https://www.historytoday.com/archive/feature/napoleon-two-centuries-life-after-death Skip to main content Home User menu logged out * Subscribe * Sign in History Today December 2023 cover Subscription Offers Give a Gift Enter your keywords [Search ] [Search] Subscribe Search Toggle navigation Main menu * Home * The Magazine * Subscribe * Buy the Current Issue * The Archive * App * Reviews * Sign in Home Mini header menu * Search * Magazine * Latest * Subscribe [printnew] Subscribe Feature Napoleon: Two Centuries of Life after Death Revolutionary soldier or tyrannical emperor? The question is as pertinent now as when Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on remote Saint Helena in 1821. Clare Siviter | Published in History Today Volume 71 Issue 5 May 2021 Napoleon on his Deathbed on St Helena, by Denzil O. Ibbetson, 1821. Napoleon on his Deathbed on St Helena, by Denzil O. Ibbetson, 1821. The French press announced the following on 7 July 1821: We received the English papers of the 4th of this month by special dispatch ... This is how the Courrier gives the news: 'Buonaparte is no more: he died on Saturday 5 May at 6pm following a sluggish illness that had kept in him bed for over forty days. He requested that after his death his body be opened to see if this illness was the same as that which had ended his father's days, a cancer of the stomach. The dissection of his corpse proved that his guess was not wrong.' A bedridden invalid. It was something of an anticlimax for a man the likes of which Europe had not seen since Julius Caesar. There were many diverging views of Napoleon - there still are - but neither in 1821 nor today can anyone deny his astronomical rise through the ranks of the French army and the breadth of his empire, which at its peak stretched from the Iberian peninsula to Russia. Napoleon's career is the stuff of legend. To read about a bedridden man worrying over a genetic disposition to stomach cancer was not the ending any had foreseen. As with all aspects of Napoleon's life, there is more than one account of his death, some of which offer dramatic conspiracies, such as death by poisoning. But the essential facts can be summarised as follows: Napoleon died at 5.49pm on 5 May 1821 while in exile on the small and isolated island of Saint Helena in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. Following an autopsy the next day, Napoleon was buried there on 9 May. His grave was marked with a blank headstone, as no one could agree on how the former emperor should be remembered: Napoleon? Napoleon Bonaparte? Emperor of the French? Life after death The news of Napoleon's death did not appear to take France by storm. There was the odd article, but newspapers were subject to censorship and the restored monarchy was not likely to give many column inches to the man they considered a usurper, especially when their king, Louis XVIII, hardly enjoyed popularity among his subjects. His administration had been careful to control expressions of support for Napoleon since the emperor's defeat at Waterloo in 1815. The world of pamphlets, however, was a different matter. The French historian Thierry Lentz has counted more than 70 publications about Napoleon which appeared in the four months after the announcement of his death. This may not seem like a great number but, as Lentz points out, the historian Emmanuel Fureix has worked out that some 28,000 copies of these pamphlets were circulating in July 1821 alone. Some were printed legally, but others were not and many were seized by the police. Letters and works by Napoleon were also in print. His death might not have dominated the news, but it was certainly part of the national conversation. Ironically, it was only in death that Napoleon could re-enter the public sphere. While he was alive, the Restoration government had banned plays with pro Napoleonic sentiments and arrested drunken soldiers for shouting 'Vive l'Empereur!' instead of 'Vive le Roi!'. This pushed the Napoleonic conversation underground. In the face of such repression, an entire culture of secret signals, accessories and hidden profile prints developed, which allowed Napoleon's supporters to express their continuing admiration for the former emperor. This illicit culture was fuelled by multiple impersonators of Napoleon and persistent rumours that he was on his 'way back' to France. Although not everyone believed Napoleon was actually dead in July 1821 (rumours of his return continued into the late 1820s), the Restoration government was at least certain of that. His death provided them with a sense of security. As such, the ban on pro-Napoleonic productions was loosened. This was the cue for the Napoleonic legend to move centre stage. Napoleon's coffin, French illustration, c.1840. Napoleon's coffin, French illustration, c.1840 (c) Hulton Getty Images. Historians now recognise that Napoleon played a key role in the development of his own mythology by associating himself with the victories of the army, the rulers of the ancient world and, somewhat paradoxically, former French kings. There was plenty of material that Napoleon's supporters could use when trying to resurrect his image. One such example was Etienne de Jouy's tragedy Sylla, first staged at the end of 1821. The parallels between the Roman statesman and Napoleon were startlingly clear to the audience: Sulla and Napoleon both enjoyed extensive military glory; they each founded a strong state after much political infighting and a civil war; they could be brutal, but necessarily so for the new state and its survival. Both abdicated. Sulla was not a perfect parallel but the links were clear enough. On top of this, Napoleon's favourite actor, Talma, who had often been cast as his onstage double, performed the role of Sulla. Alexandre Dumas recorded that Sylla was a 'success of the wig' - if you took Sulla's wig off, you had Napoleon on stage. The relationship between Talma and Napoleon was clear even in London: an 1821 English print seems at first glance to depict Napoleon, but upon closer inspection we notice there are two layers to it: the first is Napoleon with a cut-out circle for his face; lifting the first layer we see 'Napoleon' is actually Talma in a Roman robe underneath. Another major talking point that kept Napoleon in people's hearts and minds was the publication of Emmanuel de Las Cases' Memorial of Saint Helena in 1823. Other memoirs had appeared before Las Cases', but it was his Memorial that took the publishing world by storm. It was soon translated into multiple languages. Las Cases had accompanied Napoleon to Saint Helena and acted as his secretary. The impact of Las Cases' Memorial may have given the impression that he had spent much longer with Napoleon than he actually did: he was expelled by Hudson Lowe, Governor of Saint Helena, in 1816 for trying to send secret letters back to Europe. Las Cases' notes were also confiscated and only returned to him in September 1821, when he set to work transforming them into an epic account, totalling over 2,000 pages. The Memorial is a carefully crafted work that needs to be taken with more than just a pinch of salt, but it laid down an intimate image of Napoleon as a liberal and heir of the French Revolution. This image was avidly devoured by readers, especially younger ones; it attacked the royalist vilification of Napoleon that had been promoted to discredit him, transforming him into a man of legend. In Las Cases' wake, other leading figures of the Napoleonic regime published their memoirs during the 1820s, adding to the public interest in the deceased emperor. Remembrance of glories past The 1820s was a ripe time for the Napoleonic legend to take hold. Politically, many in France were unsatisfied with the Restoration government, especially as the decade came to a close with yet another revolution in July 1830. This discontent was fertile ground for the development of Bonapartism, a political ideology founded on Napoleon's heritage. Bonapartism had already gained ground during the 100 Days - the period between Napoleon's return to Paris from exile on Elba in March 1815 to the second restoration of Louis XVIII in July - and then his exile on Saint Helena. There had been plots to restore Napoleon's heir, Napoleon II, to an imperial throne as recently as 1820. This plot was known as the Bazar francais and tens of thousands of people protested during the trial of its participants in May 1821. The opening of Napoleon's coffin, French illustration, 19th century. The opening of Napoleon's coffin, French illustration, 19th century (c) Hulton Getty Images. Las Cases' Memorial gave Bonapartism a political doctrine and the way in which he conveyed his memories of the emperor were poignant. Napoleon's nephew, Louis-Bonaparte Napoleon, played on this Bonapartist heritage, garnering support to stage two coups d'etat in 1836 and 1840; to become elected as the French Republic's first president in 1848; and to stage another coup in 1851, allowing him to found France's Second Empire and become Emperor Napoleon III the following year. In the aftermath of Napoleon's death, the developing movement of Romanticism yielded varied cultural depictions of the dead emperor. Napoleon had many of the attributes of the ideal Romantic hero: a man of exception, a courageous genius, but one who was finally rejected by society. Literature became a key vehicle for the Napoleonic legend. The first example is Victor Hugo's ode To the Column of the Vendome Square. Hugo wrote his poem in February 1827, shortly after the French army had been insulted by the Austrians, bringing back the strained diplomatic relationship that had been a defining feature of the Napoleonic regime. The poem is dedicated to the massive copy of Trajan's column, which Napoleon had erected in Paris in 1810, forged from melted cannons captured following the French victory over the forces of the Austrian Empire at Austerlitz in 1805. The Restoration government had removed the figure of Napoleon that crowned the column, but its significance remained. Hugo's ode portrays a France weakened under the Restoration, snubbed by the Austrians, harking back to the glory days of the Empire, when Europe trembled in France's wake. France's former glory seeps through every stanza and Napoleon is placed in a lineage of great rulers from Alexander the Great to Charlemagne. Napoleon might be dead, but Hugo recounts how the heritage of his 'colossal hand' lives on through his 'immortal shadows'. Drawing inspiration from this, Hugo maintains that France will not be snubbed: 'No! on the battlefield we will reappear.' Napoleon Crossing the Alps (detail), by Jacques-Louis David, 1803. Napoleon Crossing the Alps (detail), by Jacques-Louis David, 1803 (c) Bridgeman Images. Novels also helped to bolster Napoleon's legend. Stendhal's The Red and the Black (1830) and The Charterhouse of Parma (1839) played a major role in forging pro-Napoleonic sentiment. Unlike Hugo, Stendhal had actually served under Napoleon. In The Red and the Black Stendhal described how individuals - in particular his protagonist, Julien Sorel - dreamed of the meteoric rise of Napoleon. They saw him not only as a glorious statesman and general, as in Hugo, but as someone personable and (almost) intimate, thus increasing his allure. In The Charterhouse of Parma, Stendhal vividly described the efforts of the main character, Fabrice del Dongo, who leaves his native Lombardy to travel to France and join Napoleon during the 100 Days, before eventually fighting at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was attractive not only to the French, but to an international audience. Hugo and Stendhal were not alone: Napoleon continued to permeate different cultural arenas for decades to come. Napoleon was dead but his power was formidable. 'N' returns Despite several petitions to return the emperor's body to Paris, Napoleon remained interred on Saint Helena for nearly 20 years. After the July Revolution of 1830, France's new and more liberal king, Louis-Philippe, was keen to build on Napoleon's glorious heritage. In 1840, after much debate, France's legislative chamber finally voted in favour of the return of Napoleon's remains and the British accepted their request. One of the key advocates for the return was the politician Adolphe Thiers, who had already written a history of the French Revolution and would soon publish another on Napoleon's rule during the Consulate and the Empire. In July 1840 a small group of generals, politicians (including Las Cases' son), civil servants and five of Napoleon's former servants set sail on La Belle Poule from the Mediterranean port of Toulon. They were setting out to bring the emperor home. Napoleon's body was dug up by British soldiers on 14 October. It took nine and a half hours of digging through the night to reach Napoleon's coffin and a further hour to free it. It was past midday when the opening of Napoleon's casket got underway before a small assembly of British and French delegates. The three outer layers made up of mahogany and lead were removed one by one. Now all that remained was the final tin coffin, lined with white satin, containing the emperor's remains. After nearly 20 years underground, no one expected the emperor to be a spitting image of his former self, but accounts generally remark on how well preserved Napoleon's body remained, conveying an idealistic image of the man's genius and glory that almost broke through mortal bounds. There Napoleon lay, dressed in his green and red uniform of the Horse Hunters of the Imperial Guard, the legion d'honneur pinned to his clothes and his infamous hat across his thighs. The Three Napoleons, English engraving, 19th century. The Three Napoleons, English engraving, 19th century (c) Bridgeman Images. After a few quick examinations, Napoleon's remains were enclosed again in the tin coffin; then again in more lead and wood. Finally, these were sealed in a coffin made of ebony, with an elaborate series of locks. No one was getting in. Napoleon's long journey home had finally begun. On 15 December 1840 Napoleon's remains arrived in Paris. The funeral procession passed the Arc de Triomphe - a project Napoleon had started in 1806 - and made its way down the avenue of the Champs-Elysees, before crossing the Seine and finishing its journey before King Louis-Philippe in the church of Les Invalides, home to a pantheon of France's great military men. There were rumours that the coffin was empty or that the body was not actually that of Napoleon - these would circulate for decades to come, resurfacing as recently as 2018 - but at least Napoleon was ostensibly back in Paris. His coffin, made of ebony and bronze, marked with a simple 'N', remained on display in the Invalides' church until 1861. Anyone who has visited Napoleon's tomb will know that this understated coffin is not the end of the story. Napoleon's final resting place was commissioned in the 1840s under Louis-Philippe's reign, although it was not completed until 1861. The final tomb is enormous - nearly four metres long and over two metres high - holding the five different coffins that contain Napoleon's body. It is mounted on a block of green granite, sunk into the crypt in the Invalides' church. One feels small when standing next to it. But the site also reveals how Napoleon's heritage has been crafted. The names of his battles are laid into the floor at the base of the tomb; 12 statues of Victory personified keep watch over Napoleon's resting body; and the gallery that encircles the tomb hosts ten bas-reliefs representing Napoleon's greatest achievements, such as the Civil Code, still France's main legal text, and the award of the legion d'honneur. By the time Napoleon's body found its final resting place, the Second Empire had reprised much of the symbolism of his reign. The fate of the first emperor's body was too good an opportunity for Napoleon III to pass up. He continued until 1853 to tweak the sketches for these bas-reliefs, to fine tune the image of his ancestor. In 1940, Nazi forces returned the body of Napoleon II, who had died in Vienna, and the son was buried in a chapel by his father's tomb. Liberte, egalite, legacy Napoleon remains present in both French and European thought. The historian and biographer of Napoleon, Andrew Roberts, has claimed that more books have been written about Napoleon than any other person save Jesus Christ. But beyond the intimate details, the expert military manoeuvres and the meteoric political career, it is worth asking more pointedly: what is the legacy of Napoleon's death today, two centuries on? This year marks the last in a series of bicentenaries since that of 1969 marked his birth. They have reshaped our understanding of the Napoleonic period, rehabilitated some of the lesser-known aspects of his reign and ignited new political debates - including France's veto of Belgium's proposal of a Waterloo design for the Euro. The Return of the Emperor's Ashes to Paris, 15 December 1840, 19th-century watercolour by Theodore Jung. The Return of the Emperor's Ashes to Paris, 15 December 1840, 19th-century watercolour by Theodore Jung (c) Bridgeman Images. The tensions underlying these diplomatic arguments belie the fear of how Napoleon's legacy might be manipulated for nationalist causes. In 2005 the French president Jacques Chirac did not find it appropriate to commemorate the bicentenary of the Battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon's greatest victory. Many of the events linked to the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo in 2015 were more tempered and moderate than some of the simplistic nationalist narratives that have gained traction since 1815. Military history certainly remains a key area of interest, but more recently educational and research institutions have turned to thinking about the legacy of Napoleon's reign. This covers the experience of his empire and conquest (from both sides), its consequences on the development of different senses of nationalism in France and the conquered lands, Napoleon's repression of people of colour (he reintroduced slavery in certain colonies in 1802 after its abolition by the Revolution), his bureaucratic and legislative reforms (the Civil Code, France's central bank, the institution of the prefets, the French lycee school system for students aged 16 to 18) and contemporary culture (notably the artist Jacques-Louis David, but also contemporary opera, theatre and literature by the likes of Germaine de Stael or Francois-Rene de Chateaubriand). Napoleon's image is multifaceted and we can still convincingly argue both sides of the age-old question 'Napoleon: an heir of the revolution or a despot?' But his legend will continue to live a full and varied life. Clare Siviter is the author of Tragedy and Nation in the Age of Napoleon (Liverpool University Press, 2020). FranceNapoleon Related Articles Compositeur fantastique: Hector Berlioz, by Pierre Petit, c.1860. The Music of the Napoleonic Era Napoleon, 1792, as Lieutenant Colonel of the 1st Battalion of Corsica by Felix Philippoteaux, 1834. Rethinking Napoleon's Roots Popular articles Best History Books of 2023 Books of the Year 2023 Napoleon on his Deathbed on St Helena, by Denzil O. Ibbetson, 1821. Napoleon: Two Centuries of Life after Death Recently published The eruption of Vesuvius depicted in Giovanni Pacini's opera, L'ultimo giorno di Pompei, 1827. The Getty Research Institute, via Wikipedia. Volcanoes on Tour: Recreating Vesuvius Czech sokol participants at a slet at Strahov Stadium, Prague, 1948. CTK/Alamy Stock Photo. Sokol: An Exercise in Czech Nation-Building Best History Books of 2023 Books of the Year 2023 Most read 1. Books of the Year 2023 2. What Killed Kennedy? 3. Herzl's Troubled Dream: The Origins of Zionism 4. The Death of Stalin's Son 5. Power and Populism in Ancient Greek Courts X Get Miscellanies, our free weekly long read, in your inbox every week [ ] [ ] [Sign Up] Footer menu * About * Masthead * Contact * Jobs * Advertising * RSS feeds * Submit an Article * Back Issues * Binders * Cookie policy * Awards * Students * Privacy policy * Terms of Use * Twitter * Instagram (c) Copyright 2023 History Today Ltd. Company no. 1556332.