Babylon is the
Greek variant of the Akkadian Babilu,
an ancient city in Mesopotamia (modern Al Hillah, Iraq). It was the ‘holy city’
of Babylonia from early times, and the seat of the Neo-Babylonian empire from 612
BC. In
the Hebrew Bible, the name appears as Babel, interpreted by popular
etymology to mean ‘confusion’. Akkadian bāb-ilû means ‘Gate of God’,
translating the Sumerian Kadingirra.
BkXII:Chap4:Sec2 The reference is to Psalm 137 ‘By the waters of
BkXVIII:Chap3Sec5 The abhorred city of
BkXXI:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXXII:Chap 21:Sec1 BkXXXII:Chap16:Sec1 The
BkXXIV:Chap7:Sec1 BkXXX:Chap2:Sec2 Alexander was in
BkXXX:Chap9:Sec1 A reference to Daniel VI:16.
Bacchiochi,
Elisa Napoleone, Princess of Piombino
1806-1869. In 1825, she married Philippe, Comte
Camerata-Passioneï de Mazzoleni. They separated in 1832.
BkXXX:Chap8:Sec1
Her daughter in
Dionysus the Greek god of the vine, the Roman Bacchus, was
the son of Semele by Zeus-Jupiter.
BkXXXVIII:Chap8:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXLII:Chap7:Sec1
The Bacchantes or Maenads were the band of savage women followers who attended
the god.
Bacciochi,
Maria-Anna (Élisa) Bonaparte, Madame d’
1777-1820. A younger sister of Napoleon. She married Pascal-Félix
Bacciochi a Corsican officer, in 1797. She was established as a member of the Imperial family of the First French
Empire in 1804. In 1805, Napoleon named her Duchess of Lucca and Princess of
Pimbino. Her separation from her husband was seen favorably by Napoleon who
named her Grand Duchess of Tuscany in 1809. The position had been previously
vacant since the abdication of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany in 1801 and
Tuscany had been incorporated to the Kingdom of Etruria until 1807. Her husband
soon rejoined her however. Elisa remained Duchess of Tuscany until 1814. Then
Ferdinand III was restored to his throne. She spent the later years of her life
in seclusion and died in Trieste.
BkXIII:Chap7:Sec1 BkXXVIII:Chap18:Sec1 BkXXIX:Chap1:Sec1 She used her influence on Chateaubriand’s behalf in 1801.
BkXIV:Chap5:Sec1 Reported on Napoleon’s satisfaction with his meeting with Chateaubriand.
BkXIV:Chap7:Sec1 Her letter introducing Chateaubriand to Murat.
BkXV:Chap7:Sec2 Continued to use her influence on Chateaubriand’s behalf in 1803/4.
BkXVI:Chap1:Sec1 She reproaches Chateaubriand for resigning in 1804. She placates Napoleon.
BkXVII:Chap1:Sec1 She extends her protection to him following his resignation.
BkXIX:Chap1:Sec1
Duchess of
BkXIX:Chap3:Sec1
She was educated at Saint-Cyr
until 1792 when the school was closed.
See Chapelle.
1561-1626. English philosopher, essayist, courtier, jurist,
and statesman, his writings include The Advancement of Learning (1605)
and the Novum Organum (1620), in which he proposed a theory of
scientific knowledge based on observation and experiment that came to be known
as the inductive method.He was
knighted in 1603, created Baron Verulam
in 1618, and created Viscount St Albans
in 1621; both peerage titles becoming extinct upon his death.
BkX:Chap5:Sec2
BkXXX:Chap11:Sec2 Mentioned.
Bad
A town in the district of
Bayreuth, in
BkXXXVIII:Chap6:Sec1 Chateaubriand there
An arm of the Arctic Ocean bounded by Baffin
Island in the west, Greenland in the east, and Ellesmere Island in the north,
it connects to the Atlantic through Davis Strait, and to the Arctic through
several narrow channels of Nares Strait. It is a northwestern extension of the North-Atlantic
and Labrador Sea.
BkXXXV:Chap16:Sec1 It is
normally filled with icebergs.
The capital of
BkIII:Chap8:Sec1 Mentioned. A symbol of Eastern luxury.
Bagration,
Pyotr Ivanovich, Prince
1765-1812. A Russian General during the French
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He fought under Field Marshal Suvorov
in the Italian and Swiss campaigns of 1798–99 and at
Bagration, Ekaterina Pavlovna Skavronksy, Princess
1783-1857. She was the wife of Prince Bagration (married 1800). She married Lord Hobart in 1830.
BkXLI:Chap1:Sec1 Her niece, Countess Samoilova.
The modern Baia, opposite
BkIX:Chap8:Sec2 Caligula’s building work there.
BkXV:Chap7:Sec3 Chateaubriand visited in 1828.
BkXXII:Chap
26:Sec1 Countess Walewska returned to
nearby
BkXXIX:Chap1:Sec3
Madame Récamier at
BkXXXVI:Chap10:Sec1 Mentioned.
1777-1824. An impoverished military man who published
various Bonapartist tracts, some opposing Chateaubriand, who nevertheless
assisted him and his wife.
BkXXIII:Chap6:Sec1
Mentioned indirectly.
The Battle of Bailén (Andalucia) was a
series of clashes between the Spanish regular army, operating in conjunction
with guerrilla formation, under Generals Francisco Castaños and Theodor von
Reding and the French commanded by General Pierre Dupont, between July 18 and
July 22 1808, as a part of the Peninsular War.The Spanish victory at Bailén
signalled to the armies of Europe that the French were not invincible - a fact
that persuaded the Austrians to wage a new war against Napoleon.
BkXX:Chap7:Sec1
BkXX:Chap7:Sec2 Mentioned.
1736-1793. French astronomer and politician, his works on
astronomy and on the history of science (notably the Essai sur la théorie
des satellites de Jupiter) were distinguished both for scientific interest
and literary elegance and earned him membership in the
BkV:Chap9:Sec1 Elected as Mayor of Paris after the fall of the Bastille in July 1789.
BkV:Chap9:Sec1
He was one of those who met and harangued the King at the Hôtel de Ville on
BkV:Chap10:Sec1
He again harangued the King, on
The reference is to Racine’s
play Bajazet of 1672, which concerns
Bajazet the brother of Sultan Murad IV (1612-1640) whom the Sultan had executed
in 1635. The play is set in the Seraglio and involves complex intrigues,
suicide and murder.
BkXXIII:Chap20:Sec2 Mentioned.
Balagny
(Balagni), Renée de Clermont d’Amboise, Madame de
d. 1595 She was the wife of Jean de Montluc (1560-1603), seigneur
de Balagny, at first a zealous member of the League, who made his submission to
Henri IV, and received from him the principality of Cambrai and the baton
of a Marshal of France.
BkXXXVII:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.
Balashov
(Balashev, Balascheff), Alexander Dmitriyevich
1770-1837. A Russian
general and statesman, from 1 January 1810 he was a member of the newly
established State Council. In June the same year he became the Minister of
Police. In 1812, during Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia, Balashov was present in
the front-line army stationed in Vilnius (Vilna). After La Grande Armée crossed
the frontier on June 12, Balashov was dispatched to deliver the Emperor's
letter to Napoleon. He participated in the organization of the People's Militia
(Народное
ополчение) and was a
member of the extraordinary committee choosing the commander-in-chief of the
Russian army.
BkXXI:Chap1:Sec1
He met Napoleon in Vilna in June 1812.
Balbi,
Anne de Caumont-La Force, Comtesse d’
1758-1842. Mistress of the
Comte de Provence (Louis XVIII) before 1789, she shared the start of his exile
at Coblentz then
lived in
BkXXV:Chap4:Sec1 A favourite of Louis XVIII.
Father of Pierre-Simon. A printer
BkXIV:Chap2:Sec1
Took over the printing rights to Le
Génie in 1802.
Ballanche,
Pierre Simon
1776-1847. A French philosopher, he was a frequenter of Mme Récamier’s salon. He was elected to
the Académie française in 1842. He is regarded as the precursor of both liberal
Catholicism and Romanticism. In Palingénésie
(1827–32) he historically documented his belief in cyclical cultural rebirth.
In addition to essays, Ballanche wrote didactic fiction, including a
Christianized Antigone (1813) and L’Homme sans nom (1820).
BkXIV:Chap2:Sec1 A printer in Lyons in 1802 in his father’s business.
BkXIV:Chap6:Sec1
Chateaubriand met Ballanche again in
BkXV:Chap2:Sec1
His letter (
BkXVII:Chap3:Sec1 BkXVII:Chap5:Sec1 Joined Chateaubriand on his trip to Mont-Blanc in 1805.
BkXVIII:Chap1:Sec1 Travels to meet Madame de Chateaubriand in Venice in 1806.
BkXXVIII:Chap19:Sec1 His comment on Madame Récamier’s bankruptcy in 1806.
BkXXIX:Chap1:Sec2 His comment on Madame Récamier’s portrait of 1802.
BkXXIX:Chap1:Sec5 His associations with Lyons and friendship with Chateaubriand.
BkXXXI:Chap8:Sec1 He arrives in Dieppe in July 1830.
BkXXXIV:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned in 1831.
BkXXXIX:Chap15:Sec1 A reference to his Essays on Social Palingenesis which was part-published but remained unfinished. Palingenesis was a term by which Ballanche referred to the successive regenerations of society, and he incorporated a progressive or evolutionary vision of Christianity in his work even as he insisted that Christianity was immutable.
The largest city in
BkV:Chap15:Sec4 BkVI:Chap3:Sec1 Chateaubriand sailed with a party of seminarists for there in April 1791.
BkVI:Chap6:Sec3
Chateaubriand arrived on
BkVI:Chap7:Sec1
Description of
BkVII:Chap1:Sec1
Chateaubriand left
BkVIII:Chap5:Sec2
Mentioned.
c. 1421-1491. Correctly Cardinal La Balu, he was a French
statesman, and a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. A trusted adviser of
the French king Louis XI, he saved Paris
for the king during the revolt of the League of the Public Weal (1465).
Subsequently he conspired with Charles the Bold of Burgundy against Louis and
arranged the meeting of the two rulers at Péronne (1468), where Charles made
Louis a prisoner. After his release Louis held Balue prisoner from 1469 to
1480, when the pope intervened. The legend that Balue was kept in an iron cage
is unproved. Balue went to
BkIX:Chap16:Sec1 Mentioned.
A town in Bavaria Germany, it is located in
BkXLI:Chap7:Sec1
Chateaubriand passed through again in late September 1833.
In French and Medieval English, a proclamation,
whereby all that held lands of the crown, (except some privileged officers and
citizens,) were summoned to meet at a certain place in order to serve the king
in his wars, either personally, or by proxy. Also the vassals so summoned.
BkXX:Chap12:Sec1 Napoleon uses an ancient and monarchical term for levying troops.
BkXXV:Chap9:Sec1
Mentioned.
1761-1835. A famous French actor, he was one of a whole family of Baptistes who played all the parts. He was the elder son, but his father, younger brother, mother and wife all acted. Nicolas soon obtained public favour, especially in La Martellière’s Robert, chef de brigands, and as Count Almaviva in Bèaumarchais’ La Mere coupable. As he grew older his special forté lay in noble fathers. After a brilliant career of thirty-five years of uninterrupted service, he retired in 1828. But, after the revolution of 1830, when the Théâtre Français was in dire straits, the brothers Baptiste came to the rescue, reappeared on the stage and helped to restore its prosperity.
BkXIX:Chap9:Sec3 Napoleon made his acquaintance.
He was valet de chambre and then plain valet to Chateaubriand.
BkXXXV:Chap4:Sec1 BkXXXVI:Chap6:Sec1 BkXXXVI:Chap12:Sec1
BkXXXVIII:Chap6:Sec1 BkXXXVIII:Chap10:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXLI:Chap3:Sec1
In
The town is on the River Aube east of Troyes.
BkXXII:Chap9:Sec1
Napoleon fighting there in 1814.
Barante,
Césarine d’Houdetot, Baronne de
1794-1877. The wife of Claude-Ignace (married 1811).
BkXXIX:Chap14:Sec1
Chateaubriand met her when she was a child of seven.
Barante,
Claude-Ignace Brugière, Baron de
1745-1814. He was of a noble family of the
BkXVII:Chap3:Sec1
Mentioned.
Barante,
Amable-Guillaume Prosper Brugière, Baron de
1782-1866. The son of Claude-Ignace.
He had a long affair with Madame de Staël. On Napoleon’s return he held the
prefecture of Nantes, which he immediately resigned. At the Second Restoration
he was made Councillor of State and Secretary-General of the Ministry of the
Interior. After becoming Director-General of Indirect Taxes, he was created in 1819
a Peer of France and was prominent among the Liberals. After the revolution of
July 1830, he was appointed ambassador to Turin, and in 1835 to St Petersburg.
Throughout Louis Philippe’s reign he supported the government; and after the
fall of the monarchy, in February 1848, withdrew from political life and
retired to his country seat in Auvergne. Shortly before his retirement he had
been made grand cross of the Legion of Honour. Barante's Histoire des ducs
de Bourgogne de la maison de Valois, which appeared in a series of volumes
between 1824 and 1828, procured him immediate admission to the Académie
Française.
BkXXV:Chap13:Sec1 Mentioned.
fl: 1170-1190. An
architect, he designed the
BkXXXIX:Chap19:Sec1
His work on the Campanile. The first tower was completed in 1173. It was
rebuilt after its collapse in 1902.
Fl: 1820-1860. He was a French bookseller and publisher.
BkXXXII:Chap9:Sec1 Mentioned in July 1830.
An Italian dancer, supposedly the only woman Frederick the Great ever showed an interest in (according to Voltaire and others). She was the wife of a minor court official.
BkXXVI:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.
1767-1794. An advocate, born at Marseilles, of which
he became town-clerk, he came to Paris ‘a young Spartan’ and became leader of the Girondins
in the French Revolution; he represented Marseilles in the Constituent Assembly
and the Convention; declared an enemy of the people, and forced to flee, he
mistook an approaching company for Jacobins, drew his pistol and shot himself,
but the shot miscarried; he was captured and guillotined.
BkXLII:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.
1743-1825. Biographer,
Children’s Writer, Dissenter, Editor, Educationalist, Essayist, Feminist,
Literary Critic, Literary Historian, Poet, Prose Writer, Reformer, Teacher.
BkXII:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned as a popular authoress.
Barbara
of Habsburg, Archduchess
1539-1572. She married Alfonso II
d’Este in December 1565.
BkXL:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.
She was an Italian singer, in
BkXXIX:Chap7:Sec1
Mentioned.
The second
largest city in Spain, it is the capital of Catalonia and the province with the
same name. It is located in the comarca of Barcelonès, along the Mediterranean
coast between the mouths of the rivers Llobregat and Besòs.
BkXXVII:Chap7:Sec1
In October 1821 there was an outbreak of yellow fever there. The French sent
medical aid but also used it as a pretext to deploy troops along the Rousillon
frontier. The Spanish liberal party denounced this cordon sanitaire.’
The headquarters of the Sous-Prefecture des Départements
Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, is situated some 44miles east of Gap in the Ubaye
valley. The small town lies in mountain country, surrounded by fruit fields and
meadows. The roads to the south lead over the well-known passes of
BkXIX:Chap9:Sec2
Napoleon’s arrest warrant was signed there, dated
Barclay
de Tolly, Prince Michael Andreas
1761-1818 A Russian field marshal, of Scottish descent, he
gained prominence in the Napoleonic Wars, became minister of war in 1810, and
commanded the Russian forces against Napoleon in 1812. His policy of continuous
retreat into the heart of
BkXXI:Chap1:Sec1 Napoleon’s comment on him in June 1812.
BkXXI:Chap2:Sec1
Toppled by Court intrigue.
A town in the Hautes-Pyrénées, known for its mineral waters.
BkXVIII:Chap3Sec1
Chateaubriand there in 1807.
Barentin,
Charles-Louis-François de Paule de
1738-1819. Last Keeper of the Seals under Louis XVI. He emigrated in 1789.
BkX:Chap6:Sec2 Chateaubriand wrote to him on behalf of Hingant in 1793.
Barère
(Barrère) De Vieuzac, Bertrand
1755-1841. A member of the Revolutionary National Assembly
and of the Convention, he became a radical, voting for the execution of Louis XVI. He was a member of, and often the
spokesman for, the Committee of Public Safety, the body that ruled
BkV:Chap2:Sec 2 His flippancy regarding the guillotine.
BkIX:Chap6:Sec2 BkXIX:Chap6:Sec1 Chateaubriand met him in 1792.