Napoleon Bonaparte and Henry de Guise. Constructing an image of the power in the age of the First Empire

Abstract

The article attempts to analyze a little-studied episode related to historical politics in the era of the First Empire in France. The revolution and the coming to power of the emperor actualized many events of the past, the reception of which took place in various, including artistic forms. The article considers an example of an attempt to act in opposition to the emperor and destroy the image of a legitimate charismatic national leader created by him through a historical tragedy. F.J.M. Renoir, a playwright and participant in the revolution, criticized the usurpation of the throne by Napoleon by referring to the history of the 16th century in the play “The States-General in Blois, or the death of the Duke of Guise”, written actually by order of the authorities. That tragedy was forbidden to be staged until 1814, and the image of the Duke of Guise, the head of the Catholic party, displayed in the work, aroused the emperor’s indignation. The article concludes that Napoleon tried to construct the image of his own power, appealing to historical examples. Among the numerous political figures of the past with whom the emperor associated himself, unexpectedly turned out to be Duke Henry de Guise, who in the historical culture of the early 19th century had a reputation not so much as a charismatic leader, as a rebel and an illegal pretender to the throne, what the opposition successfully used in its anti- Bonapart works.