Saalburg

A town in the Saal Region of Germany, the Saalburg was a Roman fortification in the Taunus Mountains and was a stronghold in the Upper Germanic Limes. It was constructed about 90 AD, to protect the access to the Rhine-Main valley from the Germanic tribes in the North.

BkXX:Chap6:Sec1 Seized by Murat and Bernadotte 10th October 1806.

 

Saalfeld

Saalfeld is a city in Thuringia, East central Germany, on the Thüringer Saale River. The Battle of Saafeld took place on October 10 1806, between 7,000 Prussians under Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia and a division of Lannes’ corps, led by the Marshal himself. The Prussian infantry was broken and driven under the walls of Saalfeld, whereupon the Prince put himself at the head of his cavalry and charged the advancing French. The charge was repulsed and the Prince, refusing to surrender, was cut down and killed. The Prussians lost in this action 400 killed and wounded, 1,000 prisoners and 20 guns.

BkXX:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Saarbruck (Saarbrücken)

The capital of the Saarland Bundesland in Germany its historic landmarks include the stone bridge across the Saar (1546), the Gothic church of St Arnual, the 18th century Saarbrücker Schloss (castle) and the old part of the town, the St. Johanner Markt. In 1815 Saarbrücken came under Prussian control, and for two periods in the 20th century (1919-1935 and 1945-1957) it became part of the Saar territory under French administration. For this reason, coupled with its proximity to the French border, it retains a certain French influence.

BkXXXVIII:Chap9:Sec1 BkXXXVIII:Chap10:Sec1 Chateaubriand there 4th June 1833.

 

Saba, or Sabba

Most of the lauras (the semi-eremitical monasteries of Palestine) in the vicinity of Jerusalem owed their existence to a Cappadocian monk named Saba (439-532). In 485 he founded the great monastery which still bears his name, Mar Saba. It is built into the rock overlooking the Kidron Valley, and was once known as the Great Laura or Lavra.

BkI:Chap3:Sec2 BkVII:Chap4:Sec1 BkXVIII:Chap2:Sec1 Chateaubriand recalls a memory from his journey to Jerusalem.

 

Sabran, Comte de

Killed in a duel in 1735.

BkV:Chap2:Sec 2 Mentioned.

 

Sacchini, Antonio Maria Gasparo

1730-1786. Italian composer.  Born in Florence, spent his last years in Paris. Renaud, Dardanus and Oedipe à Colone made his reputation, and he was called the ‘Racine of Music’.

BkV:Chap15:Sec2 Mentioned.

 

Sacchetti, Guilio Cesare, Cardinal

1596-1663. Cardinal-Bishop of Sabina in 1655, he was Prefect of the Council of the Roman Curia from 1661.

BkXXX:Chap2:Sec2 He was excluded as a candidate for the Papacy by use of the veto (the right of exclusion wielded by the major Catholic powers) in 1644 and 1655.

 

Sacken, Fabian Wilhelm, Prince von der Osten-Sacken

1752-1837. A Russian Field-Marshal, born in Revel, he fought as a young man in the Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774. He subsequently pursued a distinguished military career. During the Russian invasion of 1812, he crossed the border and took Warsaw. Later he successfully operated against Prince Poniatowski. His brilliant conquest of Poland won him the Order of Alexander Nevsky. For his valour in the Battle of Leipzig he received the Order of St. George of 2nd degree. He led the Russian Army in the Battle of Brienne. In several subsequent engagements he commanded the Silesian Army instead of Blücher. On 19 March 1814 he was appointed Governor-General of Paris. During the Hundred Days he fought under Barclay de Tolly. He had a subsequent military career in Russia, and when the November Uprising broke out, he became the war governor of Kiev, Podolia and Volynia. For his rapid and effective actions, the Emperor bestowed upon him the title of Prince. He finally retired in 1835.

BkXXII:Chap14:Sec1 He was appointed Governor of Paris by Alexander in 1814.

 

Sacontala, Sakuntala

She is the leading character in Kalidasa’s drama Sakuntala which concerns the love of King Dusyanta for this semi-divine nymph. The 5th Century AD Indian poet was the greatest writer of Classical Sanskrit. He is traditionally associated with the court of Chandra Gupta II. The drama was popularised in Europe at the end of the eighteenth century, in the translation by Sir William Jones (1746-1794), jurist, linguist and orientalist, a supreme-court judge in Calcutta (1783-1794), who was first to note the affinity between the Indo-European languages in 1786.

BkVI:Chap2:Sec2 Mentioned.

 

Saget, Monsieur

Mayor of Sainte-Foy.

BkXVII:Chap4:Sec1 Chateaubriand dined with him.

 

Saguntum (Sagunto), Spain

Saguntum is an ancient city in the modern fertile district of Camp de Morvedre in the province of Valencia in eastern Spain. It is located in a hilly site, twenty miles north of Valencia, close to the Costa del Azahar on the Mediterranean Sea. By 219 BC Saguntum was a large and commercially prosperous town, which sided with the local Greek colonists and Rome against Carthage, and Hannibal’s siege was the opening move in the Second Punic War. After a harsh resistance of several months, related by the Roman historian Livy, Saguntum was captured in 218 by the armies of Hannibal.

BkXX:Chap7:Sec2 Mentioned.

 

Saint-Amaund

A farmhouse on the battlefield of Ligny, it was taken by the French.

BkXXIII:Chap17:Sec1 Taken by Napoleon’s troops on June 16th 1815.

 

Saint-Ange, Ange François Fariau, called

1747-1810. French poet and translator, he translated Ovid’s Metamorphoses. He died shortly after his election to the Academy.

BkIX:Chap2:Sec1 Chateaubriand met him in Paris in1792.

 

Saint-Aubin, Jeanne-Charlotte Schroeder, Madame

1764-1850. Actress at Théâtre-Italien.

BkV:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Saint-Aubin-du-Cormier

The town in Brittany is south-east of Combourg, north-east of Rennes. The principal manor of the Chateauborg estate, Plessis-Pillet is near Dourdain, eight kilometres to the south. La Secardais or Lascardais is seven kilometres to the north-east. The battle in 1488 was between the last Duke of Brittany, François II, and troops under the Duke de La Trémoille, fighting for the King.  The defeated François signed the treaty of Verger. The ruined fortress is extant.

BkV:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Saint-Aulaire, Louis de Beaupoil, Comte de

1778-1854. Chamberlain to Napoleon 1809, he was Prefect of the Meuse in 1813, then the Haut-Garonne in 1814. A Liberal Deputy from 1815 he was Decazes’ brother-in-law, and inherited a peerage on the death of his father in 1829. He was Ambassador to Vienna in 1833, and Rome 1841-1847. He wrote a History of the Fronde (1827) which won him an Academy chair in 1841.

istory of

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BkXXXIII:Chap5:Sec1 Chateaubriand meets him in 1830.

BkXL:Chap6:Sec1 He was French Ambassador to Vienna in 1833.

 

Saint-Balmon (Balmont, Baslemont) de Neuville, Alberte Barbe d’Ernecourt, Comtesse de

Called L’Amazone chrestienne, during the Thirty Year’s War, when the French and Austrians were laying waste Saint-Balmon’s native province of Lorraine, her husband was away fighting under the Duke of Lorraine. Saint-Balmon simply decided to replace him. On horseback and dressed in only slightly modified male costume, she organized the defence of her property and she was so successful in her efforts that her neighbours asked her to protect their land as well. She seems to have been constantly at war in the late 1630s and the early 1640s.

BkIX:Chap16:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Sainte-Barbe

The famous college is where Saint Ignatius Loyola was educated, in Paris.

BkII:Chap7:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Saint Bartholomew’s Day, Massacre of

A massacre of French Protestants, or Huguenots, began in Paris on August 24, 1572. It was preceded, on Aug. 22, by an attempt, ordered by Catherine de’ Medici, on the life of the Huguenot leader Admiral Coligny. The failure of the attempt led to formulation of the plan for a general massacre. The opportunity was furnished by the presence in Paris of many of the Huguenot nobility for the wedding of Henry of Navarre (later King Henry IV) and Catherine’s daughter, Margaret of Valois. Massacres continued into October reaching the provinces of Rouen, Lyons, Bourges, Orleans, and Bourdeaux. An estimated 3,000 were killed in Paris, 70,000 in all of France. News of the massacres was welcomed by the Pope and the King of Spain. Protestants, however, were horrified, and the killings rekindled the hatred between Protestants and Catholics and resulted in the resumption of civil war

BkXX:Chap9:Sec1 BkXL:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Saint Bernard, Passes

The Great St Bernard is the most ancient pass through the Western Alps, with evidence of use as far back as the Bronze Age, surviving traces of the Roman road and more recently the path of Napoleon’s army into Italy in 1800. A hospice for travellers founded in 1049, named after Saint Bernard of Menthon, later became famous for its St. Bernard dogs. The Little St Bernard Pass is located in Savoie, France, to the south of the Mont Blanc Massif, and close to the border with Italy.

BkXX:Chap2:Sec1 Napoleon’s army crossed them into Italy in 1800. Desaix was buried at the hospice of Great Saint-Bernard, with Napoleon laying the first stone of a tomb for him there in 1805.

BkXXIV:Chap6:Sec1 See for example  David’s painting of 1800-1801.

 

Saint-Brice-sous-Forêt, France

A town in the Val d’Oise, it is located 30 kilometres north of Paris, in territory once belonging to the Montmorency’s. It has literary associations with Paul Eluard and the Surrealists and with the novelist Edith Wharton.

BkXXVIII:Chap18:Sec1 Madame Récamier and Madame de Staël spent time there.

 

Saint-Brieuc, France

Saint-Brieuc is situated on a plateau between the Gouëdic River and the canalized Gouët River on the north coast of Brittany.  It is located barely 2 miles from Saint-Brieuc Bay on the English Channel. It is 80 miles east of Brest, 48 miles southwest of Saint-Malo, 57 miles northwest of Rennes and 235 miles west of Paris.  It is the capital of the Département of Côtes-d’Armor.

BkI:Chap3:Sec2 Chateaubriand’s brother at college there.

 

Saint-Cannat, France

Saint-Cannat, located 16 km from Aix en Provence, was founded by a 5thcentury hermit, Canus Natus, Bishop of Marseille, who gave his name to the village.

BkXXII:Chap 20:Sec2 Napoleon passed through on his way to Elba in 1814.

 

Saint-Cast, Brittany

The French coastal town in Brittany is near Cap Frehel, 25km from Saint-Malo. An English raid there by General Bligh in 1758 was driven off by General Morel d’Aubigny.

BkXVIII:Chap7:Sec1 Armand landed there in September 1808.

 

Saint-Chamans, Alfred, Comte de

1781-1848. A former officer in the Grand Army, and a Colonel of the Royal Dragoon Guards in 1815, he was made a Marshal. His Memoirs were published in 1896.

BkXXXII:Chap3:Sec1 Commanding a Guards column during the July revolution.

 

Saint-Cloud

The town in France is now a western suburb of Paris, famous for the Sèvres porcelain factory. The town was named after Clodoald (or Cloud), grandson of Clovis I. The palace of Saint-Cloud (built 1572, destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870), of which the picturesque park remains, was a residence of many rulers of France. Napoleon I proclaimed the Empire at Saint-Cloud in 1804.

BkIV:Chap8:Sec2 The cabmen of Saint-Cloud.

BkXVIII:Chap8:Sec2 Daru there to take Napoleon a copy of Chateaubriand’s speech.

BkXIX:Chap18:Sec2 Transfer of the government there in October 1799.

BkXX:Chap3:Sec1 Napoleon proclaimed Emperor there 18th May 1804.

BkXX:Chap10:Sec1 Napoleon’s civil marriage with Marie-Louise took place there on April 1st 1810.

BkXXII:Chap6:Sec1 Napoleon there in November 1813. Henri III assassinated there in 1589.

BkXXXI:Chap1:Sec1 Chateaubriand saw Charles X there in 1829.

BkXXXI:Chap8:Sec1 BkXXXII:Chap1:Sec1 BkXXXII:Chap6:Sec1

Charles X there in July 1830.

BkXXXIII:Chap1:Sec1 BkXXXVII:Chap2:Sec1 BkXXXVIII:Chap4:Sec1

The Palace was evacuated by Charles X and his entourage in the early morning of the 31st of July 1830.

BkXXXVIII:Chap1:Sec1 Trogoff was Governor there in 1828.

BkXXXIX:Chap17:Sec1 Mentioned as the westerly direction from central Paris.

 

Saint-Cyr, Seine-et-Oise

A French town it lies in the Yvelines department of north-central France.

BkIV:Chap1:Sec3 Chateaubriand passed through in 1786 on the way to Paris.

 

Saint-Cyr, College of

A school for the daughters of impoverished noblemen was founded at Saint-Cyr in 1685 by Louis XIV and Mme de Maintenon. The building later housed the famous military academy (the West Point of France) founded by Napoleon in 1808.

BkI:Chap1:Sec11 Chateaubriand’s maternal grandmother educated there.

BkXIX:Chap3:Sec1 Élisa Bacciochi educated there.

BkXXXII:Chap12:Sec1 Students from the military academy in July 1830.

 

Saint-Denis

A suburb now of Paris, on the Seine, its gothic abbey, the Basilica of Saint-Denis, contains the tombs of many French kings.

BkII:Chap7:Sec5 BkX:Chap8:Sec2 BkXIII:Chap9:Sec1

BkXVIII:Chap8:Sec2 BkXX:Chap5:Sec3 BkXXIII:Chap18:Sec2 The royal tombs were desecrated in 1793 and the remains interred in a pit. Napoleon re-opened the church in 1806, but it was not until the Bourbon restoration that the grave pit was opened in 1817, and the jumbled remains transferred to the crypt.

BkIX:Chap2:Sec1 Rulhière’s house there.

BkX:Chap5:Sec2 Chateaubriand compares Saint-Denis (1140-1144) with Westminster Abbey (1245-1260) though the Lady Chapel is of course much later (1543). 

BkXVIII:Chap3Sec3 An antiquary of the neighbourhood.

BkXXII:Chap8:Sec1 BkXXXII:Chap16:Sec1 The French kings were entombed there.

BkXXIII:Chap20:Sec3 Chateaubriand there in 1815. He saw the King on the 7th of July.

 

Saint-Dizier, France

The town, on the River Marne, is north-east of Troyes.

BkXXII:Chap9:Sec1 Napoleon fighting there in January 1814.

 

Saint-Fargeau, Suzanne-Louise Le Pelletier de, Madame de Mortfontaine

b1785? Daughter of Louis Michel Le Pelletier de Saint-Fargeau (1760-93), aristocrat turned revolutionary, and member of the Convention. He voted for the death of the king, and was assassinated on the eve of the king’s execution in 1793. Given a splendid state funeral, Le Pelletier was celebrated as a republican martyr and commemorated in a painting by David. This work has not survived as his daughter grew up to be an ardent royalist, bought the picture and had it burnt. Her own famous portrait by David (1804) survives. She was adopted by the State, and became known as ‘Mademoiselle Nation’.

BkXVII:Chap1:Sec1 Became owner of Verneuil.

 

Sainte-Foy-les-Lyon

The town is on a hill at the confluence of the Rhône and Saône, near Lyons (now a suburb).

BkXVII:Chap4:Sec1 Monsieur Saget the mayor there.

 

Saint-Germain, Claude Louis, Comte de

1707-1778. Saint-Germain was appointed minister of war by Louis XVI on the 25th of October 1775. His efforts to introduce Prussian discipline in the French army brought such opposition that he resigned in September 1777.

BkXLII:Chap10:Sec1 Mentioned.

 

Saint-Germain

He was a man-servant to Madame de Beaumont and later to Lucile.

BkXV:Chap6:Sec1 BkXV:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned.

BkXVII:Chap6:Sec1 Chateaubriand loans him to Lucile.

 

Saint-Germain, Madame

Wife of the above, she was a Spanish maid-servant to Madame de Beaumont.

BkXV:Chap4:Sec1 At Madame de Beaumont’s deathbed in 1803.

 

Saint-Gilles, Raymond de, see Raimond IV

 

Saint Gothard, Switzerland

A noted mountain in the Lepontine Alps, 9850 ft. high, crossed by a pass leading from Lake Lucerne to Lake Maggiore, and since 1882 traversed by a railway with a tunnel from Göschenen to Airolo,

BkXX:Chap2:Sec1 Napoleon’s army (General Moncey) crossed the pass in 1800.

BkXXXV:Chap11:Sec2 BkXXXV:Chap11:Sec2 Mentioned.

BkXXXV:Chap12:Sec1 Chateaubriand there in August 1832.

BkXXXV:Chap13:Sec1 Schöllenen Gorge is a canyon around 5km long on the Reuss River in central Switzerland north of Andermatt. Enc