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The Eagle in Splendour: Inside the Court of Napoleon

The Eagle in Splendour: Inside the Court of Napoleon

by PhilipMansel (Author), Mansel Philip (Author)

  • Used

    Illustrated 2015

    $9.72
Synopsis

When I think of the great Emperor, in my mind's eye it is summer again, all gold and green. Heine The court of Napoleon I, in its grandeur and extravagance, surpassed even that of that the Sun King. Napoleon's palaces at Saint-Cloud and the Tuileries were the centres of his power, the dazzling reflection of the greatest empire in modern European history. Napoleon's military conquests changed the world and dominate most portraits of him, but it was through the splendour of his court - a world fashioned beyond the battlefield - that Napoleon governed his empire. Using the unpublished papers of the Emperor's leading courtiers, and his second Empress Marie Louise, Philip Mansel brings to life the intoxicated world of a court 'devoured by ambition' as Stendhal called it : its visual magnificence and rigid hierarchy; mistresses, artists and manipulators. The life of the court illuminates the life of Napoleon himself and the nature of a personality that conquered half the world yet, in the end, was abandoned by his dynasty and his courtiers, his past glories fading into lonely and ignominious exile.

$9.72

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More Information

Format: Illustrated
 Pages: 256
 Edition: Illustrated
 Publisher: I.B.Tauris
Published: 30 Jun 2015
ISBN 10: 1784531758
ISBN 13: 9781784531751

Media Reviews
'clear, well researched, always interesting' -Nigel Nicolson, History Today; 'The title and the handsome appearance of this book are in danger of obscuring its scholarly value - Napoleon is presented to scholars in a new guise: the Eagle both in splendour and as chie-en-lit - the author's urbane and witty style - [his] vivid description of the Napoleonic Court in this well-documented, attractively produced, but inexpensive book' -John Mackrell, Journal of Modern History - 'Although this may seem simply a well illustrated coffee-table book, there is more to it than this suggests. Mansel's book derives from a sound archival and bibliographical base - It is hard not to agree with [his] perceptive comment that it has really been the manufactured splendour of style which accounts for the continuing fascination with the Emperor, of which this is a not unworthy example' - Clive H. Church, British Journal of Eighteenth Century Studies; 'a fascinating read. Mansel is excellent at selecting and retelling illustrative anecdotes. His account of the organisation of court life is riveting, and he argues persuasively that Napoleon's political convictions were spelled out in the organisation of his day-to-day life and entourage...highly recommended.' - Marion Koob, LSE Review of Books
Author Bio
Philip Mansel, who has lived and taught in Paris, is one of Britain's leading historians of France and the Ottoman Empire. His first book, Louis XVIII, together with subsequent works such as Paris Between Empires, 1814-1852, established him as an authority on the later French monarchy. Mansel's acclaimed Constantinople: City of the World's Desire was described by William Dalrymple as 'An impeccably researched masterpiece of exquisite historical writing.' He currently lives in London, and is editor of The Court Historian, journal of the Society for Court Studies (www.courtstudies.org).