Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis (22 September 1788 3 May 1856) was a member of the Mamelukes of the Imperial Guard, leading him to be known in his lifetime as "Mamelouk Ali". He was most notable as a faithful servant to

Napoleon I 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 who ...

during his two exiles on Elba and

Saint Helena Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...

Life

He was born in Versailles to Étienne Saint-Denis (a royal stableman) and Marie-Louise Notté (daughter of an officer in the royal kitchens). His parents gave him a good education, allowing him to become a notary clerk in Paris. His father knew Armand de Caulaincourt, who recommended Louis-Étienne for a post at the imperial court and thus on 1 May 1806 he became a stableman in Napoleon's household. Five years later, on 11 December 1811, Napoleon made him his second-valet-de-chambre - Napoleon also ordered him to change his name to "Mameluk Ali", after the man he was replacing in the role. He accompanied Napoleon to Russia and Elba, during the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

and finally to Saint Helena. In the meantime he gained promotion to first mamluk in April 1814, after

Roustam Raza Roustam Raza (arm Ռուստամ Ռուզա) (Georgian: როსტომ რაზმაძე, Rostom Razmadze) (1783 – 7 December 1845), also known as Roustan or Rustam, was a mamluk bodyguard and secondary valet of Napoleon. Early life R ...

fled following Napoleon's first abdication. On Saint Helena he did everything he could to ameliorate the emperor's conditions, such as preparing an eau de Cologne for him from local ingredients and acting as his copyist and librarian. In 1819 he married Mary Hall, the Birmingham-born governess to grand-marshal Henri Gatien Bertrand's children. Two years later his devotion was rewarded in Napoleon's will by a substantial sum and the task of taking part of the emperor's library to his son, the former

King of Rome The king of Rome ( la, rex Romae) was the ruler of the Roman Kingdom. According to legend, the first king of Rome was Romulus, who founded the city in 753 BC upon the Palatine Hill. Seven legendary kings are said to have ruled Rome until 509 ...

. After his return to France in 1821, he raised a family and took a small job in a riding school, publishing his ''Souvenirs'' in 1826. He also joined the expedition to bring Napoleon's remains back to France in 1840. Napoleon III made him a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1854 and he died two years later in

Sens Sens () is a Communes of France, commune in the Yonne Departments of France, department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in north-central France, 120 km from Paris. Sens is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture and the second city of the d ...

in northern France, where he was also buried.

Depictions in popular culture

*''Napoleone a Sant'Elena'', Italian miniseries, 1973 - played by Varo Soleri *''

Monsieur N. ''Monsieur N.'' is a 2003 British-French film directed by Antoine de Caunes. It tells the story of the last years of the life of the Emperor Napoléon (played by Philippe Torreton), who was imprisoned by the British on St Helena. Napoléon reta ...

'', Franco-British film, 2003 - played by Igor Skreblin

Works

* ''Souvenirs'', 1826. * ''Journal inédit du retour des Cendres'', 1840

Bibliography

Jacques Jourquin Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

, ''Journal inédit du

Retour des cendres The ''retour des cendres'' (literally "return of the ashes", though "ashes" is used here as meaning his mortal remains, as he was not cremated) was the return of the mortal remains of Napoleon I of France from the island of Saint Helena to Fran ...

par le mameluck Ali (1840)'', déchiffrage, annotations et présentation des manuscrits, Tallandier, 2003 * Jacques Jourquin, ''Souvenirs du mameluck Ali en grande partie inédits sur la campagne de Russie en 1812'', déchiffrage, établissement, présentation et annotation des manuscrits, coll. de l'Institut Napoléon n° 7, éditions SPM, 2012 * Jacques Jourquin, ''Souvenirs en bonne partie inédits du mameluck Ali (1813-1815)'', déchiffrage, établissement, présentation et annotation des manuscrits, coll. de l'Institut Napoléon n° 13, SPM, 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint-Denis, Louis-Etienne 1788 births 1856 deaths People from Versailles Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur People of the First French Empire Mamluks French memoirists French people of Arab descent 19th-century memoirists