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Napoleonic Timeline: 1804

Chronology of the Napoleonic era:  [1769...] [1789...] [1794...] [1796] [1797] [1798] [1799] [1800] [1801] [1802] [1803] [1804] [1805] [1806] [1807] [1808] [1809] [1810] [1811] [1812] [1813] [1814] [1815] [1816...] [1840]
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Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804
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6 janvier 1804" >6 January – Napoleon Bonaparte returns to Paris. – 15 janvier 1804" >15 January – Appointment of Joachim Murat as Governor of Paris: it's a monarchic title that Bonaparte exhumes for the benefit of his brother-in-law. – 16 janvier 1804" >16 January – The First Consul reports on the situation of the Republic, inside and outside, in a message to the Senate. Clandestine landing of thirty-five royalists sent by England to organize the assassination of Bonaparte. – 24 janvier 1804" >24 January – Formal announcement of the King of England: he will never abandon the cause of the Bourbons.

15 février 1804" >15 February – Arrest of General Jean Victor Marie Moreau.

17 février 1804" >17 February – Report of the Chief Justice on a conspiracy involving Jean Victor Marie Moreau, Jean-Charles Pichegru and Georges Cadoudal. – 19 février 1804" >19 February – Monsignor Bernier, bishop of Orleans, orders prayers for the preservation of life of the First Consul.

25 février 1804" >25 February – Napoleon Bonaparte removes the jury for two years in the trial of attacks against his person and against the security of the Republic. – 28 février 1804" >28 February – Arrest of Jean-Chrles Pichegru which is led to the Temple jailhouse.

9 mars 1804" >9 March – Georges Cadoudal is arrested at his turn.

10 mars 1804" >10 March – The three consuls, Joseph Fouché, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord and the High Judge Claude-Ambroise Régnier, meeting in Council of Government, decide the kidnapping of the Duke of Enghien. The same day, Bonaparte orders three hundred dragoons to cross the Rhine river, to surround the town of Ettenheim and to remove the Duke of Enghien and his followers. – 15 mars 1804" >15 March – The Duke of Enghien is arrested.

20 mars 1804" >20 March – The Duke of Enghien arrives at Vincennes at five o'clock. Six hours later, he appears before a military commission. – 21 mars 1804" >21 March – At three o'clock, the Duke of Enghien is executed by firing squad. Napoleon Bonaparte says: The Duke of Enghien conspired as another, we had to treat him like any other. I am the man of the state, I am the French Revolution and I argue. A law dated the same day promulgates the French Civil Code. – 27 mars 1804" >27 March – The Senate asks Bonaparte to restore its authority in families. It's Fouché who introduced that motion.

6 avril 1804" >6 April – Jean-Charles Pichegru is found strangled in his prison.

13 avril 1804" >13 April – The Privy Council chooses for General Bonaparte the title of Emperor. – 23 avril 1804" >23 April – Jean-François Curée, a Tribunat member, suggests that Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French and the imperial dignity became hereditary in his family. – 30 avril 1804" >30 April – Start of the discussion of the motion Curée at the Tribunes.

3 mai 1804" >3rd May – Motion is unanimously adopted, minus one vote. – 10 mai 1804" >10 May – Bonaparte's wish is to be crowned by the Pope. – 16 mai 1804" >16 May – On behalf of the State Council, Jean-Etienne Portalis brings to the Senate a draft Senatus consultum who proclaims Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French. – 18 mai 1804" >18 May – The Senatus-consultum is approved by the Senate unanimously minus three votes. – 19 mai 1804" >19 May – Fourteen Empire marshals are appointed: Berthier, Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Masséna, Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult, Brune, Lannes, Mortier, Ney, Davoust, Bessières, plus four marshals-Senators: Kellermann, Lefebvre, Perignon, Sérurier. – 20 mai 1804" >20 May – The establishment of the Empire is proclaimed in the major squares of Paris by a procession which travels the streets. – 21 mai 1804" >21 May – The Monitor publishes a paper protocol: the ministers and marshals will be treated in Monseigneur, the great dignitaries of Serene Highness. – 22 mai 1804" >22 May – Napoleon says to a deputation of Tribunate: I like to owe everything to the people, this feeling only makes me dear new honors that I am dressed. – 26 mai 1804" >26 May – The Italian Consulta gives orders to erect a monument to the glory of the Emperor. The same day, it tells the Minister of Marine: The Italian Republic owes to me the price for twelve boats and two frigates. I estimate the price is 2,400,000 livres. – 28 mai 1804" >28 May – Georges Cadoudal, his accomplices and Jean-Victor Marie Moreau have their trial opened before a Criminal court of the Department of Seine without judging jury.

6 juin 1804" >6 June – Publication of a formal protest of the Count of Provence against the appointment of Napoleon. – 7 juin 1804" >7 June – The functions of the special courts are extended.

10 juin 1804" >10 June – Georges Cadoudal is sentenced to death, with nineteen of his accomplices (including the Duke Armand de Polignac); two years in prison for Moreau. – 11 juin 1804" >11 June – The sentencing to death of the Duke of Polignac, a former comrade of Napoleon Bonaparte at the military school, is commuted by him in custody until the peace.

12 juin 1804" >12 June – Establishment of a monopoly on funeral benefit of the Church.

21 juin 1804" >21 June – Seven accomplices of Cadoudal, sentenced to death, get their grace of Napoleon.

25 juin 1804" >25 June – Cadoudal and eleven of his accomplices are executed. – 26 juin 1804" >26 June – A decree orders that the new coins will now legendary "Emperor Napoleon".

3 juillet 1804" >3rd July – Permission is granted to comedians of the Comédie-Française to take the title of the Emperor's ordinary Comedians. – 8 juillet 1804" >8 July – The Emperor leaves officially Saint-Cloud to Paris to receive new letters of credence of foreign diplomats. – 9 juillet 1804" >9 July – In Paris, Napoleon attends a military parade, the first one since his elevation to the Empire. – 10 juillet 1804" >10 July – The Ministry of Religious Affairs is created. Joseph Fouché becomes Minister of General Police. – 13 juillet 1804" >13 July – The Holy Sacrament, when passing on the public way, will now receive military honors. – 14 juillet 1804" >14 July – Napoleon goes to the Invalides to distribute, seated on a throne, the first crosses of the Legion of Honor. He is preceded by the Eagles of the French Empire, ministers, marshals, and dignitaries of the imperial house. – 17 juillet 1804" >17 July – Napoleon tells the Minister of the Treasury: I wish that diamonds and pearls, that are the public treasury, should be installed in different decorations for the Empress. – 18 juillet 1804" >18 July – The Emperor begins a great inspection tour, from Boulogne to Treves, through Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend, Arras, Mons, Aachen, Cologne and Mainz.

12 octobre 1804" >12 October – Napoleon 1 is back in Saint-Cloud. – 16 octobre 1804" >16 October – At the Mount Genevra pass, Hautes-Alpes, is laid the foundation stone of an obelisk in honor of the Emperor. – 26 octobre 1804" >26 October – Establishment of the list of those attending the coronation of Napoleon.

2 novembre 1804" >2nd November – Pope Pius VII leaves Rome and begins the journey that should take him to Paris to crown Napoleon. – 9 novembre 1804" >9 November – The Grand Orient de France, the largest Masonic organization in France and the oldest in Continental Europe, elects Lucien Bonaparte as Grand-Master. – 18 novembre 1804" >18 November – The Imperial Pages, the sons of generals and senior officials, appear for the first time. – 22 novembre 1804" >22 November – The offices of charity have in Paris 103,454 needy rescued. – 25 novembre 1804" >25 November – Napoleon 1 goes before the Pope arrived at Fontainebleau. – 28 novembre 1804" >28 November – The Emperor and the Pope share a carriage to get to Paris.

29 novembre 1804" >29 November – Napoleon and Josephine receive from Cardinal Joseph Fesch the nuptial blessing in the chapel of the Tuileries, at midnight. – 30 novembre 1804" >30 November – The Grand Bodies of the state come to pay homage to the Pope.

2 décembre 1804" >2nd December – Napoleon 1 is crowned   at Notre-Dame. – 3 décembre 1804" >3rd December – Report of the Prefecture of Police: Today the Stock Exchange was in no way more interesting than yesterday: few people, few business and languid arrangements consistently negative. – 5 décembre 1804" >5 December – Eagles are formally distributed at the Champ de Mars, in the presence of the Emperor. Jean-Nicolas Faure, a student, rushes through the crowd toward the imperial throne, crying: Liberty or Death. He is arrested. – 6 décembre 1804" >6 December – Napoleon 1 receives, in the throne room at the Tuileries Palace, prefects and presidents of the electoral colleges of hundred eight Departments of the Empire. The Grand Bodies of state, ministers and marshals are present. – 8 décembre 1804" >8 December – More than seven thousand delegates from the army, navy and National Guard are received in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre. – 9 décembre 1804" >9 December – The student Faure is interned at Charenton to be treated as insane until his complete recovery. – 11 décembre 1804" >11 December – Presentation of the Institute of tributes to Napoleon 1. – 12 décembre 1804" >12 December – Order of Minister of Police is given to search and seize an engraving on the Coronation which is sold, under the counter, at the Palace of Tribunes. It reads thus: Pius is stain. – 13 décembre 1804" >13 December – Police arrests a heretofore magistrate Beugnet of Pommeraie: he broadcasts an illegal pamphlet entitled Funeral Oration of the Duke of Enghien. – 14 décembre 1804" >14 December – A police report indicates an anagram circulating in Paris. Napoleon, empereur des Français (Napoleon, Emperor of the French) becomes: Ce fol empire ne durera pas son an (This crazy empire will not last a year). – 16 décembre 1804" >16 December – Napoleon is solemnly received at City Hall. – 17 décembre 1804" >17 December – An Eagle takes place in the coat of arms of Napoleon. – 20 décembre 1804" >20 December – Appointment of Jacques-Louis David as the first painter of the Emperor. He is ordered to execute four paintings on the coronation. – 22 décembre 1804" >22 December – Celebration of a Mass by the Pope in Saint-Sulpice. – 25 décembre 1804" >25 December – Increase the price of bread, a penny per pound. – 26 décembre 1804" >26 December – Celebration of a Mass by Pope Pius VII at Notre-Dame-de-Paris, Napoleon 1 attending. – 27 décembre 1804" >27 December – Napoleon says: By giving me the crown, my people have committed to make every effort that circumstances would require him to retain the brilliance that is necessary for its prosperity and its glory like mine . – 30 décembre 1804" >30 December – Each of the prelates who attended the coronation of Napoleon I receives a snuff box decorated with a portrait of the Emperor, estimated at twelve thousand Francs each. The officiating, canons and priests, share a sum of fifty thousand Francs.

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