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The Eagle in Splendour: Inside the Court of Napoleon
The Eagle in Splendour Inside the Court of Napoleon Author:Philip Mansel "When I think of the great Emperor, in my mind's eye it is summer again, all gold and green." Hein The court of Napoleon I, in its grandeur and extravagance, surpassed even that of that the Sun King. Napoleon's palaces at Saint-Cloud and the Tuileries shimmered with candle-lit walls of Lyons silk and exotic treasures gleaned from distant campa... more »igns; it echoed with the rustle of jewel-encrusted gowns, the drums of military marches and his courtiers' intrigues. This was the centre of Napoleon's magnetic power, the dazzling reflection of the greatest empire in modern European history. Napoleon's military conquests changed the world and dominate most portraits of him, but it was through the splendour of his court - a world fashioned beyond the battlefield - that Napoleon strengthened his ambitions for empire and retained his control over it. Philip Mansel brings to life in exquisite detail the heady world of this court: the power and ambition, visual magnificence and rigid hierarchy; stories of mistresses and fortune-seekers, servants and courtiers. Ultimately, the life of the court illuminates the life of Napoleon himself and the great force of a personality that conquered half the world yet, in the end, became "devoured by ambition", his past glories fading into ignominious and lonely exile.« less