Description:

Bonaparte Napoleon 1769 - 1821 Napoleon signed note regarding arming the Illyrian Provinces



Matted and framed behind glass, containing color engraving of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) above 9-line note signed "Np" below, not examined out of frame. Frame measures about 12.5" x 20.25". The 3.25" x 4.75" print engraved by Duplessis Bertaux depicts the brooding emperor standing on a battlefield, with arms truculently crossed. Military correspondence was written in black ink on cream paper measuring 7" x 8.75" and pinned with footnote at bottom. Note was dictated by the emperor to his interim secretary Agathon Jean Francois Fain (1778-1837) and addressed to his Minister of War Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke (1765-1818). In very fine condition, with some minor overall toning.

The memorandum concerns the military organization of the Illyrian Provinces, parts of modern day Croatia and Slovenia that Napoleon reconstituted as part of the French Empire between 1809 and 1816.

Translation from French:

"Mr the Duke of Feltre, I received your letter of February 11, Troop Governance Bureau. I strongly approve of what you ordered for the Illyrian Regiment in Croatia. We must now get the necessary men from Turin and Illyria to complete this regiment because of military groups coming back.

I pray God that he keeps you in his holy protection.

Paris, February 13, 1813

Np

Given to M. Gerard February 14th"

Napoleon built his empire by deploying his illustrious Grand Armée across Europe and Africa. At its height in 1812, they army numbered about 685,000 troops conscripted from various European countries. Yet Napoleon's military momentum was already on the wane when this letter was written in the winter of 1813. The previous winter the army had lost as many as 480,000 troops in a disastrous invasion of Russia. In August 1813, Austria, whose satellites had been incorporated into Napoleon's Illyrian Provinces four years before, declared war on France and reconquered the region. The Battle of Leipzig in October 1813 resulted in the loss of all German territories east of the Rhine River. Napoleon was on the defensive.

The emperor addressed this note to his Minister of War, the Duc of Feltre, who greatly aided the emperor manage his enormous army. Napoleon's private secretary Claude Francois Méneval, who lived from (1778-1850) was charged with handling the emperor's correspondence between 1802 and 1813. Méneval accompanied Napoleon on his seven-month Russian campaign, returning to France with hypothermia and exhaustion. Méneval was replaced as first secretary by Agathon Jean-Francois Fain by an edict of February 9, 1813, just four days before this letter was written. Fain recounted his experiences as imperial secretary in his Mémoires de Baron Fain, Premier Secrétaire du Cabinet de l'Empereur, published posthumously in 1908.

Napoleon began and ended his life on islands, first Corsica and eventually St. Helena. Known as the "Little Corporal" by detractors who derided his diminutive statue (approximately 5'6"), Napoleon emerged as a political leader in post-Revolutionary France through his military achievements. While his leadership resembled authoritarian government in many respects, historians also acknowledge his contributions to standardizing and reforming state institutions.

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