Napoleon’s empire fused the Carolingian and Roman revival dreams
Evidence
The best proof of that is that in June 1789, or a few weeks before the festival, someone in the Jacobin Club demanded that in the course of the festival, Louis XVI should forfeit the title of king, that the title of king should be replaced by that of emperor, that when he passed by, the cry should not be “Long live the king!” but “Louis the Emperor!” because the man who is emperor “imperat sed not regit”: he commands but does not govern, because he is an emperor and not a king. According to this project, Louis XVI should return from the Champ de Mars with the imperial crown on his head.” And it is of course at the point where the Carolingian dream (which is not very well known) and the Roman dream meet that we find the Napoleonic empire. — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 225
Categorization
- CANDY: The Jacobin proposal to crown Louis XVI ‘emperor’ at the July 14, 1789 festival is a lively, self-contained historical oddity.
- XREF: connects to: The French Revolution reactivated Rome and Charlemagne as historical legitimation — Michel Foucault, Society Must Be Defended, 225; Napoleon inaugurated the systematic use of scholarship for empire — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 106; Napoleon symbolized the junction of spectacle-sovereignty and permanent discipline — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 341 (+1 more)
Related
Broader Connections
- Napoleon inaugurated the systematic use of scholarship for empire
#expands(0.75) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 106 - The revival of Italian city-states renewed political interest in classical antiquity
#corroborates(0.72) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1886 - Napoleon symbolized the junction of spectacle-sovereignty and permanent discipline
#expands(0.70) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 341