Louis-François Bertin , by François-Xavier Fabre

Louis-François Bertin, also known as Bertin l'Aîné (''Bertin the Elder''; 14 December 176613 September 1841), was a French journalist. He had a younger brother, Louis-François Bertin de Vaux; two sons, Edouard François and Louis-Marie François; and a daughter, Louise Bertin.

Life

Early career

Born in Paris (his father was a former secretary of

Étienne François, duc de Choiseul Étienne François, Marquis de Stainville, Duc de Choiseul, KOHS, OGF (28 June 17198 May 1785) was a French military officer, diplomat and statesman. From 1758 to 1761 and from 1766 to 1770, he was Foreign Minister of France and had a strong i ...

), and considered in retrospect the most important member of the Bertin family, he began his journalistic career by writing for the ''Journal Français'' and other papers during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...

. After

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

18 Brumaire Coup The Coup d'état of 18 Brumaire brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of France. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and led to the Coronation of Napoleon as Emperor. This bloodless ''coup d'état'' over ...

he acquired the paper with his family name has chiefly been connected, the ''

Journal des débats The ''Journal des débats'' ( French for: Journal of Debates) was a French newspaper, published between 1789 and 1944 that changed title several times. Created shortly after the first meeting of the Estates-General of 1789, it was, after the ou ...

''. Guided by the contributions of figures such as Joseph Fiévée, Julien Louis Geoffroy, Jean François Joseph Dussault,

François-René de Chateaubriand François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who had a notable influence on French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocrati ...

, Charles-Marie-Dorimond de Féletz, Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie,

Conrad Malte-Brun Conrad Malte-Brun (12 August 177514 December 1826), born Malthe Conrad Bruun, and sometimes referred to simply as Malte-Brun, was a Dano-French geographer and journalist. His second son, Victor Adolphe Malte-Brun, was also a geographer. Today he ...

, François Benoît Hoffmann, and

Charles Nodier Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier (29 April 1780 – 27 January 1844) was a French author and librarian who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the ''conte fantastique'', gothic literature, and vampire tales. His dream related writings ...

, the ''Journal'' soon became a major authority in French press and literature. Bertin is credited with the invention of the

feuilleton A ''feuilleton'' (; a diminutive of french: feuillet, the leaf of a book) was originally a kind of supplement attached to the political portion of French newspapers, consisting chiefly of non-political news and gossip, literature and art critici ...

, a supplement to a newspaper's political section, usually in smaller type, that carries gossip, fashion, criticism, epigrams and charades, and fosters a culture of literary gamesmanship. Suspected of

royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of governm ...

tendencies by the

French Consulate The Consulate (french: Le Consulat) was the top-level Government of France from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 10 November 1799 until the start of the Napoleonic Empire on 18 May 1804. By extension, the term ''The Co ...

, Bertin was imprisoned at the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

in 1800, and exiled in 1801. He returned to Paris in 1805 after the proclamation of the

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

, and resumed management of the paper, the title of which had been changed by order of Napoleon to ''Journal de l'Empire''. He had to submit to rigorous

censorship Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...

, and in 1811 the publication, and its profits, were taken over entirely by the government.

Restoration and July Monarchy

In 1814 Bertin regained possession of the paper, restored its old title, and continued his support of the royalist cause during the Hundred Days, joining

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

in the

Southern Netherlands The Southern Netherlands, also called the Catholic Netherlands, were the parts of the Low Countries belonging to the Holy Roman Empire which were at first largely controlled by Habsburg Spain (Spanish Netherlands, 1556–1714) and later by the A ...

, where he edited the '' Moniteur Universel'' as ''Moniteur de Gand''. During the full Bourbon Restoration, Bertin directed the ''Moniteur'' until 1823, when the ''Journal des débats'' became the recognized organ of the

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

al opposition after he had come to criticize absolutism (a road similar to the one taken by Chateaubriand). After 1830, however, Bertin supported the

July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 F ...

. He died in Paris in 1841. Ingres's 1832 portrait of Bertin, first exhibited at the 1833 Paris Salon, is one of his most famous works.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertin, Louis-Francois 1766 births 1841 deaths Writers from Paris French journalists French newspaper founders French male essayists 18th-century essayists Newspaper editors of the French Revolution 18th-century French male writers