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Podcast episode 32.

#eugene de beauharnais #napoleonic era #Spotify

This one was one of the host's earlier episodes when he was just starting out on history podcasting. The gig is pretty tough so it's impressive he is able to do it up until today. His formatting has changed a lot since then, he no longer does solo episodes and has guests to supplement his own knowledge (he's an enthusiast, not a historian). I hope that he will find a guest who is knowledgeable on Eugène so that he will get a more well-rounded and interesting episode 😊

itz-skyline

Alright uhm I'm struggling to understand the medals that the marshals have

Here some examples of what im talking about:

I have tried searching it up but I'm always hit with a big wall of text that sometimes doesn't even explain how and when these medals are earned it just talks about how they're made which is interesting but that's not what I'm trying figure out

I've come here to ask for a simple answer to my question so that I can use this info for my oc

But seriously I have like a language disorder so it would help if anyone could just explain the importance of those medals In short text that I can understand.

I'm not much better with decorations but I'm sure somebody can help you out.

As far as I know there were two very common decorations in Napoleon's empire that probably all marshals had. The first obviously is "the cross", i.e., the decoration of the "Légion d'Honneur":

The second very common decoration was that of the "Order of the Iron Crown", of Napoleon's Kingdom of Italy.

As you can see, there was always two versions of the decoration: a badge/medal hanging from a ribbon (that could be worn around the neck or on the breast), and for the higher ranks of the order a larger badge/breast star. That's what you see most often, I believe: the marshals wearing both the medal and the breast star.

There were more decorations in Napoleon's empire, the order of the Two Sicilies for example, and of course the marshals would often receive decorations from other nations, too (in which case they always had to ask Naps first if they were allowed to accept it). But the most important one was the "Légion d'Honneur". Everything else paled in comparison.

As to how you received it: They were orders of merit. So you had to do something in order to earn it. Every order had a master (Napoleon himself in case of Légion d'Honneur and Iron Crown, obviously). Once you had done something outstanding (on the battlefield or in civil life) you could ask for "the cross", or more likely, your superior (commanding officer in the case of soldiers) could do it for you.

Not sure what else you want to know but I think there's quite some people out there interested in this topic with much more knowledge than me.

itz-skyline

You honestly explained it very well thank you I was struggling with the articles I was reading

I only have like a question about how the marshals received medals from other nations did they have to do something specific for that nation to give it to them or was it more of a we think you're pretty cool here have a medal of our nation kind of thing?

#military medals #napoleonic era #for those who are interested in the decorations on the uniforms #napoleon's marshals

Both was possible, I think, but I feel like most often it was more like an international "deal": For example, when Napoleon created the "Légion d'Honneur", he sent a certain number of decorations to the Prussian court. (In early 1805, Prussia and France were still best buddies. At least officially.) Prussia sent an equal number of "order of the Black Eagle" to France. Some went to people who had had connections to Prussia, like Duroc who had been in Berlin as a special envoy or Bernadotte who had governed Hannover. But Murat also received one, and I'm unaware of any special connection to Prussia at the time.

It's interesting that in Berlin, the Prussian king could have distributed the French "crosses" as he saw fit. But he didn't and left the distribution to the French ambassador instead. So I guess giving a decoration to some foreign dignitary was also a question of "Whom do I want to commit to gratitude for the future?"

But it could happen rather spontaneously as well, especially for the lesser decorations of smaller countries. General Montbrun received one when he spent some time in Munich after the battle of Wagram. He had of course contributed to the French victory in that war, and that victory had liberated Bavaria once more from Austrian occupation. But he still probably received the order on behalf of all other generals, simply because he was there and met the king. I've translated the story here.

Bessières and the 600,000+ Franc Question

For @josefavomjaaga

While going over sources and material related to Jean-Baptiste Bessières, there's one thing that keeps twigging my journalist Spidey sense, and I don't like that.

Always, without fail, it's presented as a fait accompli that Bessières blew anywhere between 600,000 to one million francs on his mistress, a Paris opera dancer named Virginie. The fact he had a mistress isn't actually unusual by itself, when compared to the affairs his peers carried on. The exceptions were probably the Davouts and the Lefebvres.

Furthermore, his wife, Marie-Jeanne, discovered the affair after his death when his personal affects were returned to her from the battlefield.

The massive debts the Marshal left behind bankrupted his family, necessitating that Marie-Jeanne into selling their estate, Chateau de Grignon, to cover some of it. Napoleon also paid down some of Bessières' debts and set up a yearly pension for Marie-Jeanne her son. According to some accounts, she struggled financially for the rest of her life.

This is what I don't like about it, and why it doesn't completely pass the sniff test.

I accept that Bessières died flat broke and in debt. In debt to whom, however? Who were his creditors?

When did he meet his mistress? Was that fortune spent over a period of years, or in a fairly short time?

Even as a Marshal of France he had to pay his officers out of his own pocket, and provide his own carriages and some supplies on campaign. If he was flat broke, how did he continue to pay his officers?

Bessières was also bad with money to begin with. He was known to be generous and charitable, to the point where he'd be giving away money to anyone whom he thought was more in need than he was with it. Allegedly, Virginie was in debt herself, and he paid down all of them out of the apparent goodness of his heart.

(This raises even more questions. Was she a gold digger, was she blackmailing him, was he totally besotted with her that he didn't realize what the hell he was doing? Was he just lonely? Did they have genuine feelings for one another? There's a lot of there there, but no real answers.)

My conclusion is, no, Bessières did not spend 600,000 to one million francs on his mistress. Her presence, however, was not helpful to his situation.

He paid down Virginie's debts, however much they were. Being terrible with money, he kept putting himself in a financial hole, and then he kept digging. The upkeep on Chateau de Grignon had to be ridiculous. He still had to pay his officers and his staff. He was probably borrowing and burning through money and racking up the debt. Like that meme goes, "This is fine" while everything's burning down around him. A bit like using a credit card to pay down a credit card, as one might do in the modern parlance.

(His financial problems may have contributed to his increasing depression towards the end of his life as well. Was someone blackmailing him with his debts? Another interesting question that can never be adequately addressed.)

From what I've gathered, he hid all his problems from pretty much everyone. Even Napoleon seemed caught off guard with how bad Bessières' finances were. I argue that the 600,000 to one million francs he owed upon his death were cumulative and not to a single person as the historical narrative wants people to believe.

It seems a small thing to be annoyed with, but there seems to be more than a bit of misogyny to lay all of Bessières' troubles on a single woman as the historical narrative seems to want to do.

Another thing ... if Bessières burned a lot of his recent correspondence towards the end of his life, what exactly was the evidence Marie-Jeanne discovered as proof of the affair. How did she prove it? Did other people know about the affair and kept her in the dark? If so, who was that?

In the novel, "The Battle" by Patrick Rimbaud, a semi-fictionalized account of the Battle of Aspern-Essling, Rimbaud's characterization of Bessières has him wear two gold lockets under his Marshal's uniform. One for Marie-Jeanne, the other for Virginie. I don't know if Rimbaud based that on an actual account, or if it was something he made up. I have a lot of problems with that book though, probably because the translation seems somewhat robotic and not great. It's an interesting idea, however, and maybe worth keeping around as a headcanon.

Did Madame Bessières struggle financially for the rest of her life afterwards? Possibly. I don't have enough information to make a conclusion there, but it's not impossible. She did continue to faithfully visit his tomb for years after his death.

TL;DR Bessières died broke and in debt but it wasn't all because of his mistress. If someone else has something to the contrary, I'd love to read it.

Thank you so much, @phatburd! 💖 Awfully interesting all around, and I so wish I was an actual historian and could dig into that. I very much get why your Spidey sense is tingling!

I guess my first question would be for a source. French Wikipedia mentions his mistress Virginie Oreille, too. But the source given is a book from 1977 about Napoleon's marshals, so this only moves the question about the original source to another place.

Another thing would be to compare Bessières's financial situation to that of his fellow marshals. Most of which seem to have been in financial trouble at one point or another (okay, minus Masséna possibly), and not necessarily because they were bad at handling money, but simply because they genuinely lacked the income and resources to keep up the lifestyle that was expected from the highest ranking personalities of the empire. Expected by Napoleon, of course.

It seems all the marshals financially depended on Napoleon's generosity (i.e., his donations) and whatever they received in extra money during times of war ("presents" of the conquered towns).

Also something that might be of interest: His wife must have known, at least by 1813, while Bessières was still alive. I'm pretty sure I've seen quoted a letter Bessières wrote to his wife about his disastrous financial situation and about how he was going to ask Napoleon for help. There's also the letters he wrote from Moscow, reassuring Marie-Jeanne that "the viceroy", i.e. Eugène, was going to buy Bessières's carriages that he was not allowed to take with him on the retreat and that he otherwise would have needed to destroy without recompensation.

Is there more information on this lady Virginie Oreille? This looks like an interesting research project. 😊

P.S.: I remain unconvinced he really destroyed much of his correspondence at the end of his life. First of all, because he surely did not have his personal letters of the last two or three years with him on campaign, but it would be in the care of some private secretary and likely at home. And secondly, when you have a look at the Archives de France, there just is still too much of it there.

Edit II: So I have already found that, after Bessières' death, she apparently became the mistress of the Duc de Berry, of whom she had two children. Not bad.

Just reblogging to list what I found on the net about Bessières's mistress:

Born in August 1795, baptised Eugénie Virginie Oreille

joined the opera at the age of 15 under the pseudonym Virginie Letellier (i.e., in 1810)

during the Restauration almost immediately picked as mistress by the Duc de Berry (1815)

liaison of five years, two sons

later married, recognized her two sons after the July Revolution

Thank you for all the additions!

I read one source (can't recall which one now) that stated Virginie wrote memoirs but I cannot find any evidence that these alleged memoirs exist.

The oldest book I have on the Marshalate, "Napoleon's Marshals" by R.P. Dunn- Pattison, published 1909, doesn't make mention of Virginie or Bessières' outrageous debts, but that book is a bit more on the hagiographic side. Gossipy A.G. MacDonnell doesn't mention it either. I'm wondering if this was something Epic History TV, et al, pulled out of Laure Junot's memoirs?

Bessières does have a biography that's only available in French, as I recall, and may have been on the Galicia website. Since I don't read French to any great degree, all I recall about it is it had an engraving on the frontispiece I'd never seen anywhere else of Bessières being carried off the battlefield after being struck down. Sorry, that's probably not helpful. 😅

@josefavomjaaga 👋 Hi again! I seem to have found a smoking gun. Not the smoking gun, but one of them. This is regarding Virginie Oreille, and the validity to her affair with Bessières, and her role in his finances, etc.

I remembered David G. Chandler's book on the Marshalate, published 1987, and his wild burning hatred for Bessières. I went looking for the book on the Internet Archive and found this.

So what is Citation #27?

That sent me down another rabbit hole. Mademoiselle Avrillon is also Élisabeth de Vaudey, one of Josephine's ladies-in-waiting. Napoleon also cheated on Josephine with Élisabeth.

Per Wikipedia: "Élisabeth-Antoinette Le Michaud d'Arçon de Vaudey (27 October 1773, in Besançon – 1833?) was a French lady-in-waiting (Dame du Palais). She was famous for her affair with the French Emperor Napoleon, which was a cause of a violent scene between the Emperor and the Empress Joséphine shortly before their coronation."

Now the question is how reliable is Élisabeth's memoirs? I can't seem to find much about her aside from her Wikipedia entry, and little beyond she was once linked with Napoleon. Have you heard of her?

If anyone else out there can shed some light on Élisabeth, I'd love to hear it!

@phatburd: Great find! Thanks for the heads-up! I had been totally unaware of that lady. Seems like another lady-in-waiting who had the honour to not be allowed to say "no" to an emperor... (Okay, I'm being malicious here. But the situation for females at court cannot have been pretty in general.)

Napoleon seems to have been quite active at the time. Right after Madame de Vaudey comes his affair with Madame Duchatel.

According to French Wikipedia, Elisabeth de Vaudey left court in October 1804. Which makes me doubt that she's identical with Mademoiselle Avrillion, who only was a "femme de chambre", a servant, and not a "dame de palais", which I understand to be a courtier's title. (But these court things tend to confuse me horribly.) Mademoiselle Avrillion also was still around in 1806 and 1809 (I know because I've read her reports on Josephine's stay in Munich for Eugène's marriage and on Josephine leaving the Tuileries after Napoleon had kicked her out).

But the footnotes have the title of Madame de Vaudey's memoirs. I'll try to hunt them down on Gallica and also check what Mlle Avrillion has to say on Bessières, if anything. Not sure if I'll get to it right away, please hit me over the head with something heavy if I forget too long.

In the meantime, I have found some stuff detailing the relationship of the Duc de Berry with sweet Virginie (who apparently was indeed a rather expensive acquisition, for him, too). Weirdly enough, the article avoids calling Bessières by name while hinting at him by stating that, when the Bourbons returned in 1814, Virginie had not had a lover since her last had died at the battle of Lützen.

We can at least say that Bessières can only have started his relationship with Virginie by mid-1810 (he was on Napoleon's and Marie-Louise's Holland disaster tour during spring 1810). Assuming the affair really did start that early, there must have been a long interruption starting in spring/summer 1812 and lasting until Bessières returned to France in early 1813 (he still was with Eugène for some time when the latter had already taken over command of the remnants of the former Grande Armée, because he wrote to his wife about the viceroy looking over his shoulder and wanting to send greetings to Marie-Jeanne.) Bessières then spent some weeks in France and immediately went off on campaign again, from which he would not return.

Bessières also spent a chunk of 1811 in Spain too, didn't he? He didn't have much downtime, but somehow he managed to get Virginie penciled in on his schedule.

Thanks for the additional info on Mademoiselle Avrillion (or de Vaudey?), and take your time should you look into it further. 😘

#napoleon’s marshals #jean baptiste bessières #virginie oreille #napoleonic era

@phatburd: Found the memoirs of Mademoiselle Avrillion. Here's the part on Bessières's love life:

I have no intention, as one might think, of interjecting the Almanach galant de la cour impériale into these recollections; nevertheless I will not repudiate all the anecdotes of this kind that come to my pen. Marshal Bessières was, in the widest sense of the word, a very good and very kind man, not counting his rare military talents, which are outside my field. His wife, lady of the empress's palace, was very pleasant in person, with a charming character, a truly angelic gentleness and irreproachable conduct. They lived together very well, which did not prevent the Marshal from sometimes succumbing to what one might call temptation.

The way she phrases this makes me think that Virginie may not have been the first „temptation“ Bessières succumbed to. Only the first his wife learned about. Which would fit the picture, in my opinion. Eugène and Bessières had, allegedly, lived quite wild lives before Bessières got married. Eugène was still a womanizer, if very discreet, Bessières may have been as well. Plus, their close friend Duroc also had a long-standing liaison (and two children) with an opera dancer.

Marshal Bessières had therefore noticed, in the chorus of the Opéra, a young and pretty dancer whose name, which has since become very famous, was then little known. Her name was Virginie; she was extremely young and barely formed, but charmingly sweet; her large, beautiful black eyes had an expression that could not have been more seductive.

I guess this description allows us to fix the date when Bessières's affair with Virginie started at the year 1810, when Virginie at the age of 15 first joined the Paris opera ensemble.

Her father, as history has since established, was a hairdresser at the Opéra theatre. The Marshal, having taken Virginie completely under his protection, […]

… which I take to mean that he was Virginie's only lover ...

[…] rarely missed the ballet at the Opéra, where I often saw him, his spyglass directed at the dancing chorus, making signs of understanding to his beloved beauty. We know what cruel and glorious death stopped the marshal in his noble career; the maréchale was in despair when she learned of this irreparable catastrophe, and an unexpected circumstance added to her all too justified grief: women will understand me. When she visited the objects in her husband's secretary, she found irrefutable proof of his liaison with Virginie. Here is how this anecdote came to my attention: Coilia, a miniature painter, wishing to paint her majesty, placed several portraits in her hands so that she could judge his talent; one of these portraits was of Virginie, and it was while showing it to me that the empress told me what we have just read. When Madame Bessières returned to La Malmaison for the first time after her husband's death, she told the Empress that the discovery she had made of her husband's infidelities had greatly increased her grief and had dealt her a very serious blow. The Marshal had always conducted himself with her in such a way as not to inspire any suspicion, and if some people had been informed of his liaisons with Virginie, the person interested in knowing about them had always ignored them.

Among the people who knew about the liaison obviously was Mlle Avrillon herself, as she claims to have observed Bessières making signs to his girl at the opera. I'm also not quite sure from this account if Joséphine told her femme de chambre about Bessières's affair with Virginie before or after the visit by Madame Bessières. So maybe Joséphine also knew?

Virginie was destined to lose her lovers to a tragic death: a cannonball killed Marshal Bessières, and we know what happened to the unfortunate Duc de Berry.

Notably missing from this are all descriptions of Bessières's financial involvement, the money he spent on his lover. So this part of the story must come from elsewhere.

flowwochair

DISCLAIMER: I am posting this on behalf of my friend Tina ( @patheticnapoleonicfanggirl0521 ) because their internet connection wouldnt let them upload all the images, this is information which they have compiled about Madame Bessières (Jean-Baptiste Bessières's wife), all of the information was compiled by them, and they were responsible for editing the photos, all credit goes to them (and I suggest you check out their stuff bcuz they're my friend and they have both super cool art and a lot of info on Bessières)

patheticnapoleonicfanggirl0521

guyz i found this rly old thing i wrote and since english is not my first language theres a lot of grammar mistakes and phrasing problems. I will consider fixing them if i got de time. Sorry for the inconvenience i caused ！

#jean baptiste bessières #adéle lapeyrière #napoleon's marshals #napoleonic era #my computer has fried so I can't do any research at the moment #otherwise I'd link those letters

Adéle Lapeyrière was pretty accomplished, having attended the same school as Aimée, Hortense and Caroline but she wasn't very rich. Bessières was quite terrible with money (and answering letters lol) so there were times of financial woe before he died.

I also know of the letters that Davout wrote to Aimée to get to know and visit Adéle, he had a very good impression of her and felt Aimée could be friends with her, especially when they were experiencing pain due to Aimée's brother General Leclerc dying and losing their first two children.

not-a-fool-entire

Was reading a translated version of Gourgaud's journal on St. Helena and came across an interesting comment from Napoleon regarding Lannes' "exile" to Portugal

"One day Madame Lannes came and told me that her husband was restless in his sleep; that he was always muttering about the Republic, about tyrants, and about consuls; that he looked anxious and excited, and was often visited by former Jacobins. I at once superseded him in command of my Guard. That was the real cause why he lost his reason, not the deficit of three hundred thousand francs in his accounts, as was supposed. I sent him as ambassador to Portugal, and replaced him by four captains who were entrusted with the command of the Guard." Source: Talks of Napoleon at St. Helena with General Baron Gourgaud : together with the journal kept by Gourgaud on their journey from Waterloo to St. Helena

Interesting that all other sources I've read do mention the overspeanding as being the reason for his "diplomatic mission". Also it's quite hard to imagine Lannes as scheming against Napoleon, but i suppose (like with most other events, frustratingly) we will never truly know what actually transpired behind the scenes. If someone else has more insight on the situation, I'd love to know

#not knowing much about gourguad I'd go with your assessment #napoleon's marshals #jean lannes #gourgaud #napoleonic era #napoleon bonaparte

Bessières' letters from Russia...

... or at least some snippets thereof, translated to the best of DeepL's ability from a sales catalogue (Osenat 15 June 2014). At sale was a collection of letters from Bessières to his family and from his family to him, starting in 1805 (?). Volume III contained the correspondence during the Russian campaign, and there were several quotes in the catalogue that I thought somebody might find interesting:

– Mayence, 12 May [1812] : ‘... Here we are at Mayence, despite heat and dust. The emperor got here a long time before anyone else, because the other carriages had to be repaired en route... We are going to a country where the climate may well be variable at times...’. (volume III, no. 239).

- Dresden, 17 May 1812: ‘... The Emperor and Empress of Austria are expected tomorrow, and everything suggests a few days of Court and festivities. I am very satisfied with all these meetings; the Empress has borne the journey very well. I confess that I feared she might be indisposed. The Emperor is in good health. As for us whose health is of no consequence, we are doing well or badly, depending on whether we are treated well or badly...’. (volume III, n° 240). - Dresden, 26 May [1812]: ‘... The stay in Dresden has been longer than we thought, it is likely that the arrival of the King of Prussia will delay the departure until the end of the week...’. (volume III, n° 241, with autograph apostille signed by the marshal's father-in-law). - Dresden, 28 May [1812]: ‘... This mark of esteem infinitely flattered me on behalf of the Emperor of Austria. Empress Marie-Louise will remain in Dresden for a few more days, after which she will go to Prague where she will stay for some time...’. (volume III, no. 244). - Dresden, 29 May [1812]: ‘... We are leaving today. The emperor has allowed me to spend a few days in my estate while he stays in Thorn [Bessieres had received an endowment in Kruszwica in Poland]...’. (volume III, no. 243)

- Thorn [Toruń, in present-day Poland], 6 June [1812]: ‘... I spent a few days in Crucewice [Kruszwica in present-day Poland]. It is a vast piece of land, as big as a province, and earns nothing... The Emperor leaves this evening for Danzig. I'm not going, I'm going to wait for His Majesty in Osterode. Until we arrive at Conisberg [Königsberg, i.e. Kaliningrad in present-day Russia], there will be gaps in my correspondence, because the couriers do not leave regularly, and the passage of the army has temporarily interrupted the postal service...’. (volume III, no. 246). - Schippenbeil [Powiat Bartoszycki in present-day Poland], 15 June [1812]: ‘I have not written to you since Torhrn [Toruń in present-day Poland]; it would have been difficult for me to send you my letter, because not having accompanied the Emperor to Danzig and Königsberg [Dansk in present-day Poland and Kaliningrad in present-day Russia], I found myself far from the line of the estafettes. I am not to join His Majesty before Insterburg [Cherniakhovsk in present-day Russia] on the 8th...’. (volume III, no. 247).

- Gumbinnen [Goussev in present-day Russia], 19 June [1812]: ‘...Yesterday I rejoined the Emperor. (volume III, no. 251). - Kowno [Kaunas in present-day Lithuania], 24 June [1812]: ‘We crossed the Niemen this morning... I hope that this campaign will soon be over... I do not write to you as often as I would like, the passage of the army temporarily affects communications; we ourselves sometimes remain three or four days without news from Paris...’. (volume III, no. 249) - Wilna [Vilnius in present-day Lithuania], 4 July [1812]: ‘... You complain that I rarely write to you. It is the effect of circumstances; communications are often interrupted because of the march of the troops...’. (volume III, no. 251).

- Wilna [Vilnius], 8 July [1812]: ‘... The enemy is on the other side of the Duina. So far he has done nothing but retreat. You are probably involved in politics in Paris; here we leave politics to the side, and we are very busy looking after our stomachs which, although they are no more difficult than usual, are always afraid of running out of the necessities...’. (Volume III, no. 252). - Gloubokoié, [July 1812]: ‘I'll give you some news of me... Since I left Vilna I have not been able to write to you because no couriers are sent on the road... I'm doing very well. I'm arriving a little tired...’. (Volume III, no. 268). - Witebsk, 1st August [1812]: ‘... Always on the march, and continually on horseback since we left Vilna, I have not been able to give you my news as often as I would have liked. Here we are in Vitebsk. We were hoping for a battle; the Russians have withdrawn again; so, with the exception of a few partial affairs, everything has been manoeuvres and marches...’. (Volume III, No. 255).

- Witebsk, 6 August [1812]: ‘...It is excessively hot here... we have been resting for eight days and we needed it.The enemy is still withdrawing...'.(volume III, no. 256).- Witebsk, 11 August [1812]: ‘... I am going to get on horseback to go to the Nieper where the Emperor has his headquarters. But I will write to you in three days because then we will have arrived, and as long as we are marching we must give up giving and receiving news… Do you know that we are a long way from each other... it is to be hoped that it will not be long; we want it as much as you do, but we have no will but that of the master...’. (Volume III, no. 257). - Smolensk, 24 August [1812]: ‘... I would have liked to write to you at length, but I cannot do so today, I am going to accompany with His Majesty on horseback...’.(volume III, no. 258)

- Dorogobouj, 27 August 1812: ‘We are now well on the way to Moscow... I am writing to you 60 leagues from this capital. It is a long way from here to Paris. I am bearing the fatigue very well and although I sleep in the bivouac most of the time, it does nothing to damage my health... I'm writing to you in a shed, sitting on a bench and on a table, both of which have the feel of the country. I have my horses left and right under the same roof, and I wait until after dinner ... which I find quite idle when I am hungry. His Majesty is very kind to me, and I have been very grateful. When I arrived from Smolensk I had my carriages at the rear. His Majesty sent for me to have lunch and dinner with Him. We were promised that we would be fine in Moscow. It seems to me that this is where this war should end... The army is marching; we will probably leave tonight. Tomorrow I shall be 8 leagues further from you. I hope we make enough of the war and of the journey to keep our children quiet and at rest...'. (volume III, no. 260).

- Gjat, 2 September 1812: ‘... You are ingenious at tormenting yourself. However, you must be reasonable and not believe that cannonballs always fall where no cannon is fired, because I must tell you the truth: I have travelled three hundred places without seeing a single one... It would be very strange if we arrived in Moscow without a battle. We are now only forty places away. I will tell you that everyone wants a battle, because they believe it will end the war...’. (Volume III, no. 261). <On the battlefield of Borodino> - From the bivouac’, 8 September [1812], “at 4 a.m.”: ’Yesterday we had a great battle... I am doing very well. I have often told you that I would make the epitaph of the world. All the Marshals are doing well. My brother [General Bertrand Bessieres] was slightly wounded in the shoulder. He is with me and will be riding in a few days' time. Write to my sister; he has nothing missing, he is doing very well, his wound means nothing although it is a little sore. Everyone around me is well. The Guard has not fought. The Russians got a good thrashing...’. (volume III, n° 262).

<In Moscow> - Moscow, 17 September [1812]: ‘I haven't written to you since we arrived in Moscow... because, with the city in flames, we had to relocate a lot and spend a lot of time on horseback. Imagine Paris in flames; you can't imagine such horror. This governor must be a great villain...’. (Volume III, no. 263).

- Moscow, 20 September 1812: ‘... We are in Moscow but all we have left are ruins, with the exception of a few districts that escaped the flames. These people must be very barbaric to burn down their capital. I've made a decision you'll appreciate. I have almost no carriages left - I've decided to get rid of them. The viceroy [Eugene de Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy] will probably take them. All I have left is a wagon and a chest of silverware. If things work out, you will be paid in Paris. One must know how to do without what is not necessary. I am very dissatisfied with my House. Pillage demoralises everything, and I don't like my people getting involved. If I see the banks of the Rhine again soon, I promise you a clean house...’. (volume III, n° 264).

- Krasnoié, 2 October 1812: ‘I have not written to you since 20 September... because I was detached for a few days with an army corps... I hope to return to Moscow in the next few days and I will compensate you for my silence... The viceroy [Eugene de Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy] has taken some of my equipment and silver. The bills had to be sent to Paris. I think the total is at least forty thousand francs. You must take care to have this money withdrawn... These funds will be used to replace what I have sold... An inventory of the items sold had to be sent. The two carriages were taken for 10,000 ff. each...’. (volume III, no. 265).

- Smolensk, 10 November [1812]: ‘It is a long time since I wrote to you... Since leaving Moscow, i.e. for nearly a month, I have not had the opportunity to do so. We learned of the follies and extravagances of some brigands in Paris [General Malet's conspiracy]. You can imagine what an impression it made on us; we find it quite extraordinary that all this should have happened without anyone knowing about it. Here we are in Smolensk, and soon closer, I hope. The weather is dreadful, snow and ice are the roses of the country...’. (Volume III, no. 266). - Witebsk, 16 December 1812: ‘I am doing very well... I am very much looking forward to embracing you, you, my son and our family...’. (volume III, no. 267).

- Posen [Poznań in present-day Poland], 27 January [1812]: ‘... I beg you... to calm down about me. I am well, and you know very well that I am not of a complexion to suffer from serious illnesses. I saw that the Corps législatif was to be convened on 1 February. I hope that this time I will be able to see the deputies from Prayssac at my leisure [the Marshal's birthplace]... Poor Fajol died in Konisberg [Königsberg, Kaliningrad in present-day Russia]...’. (volume III, no. 269).

- Posen, 29 January 1813: ‘General Lanusse [Pierre dit Robert Lanusse] left yesterday for Paris... he will probably give you a hundred louis that I lent him for his journey because he had only paper and could not get any money. So I'm increasing my little treasure, as you can see, and I'm sure of my guardian. Which doesn't prevent me from sleeping. I didn't want a receipt, as you can well imagine... Prince Eugène, who has a thousand regards for me, wants me to tell you that he sometimes talks to me about you, and that he esteems and loves you very much...’. (volume III, n° 270).

Communications were truly bad in Russia, Aimée went for months without hearing from Davout during this campaign. It's interesting that Bessières sold his stuff to Eugène during the retreat, I guess he was being generous.

But we still can add Marie-Jeanne "Adèle" to the list of people complaining about Bessières not writing often enough, right? 😊

It's interesting that Bessières sold his stuff to Eugène during the retreat, I guess he was being generous.

That's what I thought, too. Eugène obviously was much better off financially so he could afford to help Bessières out. I only hope the courrier carrying that bill really reached Paris. - Maybe Bessières had learned early about Napoleon's idea to have all unnecessary carriages burnt and so tried to comply to it from the very beginning.

Also, his attitude to looting is interesting. He clearly hates it. Yet from what I've read about the occupation of Moscow, the Guard, because they were staying in the city, were among the worst looters and even had a kind of marketplace for their comrades of the line.