Napoleon in Holland

In late September 1811, French Emperor Napoleon I visited the former Kingdom of Holland; he explained to Armand-Augusti-Louis de Caulaincourt his goals: a war at sea with Britain, to form a government, and ordering the "Routes impériales".^[1]

YouTube Encyclopedic

1/1
Views:
6 299 946

Transcription

# 5. Vikings What would a Viking be without his trusty battle helmet and its impressive horns? The answer is: a more historically accurate viking. Think, for a moment about wearing headgear like that into battle: the horns are just easy targets for your opponent to hit and knock off your helmet. Or, if you strap on your helmet, now your opponent has a convenient lever with which to drag you to the ground and something to hold onto while slitting your throat. Horned helmets are a terrible idea, which is why archeologists have never found them at viking battle sites and there's no evidence that they were ever used. It was poets and artists -- people not known for caring about facts and reality -- who gave the Vikings their silly hats during the late 1800s, long after the vikings could 'correct' their misconceptions. 4. Lady Godiva The story of this 11th century English noblewoman is that her mean husband the Earl raised taxes on the townspeople of Coventry which Lady Godiva -- and not surprising the locals -- thought were too high. She badgered her husband and he conceded in exasperation to lower the taxes if she rode through town naked -- assuming that she never would, but she did. Because people don't likes taxes -- even though they're how civilization is purchased -- Lady Godiva's story lives on notably in the Godiva logo and in popular songs. But while Lady Godiva was a real person and Coventry is a real town there is no record of her nude ride from the time when it happened -- so we can assume the story is false. Just as with the Vikings, again poets and artists are to blame, who made up the tale long after Lady Godiva's death. 3. Napoleon Famously this tiny, tiny general -- perhaps to compensate for his short stature -- took control of France greatly expanded its influence and dubbed himself emperor. Napoleon's official height was indeed 5 foot 2 inches but at the time French inches were longer than English inches, so doing the unit conversion, Napoleon's height should have been reported as 5'7 in England's imperial units -- which is short by today's standard but was average or slightly above average in the early 1800s. However England, with it's eternal love for all things French, didn't care and went the Napoleon-is-so-short-LOL version of the story in newspapers and cartoons. Meanwhile, Napoleon was busy introducing the Metric System to France and the wider world to standardize measurements so this sort of confusion would never happen again -- and thankfully the whole world now uses metric. Mostly. Sort of. 2. Roman Vomit Ah, the Roman empire, so great and powerful, but corrupted by decadence from within. And what could be a better symbol of that decadence than the Vometorum: where Romans, after stuffing themselves with delicious foods, could vomit them all up to make room to feast anew. Vometoria are real but this idea of them is not, though confusion is understandable because their name -- Vomit-orium -- seems to make their purpose so clear. Even if for some reason you know latin -- perhaps because you live in a country that insists you waste hundreds of hours of your life learning a dead, useless language -- this knowledge still won't help you because the root word 'vomitum' means 'to spew forth'. So what is it really? If you've ever been to a big stadium, like say, the ones made by the romans, you have already used a vometorium. This is what the vometoria are -- the passageways that lets lots of people enter or exit at once. The people are what spews forth in the vometoria, not the contents of the people. 1. Columbus There is so very much wrong with the common retelling of the story of Christopher Columbus that it's hard to know where to begin, but the biggest misconception is that everyone else thought the world was flat, but Columbus was the only guy smart enough to know that it's round. It makes a daring story, but knowledge of a spherical earth goes back to at least 5,000 BC that's six and a half thousand years before Columbus set sail -- and that knowledge was never lost to western civilization. In 200 BC Eratosthenes calculated Earth's circumference and his estimate was still well know and being used in Columbus's time. The argument Columbus had with queen Isabella was not over the shape of the earth, but of its size. Columbus estimated the Earth was much smaller than Queen Isabella and her scientific advisors did which was way he thought he could make it across the empty Atlantic to India. But Columbus's size estimate was wrong -- again, just like Napoleon's height -- because of mixed up units. However, his error did send him West to become the first European to discover America -- as long as you ignore the hornless vikings who beat him by 500 years.

Holland as part of the First French Empire

The "Corsican" wanted to control every seaport in the area and on 16 March 1810 Bouches-de-l'Escaut and Bouches-du-Rhin became part of the First French Empire. King Louis Bonaparte opposed his older brother when Napoleon's troops were not only occupying the coast but went more inland. (Marshal Nicolas Oudinot had arrived with 20,000 soldiers to prevent smuggling and organise the blockade.) After Napoleon threatened to occupy Amsterdam, King Louis abdicated on 1 July 1810 in favour of Napoleon Louis Bonaparte, his son. The Dutch departments were incorporated in the French Empire by decree on 9 July;^[2] "with Imperial coastguards, customs and police allowed to operate the smuggling staunched at last."^[3] On 18 August 1810 Napoleon ordered (by decree) that the Dutch Army cease to exist, and incorporated it into the French Imperial Army.

On 1 January 1811 the country was divided into seven departements: Zuyderzée, Bouches-de-la-Meuse, Yssel-Supérieur, Bouches-de-l'Yssel, Frise (1811), Ems-Occidental, and Ems-Oriental.^[note 1] The Batavian Navy also ceased to exist on that day.

On 18 August 1811 Napoleon ordered (by decree) that everybody without a last name had to choose one before 1 January 1814.

Until 17 November 1813, Charles-François Lebrun served as governor-general of Holland, reorganising its departements to be more efficient and law impartial. He was assisted by the prefects Antoine de Celles and Goswin de Stassart,^[5] with Alexander Gogel on Finance and François Jean-Baptiste d'Alphonse on Internal Affairs as "Intendant-General". The latter was responsible for the "Aperçu sur la Hollande", published in the end of April 1813, full with statistics and details.^[6]

Visit

On 24 September 1811 Napoleon arrived in Breskens, on the 27th in Vlissingen, a strategic city he had visited twice before (in 1803 and 1810). A few days later he met with his wife in Antwerp. Then they traveled north to the fortified cities of Willemstad and Hellevoetsluis. He was accompanied with 75 people and by General Dirk van Hogendorp, who would later become governor of Königsberg, Vilnius, Breslau, and Hamburg (and mentioned as one of the few in Napoleon's will). On 5 October he arrived in Gorinchem; the next day he left for Utrecht. There he met with members of the Old Catholic Church and Jews. On 9 October he arrived in Amsterdam, the third capital of his empire and stayed a fortnight in the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. With the Dutch merchants he discussed the blockade and the forthcoming collapse of the British economy.^[7] He visited several wharfs, the military barracks in Quartier Saint Charles, the fortifications on Pampus, and the Trippenhuis. In the evening François-Joseph Talma gave a performance of Andromaque. Via Broek in Waterland and Medemblik Napoleon traveled to Den Helder, which was in Napoleon's view the most important naval base in the north. Vice-Admiral Jan Willem de Winter, who later would be buried in the Panthéon, joined him to Texel, and discussed the possibilities to keep the British away from the Dutch coast. Because of a lack of funds earlier that year 4,000 Dutch fishermen were forced (through conscription) to join the fleet.^[8]

Back in Amsterdam C.R.T. Krayenhoff accompanied Napoleon to see the fortifications of Muiden and Naarden.^[9] On 22 October the universities of Utrecht, Harderwijk, and Franeker were closed. Also the Athenaeums of Amsterdam and Deventer were shut. François Noël and Georges Cuvier proposed that Leiden and Groningen keep their universities.^[10] By decree, all Christian denominations received money from the municipality.^[11]

In Haarlem, Napoleon visited the Teylers Museum and Paviljoen Welgelegen.^[12] On his way south he visited the locks in Katwijk aan Zee.^[13] In Leiden he talked to scientists Sebald Justinus Brugmans, Gerard Sandifort, and Matthijs Siegenbeek. In The Hague he met with Cornelis Felix van Maanen, the president of the Imperial High Court and responsible for introducing the Napoleonic Code in the Netherlands. The couple stayed one night in Lange Voorhout Palace;^[14] in Rotterdam in Schielandhuis. Through Gouda, Oudewater, and Utrecht Napoleon arrived at Het Loo Palace. He visited Hattem, where Herman Willem Daendels' wife lived and Zwolle. On the last day of October he left Nijmegen and travelled to Wesel.

Before Napoleon arrived a Cadastre and civil registry were introduced. After he left, the French tax and judicial system became effective on 1 January 1812. Between 1810 and 1813 around 35,000 Dutchmen between the ages of 20 and 50 were forced to join his Grande Armée or his fleet; around 25,000 joined Napoleon to Russia.^[15] Most Dutchmen served in the 123rd, 124th, 125th, and 126th Regiment d’Infanterie de Ligne, and 33e Régiment d’Infanterie Légère.

Legacy

Napoleon brought a new bureaucracy with him, such as the nationwide civil registration of births, marriages, and deaths. This benefitted the government (tracking the coming of age of taxable and conscriptable persons), but also the people. The new civil records had more consistent detail and accessibility in central repositories than the scattered religious records people had relied on previously, and the separation of church and state in record keeping is now standard in most countries.

His instruction in 1811 obliging those without a surname to choose one had an unexpected legacy, however. While surnames are standard today, many objected at the time.

References

^ C.F. Gijsberti Hodenpijl (1904) Napoleon in Holland, p. 151-152.
^ "Stadhouder van Napoleon". June 2010.
^ S. Schama, p. 612.
^ C.F. Gijsberti Hodenpijl (1904), p. 5-6.
^ C.F. Gijsberti Hodenpijl (1904), p. 5-6.
^ S. Schama, p. 1.618.
^ Simon Schama, p. 613.
^ C.F. Gijsberti Hodenpijl (1904), p. 119.
^ C.F. Gijsberti Hodenpijl (1904), p. 143.
^ C.F. Gijsberti Hodenpijl (1904), p. 159.
^ Homan, G.D. (1978), p. 133.
^ Napoleon in Haarlem
^ "Katwijkse Uitwatering (Katwijk aan Zee)". 30 August 2011.
^ De ‘Haagse Bataven’ heten de keizer welkom by A. ANDRIESSEN
^ Homan, G.D. (1978), p. 140, 143.

Notes

^ In January 1810 the southern part of the Netherlands was already split up into Deux-Nèthes, Meuse-Inférieure (1795), Bouches-de-l'Escaut, and Bouches-du-Rhin, but the latter two not part of "Hollande". For the sake of completeness the earlier formed departments Roer (1795) and Escaut have to be mentioned too.^[4]

Sources

Gijsberti Hodenpijl, C.F. (1904) Napoleon in Holland.
Homan, G.D. (1978) Nederland in de Napoleontische Tijd 1795-1815.
Joor, J. (2000) De Adelaar en het Lam. Onrust, opruiing en onwilligheid in Nederland ten tijde van het Koninkrijk Holland en de Inlijving bij het Franse Keizerrijk (1806–1813), p. 503-510.
Schama, S. (1987) Patriots and Liberators. Revolution in the Netherlands 1780 - 1830. Chapter 13 "Babylon Undone" 1810-1813.

External links

This page was last edited on 20 March 2024, at 13:32

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia