Éblé, Jean-Baptiste

1758-1812 A French General, Engineer and Artilleryman during the Napoleonic Wars, he was credited with saving Napoleon’s Grand Army from complete destruction in 1812.

BkXXI:Chap7:Sec1 Eble’s men worked in dangerously frigid water to complete the bridges across the Berezina. The campaign had taken a heavy toll on his men and his health. He died in Konigsberg shortly after returning from Russia.

 

Ebrington, Hugh Fortescue, Viscount, 2nd Earl Fortescue

1783-1861. British politician who served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1839 to 1841. He first became an MP, for Barnstaple, just after his 21st birthday and later Tavistock (1821-31) failing to find a seat after the Reform Act. Ebrington belonged to that section of the Whig party that welcomed much of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon hoping for radical change in Britain. After Napoleon’s first abdication and exile to Elba he arranged visits, with other prominent Whigs to see him.

BkXIX:Chap16:Sec1 Visited Elba in December 1814 while Napoleon was exiled there.

 

Ebro, River

The Ebro (Catalan: Ebre) is Spain’s most voluminous and second longest river. It starts at Fontibre (province of Cantabria) and ends with a major wetland delta at the Mediterranean Sea in the province of Tarragona.

BkXXI:Chap7:Sec1 BkXXII:Chap3:Sec1 BkXXXVI:Chap6:Sec1

Mentioned.

 

Ecbatana

A city of ancient Media on the site of present-day Hamadan in western Iran, it was captured by Cyrus the Great in 549BC and plundered by Alexander, Seleucus I, and Antiochus III.

BkXXIX:Chap12:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Eckard, Jean

1763-after1830. A lawyer and historian, he was the author of Mémoires historique sur Louis XVII which was published in 1817.

BkXIX:Chap4:Sec1 His pamphlet speculating on Napoleon’s nationality, published 1826.

 

Eckmühl, see also Davout

The Battle of Eckmühl was fought on April 22, 1809, and resulted in a French victory under Marshal Davout and Napoleon against the Austrians under the Archduke Charles. The battle prevented the Austrian plan to destroy Davout’s isolated III Corps and allowed the French to drive the Austrians out of Bavaria.

BkXX:Chap10:Sec1 BkXXXVI:Chap8:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Eckstein, Ferdinand, Baron d’

1790-1861 A Jewish Dane, who converted to Protestantism, and then Catholicism during a stay in Rome (1807-1809), he was a volunteer during the 1813 Campaign and entered the service of the Low Countries. He was Governor of Ghent in 1815. Resident later in Paris, he published works on Orientalism and Catholic philosophy.

BkXXIII:Chap17:Sec1 Mentioned, during the Hundred Days.

 

Écouen, France

Seven miles north of Paris, the château was built for Constable Anne, Duke of Montmorency (1492-1567). Completed in 1555, it is in the High Renaissance style, a development of the Early Renaissance style of the châteaux of the Loire, built during the reign of François I. The château was saved from destruction after the Revolution by Napoleon, who turned it into a school for the daughters of members of the Légion d’Honneur in 1806.

BkXIII:Chap3:Sec1 Chateaubriand passed by in May 1800.

 

Edda

The Older Edda is a collection of Icelandic poems supposedly written in the 9th century and collected in the 13th. They are of unknown authorship.

BkV:Chap5:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Edessa

The historical name of a town in northern Mesopotamia, refounded on an ancient site by Seleucus I Nicator. Captured by the Crusaders in 1099, who established there the County of Edessa and kept the city until 1144.

BkXXV:Chap9:Sec1 A crusader principality.

 

Edgermond, Lady

Character from Corinne by Madame de Staël.

BkXI:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Edgeworth, Maria

1767-1849. Irish novelist; daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth. She lived practically her entire life on her father's estate in Ireland. Letters for Literary Ladies (1795), her first publication, argued for the education of women. She is best known for her novels of Irish life—Castle Rackrent (1800), Belinda (1801), and The Absentee (1812). She also wrote a number of stories for children, including Moral Tales (1801).

BkXII:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned as a popular authoress.

 

Edith, the swan-necked

1024-c1070. Editha swanes-hales (Ealdgyth), Edith the swan-necked, daughter of Alfgar, Earl of Mercia, married Harold II c1064.

BkIV:Chap3:Sec1 She found Harold’s body on the battlefield.

 

Edmond Ironside

c988/993-1016. King of England April 23-November 30 1013 he was surnamed ‘Ironside’ for his efforts to fend off the Danish invasion led by King Canute.

BkXXXVII:Chap5:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Edward III

1312-1377 King of England 1327-1377. Married Philippa of Hainault. He imprisoned his mother Isabella of France and executed her lover Roger de Mortimer. He fought successfully against the Scots (Halidon Hill 1333) and planned the union of England and Scotland (1363). He claimed the French throne and started the Hundred Years’ War in 1337. He was the victor at Crécy in 1346, and Poitier in 1356.

BkXII:Chap5:Sec1 He died at Shene Palace, Richmond Surrey.

BkXXI:Chap1:Sec1 Mentioned.

BkXXXIII:Chap8:Sec1 At the end of the Hundred Year’s War Edward III disembarked his troops at Saint-Vaast-La-Hougue, on the 12th of July 1346, and ravaged Cotentin and lower Normandy.

 

Edward IV

1442-1483. King of England (1461-1470, 1471-1483) during the Wars of the Roses, he was deposed by the Earl of Warwick but regained power after Tewkesbury (1471).

BkX:Chap5:Sec2 His sons Edward V and Richard were imprisoned in the tower by their uncle the Duke of Gloucester (Richard III). The two boys known as the Prince sin the Tower were probably murdered in 1483.

 

Edward VII: see Stuart, Charles-Edward

 

Edward, Prince of Wales, The Black Prince

1330-1376. A great English military leader during the Hundred Years’ War. The eldest son of Edward III, he fought at Crécy (1346) and Poitiers (1356), where the English forces captured John II of France.

BkXII:Chap5:Sec1 His Life written by the Herald of Sir John Chandos, in a mixture of Old and Middle French is held by Worcester College, Oxford.

BkXXIV:Chap4:Sec1 His capture of the French King, coupled with his reputation for chivalry.

 

Égault, or Égaux, Abbé Julian-Jean-Marie

1752-1821 Master of the fourth year students at Dol College.

BkII:Chap1:Sec1 He taught Chateaubriand Latin (and Greek).

BkII:Chap3:Sec4 Takes Chateaubriand to task for translating Lucretius too vividly.

BkII:Chap4:Sec1 Leads a visit to the nearby seminary.

BkII:Chap4:Sec2 Intends to punish Chateaubriand.

BkII:Chap6:Sec3 He obtained a curacy near Rennes.

 

Eger, River

The Eger (Czech: Ohře) river lies in Germany and the Czech Republic, its source is situated in Bavaria, at the foot of Mount Schneeberg (Fichtelgebirge) near the town of Weissenstadt. It flows past Carlsbad and eventually joins the Elbe.

BkXXXVIII:Chap5:Sec1 BkXLI:Chap7:Sec1 Eger is also the name for the Czech town of Cheb in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It is situated on the river Ohře, at the foot of one of the spurs of the Smrčiny and near the border with Germany. Chateaubriand arrived there in 1833 when leaving Prague.

 

Egeria

An Italian nymph, she was the wife of Numa. Un-consoled at his death she was turned into a fountain, and its attendant streams (at Le Mole, by Nemi in Aricia). She was worshipped as a minor deity of childbirth at Aricia, and later in Rome (see Frazer’s ‘The Golden Bough’ Chapter I.) The servant of Diana at Nemi, she was one of the Camenae, water-nymphs of the grove outside the Porta Capena, who became identified with the Muses.

BkXXXVIII:Chap5:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Eginhard

A secretary to Charlemagne, the historical person, Einhard (c770-840) was a historian and advisor. He married Emma or Imma, (not a daughter of Charlemagne). He became a mythical figure in the legend of Emma and Eginhard. 

BkXXVI:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Egmont-Pinatelli, Jeanne-Sophie-Elisabeth-Louise-Septimanie du Plessis-Richelieu, Comtesse d’

1740-1773. Daughter of the Duc de Richelieu. She encouraged Rulhière, who had been Richelieu’s aide-de-campe in Guyenne, to commit his notes on the accession of Catherine II of Russia to paper, and helped defend him against Russian attempts to suppress his memoir.

BkIV:Chap12:Sec4 Mentioned.

BkIX:Chap2:Sec1 Chateaubriand quotes from a verse adapted from Parny.

 

El-Arish

Halfway between Israel and Egypt, Kaalat Al-Arish is the capital and largest city of the Egyptian governate of Shamal Sina', lying on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai peninsula, 214 miles northeast of Cairo. The city sprang up around a Bedouin settlement in the vicinity of the ancient Ptolemaic Dynasty outpost of Rhinocolura.

BkXIX:Chap16:Sec1 The fort there held by the Turks was taken by Reynier on 20th February 1799.

BkXX:Chap2:Sec1 The Treaty of El-Arish, of January 24th 1800, negotiated under duress by Desaix, would have allowed the French army to return home, but was rejected by England, and resulted later in the Battle of Alexandria, a French defeat. 

 

Elba, Island of

An island, of 86 square miles, in the Tyrrhenian Sea, 6 miles from the Italian mainland, part of the Tuscan Archipelago. Iron ore has been mined there since Etruscan and Roman times, and there are ironworks at Portoferraio, the island’s main town. Elba has come under numerous foreign powers, including Syracuse (mid-5th century BC), Pisa (11th century – 1399), Spain, and Naples. It was briefly (May1814 – February 1815) a sovereign principality under the exiled Napoleon I, who improved the island’s roads and agriculture. After his dramatic escape from the island and his subsequent exile to Saint Helena, Elba passed to Tuscany.

BkXX:Chap3:Sec1 Annexed to France on the 4th of June 1802, it became a department of France on the 26th of August.

BkXXI:Chap4:Sec2 BkXXII:Chap19:Sec1 Mentioned.

BkXXII:Chap 21:Sec1 Napoleon landed there on the 4th of May 1814.

BkXXII:Chap 26:Sec1 Pianosa is a small island between Elba and Monte Christo, containing Paleolithic caves, Roman remains and the fortress on the Teglia promontory built by Napoleon, above the fine harbour.

BkXXIII:Chap12:Sec1 BkXXV:Chap1:Sec1 Napoleon left Elba on the 1st of March 1815 and arrived in Paris on the 20th.

 

Elbe, Germany

A river of Central Europe, it flows through Germany to the North Sea at Hamburg.

BkXI:Chap3:Sec3 Fontanes found a refuge in Hamburg in 1798, where the continued to complete his composition La Grèce sauvée.

BkXXII:Chap4:Sec1 There was heavy fighting around Dresden and along the Elbe in the Seven Year’s War.

BkXXVI:Chap9:Sec1 Joined by the River Havel which in turn is joined by the Spree.

 

Elbée, Maurice Joseph Louis, General d’

1752-1794. Successor to Cathelinau, he was wounded at Cholet and executed by Republican firing squad at Noirmoutier.

BkXI:Chap3:Sec2 BkXXXV:Chap3:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Elchingen, Duc d’, see Ney

 

Eldon, Lord John Scott, 1st Earl of

1751-1838. A dominant figure in Georgian public life, he was among the most important of Lord Chancellors. Once in office he swiftly made his presence felt, drafting the Regency bill of 1788, and conducting the government’s legal campaign against Republicanism. Retiring in 1827, Eldon spent his final years opposing political reform. Labelled as a relic of ‘Old Toryism’, his views on government, politics, and the constitution represent an important strand in Georgian political thinking.

BkXXVII:Chap2:Sec1 He was Lord Chancellor 1807-1827. The Woolsack is the seat of the Lord Speaker, previously the Lord Chancellor, in the House of Lords. The seat is a large, wool-stuffed cushion covered with red cloth; it has neither a back nor arms. The Lords’ Mace is placed on the rear part of the Woolsack. Introduced in the 14th century, the seat was originally stuffed with English wool, which, due to the importance of the wool trade, was a symbol of the nation's prosperity. When debating, the Chancellor/Speaker speaks from the left side or a normal seat, not from the Woolsack. Chateaubriand may have been allowed to sit there when viewing the House prior to session.

 

Eleanor of Aquitaine

c1122-1204. The wife (1137-1152) of Louis VII of France, then after the annulment of their marriage, she was the wife (1154-1189) of Henry II of England. Henry imprisoned her (1174-1189) for complicity in their sons’ rebellion. After Henry’s death she helped to secure their peaceful accession as Richard I(1189) and John (1199).

BkXXV:Chap9:Sec1 She accompanied Louis to the Holy Land.

 

Éléonore

The female ‘Muse’ who inspired Parny.

BkIV:Chap12:Sec1 BkXXIV:Chap9:Sec1 Mentioned. Parny’s poetry set on La Réunion in the Indian Ocean.

 

Éléonore, Mademoiselle Breuning

 

Eleusis

A city in Attica, famous for the worship of Ceres-Demeter, and the Mysteries performed there. Sacred to the vegetation-goddess Ceres, the Mother, and her daughter Persephone, the Maiden.

BkII:Chap7:Sec5 The High Priest there.

 

Elgin, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl

1766-1841. A British nobleman and diplomat, he is chiefly known for the removal of marble sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens, popularly known as the Elgin Marbles. He was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire between 1799 and 1803. The marbles were bought for the nation in 1816. There have been many, so far unsuccessful, attempts to have them returned to Greece.

BkXXXIX:Chap7:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Elijah

fl. c.875BC. A Hebrew prophet in the reign of King Ahab.

BkXX:Chap4:Sec1 See the first book of Kings.

 

Elis, Greece

A city and country in the western Peloponnese.

BkXXII:Chap12:Sec1 The Olympic Games were held there, on sacred soil.

 

Élisabeth Philippe-Marie-Hélène de France, called Madame

1764-1794. The sister of Louis XVI, she was a deeply religious and extreme royalist who was guillotined in May1794 after a trial on trumped-up charges.

BkV:Chap9:Sec1 She remained with the King after the fall of the Bastille.

 

Élisabeth, Queen Elizabeth I of England and Ireland

1533-1603. Queen 1558-1603. Her religious compromise established Protestantism in England. In 1588 the English fleet saw off the Spanish Armada. She presided over the development of a vigorous national identity displayed by the Elizabethan Renaissance.

BkXII:Chap1:Sec1 BkXXVII:Chap3:Sec1 Mentioned.

BkXII:Chap5:Sec1 Died at Richmond Palace.

BkXXVII:Chap11:Sec1 As a famous Englishwoman.

 

Ellbogen (Loket), Czech Republic

The town in Bohemia is on the River Eger (Ohre), near Carlsbad. It has a fine Gothic castle.

BkXXXVIII:Chap5:Sec1 Chateaubriand there in May/June 1833.

 

Elleviou, Pierre –Jean

1769-1842 The most celebrated tenor of his generation, he took part in many productions at the Théâtre Feydeau, which merged with the Théâtre Favart in 1802, to become the new Opéra-Comique. He played the role of Versac in Maison à Vendre by Dalayrac in October 1800. He retired at 43 to Ternand near Lyons where he farmed a large estate.

BkXXXIV:Chap6:Sec1 His note to Chateaubriand in 1831.

 

Elster, River

The Weisse Elster (White Elster) is a 257 km long river in central Europe. Its source is in the westernmost part of the Czech Republic, near As. After a few kilometres, it flows into eastern Germany. In Germany, it flows through the states of Saxony, Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt and through the cities of Plauen, Greiz, Gera, Zeitz and Leipzig. It flows into the river Saale in Halle.

BkXXII:Chap6:Sec1 Poniatowski drowned in the river in 1813.

 

Elzéar de Sabran,  Saint

1285-1323. Baron of Ansouis, Count of Ariano. On the death of his father, in 1309, he went to Italy and, after subduing by kindness his subjects who despised the French, he went to Rome at the head of an army and aided in expelling the Emperor Henry VII. Returning to Provence, he made a vow of chastity with his spouse, and in 1317 went back to Naples to become the tutor of Duke Charles and later his prime minister when he became regent. In 1323 he was sent as ambassador to France to obtain Marie of Valois in marriage for Charles, edifying a worldly court by his heroic virtues.

BkV:Chap2:Sec 2 Mentioned. A close relative of Saint-Louis.

 

Émery, Abbé

1732-1811. Superior of the Society of Saint-Sulpice. He taught with distinction in various seminaries and became vicar-general of the Archdiocese of Paris and superior of the Society. He was staunch in his opposition to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy. It was he who at Bishop Carroll’s request sent the first Sulpicians to the United States. Under Napoleon he re-established the seminary of Saint Sulpice, but his defense of the Pope against the Emperor resulted in the expulsion of the Sulpicians from the seminary.

BkXIV:Chap5:Sec1 Urged Chateaubriand to accept a diplomatic role in 1803.

 

Emma

8th century. The daughter of Charlemagne and Gismonda, in legend she carried her young lover Eginhard over the snow to avoid leaving traces of their affair.

BkXXVI:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Emo, Angelo, Admiral

1731-1792. The last Grand-Admiral of the Venetian Republic, he was noted for his actions against the Barbary Pirates. Between October 1784 and October 1786 during the war against the Bey of Tunis he commanded the Venetian fleet that bombarded and razed to the ground Tunis and La Goletta, Susa, Sfax and Bizerta.

BkXXXIX:Chap8:Sec1 His monument by Canova (1795).

 

Ems, Germany

A town in the Rhineland-Palatinate, West Germany, on the Lahn River, it was chartered in 1324 as an important lead and silver mining centre, and has been one of Europe’s most famous spas since the late 17th century. It was the site of the Congress of Ems (1786), which acted to reduce Papal influence on the German Catholic Church. Bismarck drew up (1870) the Ems dispatch there.

BkXXVI:Chap6:Sec1 The Duchess of Cumberland was there in 1821.

 

Encyclopedists

The French intellectuals who contributed to Diderot’s monumental Encylopédie published in 28 volumes between 1751 and 1772. Five more volumes were published in 1776-1777. It combined scientific fact and radical philosophical thought, appealing to reason not faith, and therefore threatening Church and State.

BkIV:Chap1:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Endymion

A handsome Greek youth who fell asleep on Mount Latmus, and was loved by Selene, the moon goddess. He then fell under an enchantment, and lay in a perpetual sleep created by Zeus or Selene herself.

BkIII:Chap8:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Enghien (Anghien), Francois de Bourbon, Comte d’

1519-1546. Comte d’Enghien 1536-1546. Son of the Duc de Vendôme. Elder brother of Louis I, Prince de Condé.

BkXVI:Chap5:Sec1 Won the battle of Cerisoles (Ceresole) in Piedmont in 1544, fighting against the Imperial Army. 

 

Enghien, Louis-Antoine-Henri de Bourbon-Condé, Duc d’

1772-1804 Born at Chantilly, he was executed on trumped-up charges, by firing-squad, at Vincennes. About this execution, Talleyrand made his most famous quip: ‘It was worse than a crime; it was a mistake’.

BkXI:Chap3:Sec3 BkXVIII:Chap5:Sec1 BkXIX:Chap9:Sec1

BkXX:Chap3:Sec1 BkXX:Chap6:Sec1 BkXX:Chap11:Sec1

BkXX:Chap13:Sec1 BkXXII:Chap13:Sec1 BkXXII:Chap15:Sec2

BkXXIII:Chap3:Sec1 BkXXIII:Chap4:Sec1 BkXLII:Chap4:Sec2

BkXLII:Chap17:Sec1 His death mentioned.

BkXIII:Chap6:Sec2 BkXIII:Chap11:Sec2 BkXIV:Chap4:Sec1

BkXVIII:Chap8:Sec2 BkXXVIII:Chap17:Sec1 BkXXXV:Chap19:Sec1

Chateaubriand resigned after the Duke’s death.

BkXVI:Chap1:Sec1 BkXXIV:Chap12:Sec1 Chateaubriand gives the date of the execution incorrectly as the 20th March, here corrected to the 21st. After the Cadoudal conspiracy Bonaparte acted on reports that the Duke was involved, and violated the neutral territory of Baden to arrest him at Ettenheim (7 miles over the French border) and take him to Vincennes. He was tried by military court early on the 21st, sentenced to death and shot in the castle moat.

BkXVI:Chap5:Sec1 Rovigo’s involvement in his death.

BkXVI:Chap9:Sec1 A memorial service given for him in St Petersburg,

BkXVI:Chap11:Sec1 BkXVIII:Chap7:Sec2 BkXXI:Chap5:Sec1

BkXXII:Chap9:Sec1 BkXXIV:Chap4:Sec1 BkXXIV:Chap5:Sec1

BkXXIV:Chap16:Sec1 Mentioned.

BkXLII:Chap8:Sec1 Talleyrand’s involvement in his death.

 

Enna

The town and plain in central Sicily was sacred to Ceres and was where her daughter Persephone was raped by Pluto. See Ovid’s Metamorphoses V:385

BkIII:Chap8:Sec1 BkXIX:Chap1:Sec1Mentioned.

 

Enragés

Fanatics. Extremist aristocrats or later the extremist revolutionaries led by Jacques Roux and Jean Varlet, who became a powerful force in Paris in 1793. They were particularly antagonistic to those whom they suspected of hoarding or speculating.

BkIX:Chap6:Sec2 Chateaubriand’s brother belonged to a club of Royalist enragés.

 

Enns, Austria

In the Upper Austria province of north central Austria, on the Enns River near its confluence with the Danube, Enns is one of Austria’s oldest towns: it was established as a fortress in the 10th century and was chartered in 1212.

BkXIX:Chap16:Sec1 Berthier head-quartered there in 1809.

 

Entragues, see Verneuil, Madame de

 

Entragues, Mademoiselle de

Sister of Madame de Verneuil

BkIV:Chap8:Sec4 Bassompierre in the last volume of his Memoirs tells how he made a conquest of the young sister of Henriette d’Entragues, Madame Verneil.

 

Epaminondas

c418-362BC. The Theban general and military strategist, he defeated Sparta at Leuctra in 371. He was the first to use a combined cavalry and infantry force and his military innovations influenced the Macedonians. He died at Mantinea where the Spartans were again defeated.

BkXIX:Chap9:Sec1 A classical name used by revolutionaries.

BkXXII:Chap11:Sec1 See Plutarch Agesilaus:L. Epaminondas led the Thebans to the inviolate walls of Sparta, whose King Agesilaus claimed his women had never seen enemy camp-fires.

 

Épernon, Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, d Duc de

1554-1642. Favourite of Henri III, Admiral of France, intriguer under Henri IV and Louis XIII.

BkXIV:Chap2:Sec3 Connected with Marseilles which he lost for the League in 1595.

BkXXXVII:Chap9:Sec1 Chateaubriand considered him a mediocrity.

 

Épervier

A French brig, it conveyed Napoleon on board the Bellerephon in 1815.

BkXXIV:Chap4:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Epictetus

The subject of an epitaph by Leonidas of Tarentum in the Palatine Anthology: VII:625

BkXL:Chap5:Sec1 His epitaph.

 

Epicurus

341-270BC. The ancient Greek philosopher was the founder of Epicureanism. His original school was based around his home and garden. An inscription on the gate to the garden is recorded by Seneca in his Epistle XXI: ‘Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure.’ It became, along with Stoicism and Skepticism, one of the three dominant schools of Hellenistic Philosophy. An atomist, Epicurus, who admitted women and slaves to his school, taught that calmness of mind and the absence of pain were the goals of a happy life. He advocated reticence and concealment, anonymity and simplicity, and acceptance of death as well as lack of fear of it. He was by no means a hedonist and his influence on later social thinkers, in advocating the just society, was considerable.

BkXXXII:Chap11:Sec1 His motto was lathe biosas: live unnoticed (See Plutarchus De latenter vivendo 1128c; Flavius Philostratus Vita Apollonii 8.28.12.)

 

Epimenides

The Cretan poet and philosopher of the 7th century BC, he fell asleep (according to Pliny in his Natural History) in a cave when a boy and did not wake for fifty-seven years, when he found himself endowed with miraculous wisdom.

BkXXVII:Chap11:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Épinay, Louise-Florence-Petronille Tardieu d’Esclavelle, Dame de La Live d’

1726-1783. Daughter of the Governor of the Citadel of Valenciennes, she married her cousin Denis-Joseph La Live d’Épinay, a Farmer-General, who inherited the mansion of La Chevrette near Montmorency. She became the lover first of Dupin de Francueil, and then of Melchior Grimm. She was admired by Voltaire, and published a well-known educational dialogue, Conversations d’Émilie, as well as her semi-autobiographical novel Histoire de Madame de Montbrillant. Diderot became one of her closest friends. Her husband was a spendthrift and they were forced to give up La Chevrette in 1762. She loaned the ‘Hermitage’ cottage on the estate to Rousseau during 1756-1757. Sister of Madame d’Houdetot.

BkIX:Chap6:Sec2 Mentioned.

BkXIV:Chap1:Sec2 His association with Rousseau’s set.

 

Éponine

Wife of the Gallic chieftain Sabinus, she hid him in a cave before dying with him, at the time of Vespasian. She became a symbol of Gallic resistance and conjugal devotion.

BkIV:Chap8:Sec3 Mentioned.

 

Érard, Jean-Baptiste

1750-1826. Céleste Spontini was the daughter of Jean-Baptiste Érard, and niece of Sébastien Érard (1752-1831), the celebrated Parisian piano and harp makers who developed the modern piano. They were Frenchmen born in Strasbourg, who designed and manufactured in Paris from 1777. Their instruments were owned by many famous musicians including Haydn (no. 28) Beethoven (no. 133), Chopin, and Liszt.

BkXXVI:Chap4:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Erasmus, Desiderius

1466-1536. The Christian humanist and writer was born in Rotterdam, and studied and taught all over Europe. He produced many original works and compilations including In Praise of Folly (1509) written to amuse his English host Thomas More.

BkXXXV:Chap11:Sec1 Erasmus spent the years 1526-1531 in Basel where Holbein also stayed, early in his career, and painted several portraits of the great humanist.

 

Ercilla y Zúñiga, Alonso de   

1533-94, A Spanish poet, in Chile (1556-63), he fought against the Araucanians, and while there began the epic poem La Araucana, considered the finest Spanish historical poem. This heroic work in 37 cantos is divided into three parts, published in 1569, 1578, and 1589. It tells of the courageous insurrection of the Araucanians and also relates the history of Chile and of contemporary Spain.

Preface:Sect4 An example of a writer involved with the events of his times.

BkVI:Chap8:Sec1 In La Araucana Ercilla recounts Dido’s story in Cantos XXXII (47-91) and XXXIII (1-53).

 

Erfurt

Founded in 742 A.D., the town in Saxony came under the rule of the Roman Catholic archbishop of Mainz, and was transferred to Prussia in 1803.

BkXX:Chap6:Sec1 Taken by Murat on 16th October 1806.

BkXX:Chap7:Sec2 BkXX:Chap11:Sec1 BkXXII:Chap 26:Sec1

In September 1808 Napoleon called a meeting of all his puppet monarchs at Erfurt. However, the meeting was merely an excuse for Napoleon to confront Alexander. Napoleon hoped that the array of Europe’s nobility would impress Alexander, which it failed to do. Talleyrand secretly told Alexander that Napoleon’s empire was over-extended, and that he should simply bide his time until the collapse.

BkXXII:Chap6:Sec1 Napoleon retreated there after Leipzig in 1813.

BkXXVI:Chap1:Sec1 Chateaubriand there in 1821.

 

Erie

The Lake, and the city in the USA on the Lake, founded in 1753 as a Great Lakes port.

BkVII:Chap9:Sec1 The Indian tribes from east of there.

BkVIII:Chap1:Sec1 The Indians of the area.

BkVIII:Chap5:Sec1 Its solitudes and wilderness.

 

Erskine, Thomas, 1st Baron

1750-1823. A lawyer and Whig politician who rose to prominence defending political radicals during the 1790s. Lord Chancellor in Grenville’s coalition ‘Ministry of All the Talents’. He stood for free speech and a free press. He secured the discharge of the defendants at the infamous Treason Trials (1794), one of the key radical victories of the 1790s. His best known client was Tom Paine whom he defended unsuccessfully against a charge of seditious libel after the publication of his Rights of Man (1791). Erskine’s last notable case was his defence of Queen Caroline at her divorce ‘trial’ in 1820.

BkXII:Chap5:Sec3 Chateaubriand heard him speak.

 

Erythia

The unknown ‘red island’ sacred to Hera where Geryon’s cattle were pastured. Also this is the name of one of the three Hesperides, the nymphs who guarded the golden apples of Atlas.

BkVIII:Chap7:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Erzurum, Turkey

The town in north-east Turkey is on the route from Ankara to Iran.

BkXXIX:Chap13:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Escotais, Louis-Joseph des

He was the Grand Prior of Aquitaine.

BkI:Chap1:Sec5. He is mentioned as presiding over the granting of Chateaubriand’s application to enrol in the order of Malta.

 

Espaing de Lyon, Messire

A French knight who travelled with Jean Froissart from Foix to Orthez, and entertained him with tales along the way.

BkXXXI:Chap1:Sec2 See Froissart’s Chronicles III.6

 

Espremesnil, or Epremenil, Jean-Jacques Duval de

1745-1794. A French magistrate and politician, he was born in India. He showed bitter enmity to Marie Antoinette in the matter of the diamond necklace, and in November 1787 he was the spokesman of the parlement in demanding the convocation of the states-general. However in the Constituent Assembly he opposed every step towards the destruction of the monarchy. In September 1793, he was arrested at Le Havre, taken to Paris, and denounced to the Convention as an agent of Pitt. He was brought to trial and guillotined.

BkX:Chap8:Sec2 His name appears on the death warrant exhibited, and he was executed with Chateaubriand’s brother.

 

Essai historique, politique et moral sur les Revolutions anciennes et modernes

Work by Chateaubriand. Published in March 1797, it brought him closer to the monarchist group in London, and led to his first serious affair with the Vicomtesse du Belloy. The book was printed by Baylis and sold by Deboffe.

BkVI:Chap1:Sec2 Planned in Kensington Gardens.

BkVII:Chap1:Sec1 Containing details of his plans for the North-West Passage, it was prepared for publication in late 1796.

BkVII:Chap8:Sec1 A description of Niagara given there.

BkX:Chap4:Sec1 See Essai Historique pp.7-8, 38,44.

BkX:Chap5:Sec1 Peltier supports the idea.

BkX:Chap6:Sec1 BkX:Chap7:Sec1 BkXI:Chap1:Sec1 Printing was commenced in instalments, subject to reimbursement for lack of sales.

BkXI:Chap2:Sec1 The circumstances surrounding publication, and its effect.

BkXI:Chap5:Sec1 It required a study of history.

BkXIII:Chap3:Sec2 Unknown in Paris in 1800.

BkXIX:Chap5:Sec2 His sketches for it mentioned.

BkXXVIII:Chap10:Sec1 His Notes of 1826 on the work mentioned.

BkXXXV:Chap11:Sec2 Mentioned.

 

Estaing, Charles-Hector, Comte d’

1729-1794. A French admiral, after serving in India he was given (1778) command of a French fleet sent to aid the colonists in the American Revolution. Planning to attack Newport, R.I., he was undone by a storm and had to put in at Boston for repairs. In 1779 he cooperated with Gen. Benjamin Lincoln in the unsuccessful attack on Savannah. In 1780 he returned to France. He commanded the National Guard at Versailles during the invasion (Oct. 5–6, 1789) of the palace by a Parisian mob, but took no action. Sympathetic to some of the aims of the French Revolution, yet personally close to the royal family, he testified (1793) in favour of Marie Antoinette during her trial. He was later guillotined as a royalist.

BkII:Chap8:Sec2 BkV:Chap10:Sec1 BkVI:Chap2:Sec2 Mentioned.

 

Este, Alfonso II d’, See Alphonse II d’Este

 

Este, Cardinal Hippolyte (Ippolito) d’

1509-1572. Brother of Alfonso II, he was Cardinal of Ferrara, he spent much time at the court in Paris. He became Governor of Tivoli in 1550, and built the marvellous Villa d’Este.

BkXL:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Este, Lucrezia d’

1535-1598. Sister of Alfonso II d’Este she married Francisco Maria delle Rovere, Duke of Urbino.

BkXL:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Esterhazy of Galanta, Prince Paul Anton III

1786-1866. He served Austria in a series of diplomatic posts, Dresden 1810-1813, Rome 1814, and London from 1815 to 1842. In 1848 he was briefly Foreign Minister. He published a journal of his stay in France in 1814. The family encountered financial trouble during his lifetime, and ‘the last years of his life were spent in comparative poverty and isolation’.

BkXXII:Chap14:Sec1 Sent to Blois to escort Marie-Louise to Vienna in 1814.

BkXXVII:Chap2:Sec1 BkXXVII:Chap5:Sec1 Austrian Ambassador in London in 1822.

BkXXXIII:Chap1:Sec1 Mentioned in the French text, he was never Austrian Ambassador in Paris. The post was occupied from 1826 to 1849 by Count Apponyi, former Ambassador to Rome.

 

Esterhazy, Maria-Francoise Marquise de Roisin, Princess

1778-1845. She married Count Nicholas Esterhazy-Galantha-Forchenstein (1775-1856) in 1799.

BkXXXVIII:Chap1:Sec1 At dinner with the Dauphine in Carlsbad in May 1833.

 

Esterhazy, Mademoiselle

She was the daughter of the Princess.

BkXXXVIII:Chap1:Sec1 At dinner with the Dauphine in Carlsbad in May 1833.

 

Esther, see Ahasueras

 

Estrées, Gabrielle d’, Duchesse de Beaufort et Verneuil

1571-1599. La Belle Gabrielle, Mistress of Henri IV. She became his lover at the age of twenty and gave him three children. She died following the premature birth of a son.

BkII:Chap9:Sec1 According to tradition she lived at Alluye, belonging to her aunt, the Marquise de Sourdis.

BkIV:Chap9:Sec2 BkXIV:Chap1:Sec1 BkXXII:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Étampes, Anne de Pisseleu d’Heilly, Duchesse d’

1508-1580. Mistress of Francis I, daughter of Guillaume de Pisseleu, a nobleman of Picardy. She came to court before 1522, and was one of the maids of honor of Louise of Savoy. Francis I made her his mistress, probably on his return from his captivity at Madrid (1526), and soon gave up Madame de Chateaubriant for her. Anne was sprightly, pretty, witty and cultured, and succeeded in keeping the favor of the king until the end of the reign in 1547.

BkIV:Chap9:Sec2 Mentioned.

 

Ethelred II, The Unready

968-1016. King of England 978-1013 and 1014-1016.

BkXXXVII:Chap5:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Étienne, Charles-Guillaume

1777-1845. A playwright (Les Deux Gendres, 1818) he edited the Minerve newspaper, where his Paris Letters proved a great success, then the Constitutionnel. He was deputy for the Meuse in 1820, 1824, and 1827. In March 1830, he wrote the famous Address of the 221. A deputy again in July 1830, he was elevated to the peerage in 1839.

BkXXV:Chap9:Sec1 Mentioned.

BkXXVIII:Chap14:Sec1 He writes to Chateaubriand complimenting him on his pamphlet Opinion sur le project de loi rélatif a la police de la presse, of 1827.

BkXXXI:Chap7:Sec1 He co-wrote the address for the opening of the Session of 1830 on the 2nd of March.

 

Etna (Aetna)

The volcanic mountain is in eastern Sicily.

BkXXXVIII:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned for its exoticism.

 

Etruria

The ancient country, in West central Italy, now forming Tuscany and part of Umbria. It was the territory of the Etruscans, who in the 6th cent. BC spread Etruscan civilisation throughout much of Italy. They were later forced back into Etruria and ultimately dispersed. Details of the famous Etruscan tombs with their artistic treasures were first published in the 1820’s.

BkXI:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.

BkXX:Chap9:Sec3 The Queen of Etruria was the Spanish Infanta, Queen of Tuscany from 1801 to 1807. She was Maria Luisa (1782-1824), daughter of Charles IV, King of Spain, and consort of Lodovico I, King of Etruria.

 

Études historiques

A work by Chateaubriand, it was published in April 1831.

BkXL:Chap2:Sec2 Quoted.

 

Eucharis

A character in Fénelon’s prose-poem Télémaque.

BkII:Chap3:Sec4 Chateaubriand refers to the prose-poem or poetic novel, printed in Paris in 1799, which is a continuation of the Odyssey, being the story of Telemachus son of Odysseus, and includes an episode where he falls in love with Eucharis, one of Calypso’s nymphs.

 

Eudes, Saint Jean

1601-1680. French missionary and founder of the Eudists, and of the Congregation of Our Lady of Charity, he was the ‘Author of the liturgical worship of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary’. Brother of the French historian, François Eudes de Mézeray.

BkII:Chap4:Sec1 BkII:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned. A Eudist seminary near Dol.

 

Eudes (Odo), Comte de Paris

c860-898. King of the Franks (888 - 898). He was a son of Robert the Strong, Count of Anjou, and is sometimes referred to as Duke of France and also as Count of Paris. For his skill and bravery in resisting the attacks of the Normans at the Siege of Paris, Odo was chosen king by the western Franks when the emperor Charles the Fat was deposed in 887, and was crowned at Compiègne in February 888.

BkXXII:Chap13:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Eudore

A character in Les Martyrs (1809) by Chateaubriand: the work was written to show the triumph of Christianity over paganism. In Armorica, the Christian Eudore meets with Velléda a Druidic priestess, who ultimately kills herself. Later he meets with Cymodocée a pagan. She wishes to convert and follow his destiny. After various vicissitudes she is martyred with him in the arena.

Preface:Sect2. BkXVII:Chap3:Sec2 BkXXXVI:Chap7:Sec1 Mentioned.

BkXVIII:Chap6:Sec1 BkXXIX:Chap1:Sec3 BkXXIX:Chap7:Sec2

BkXXXIX:Chap17:Sec1 A character in Les Martyrs.

 

Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Prince

1781-1824, A French general; son of Alexandre and Josephine de Beauharnais (the Empress Josephine), he served ably in the campaigns of his stepfather, Napoleon I, distinguishing himself at Marengo and Lützen where he rallied the outnumbered troops, and in the Russian campaign. The emperor made him viceroy of Italy in 1805 and officially adopted him the following year. Beauharnais married a Bavarian princess, and after Napoleon’s downfall lived in Munich.

BkXX:Chap5:Sec3 In 1806 Eugène married Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika Georgia of Bavaria (1788-1851), daughter of Maximilian I of Bavaria, and his father-in-law made him Duke of Leuchtenberg and gave him the administration of the Principality of Eichstätt in 1817.

BkXXI:Chap4:Sec2 At the entry to Moscow in 1812.

BkXXI:Chap5:Sec1 BkXXI:Chap5:Sec3 BkXXI:Chap6:Sec1

BkXXI:Chap7:Sec1 On the retreat from Moscow, in 1812. He commanded the vanguard. At Smorgoni, he urged Napoleon to return to France.

BkXXII:Chap3:Sec1 BkXXXII:Chap3:Sec1 Commanding in Italy in 1813-1814.

 

Eumaeus

A swineherd, he appears as a character in the Odyssey.

BkXXXVI:Chap11:Sec1 BkXXXVI:Chap12:Sec1 BkXLI:Chap3:Sec1

See Homer’s Odyssey XIV.

 

Euripides

c480-406BC. The Greek dramatist was born according to tradition on the day of the sea battle at Salamis. In 408 he left Athens for the court of Archelaus in Macedonia where he remained. Nineteen of his plays survive, including Medea (431), Electra (415), and The Bacchae (405). His technical innovations included naturalistic dialogue, a reduced role of the chorus, the exploration of the role of women, and a critical attitude towards conventional religion.

BkXII:Chap1:Sec1 BkXIII:Chap9:Sec1 BkXIX:Chap1:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Eurotas

The river of Sparta, celebrated for its swans sacred to Apollo.

BkXI:Chap3:Sec3 Mentioned.

BkXVIII:Chap1:Sec1 BkXXXVI:Chap6:Sec1 The oleanders on its banks. Chateaubriand visited in 1806.

 

Euryalus

Euryalus and Nisus were proverbial friends, characters who die together fighting in Virgil’s Aeneid (see Book IX).

BkXXV:Chap8:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Eurydice

The wife of Orpheus, she died after being bitten by a snake. Orpheus went to the Underworld to ask for her life, but lost her when he broke the injunction not to look back at her. (See Rilke’s poem, ‘Orpheus, Eurydice, Hermes’, and his ‘Sonnets to Orpheus’, and Gluck’s Opera ‘Orphée’).

BkVII:Chap6:Sec1 The link with snake-bite is the point of the reference.

 

Eustochium, see Paula

 

Evander

An Arcadian King, in Roman mythology/history, he welcomed Aeneas to the banks of the Tiber and showed him the future site of Rome. See Virgil’s Aeneid VIII:360-361.

BkXXXI:Chap1:Sec1 BkXLII:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Evanthe

The name merely means ‘flower’ in Greek. Perhaps Chateaubriand was thinking of Nepenthe, the Egyptian drug mentioned in Odyssey IV 228 that drove away care.

BkXXXVI:Chap11:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Eve

The wife of Adam in Genesis, created from his side.

BkIII:Chap11:Sec1 Mentioned as a symbol of both innocent and fallen woman.

BkX:Chap11:Sec1 As portrayed by Milton. The first woman, she was divinely created.

BkXL:Chap2:Sec3 As portrayed by Tasso.

 

Everett, Edward

1794-1865. A writer for the North American Review he was a noted orator and later Member of Congress, Governor of Massachusetts in 1834, and Ambassador to London in 1840.

BkXLII:Chap3:Sec1 Extracts from his speech to the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard on 26th August 1824. (Original transcript, not Chateaubriand’s translation)

 

Eyck, Jan van

c1390-1441. A Flemish painter, he served as diplomatic envoy to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The Adoration of the Lamb altarpiece in the Chathedral of St Bavon, Ghent, was probably started by his elder brother Hubert (d.1426). He perfected and possibly co-invented the technique of Flemish oil painting, in which the pigment is mixed with turpentine and oil and applied in thin glazes.

BkXXIII:Chap7:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Eylau, Battle of

The Battle of Eylau, fought on 7-February 8, 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive contest between the forces of Napoleon and a mostly Russian army under General Bennigsen. It was fought near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia.

BkXX:Chap6:Sec2 Napoleon inspected the battlefield on the 9th.

BkXX:Chap11:Sec1 BkXXIII:Chap1:Sec1 A costly battle for the French.

 

Exarch

The Exarch was the representative at Ravenna of the Byzantine Roman Emperor in Constantinople. The Eaxarchs ruled Ravenna from 584-751.

BkXXIX:Chap2:Sec2 Mentioned.

 

Exelmans, Isidore, General

1775-1852. Former Major of Grenadiers in the Imperial Guard, a General in 1812, was Inspector of Cavalry during the First Restoration. His part in the Hundred Days resulted in his exile to Germany after 1815. Four years later he returned to France but did not rejoin the army until 1830. He ended as a Marshal of France in 1851.

BkXXXII:Chap5:Sec1 His actions on the 29th of July, 1830.

BkXXXV:Chap1:Sec1 Mentioned in 1832.

 

Ezekiel

An Old Testament prophet, Ezekiel lived about 2600 years ago, when the Babylonian Empire had subdued the nation of Judah and had destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. He was the son of Buzi, a Zadokite priest. Ezekiel was among the Jews in Judah who were taken as captives by the Babylonians to Babylon. He received his call as a prophet during the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin. Ezekiel's ministry lasted about 22 years.

BkXXIV:Chap6:Sec1 See Ezekiel I:5-28.

BkXXIV:Chap14:Sec1 See Ezekiel XXXVII:4-5.

BkXXXI:Chap6:Sec1 See Ezekiel XXVII:32.