Dabancourt, for D’Abancourt, Charles Xavier Joseph de Franque Ville de,

1758-1792. A French statesman, and a nephew of Calonne, he was Louis XVI’s last minister of war (July 1792), and organised the defence of the Tuileries prior to the attack of August 10. Commanded by the Legislative Assembly to dismiss the Swiss Guards, he refused, and was arrested for treason to the nation and sent to Orléans to be tried. At the end of August the Assembly ordered D’Abancourt and other prisoners to be transferred to Paris with an escort commanded by Claude Fournier, the American. At Versailles they learned of the massacres at Paris, and D’Abancourt and his fellow-prisoners were murdered in cold blood on September 8, 1792. Fournier was unjustly charged with complicity in the crime.

BkXIX:Chap8:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Dagobert

c600-639 King of the Franks 632-639. The last of the Merovingians to exercise personal rule, he made himself independent of the great nobles, especially of Pepin of Landen. He extended his rule over the Basques and the Bretons. His reign was prosperous; and he acted as a patron of learning and the arts. He founded the first great abbey of Saint-Denis, where he is buried.

BkIII:Chap1:Sec1 BkIV:Chap9:Sec2 Mentioned.

BkIX:Chap8:Sec2 The body of Saint Hubert was preserved at Andain in the Ardennes, in an abbey founded by Dagobert. Hubert was Bishop of Liège and patron saint of hunters.

BkXXIII:Chap20:Sec3 His founding of the Abbey at Saint-Denis.

BkXXVI:Chap1:Sec1 The celebrated song concerning ‘Good king Dagobert’ dated from the Revolution, in which the sans-culottes ridiculed the monarchy, and was inspired by a supposed incident from Dagobert’s life in which he arrived at a council meeting with his trousers askew.

 

Dalberg, Karl Theodore Anton Maria von, Prince

1744-1817. Bishop of Constance 1800, Archbishop-Elector of Mainz 1802, Primate of the German Confederation (Ratisbon, 1803), he was a supporter of Napoleon. He died in Ratisbon.

BkXXXVI:Chap8:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Dalberg, Emmerich Joseph, Duc de

1773-1833. A Nephew of Charles, he was in the service of the Grand-Duke of Baden, then attached himself to Napoleon, became a naturalised Frenchman, and assisted in the marriage of the Emperor with Marie-Louise. On the fall of Napoleon, he became a member of the provisional government. He accompanied Talleyrand to the Congress of Vienna as a plenipotentiary, and received a peerage from Louis XVIII and the Turin embassy. He is attributed with part-authorship of the Histoire de la Restauration of Capefigue.

BkXXII:Chap17:Sec1 A Member of the Provisional Government  in 1814.

 

Dalbignac, Colonel

He was aide-de-camp to Marshal Ney during the retreat from Moscow.

BkXXI:Chap5:Sec3 Carried Ney’s letter to Napoleon in Russia.

 

Dalesme, Jean-Baptiste, General

1763-1832 Commander of the French Garrison on Elba, he was former deputy for the Haute-Vienne to the Legislative Corps.

BkXXII:Chap 26:Sec1 Napoleon’s letter to him.

 

Dallas, Lady

The wife of Charles Dallas (d.1855, Governor of St Helena for the East India Company, 1828-1836).

BkXXIV:Chap16:Sec1 Planted trees in the Valley of the Tomb.

 

Damas, Ange-Hyacinthe-Maxence, Baron de

1785-1862. General in the Russian army (1814), he was Minister of War (1823), and replaced Chateaubriand as Foreign Minister in June 1824. In 1828 he became tutor to the Duc de Bordeaux at Holyrood and Prague until 1833. He then retired to his estates in Dordogne.

BkXXVIII:Chap16:Sec1 Supports Villèle over the disbanding of the National Guard in April 1827.

BkXXVIII:Chap16:Sec1 He became tutor to the Duc de Bordeaux in 1828.

BkXXXI:Chap4:Sec1 Mentioned in 1829.

BkXXXVI:Chap10:Sec1 Mentioned in 1833.

BkXXXVII:Chap2:Sec1 BkXXXIX:Chap1:Sec1 Tutor to the Duc de Bordeaux in Prague in May 1833. He was a member of the Prague ‘triumvirate’.

BkXXXVII:Chap3:Sec1 BkXXXVII:Chap6:Sec1 Chateaubriand questions his ability.

BkXXXVII:Chap4:Sec1 BkXXXVIII:Chap4:Sec1  Henri’s dislike of him.

BkXLI:Chap6:Sec1 At Bustehrad, Prague, 27th of September 1833.

 

Damas, Comte Alfred de

1794-1840. The brother of Baron Damas, and a former Gentleman of the Chamber.

BkXXXVII:Chap5:Sec1 At dinner in the Hradschin Palace on the 25th of May 1833.

 

Damascus

The capital and largest city of Syria. Founded approximately 2500 BC, it is thought to be the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world, before Al Fayyum, and Gaziantep. The Burid Emirs withstood a siege of the city during the Second Crusade in 1148.

BkXXV:Chap9:Sec1 It never in fact became a Crusader principality.

 

Damasus I, Pope

c304-384. He was elected pope in October, 366, by a large majority, but a number of adherents of the deceased Liberius chose the deacon Ursinus (or Ursicinus), had the latter irregularly consecrated, and resorted to bloodshed in order to seat him in the Chair of Peter. Valentinian recognized Damasus and banished (367) the anti-Pope Ursinus to Cologne,

BkXXX:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Damaze de Raymond

A French writer and translator, his work on Russia, Tableau historique, géographique, militaire et moral de l'empire de Russie, was published in 1812. He was killed in a duel.

BkXVIII:Chap9:Sec1 Championed the Essay on Revolutions in his Réponse aux attaques dirigées contre M. de Chateaubriand, accompagnée de pièces justificatives, Paris 1813.

 

Dambray, Charles-Henri, Chevalier

1760-1829. French magistrate, he retired to Oissel during the Revolution and Empire. Louis XVIII at the Restoration made him Chancellor, Minister of Justice, and President of the Chamber of Peers. He took refuge in England during the Hundred Days.

BkXXII:Chap 24:Sec1 In 1814.

BkXXIII:Chap4:Sec1 Warns Chateaubriand of the King’s flight in March 1815.

BkXXIII:Chap8:Sec1 In Ghent in 1815.

BkXXIII:Chap19:Sec1 In Mons in 1815.

BkXXV:Chap2:Sec1 Chancellor in 1816. Chateaubriand corresponds with him.

 

Damiens,, Robert-François

1715-1757. He attained notoriety by unsuccessfully attempting the assassination of Louis XV in 1757. He was executed in barbaric fashion.

BkXLII:Chap10:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Damietta, Egypt

A port in Dimyat, Egypt on the Mediterranean Sea at the Nile delta, about 200 kilometres north of Cairo, it was the object of the Seventh Crusade, led by Louis IX of France. His fleet arrived there in 1249 and quickly captured the fort, though he refused to hand it over to the nominal king of Jerusalem, to whom it had been promised during the Fifth Crusade. However, Louis too was eventually defeated in Egypt and was forced to give up the city.

BkXIX:Chap16:Sec1 Saint Louis the compassionate.

BkXL:Chap5:Sec1 The port mentioned.

 

Damrémont, General Chalres-Marie Denys de

1783-1837. Aide de camp to Marmont, he followed the King to Ghent during the Hundred Days. He later fought brilliantly in Spain and Algeria.

BkXXII:Chap12:Sec1 He signed the surrender of Paris in 1814.

 

Dandin, Georges

A character in a play by Molière, George Dandin ou le Mari confondu, was a 1668 comedy.

BkXXXI:Chap2:Sec1 Chateaubriand parodies part of Act II, Scene 8.

 

Dandini, Ercole, Cardinal

1759-1840. He was Cardinal of the Curia from 1823.

BkXXX:Chap4:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Dandolo, Enrico, Doge

1107?-1205. The Doge of the city-state of Venice from 1192 until his death, he is remembered primarily for deflecting the Fourth Crusade away from fighting Islam and into attacking the Christians of Croatia and the Byzantine Empire.

BkXXXVII:Chap14:Sec1 The quote is from Villehardouin’s The Conquest of Constantinople, 34.

BkXXXIX:Chap12:Sec1 BkXXXIX:Chap17:Sec1 BkXXXIX:Chap19:Sec1

 Mentioned. Constantinople fell in 1204.

 

Dangeau, Philippe de Courcilon, Marquis de

1638-1720. A French officer and author, born in Chartres, he is best remembered for keeping a diary from 1684 till the year of his death. These Memoirs, which Saint-Simon said were ‘so insipid as to make you feel ill, contain many facts about the reign of Louis XIV.

BkXXVI:Chap5:Sec1 His Journal mentioned.

 

Danican, Auguste

1763-1848. A revolutionary general, dismissed during the War of the Vendée for ineptitude, he had been found a job in Rouen. After Vendémiaire he sought refuge in England where he published a pamphlet opposing the Convention in 1796.

BkXIX:Chap11:Sec1 He was summoned from Rouen to head the Sections.

 

Danissy

A French officer who worked with Lazare Carnot.

BkXIX:Chap12:Sec2 Mentioned.

 

Dante Alighieri

1265-1321 An Italian Poet, born in Florence, he was actively involved in the struggle between the Black Guelphs supported by the Pope, and the White Guelphs who favoured a democratic commune. He was exiled and settled eventually in Ravenna c. 1318. Author of La Vita Nuova (c.1292) an autobiographical work concerning his love for Beatrice (probably based on Beatrice Portinari who died at the age of 24), various political and literary treatises, and La Divina Commedia, started c. 1307 a spiritual journey through the divine realms.

Preface:Sect3 Mentioned by Chateaubriand.

Preface:Sect4 An example of a writer involved with the politics and social upheaval of his times.

BkI:Chap4:Sec2 Chateaubriand quotes from Paradiso XVII, 58-69.

BkV:Chap12:Sec1 His descriptions of Florentine factionalism.

BkX:Chap2:Sec1 Chateaubriand quotes Inferno XXXII:127.

BkX:Chap9:Sec1 The Divine Comedy mentioned.

BkX:Chap9:Sec2 Chateaubriand quotes from Inferno I:73.

BkXII:Chap1:Sec1 Great poet of the Early Middle Ages.

BkXII:Chap1:Sec1 Referred to in a poem of Michelangelo’s.

BkXII:Chap1:Sec1 Originator of modern Italian literature.

BkXII:Chap5:Sec1 Chateaubriand quotes from Purgatorio VIII:5-6

BkXIII:Chap11:Sec1 Ginguené accused Chateaubriand of a lack of appreciation for Dante which Chateaubriand subsequently rectified in his Essai sur la litterature anglaise.

BkXIV:Chap4:Sec1 Chateaubriand quotes from Inferno XIV:46-47.

BkXIX:Chap3:Sec1 A reference to Purgatorio VI:20

BkXXIV:Chap9:Sec1 The quotation is from Purgatorio I:22-24. ‘I turned towards the right, looking towards the Pole and saw four stars…’

BkXXIV:Chap12:Sec1 He stayed in the Monastery of Santa Croce in Corvo in Liguria The monastery was visited by Dante who negotiated a peace between the Bishop of Luni and the Marquis of Malaspina.

BkXXV:Chap1:Sec1 Dante, accompanied by Virgil, meets the other great poets Homer, Horace, Ovid and Lucan in Limbo, See Inferno IV:82-105.

BkXXVI:Chap5:Sec1 He was as involved in politics as in poetry.

BkXXVIII:Chap16:Sec1 See Inferno Canto IX:118.

BkXXIX:Chap1:Sec5 See Purgatorio VIII:6

BkXXIX:Chap2:Sec2 BkXXIX:Chap6:Sec1 He died in exile at Ravenna in 1321 and his tomb is near the Basilica of St Francis. A bag supposedly containing some of his ashes has recently been discovered in Florence. The tomb’s exterior is Neo-Classical, 1780, built by Camillo Morigia. The first quotation is from Purgatorio XVI:65-66. The second and third are from Vita Nuova XXI:39 and 71-76. The fourth is from Purgatorio XXX:126-127, where Beatrice reproaches Dante. The fifth is from a Latin letter to a Florentine friend, of 1315-1317. The sixth is from Inferno XV:85.

BkXXIX:Chap2:Sec3 The reference is to Inferno:75

BkXXX:Chap14:Sec1 See Paradiso XI:58-75.

BkXXXIX:Chap4:Sec1 He visited Venice in 1306 and 1321 as an emissary from Ravenna.

BkXXXIX:Chap5:Sec1 The 14th century Divine Comedy in the Marciana in Venice.

BkXXXIX:Chap8:Sec1 See Inferno XXI:7-15.

BkXXXIX:Chap15:Sec1 Artaud’s translation of the Divine Comedy. The quotations are from Purgatorio XXX, lines 31-32, and then lines 28-29.

BkXL:Chap2:Sec1 His possible visit to Paris.

BkXLII:Chap2:Sec1 See Inferno I:49-50.

 

Danton, Georges-Jacques

1759-1794 A statesman and orator, he was a leader of the Cordeliers in 1789 and 1790, and became Minister of Justice in the new Republic in 1792. A member of the first Committee of Public Safety, he lost power as the Reign of Terror developed. He and his followers were arrested in March 1794, charged with conspiracy and guillotined.

BkIX:Chap1:Sec1 The Legislative Assembly elected on a restricted middle-class franchise met on 1st October 1791. It excluded all members of the Constituent Assembly. Danton was not initially elected to it.

BkIX:Chap3:Sec1 A contingent of 500 citizen soldiers from Marseilles who had put down a royalist insurrection in Arles, equipped by Danton, arrived in Paris towards the end of July 1792, bringing with them the Marseillaise penned by Rouget de Lisle at Strasbourg for the Army of the Rhine and adapted by the fédérés.

BkIX:Chap4:Sec1 BkIX:Chap4:Sec2 BkXXXIX:Chap3:Sec1

Description and fate.

BkXI:Chap3:Sec3 BkXIII:Chap4:Sec1 BkXXXIV:Chap12:Sec1

BkXXXV:Chap26:Sec1 BkXLII:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.

BkXXIV:Chap5:Sec1 Quoted.

 

Dantzig, François Joseph Lefebvre, Duc de, Marshal of France

1755-1820. A Marshal of France, he rose from the ranks in the Revolutionary Wars and distinguished himself under Napoleon. He aided Napoleon in the coup of 18 Brumaire and was later made (1803) duke of Dantzig. His wife, who had been a washerwoman, caused some sensation through her unconventional manners and is the heroine of Victorien Sardou’s play Madame Sans-Gêne.

BkXX:Chap6:Sec2 His taking of Danzig on the 27th of May 1807 after a long siege.

BkXXI:Chap8:Sec1 Commanded the infantry during the retreat.

 

Danube

Europe’s second-longest river (after the Volga) originates in the Black Forest in Germany as two smaller rivers, the Brigach and the Breg, which meet at Donaueschingen, and it is from here that it is known as the Danube, flowing generally eastwards for a distance of some 1770 miles, passing through several Central and Eastern European capitals, before emptying into the Black Sea via the Danube Delta in Romania.

BkXXXVI:Chap6:Sec1 Chateaubriand crosses it in 1833.

BkXXXVI:Chap7:Sec1 Ister was the Roman name for the lower course of the Danube, the Euxine being the Black Sea.

 

Danzig (Dantzig), Poland

Gdańsk (German name Danzig), the port in Northern Poland, is on the Baltic. It developed as a trade centre during the Renaissance. It was at times under Prussian control (1793-1807 and 1814-1919). From 1807-1815 it was the Free City of Danzig, during the Napoleonic era.

BkI:Chap1:Sec9 It was besieged by Russian forces during the Battle of Danzig in 1734, in the War of the Polish Succession. It fell in 1735.

BkIV:Chap6:Sec1 BkXLII:Chap10:Sec1 Chateaubriand’s father encountered the Russians there.

BkXX:Chap6:Sec2 Lefevbre took Danzig on the 27th of May 1807 after a siege commencing on the 19th of March.

BkXX:Chap13:Sec1 Napoleon there 7-11 June 1812.

 

Dardanelles

The Hellespont was the ancient name of this strait separating Europe from Asian Turkey, connecting the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea.

BkXVIII:Chap2:Sec1 Chateaubriand there in September 1806.

BkXXIX:Chap13:Sec2 Mentioned.

 

Darfur, Africa

A region of the far-western Sudan in which Sultan Abd-er-Rahman reigned 1785-1799, surnamed el-Rashid or the Just. While Napoleon was campaigning in Egypt, Abd-er-Rahman wrote to congratulate the French general on his defeat of the Mamluks. To this Bonaparte replied by asking the sultan to send him by the next caravan 2000 black slaves upwards of sixteen years old, strong and vigorous. Abd-er-Rahman also established a new capital at Al Fashir, the royal township, which he established as capital in 1791/2.

BkXIX:Chap18:Sec1 His exchange of letters with Napoleon.

 

Darius III, Codomannus

d.330BC. King of ancient Persia (336–330). A cousin of Artaxerxes III, he was raised to the throne by the eu