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St. Helena Medal
The Saint Helena Medal (french: Médaille de Sainte-Hélène) was the first French campaign medal. It was established in 1857 by a decree of emperor Napoleon III to recognise participation in the campaigns led by emperor Napoleon I. Emperor Napoléon I, creator of the Order of the Legion of Honour and various other orders, never instituted commemorative campaign medals for his soldiers. In time, many veterans of these campaigns, sometimes called the "débris de la Grande Armée" ( en, "remnants of the Grande Armée, Great Army"), began meeting within various new veterans' associations. Keeping alive their war memories and the myth of Napoléon in popular culture, they issued many unofficial Napoleonic medal, commemorative and associative medals. It would be forty two years after the last battles and exile of the emperor to the island of Saint Helena before the need to adequately and officially recognise the service of these combat veterans was eventually recognised officially ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleonic Medal
Napoleonic medals are medals including those struck by the Paris Medal Mint celebrating the accomplishments of Napoleon I of France. The exact number of these medals is not precisely known since the official records of Napoleon's reign, including the list of medals struck by the mint, were erased by King Louis XVIII. Counting medals struck in England and Italy, the total number of different medals exceeds 2,000. The sizes of these medals vary, although most are approximately 40mm in diameter. Many were struck in copper, although silver and gold were also used. The copper medals have a patina applied, which protects the copper from eroding and makes the medal look like bronze. A single copy of most of the medals was struck in gold for Napoleon's personal collection. Many of these gold medals were sold at auction from the personal collection of Victor Bonaparte. The most definitive catalog of Napoleonic medals was created by a collector named Bramsen in three volumes publish ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Pierre Magnan
Bernard Pierre Magnan (7 December 1791 in Paris – 29 May 1865 in Paris) was a Marshal of France. Magnan started his career as an enlisted soldier of the 66th Line in 1809. Promoted to sergeant in 1810, the next year he entered the officers ranks and was successively promoted 2nd lieutenant, 1st lieutenant and captain. From 1810 to 1813 Magnan took part in the Peninsular War. In January 1814 he was transferred to the Imperial Guard, with which he took part in the French campaign of 1814, being wounded at Craonne. On half pay during the Bourbon Restoration, he rejoined Napoléon's Imperial Guard during the Hundred Days. After Waterloo and the Second Restoration, he transferred to the 6th regiment of the Royal Guard. In 1820 he was made a battalion commander in the 34th Line, in 1820 he became lieutenant-colonel in the 60th Line. In 1823 he took part in the Spanish campaign. Promoted to colonel of the 49th Line, he took part in the conquest of Algeria. Magnan joined general ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant
Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant, 1st Comte Vaillant (6 December 1790 – 4 June 1872), born in Dijon, was a Marshal of France. Vaillant entered the French army in 1809 in the corps of engineers. He served in the French invasion of Russia (1812) and the next year became a prisoner of war after the Battle of Kulm. During the Hundred Days Vaillant fought at Ligny and Waterloo. Vaillant commanded a battalion in the 1830 campaign against Algiers. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he served under Gérard in the expedition into Belgium in 1831. Vaillant commanded the fortress at Algiers from 1837 to 1838, recalled to France, he was made director of the École polytechnique. Promoted to lieutenant general, Vaillant was put in charge of the building of the Parisian fortifications in 1845 under the command of Dode de la Brunerie. In 1849, Vaillant was given command of the engineers in the French expeditionary corps to Rome. Promoted to Marshal of France in 1851, Vaillant served as Mini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marshal Of France
Marshal of France (french: Maréchal de France, plural ') is a French military distinction, rather than a military rank, that is awarded to generals for exceptional achievements. The title has been awarded since 1185, though briefly abolished (1793–1804) and for a period dormant (1870–1916). It was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France during the and Bourbon Restoration, and one of the Grand Dignitaries of the Empire during the First French Empire (when the title was Marshal of the Empire, not Marshal of France). A Marshal of France displays seven stars on each shoulder strap. A marshal also receives a baton: a blue cylinder with stars, formerly fleurs-de-lis during the monarchy and eagles during the First French Empire. The baton bears the Latin inscription of ', which means "terror in war, ornament in peace". Between the end of the 16th century and the middle of the 19th century, six Marshals of France were given the even more exalted rank of Marshal General ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Privy Mark
A privy mark was originally a small mark or differentiation in the design of a coin for the purpose of identifying the mint, moneyer, some other aspect of the coin's origin, or to prevent counterfeiting. One of the first instances of a privy mark used as a counterfeit measure was during the 17th century in a plan proposed by Sir Edward Ford to mint farthings, halfpence and three-farthings. In modern times, the privy mark is used as a design and marketing feature to commemorate a special event or signify that the coin is part of a set. It is still sometimes used to signify the location or origin of where the coin was minted, but is then usually referred to as a mint mark. Some privy marked coins – such as the Canadian Silver Privy Marked Maple Leaf – may sell at a premium. See also *Mint mark A mint mark is a letter, symbol or an inscription on a coin indicating the mint where the coin was produced. It should not be confused with a mintmaster mark which is the mark of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emperor Of France
Emperor of the French ( French: ''Empereur des Français'') was the title of the monarch and supreme ruler of the First and the Second French Empires. Details A title and office used by the House of Bonaparte starting when Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor on 18 May 1804 by the Senate and was crowned Emperor of the French on 2 December 1804 at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, in Paris, with the Crown of Napoleon. The title emphasized that the emperor ruled over "the French people" (the nation) and not over France (the state). The old formula of "King of France" indicated that the king owned France as a personal possession. The new term indicated a constitutional monarchy. The title was purposely created to preserve the appearance of the French Republic and to show that after the French Revolution, the feudal system was abandoned and a nation-state was created, with equal citizens as the subjects of their emperor. (After 1 January 1809, the state was officially referred to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' means the front face of the object and ''reverse'' means the back face. The obverse of a coin is commonly called ''heads'', because it often depicts the head of a prominent person, and the reverse ''tails''. In numismatics, the abbreviation ''obv.'' is used for ''obverse'',David Sear. ''Greek Imperial Coins and Their Values.'' Spink Books, 1982. p. xxxv. while ℞, )(Jonathan Edwards. ''Catalogue of the Greek and Roman Coins in the Numismatic Collection of Yale College, Volume 2.'' Tuttle, Morehouse & Taylor, 1880. p. 228. and rev.Allen G. Berman. ''Warman's Coins And Paper Money: Identification and Price Guide.'' Penguin, 2008. are used for reverse. In fields of scholarship outside numismatics, the term ''front'' is more commo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imperial Crown
An Imperial Crown is a crown used for the coronation of emperors. Design Crowns in Europe during the Middle Ages varied in design: During the Middle Ages the crowns worn by English kings had been described as both closed (or arched) and open designs. This was in contrast with kings of France who always wore an open crown. However, there is academic debate on how often closed crowns were used in England during this period, as the first unequivocal use of the closed crown was by Henry IV of England at his coronation on 13 October 1399. However his effigy on his tomb in Canterbury Cathedral wears an open crown, so the link in England between the style of the crown and its representation as that worn by a king and an emperor was not established. The use of a closed crown may have been adopted by the English as a way of distinguishing the English crown from the French crown, but it also had other meanings to some. For example, Henry V of England wore a helmet-crown of the arc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First French Empire
The First French Empire, officially the French Republic, then the French Empire (; Latin: ) after 1809, also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from 18 May 1804 to 11 April 1814 and again briefly from 20 March 1815 to 7 July 1815. Although France had already established a colonial empire overseas since the early 17th century, the French state had remained a kingdom under the Bourbons and a republic after the French Revolution. Historians refer to Napoleon's regime as the ''First Empire'' to distinguish it from the restorationist ''Second Empire'' (1852–1870) ruled by his nephew Napoleon III. The First French Empire is considered by some to be a " Republican empire." On 18 May 1804, Napoleon was granted the title Emperor of the French (', ) by the French and was crowned on 2 December 1804, signifying the end of the French ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
