The Caesar of Paris

by Susan Jaques

  On September 2, Napoleon joined Joséphine in Aachen at the hotel Zur kaiserlichen Krone, the Imperial Crown Hotel on Alexanderstraße near the Kurhaus, or assembly rooms (today’s Aachen library). Officially, the visit was a part of Napoleon’s tour of the four departments of the Rhine. Unofficially, Napoleon would spend the next week and a half studying Charlemagne’s legacy.

  Since his stunning victories in Italy, Napoleon had been likened to military greats Alexander, Hannibal, and Caesar. In light of his newly proclaimed dynastic empire, it was now politically advantageous to also claim the inheritance of the Carolingians who had laid the foundation for France.29 As Thierry Lentz explains, to Napoleon, there was no contradiction in appropriating both Julius Caesar and Charlemagne. The Frankish king had considered himself a Caesar, restoring the Roman Empire.30

  In a letter to Napoleon, Talleyrand played up the symbolism of his upcoming visit to Aachen: “It will appear great and just that the city that was the first imperial city for so long, that always bore the special name of the seat and the throne of the emperors, and that was Charlemagne’s habitual residence, experience its own magnificence through the presence of Your Majesty and bring out the resemblance in destinies that Europe has already grasped between the restorer of the Roman Empire and the founder of the French Empire.”31

  When he invaded Italy, writes Johannes Fried, Napoleon had ambitions to resurrect Charlemagne’s empire.32 In late 1803, Napoleon conceived a plan for a statue of Charlemagne for either the Place de la Concorde or Place Vendôme. In January 1804, he invoked Charlemagne when talking about the Civil Code before the Legislative Body: “[Charlemagne], just like he who governs us, wrote in the tumult of military camp the laws which were to keep families in peace, and he meditated on new victories when opening the peaceful assemblies of the Champ de Mars.”33

  As Matthew Zarzeczny explains, Napoleon admired Charlemagne’s success at unifying Christendom while promoting religious tolerance for political purposes.34 “[As] I had restored them [Jews] to all their privileges, and made them equal to my other subjects, they must consider me like Solomon or Herod, to be the head of their nation, and my subjects as brethren of a tribe similar to theirs,” he wrote. “. . . I wanted to establish a universal liberty of conscience and thought to make all men equal, whether Protestants, Catholics, Mohammedans, Deists, or others . . .”35

  The connections between the empires of Napoleon and Charlemagne were striking. To start, there was the geographic parallel, with the two empires encompassing France, Spain, Italy, and Germany. Both Charlemagne and Napoleon had unified France after periods of great turmoil. To govern his diverse empire, Charlemagne, like Napoleon, produced social reforms and a new civil code. Charlemagne used Christianity to bring together the disparate populations of the territories he conquered—a policy Napoleon emulated. On his desk at Saint-Cloud, Napoleon kept a bible on parchment belonging to Charlemagne.36 (Bibliothèque nationale de France).

  Charlemagne proved an effective model for Napoleon. As Robert Morrissey writes, “Napoleon’s eagerness to cultivate his resemblance to Charlemagne . . . provided him with symbolic capital that he could exploit . . . and legitimate his ascension to the imperial throne. . . . It also made it possible to . . . establish a link with ancient Rome, of which the emperor of the West was the direct heir. Finally, it used history to foreshadow and justify not only a reconciliation with the Church but also a policy of dominating it . . .”37

  Napoleon took a special interest in Aachen. Though he kept the pilfered marble columns and sarcophagus in Paris, he returned some of the stolen art, including the bronze sculpture of Charlemagne to the fountain on the Market Place, along with the second-century bronze She-Wolf and tenth-century pine cone. The Great Relics were brought back to Aachen from Paderborn in 1804.

  Charlemagne’s original palace was long gone, but Napoleon must have been struck by the towering cathedral that dominated the town. From the belfry, eight bells hung on wooden yokes in a wooden bell frame. The bells were cast three years after the city fire of 1656. In the aftermath of the fire, the cupola mosaic and other walls in the chapel had been covered with white stucco. But it was still possible to experience the sophisticated Carolingian artistic style—a fusion of late Antique, Hellenistic, Byzantine, Italian, Insular, and Frankish models.38

  From 936 until 1531, Otto I through Ferdinand I, thirty Roman-German kings and twelve queens were crowned at the main altar. Chronicler Petrus Beek described the ceremony: “After the coronation, the king ascends the throne of Charlemagne in the high choir in prayer, after which he receives congratulations. The Te Deum is sung and the consecrator returns with his escort to the altar in order to end the Holy Mass, while the remaining electorates remain with the king. In the meantime, the king is received in the Aachen chapter and upon the old Book of Gospels, swears the oath of allegiance and obedience before the blood of the protomartyr Stephen. Then he accepts the knightly accolades with the Carolingian sword and descends into the Cathedral, where the formal Mass continues.”39

  Napoleon participated in a number of symbolic acts. He had a Te Deum Mass sung and took part in a procession in which Charlemagne’s supposed relics were carried to the cathedral. Marie-Jeanne-Pierrette Avrillion, Joséphine’s first chambermaid (premiere femme de chamber) recalled the event: “Of all the fetes and ceremonies held for the Emperor in Aix-la-Chapelle, there was one which was really exceptional for the grandeur of the memories it evoked. There was a superb procession in which were solemnly carried the insignia used at the crowning and anointing of Charlemagne and also [. . .] relics such as his skull and the bone of one of his arms; we saw his crown, his sword, his scepter, his hand of justice, his imperial globe, and his gold spurs: all objects that were greatly venerated by the inhabitants of Aix-la-Chapelle and which had only been exhibited so as to celebrate the presence of the Emperor. As for Napoleon, he took every care to express to the inhabitants how pleased he had been by their attentiveness.”40

  Napoleon also paid his respects by Charlemagne’s golden shrine, a direct physical link with the emperor. The old monument, the arcosolium, most probably Charlemagne’s original tomb, was destroyed in 1786. Excavations in 1803 and 1804 had been unsuccessful in locating his tomb in the middle of the octagon. That winter, Bishop Berdolet placed a large stone plate in the excavated area inscribed “Carolo magno.”41

  Napoleon, who had led two Italian campaigns and an invasion of Egypt, must have felt a special affinity with the warrior-king who had unified much of Western Europe through his military campaigns. When Julius Caesar visited Alexandria, he made a pilgrimage to the tomb of Alexander the Great—one despot paying homage to another, as Roman poet Lucan said.42

  Now in the upper gallery, Napoleon declined to sit on Charlemagne’s throne. The two ancient marble pillars that had flanked the throne for nearly one thousand years were at the Louvre. Considered a relic in its own right, the revered throne was made of four marble slabs, possibly from Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The right side panel and backrest showed bits of ancient carvings with crosses and cavalries. During Charlemagne’s time, it’s believed the golden purse of St. Stephen was hidden in a cupboard underneath the back of the throne, holding earth soaked with his blood—possibly a gift from Pope Leo III.

  The throne itself sat on ancient marble slabs, including green and red porphyry and gray Egyptian granite. Six red-veined stone steps, like those of King Solomon’s throne (described in the First Book of Kings), led up to the seat. From this vantage, Charlemagne symbolically faced east toward the Redeemer and looked down to the main altar and up to Christ’s enthroned image depicted in the dome’s mosaic.

  Before leaving Aachen, Napoleon issued an edict aimed at connecting himself with Charlemagne. The Carolingian Renaissance was noted for learning and science. The edict announced the creation of prizes for the sciences, history, fine arts, and poetry, “having as subject matter the memorable events of our history or the deeds bringing honor to the
French character.”43 Like Louis XIV, Napoleon used Charlemagne to legitimize France’s military expansion to the east and beyond the Rhine. Napoleon called his new road along the left bank of the Rhine the “route of Charlemagne.”

  From Aachen, Napoleon and Joséphine embarked down the Rhine, stopping at a dozen towns before reaching Mainz. During their summer separation, Napoleon had penned a series of affectionate letters. “I cover you with kisses,” he wrote. “I cannot wait to see you. . . . A bachelor’s life is horrid. I miss my good and beautiful wife . . .”44 But as their entourage progressed, Napoleon turned his attention to Joséphine’s lady-in-waiting, Elisabeth de Vaudey, with whom he began an affair.

  Napoleon’s monthlong state visit was like a Roman triumph, with crowds of new subjects greeting the imperial couple.45 Like Charlemagne who met the German princes at Mainz en route to be crowned in Rome, Napoleon held court in Mainz on September 21—the first time outside of Paris. The delegation of Rhine princes congratulated Napoleon, describing him as the “first of our Roman Caesars to have crossed the Rhine to drive out the barbarians.”46

  During Napoleon’s stay in Aachen, Austrian foreign minister Johann Ludwig von Cobenzl arrived and informed him that Holy Roman Emperor Franz von Habsburg (crowned in 1792) had recognized the new French emperor. Reading the writing on the wall, desperately needing a backup hereditary imperial title, Franz had himself proclaimed Francis II, Emperor of Austria in August. After nearly one thousand years, Charlemagne’s revival of the Roman Empire was coming to an end.

  TWO

  CHARLEMAGNE’S HONORS

  Napoleon’s visit to Aachen made a deep impression. The imperial seal of 1804 featured Napoleon on one side and a reconstruction of the Carolingian coat of arms on the other. Having experienced the evocative power of Charlemagne’s regalia firsthand, he insisted on having the famous objects beside him at his own coronation ceremony.

  Kept in the imperial city of Nuremberg and only taken out for coronations, the regalia had carried Charlemagne’s aura for centuries. Ironically, the most coveted of the objects—the Karlskrone, or Crown of Charlemagne—had never been worn by its namesake. As Neil MacGregor puts it, “It’s not so much a crown, but an echo of a building, Charlemagne’s chapel.”1

  German king Otto I was the first to don the gem-studded gold crown for his coronation in 962; successive Holy Roman emperors continued the tradition. A tour de force of champlevé enamel, the crown’s eight hinged panels formed an octagon, symbol of regeneration. A trio of Old Testament kings along with Christ enthroned adorned four enamel plaques, conveying the idea of empire as a divine institution.2 Amethysts, malachite, rubies, quarts, crystals, and pearls embellished the other four panels.

  Over the ensuing centuries as Holy Roman emperors were elected from different families, the Crown of Charlemagne traveled from city to city. When the Habsburgs consolidated power around 1500, the crown stayed put in Nuremberg (until its transfer to Vienna for safekeeping in 1796).3 In the sixteenth century, the coronation ceremony moved from Aachen to Frankfurt; the coronation in Rome by the pope was discontinued.

  Not surprisingly, the Habsburgs did not think much of Napoleon’s request to borrow Charlemagne’s crown, bible, sword, and relics (including part of the Holy Cross) for his upcoming coronation. Undeterred, Napoleon dispatched Vivant Denon to track down royal insignia of medieval France and assemble the so-called “honors of Charlemagne.”

  Like the Holy Roman emperors, France’s kings had bolstered their own claims to Charlemagne by adding his relics to their coronations. But the French Revolution had taken a toll. The few surviving objects of regalia associated with Charlemagne were now housed at the Musée Napoléon, including gold spurs, the sword of Charlemagne and its scabbard, and the scepter of Charles V.

  Until the Revolution, Saint Denis was the designated basilica for royal funerals and burials. Thanks to gifts from abbots, princes, and kings, its treasury was the richest in France, with sacred medieval treasures along with the royal regalia. According to legend, the oldest and most precious of Saint Denis’s medieval swords was Charlemagne’s “La Joyeuse.” First mentioned in connection with Philippe III the Bold in 1271, La Joyeuse was received by subsequent French kings in their coronations at Reims.

  Another part of the crown jewels, the scepter of Charles V (known as Charlemagne’s Scepter), was commissioned by the king for his coronation in the fourteenth century. In 1380, the scepter was embellished and gifted to the abbot of Saint Denis with the other regalia for the coronation of Charles’s son, Charles VI.

  Capping the two-foot-long golden scepter was a statuette of Charles’s namesake Charlemagne, holding an orb and scepter and seated on a throne that rises from a lily, symbol of purity. Beneath a ring of pearls, the gem-studded pommel featured three medallions with scenes of Apostle St. James the Great reportedly seen by Charlemagne. The statuette was part of a public relations effort by the Habsburgs and Valois kings to associate themselves with the Carolingians.4

  In ancient Greece, the scepter was a staff used by the elderly or by shepherds to lead their flocks. The staff of antiquity evolved into the pastoral staff, associated with Christ the Good Shepherd protecting the flock of the faithful; or in the case of European rulers, protecting one’s subjects, writes Paula Rapelli. The scepter’s sphere-shaped orb represented a ruler’s power over the world.5

  To restore the famous Charles V scepter, goldsmith Martin-Guillaume Biennais replaced a missing pearl and stones, three small eagles on the throne, and a small cross that once topped the orb. Biennais also regilded and then integrated a late fourteenth-century gold vermeil baton used by Saint Denis’s choirmaster into the upper part of the shaft, which had been melted down in 1793.

  Like scepters, crowns had been symbols of power and sovereignty since antiquity. In addition to repairing the Charlemagne-related objects, Biennais was asked to recreate a medieval “Charlemagne” crown, melted down for its gold. The goldsmith consulted Bernard de Montfaucon’s 1729 Monuments of the French Monarchy with engravings showing Charlemagne wearing a cameo-encrusted imperial crown. Another reference may have been a pearl and cameo crown (circa 1349) capping the reliquary Bust of Charlemagne that Napoleon had seen during his trip to Aachen.

  The crown’s eight branches met under a cruciferous ball topped by a cross. To the headband and arches, Biennais affixed forty cameos and intaglios from the Louvre—antique, medieval, Byzantine, and seventeenth-century—taken by revolutionaries from Bourges, Arpajon, and the abbey of Saint Denis. Roughly half of the ancient gems used by Biennais came from a monumental, early fifteenth-century silver plated gold reliquary bust of Saint Benedict, which held a fragment of his skull and arm. The reliquary had been gifted to Saint Denis in 1401 by Charles V’s brother, Jean de Berry.6

  Carried off in November 1793 with the rest of Saint Denis’s treasury, the reliquary was melted down; its carved gems deposited at the Louvre. Among Biennais’s choices for the crown were a white chalcedony bust of an emperor wearing a breastplate, a two-layer agate portrait of the Roman emperor Elagabalus, and a two-layer agate cameo head of the mythological Omphale, mistress of Hercules.7

  Denon also repurposed gems from the reliquary for a new hand of justice by Biennais. These included a medieval oval cameo of Domitian from the base of the reliquary’s neck and an ancient intaglio of Victory reading.8 The original hand of justice that disappeared during the Revolution had featured an ivory hand whose ring finger was loaded with a sapphire mounted on a ring of gold. The wooden stick, covered with gold leaf, featured three circles of foliage. Originally, each circle was adorned by three garnets, three sapphires, and a dozen large pearls.9

  In keeping with the tradition of two crowns for the coronation of French kings, Biennais also designed a second crown for Napoleon. This time, the jeweler took his inspiration from Rome. The laurel was considered sacred to the worship of the sun; ancient Greek Olympiads received wreaths of laurel. For their triumphal processions, Roman generals wore th
e corona triumphalis of gold laurel leaves, representing the pinnacle of human supremacy. After Augustus established the Roman Empire, the laurel crown became a symbol of eternal power, exclusively for the emperors.10

  The oak leaf, sacred to Jupiter and Cybele, was another powerful symbol representing strength and endurance. Following his assassination, Alexander the Great’s father Philip II of Macedonia was buried with a spectacular crown of oak leaves made with hammered gold. The Roman Republic’s most coveted crown, made of three types of oak leaves, was presented to a citizen who had saved someone from an enemy.11

  On a velvet oval band, Biennais mounted fifty large gold laurel leaves in two rows to form branches, embellished with forty-two golden seeds. A dozen smaller gold leaves crisscrossed the forehead. To achieve the naturalistic details like veins, the goldsmith may have used a real laurel leaf in the casting. After Napoleon complained that the crown was too heavy, Biennais removed half a dozen of its large leaves, leaving forty-four. In the days before the coronation, crowds gathered at the window of Biennais’s Paris showroom to ogle the crown, along with Joséphine’s dazzling diadem, crown, and jeweled belt.12 The modern corona triumphalis cost 8,000 francs, plus a 1,300-franc storage box.

  Napoleon’s “honors of Charlemagne” had the desired effect. “In Europe,” wrote the Journal of Paris, “there is only one hand that is worthy of wielding the sword of Charlemagne, and it belongs to Bonaparte the Great.”13

  Determined to have a magnificent setting for his sacre, Napoleon dismissed a proposal to use the Champs-de-Mars military grounds. “We are no longer in that period when the people governed the king, and it is no longer necessary for them to meddle in politics,” he said.14 To avoid any reference to the deposed Bourbons, Napoleon also ruled out Reims cathedral where Clovis was baptized in 498 and almost all French kings had been crowned since 1027. Only Louis XI the Fat and Henri IV were crowned elsewhere—Orléans and Chartres in 1108 and 1594, respectively.15 Napoleon also considered Lyon, the ancient capital of the Gauls, along with Charlemagne’s capital of Aachen.