Impact of Napoleon's rule on France Flashcards
Plebiscite of 1800
- Opportunity to legitimise Coup of Brumaire
- Votes declared in public
- 25% of electorate voted
- 99.9% voted in favour of constitution
Consul for Life
- 1802
- Senate offered NB ‘Consul for Life’ and right to name his heir
Emperor status
- 1804
- NB accepted title of ‘Emperor of the French’
- Due to ‘pressure of public opinion’
Where and when was Napoleon crowned Emperor
- 1804
- Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris
Senatus Consultum
- 1801
- Blocked Tribunate and Legislative Body
- Offered his supporters positions in Senate
Napoleon’s purge of government
- 1802
- After criticism of his laws
- Removed 20 from Tribunate
- Removed 60 from Legislative Body
Napoleon changing voting qualifications
- 1802
- Changed constitution of Year X
- Gave more political power to Notables
What happened to the Tribunate under Napoleon
Abolished in 1810
Treatment of Jacobins under Napoleon
- Spies targeted potential Jacobin groups
- 1801: 129 Jacobin leaders arrested and deported to Seychelles
Treatment of Royalists under Napoleon
- 1800: Comte de Provence assured he would not return to France
- 1800: General Brune sent to suppress royalist rebels in Britanny, 6000 prisoners taken and 750 shot
Comte de Provence
Brother of Louis XVI
Order of the Legion d’Honneur
- 1802
- Military and civil award
- 32,000 awarded
- 1500 to civilians
Imperial Nobility
- Established 1808
- Awarding of titles
- Ministers, senators, archbishops…
- 59% titles given to military men
Napoleon’s education reforms
- 45 lycées set up
- 1808: Imperial University
What were Lycées
- Selective boarding schools
- Future military and civilian personnel
- 2400/6400 places went to sons of soldiers and civil personnel
Napoleon’s attitude to women
- 1804: Civil code allowed women some control over their own property after marriage
- Divorce by mutual consent
Napoleon’s censorship and propaganda
- 1800: Parisian newspapers reduced from 73 to 13
- 1810: Censorship board set up to approve or reject books
The Concordat
- 1801
- Pope recognised as ‘head of Catholic Church’ - but promised not to reclaim Church lands
- Catholic worship recognised as ‘religion of the majority’
Organic Articles
- 1802
- All seminaries to be government regulated
- Guaranteed religious toleration to 700,000 Protestants and 40,000 Jews
Civil Code
- 1804
-
Confirmed:
1. Abolition of feudalism
2. Secularisation of the state
3. Equality before law
Position of Church during Ancien Regime vs after Concordat
AR - 150 bishops and 130,000 clergy
Concordat - 60 bishops and 36,000 priests
How was the Civil Code controversial
- Father/husband confirmed as head of family
- Female rights of inheritance restricted
Criminal Code
- 1808
- Maintained practice of trial by jury
- Major cases - jury selected by prefects
- Permitted arrest without trial
Gendarmerie
- Everyday law enforcement
- Enforced conscription
Administrative police
- Secret police force responsible for surveillance
- Intercept letters and seek out political opposition
- Towns > 5000 inhabitants controlled by a commisioner
Taxation under Napoleon
- High taxes needed to fund war/Empire
- 1803: Octrois replaced personal property tax
- Taxes on alcohol, salt and tobacco quadrupled
Money supply under Napoleon
- 1800: Bank of France established to provide credit for government and entreprenuers
- 1803: Metal Coinage established
‘Special courts’
- 1801
- For ‘Suppression of brigandage’
- Worked without juries
- Had power to impose death penalty
Judges under Napoleon
Judges in civil and criminal courts appointed for life
