carry overtones of Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire, aside from
convincing royalists and peasantry that the Concordat was holding and
that the Empire would be a Catholic empire. Napoleon's correspondence
for this period is full of letters about the necessity for the Pope's
attendance and the protocol to be observed on his arrival. Pius VII was
wary and did not accept the invitation without a great deal of heart
searching. Finally Caprara, the Papal nuncio to France, persuaded him of
the possible benefits in terms of fresh religious concessions fr om the new
Emperor, but it must be realized that Caprara was a slavish creature of
Napoleon, who took his cue from Bonaparte rather than the Papacy. So
the Pope made the famous journey. He arrived at Fontainebleau on 25
November, where Napoleon met him; then after three days of entertain
ment Emperor and Pontiff proceeded to Paris.
Right until the last moment, Napoleon continued to be plagued by his
women. On 17 November there was a violent scene when the Emperor
told his sisters they would be expected to carry the Empress's train. Then
Josephine decided that she could hardly be crowned by the Pope if she
had not been properly married in the eyes of Holy Mother Church;
actually this was a transparent ploy to make it harder for the Emperor to
divorce her. Napoleon, cynical as ever, always had it in mi�d to divorce
Josephine when he found it convenient, and was undeterred by the idea
of a religious ceremony to 'solemnize' his marriage. So, towards midnight
on the first day of December, before an altar erected in the Emperor's
study, Cardinal Fesch, who had come with Pius from Rome, conducted a
brief marriage service. Josephine was satisfied, but in strictly legal terms
her status was no more solid then before, since the service was not
attended by witnesses and the regular parish priest was absent. For
Napoleon the first of December was far more important as the day when
a senatus consultum established the legitimacy of the succession and the
rights of his brothers to succeed if he died without issue.
Coronation Day was 2 December r8o4. A recent snowfall followed by
rain left the city streets slush-ridden. Three rows of troops lined the
route: crowds clustered behind them but seemed more curious than
enthusiastic. First out of the Tuileries, at 9 a.m., was the Pope, escorted
by four squadrons of dragoons and followed by six carriages full of
cardinals and assorted clergy; it was observed that the crowd split about
fifty-fifty in its reaction: the pious dropped to their knees and made the
sign of the cross, while the Jacobin sympathizers defiantly declined to
doff their hats. Then came the secular carriages. Driven at breakneck
speed through the streets through fear of assassins, Murat led the way,
marcin
(Marcin)
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