2021 Année Napoléon > Seine-et-Marne (departement)
As part of the commemoration of the death of Napoleon I in 1821, the Seine-et-Marne département will be organising a symposium in October 2021 on the relationship between the Emperor and the département. This symposium will take place at the Château de Fontainebleau and the Seine-et-Marne Departmental Archives. A play will also be performed the day after the symposium closes at the municipal theatre in Fontainebleau.
This information was updated on 7 September 2021.
For any additional information or changes to the programme, please consult the special “Napoleon in Seine-et-Marne” website. Napoléon en Seine-et-Marne.
Symposium > “La Seine-et-Marne et Napoléon : intimité, pouvoirs, mémoires” [“The Seine-et-Marne and Napoleon: intimacy, powers, memories]
11-13 October 2021
As part of the bicentenary of the death of the Emperor Napoleon I, the Department is organising a scholarly symposium on the theme of Seine-et-Marne and Napoleon: intimacy, powers, memories. It will deal with court life, the exercise of power, local authorities and the interactions between the Bellifontaine centre and French political life and international relations.
These study days will enable us to understand the hold of Napoleonic power over the territory and the people of Seine-et-Marne, through the restoration of Catholic worship, the prefectural power, the institution of the gendarmerie, or through electoral procedures (a tool for dialogue between the elites and the imperial regime). Military involvement was also at the heart of Napoleon’s plan, based on conscription, which the vast majority of Seine-et-Marne population accepted until 1813, the creation of an officers’ school in Fontainebleau and the accommodation of prisoners of war, who had been captured during the continental campaigns.
A few major figures stand out in connection with the Seine-et-Marne: the Minister of Foreign Affairs Caulaincourt, who negotiated the Treaty of Fontainebleau after the capitulation of Paris, the Minister of State Pierre Daru, who was closely associated with the Château du Matroy, and Louis-Alexandre Berthier, who organised the imperial hunt. Fontainebleau and the Seine-et-Marne is not only a place of power, but also a place of life, at the heart of the private life and social life of the imperial family.
Lastly, we shall evoke Napoleonic memory, whether engraved in stone or in graphic representations (architectural drawings of the Château de Fontainebleau). This is based on the memory of the ‘Adieu’ to the guard, a scene that is very present in the imagery of the period, on the memoirs written by the witnesses of the Emperor’s reign and, more generally, on the places of remembrance in the four corners of the department.
Find full details and programme (in English), susceptible to modifications here
Participation in the colloquium is free of charge but registration is required at the Seine-et-Marne Departmental Archives, by telephone on 01 64 87 37 15 and by e-mail at the following address: archives@departement77.fr
On the initiative of the Fondation Napoélon, a requiem mass for the Emperor Napoleon I will be held on Monday 11 October at 6.30 pm in the Church of Saint Louis, 2 rue de la Paroisse, Fontainebleau.
Opening of the colloquium
- 9 am | Introduction by the President of the Seine-et-Marne Department, the President of EPA of the Château de Fontainebleau and the Mayor of Fontainebleau ;
- 9.45 am Thierry Lentz (Fondation Napoleon): What did Napoleon really say during his Farewell in Fontainebleau?
- 10.30 am | Break.
1st panel of contributions: Intimacy
- 11 am | Rémy Hême de Lacotte (Paris Sorbonne University): Intimacy and power: Napoleon’s ecclesiastical entourage and the direction of the affairs of the Catholic cult ;
- 11.30 am | Pierre Branda (Fondation Napoleon): The Emperor’s House ;
- 12 pm | Franck Favier (Lycée Janson de Sailly Paris): Berthier’s action in Seine et Marne ;
- 2.30 pm | Guided tour of the apartments, places for living and for exercising power – The Napoleon Museum, a project in motion. Napoleon exhibition in Fontainebleau. Guided tours (heritage and collections department of the Château de Fontainebleau).
- 6.30 pm | a requiem mass for the Emperor Napoleon I at the Church of Saint Louis at Fontainebleau, 2 rue de la Paroisse.
2nd panel of contributions: The military epic
- 9 am | Annie Crépin (University of Artois): The power of the centralising State, the hold of the Napoleonic regime: the entrenchment of conscription in Seine-et-Marne ;
- 9.30 am | Michel Roucaud (History Department of La Défense): Before Saint-Cyr, the Ecole Spéciale Militaire (Special Military School) in Fontainebleau (1803-1808): “studying to vanquish” ;
- 10 am | Jacques-Olivier Boudon (Paris Sorbonne University): War prisoners in Seine-et-Marne under the Consulate and the Empire ;
- 10.30 am | Break ;
- 11 am | Bruno de Trémiolles (Château du Martroy), Pierre Daru, “Mon meilleur administrateur” (“My best administrator”) ;
- 11.30 am | Vincent Haegelé (Versailles Municipal Library): The 1814 campaign as seen by General Pelet-Clozeau, an actor, a witness and an analyser of history.
3rd panel : The Emperor and the Seine-et-Marne inhabitants
- 2 pm | Olivier Plancke (relay teacher Department Archives of Seine-et-Marne): Napoleon’s eyes, ears and sword arm: the Gendarmerie in Seine-et-Marne under the Consulate and the Empire ;
- 2.30 pm | Laurent Refuveille (University of Lorraine): Elections in Seine-et-Marne during the Napoleonic era ;
- 3 pm | Father Olivier Vatar (Diocese of Meaux): Mgr Pierre-Paul de Faudoas, Bishop of Meaux ;
- 3.30 pm | Break ;
- 4 pm | Exhibition and commentary of archive documents illustrating the Napoleonic era in Seine-et-Marne (Department Archives team).
4th panel of contributions: Political power
- 9 am | Joseph Schmauch (Department Archives of Seine-et-Marne): The Count of Plancy, Prefect of Seine-et-Marne ;
- 9.30 am | Marie Courtemanche (EHESS): Between glory, union and memory, the politics of the sacred under Napoleon ;
- 10 am | Break.
5th panel of contributions: Memory
- 10.30 am | Christophe Beyeler (Château de Fontainebleau): From one palace to the other. From the Musée des Souvenirs in the Louvre to the Grand Musée Napoleon I in Fontainebleau: legacies and perspectives ;
- 11 am | Charles-Eloi Vial (National Library of France): A new outlook on the Emperor’s intimacy: Fontainebleau, Napoleonic memorial site in the 19th century ;
- 11.30 am | Jean Vittet (Château de Fontainebleau): “Que sont devenus les dessins d’architecture du château de Fontainebleau sous Napoléon ?” (“What became of the architectural drawings of the Château de Fontainebleau under Napoleon?”) ;
- 2 pm | Danièle Bullot (Association Histoire, Patrimoine et Environnement valençois) Napoleonic memory in Montereau-Fault-Yonne ;
- 2.30 pm | Luc Duchamp (Archives et Musées de la Ville de Provins), “Des matériaux pour l’histoire de la Seine-et-Marne sous l’Empire : les manuscrits du bibliothécaire de la Ville de Provins, Nicolas Pasques (1744-1830)” (“Materials of the history of Seine-et-Marne during the Empire: manuscripts from the librarian of the Town of Provins, Nicolas Pasques (1744-1830)”) ;
- 3 pm | Break.
6th panel of contributions: Napoleon and the world
- 3.30 pm | Marie-Pierre Rey (Professor, Paris Sorbonne University): 1814, the role of Russia in Napoleon’s abdication ;
- 4 pm | Olivier Varlan (Archivist-Palaeographer, agrégé and doctor in history, professor of history and geography at the Lycée Faidherbe in Lille): The Treaty of Fontainebleau (April 1814): Caulaincourt’s only successful negotiation?
- 5 pm | Conclusion of the colloquium by Mr Jean-Louis Thiériot, deputy.Participation in the colloquium is free of charge but registration is required at the Seine-et-Marne Departmental Archives, by telephone on 01 64 87 37 15 and by e-mail at the following address: archives@departement77.fr
Théâtre > Le chanoine de Milan
12 October 2021, 8:30 pm (general public)
13 October 2021 9:00 am (schools)
A play from the repertoire of the Consulate period (Le Chanoine de Milan), performed by the Théâtre des Grognards on 21 May 2021 at the municipal theatre in Fontainebleau.
– 2:30 pm – Theatrical performance: Le chanoine de Milan by Le Théâtre des Grognards – Les Grognards de la Marne, théâtre municipal de Fontainebleau. Performance for schools.
– 8:30 pm – Theatrical performance: Le chanoine de Milan by Le Théâtre des Grognards – Les Grognards de la Marne, théâtre municipal de Fontainebleau. Performance intended for the general public.
Prior registration at the following address: dad@departement77.fr – free entry (please note the health protocol)
For further information or changes to the programme, please check the website Napoléon en Seine-et-Marne.
Archives départementales de Seine-et-Marne
248 Avenue Charles Prieur
77190 Dammarie-les-Lys
Tél. : 01 64 87 37 16
GENERAL Information
List of partners of “2021 Année Napoléon”.
Follow the special Instagram account for “2021 Année Napoléon” events.
Follow the Fondation Napoléon’s Facebook page in English.
Follow the Fondation Napoléon on Twitter.
Consult the page of the partner publishers and their published or republished works
on the occasion of the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death.
Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter (French or English).
PrEsentation OF THE Seine-et-Marne DEPARTMENT
The year 2021 will see the commemoration of the bicentenary of the death of the Emperor Napoleon I on 5 May 1821 in his exile on St Helena Island.
The links between the French Emperor and the department of Seine-et-Marne are numerous. From the end of 1813, the French campaign meant military operations were centered on the department (at Cutrelles or Montereau). While the coalition troops occupied Paris, Napoleon stayed at the Château de Fontainebleau, which was the scene of his farewell to the Imperial Guard on 20 April 1814.
Situated to the south-east of Paris, Seine-et-Marne is the largest department in the Île-de-France region. A young, dynamic department with strong economic development, Seine-et-Marne offers its inhabitants a quality living environment. With 5,000 employees, the Department works on a daily basis with the 1.3 million people of Seine-et-Marne. It maintains the road network on the 4330 km of departmental roads. It organises and develops transport and mobility. It contributes to the smooth running of 127 public secondary schools by welcoming students and their families, providing school catering services and equipping the establishments. It assists people losing their autonomy and people with disabilities. It is responsible for child protection and takes in children who are temporarily or permanently separated from their families. It participates in the development of the territory, notably through financial investment in the 536 municipalities of the territory. Finally, it brings cultural and sporting life closer to the inhabitants. In 2021, the Department’s budget will amount to 1.5 billion euros. More on the department’s website (French)
