Memoirs of the Duke of Rovigo, to Serve for the History of the Emperor Napoleon

Anne-Jean-Marie-René Savary, duc de RovigoProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.9
Word count
547K words
Chapters
55

Tags

Foreign Language Books World HistoryPolitical and Military Leaders Historical ReappraisalPortrait GalleryLegendary LivesFate and FortunePower GameAntiheroDocumentary Narrative

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Mémoires du duc de Rovigo, pour servir à l'histoire de l'empereur NapoléonAuthor: Savary, Anne-Jean-Marie-René, duc de Rovigo, 1774-1833,Language: French, Class: DC: History: General and Eastern Hemisphere: France, Andorra, Monaco, Release Date: Aug 25, 2007

Editor's review

This memoir, written by Savary, Duke of Rovigo, an eyewitness of the Napoleonic era, is firsthand material for studying the court politics and policing system of the Napoleonic Empire. Savary long served as Minister of Police of the Empire and knew intimately Napoleon's logic of appointment, security methods and diplomatic intrigues; his narrative inevitably carries a self-defensive coloring, yet precisely for that reason preserves a voice beyond official histories. His close observation of Napoleon's personality, daily life and decision-making process is more vivid than ordinary biographies. For readers familiar with the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, this French original can serve as a sample for checking against orthodox history and training source criticism; for newcomers to the field, annotations and background reading are needed to digest it. The public-domain electronic edition from Project Gutenberg is easy to search and cite and is suitable as a base text for research reading.

Who it's for

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Reading tips

  1. First read a general history of the Napoleonic era to establish a time frame, then enter the memoir text
  2. Mark the author's self-defense passages as you read and compare them with third-party sources
  3. Read selectively by theme, such as policing, court and diplomacy chapters, in separate sessions
  4. Use the electronic edition to search names and events, consulting a chronology alongside

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
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FAQ

Is this book the original French edition, and what language level is needed? The book is a French public-domain e-book released by Project Gutenberg. Reading requires fairly good French reading ability to handle early nineteenth-century written language and historical proper names; if your French is basic, prepare a Chinese or English translation for comparison, otherwise long sentences and old spelling will often block you.
How does the author's identity affect the credibility of the source? Savary served as Minister of Police of the Empire and was an inner-circle figure with much firsthand information; but he was also a party defending his own political role. When reading, treat the statements as positioned testimony, and especially cross-check passages concerning the author's responsibility and policing methods with other sources.
Can I read it directly without a foundation in Napoleonic history? Not really recommended. The memoir assumes readers are familiar with the institutions, figures and campaigns of the Empire; without background you will frequently be stuck on proper names and event references. It is better first to read a general history of the Napoleonic era or a related biography to establish a timeline and character relationships, then return to this book.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Anne-Jean-Marie-René Savary, duc de Rovigo Author · French · 1774–1833

Anne-Jean-Marie-René Savary, duc de Rovigo (1774–1833), was a French general and administrator. Born in Marc and died in Paris, he was a confidant of Napoleon I, served as commander of the Imperial Guard and as Minister of Police, and was created duc de Rovigo in 1808. His eight-volume Mémoires du duc de Rovigo (1828) recounts the Napoleonic era and is an important source for its study. The library holds seven of his works, most related to these memoirs; written from a participant's perspective, they present details of Napoleon's court and imperial administration in a concrete narrative that combines documentary value with readability.