in Switzerland, some more from his service under Ney in Tyrol 1805 and remarks from Hamburg during the last years of the empire). I would be particularly interested in (online) Portuguese accounts from the first French invasion under Junot. Has anybody come across anything of that sort?

Many thanks in advance!

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Petra Grill

Mar 09, 2023

Again, thanks a LOT! I'd come across excerpts of this already but did not quite know what to make of it without context. I've briefly checked for the story with Soult in Oporto and could already see that the author mentions Brun de Villeret and Tholozé. I'm reading Brun's "Cahiers" right now so I'm curious what the study makes of it. Thank you once more!

Petra Grill

February 28, 2023

Hortense de Beauharnais (as presented by B. de Graaf)

Hans - Karl Weiß (sorry for butchering your name! 😔) had asked for my thoughts on the video talk by Beatrice de Graaf hosted on Youtube.

As it got rather long, and as Hortense is an interesting character in her own right, I guess it's only fair to give her her own thread. So here is what I have in ways of questions, doubts and corrections:

6:44 ff - »It’s fascinating that so little has been written about her.«

This can only mean that, as usual, German sources seem to have been completely ignored, which is indeed somewhat astonishing considering that THE Hortense museum, publisher of several books about Hortense, Arenenberg, is in Switzerland, and that the speaker allegedly studied German (?). But I also miss Hortense’s other writings, in that list, the Cochelet memoirs etc., the letters to Eugène published by Jean Hanoteau, and as to secondary sources and…

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Petra Grill

Mar 01, 2023

"who is Karl - Heinz?"

That is an excellent question indeed - Sincere apologies, Hans - Karl. Speaking of old age...

Petra Grill

January 31, 2023

Eugène Beauharnais and the Wittelsbach family

Disclaimer: Hans - Karl Weiß had asked about Eugène's relations to the royal Bavarian family that Eugène had married into in January 1806. I'd love to post about that but I still have no clue how to tackle it. I'm not even sure if this is the best place to put the post, as it's of course all intertwined with Napoleon's foreign policy. Anyway, I'll start with a brief introduction and will put everything else into the comments peu à peu. Also, if this should better be posted elsewhere, please let me know, I'll delete and repost it asap.

Munich, 12 April 1805 – Auguste von Bayern writes to her brother Ludwig (at that time on his "grand tour" through Italy), asking for his opinion on her recent and rather sudden betrothal to prince Carl von Baden and explaining in the process why there was such haste (quoted and translated…

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Petra Grill

Feb 11, 2023

Oh, I do, actually. I love to make fun of him (and to some degree I think it is well-deserved). But when it comes to Napoleon's behaviour towards his family, I am very much on Jerome's side. He was just as unfairly treated as Louis or Murat, he just didn't dare (or care enough) to oppose the master's will in a similar way.

(On a sidenote, I've received the book by Jacques Presser today. And I can already say that I will take a while until I get to it. First thing, I've checked what he has to say about Eugène - I do that with every new book, because - well, Eugène 😁, but also because that is a topic that I have studied enough to be able to tell if an author is trustworthy or not. And just in case you wondered: Presser, on this topic, clearly is not. I doubt he has read much on Eugène except Octave Aubry. In any case he does not do more than regurgitate secondary sources, and he does it in the most malicious and polemic way possible, for the most part without backing the narrative up by any sources. If this is the general tone and value of the book, then I am not astonished it has not become better known. But I will leave my verdict about the whole book until I've read it, whenever that is. I just thought you might be interested in my first impression 😊.)

Alfred Brans

September 11, 2022

William, Prince of Orange.

On the Website, in the section The War of the Second Coalition / Origins and Italy, there is a picture of a painting by William Salter of King William the second of the Netherlands.

That seems to be wrong since the William was in 1799 just seven years old. So there should be an picture of his father prince William, the later King William the first.

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