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, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne. Étienne, Etienne, Ettiene or Ettienne may refer to: People Artists and entertainers * ...

), 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. After

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

Bonaparte's

18 Brumaire Coup The Coup of 18 Brumaire () brought Napoleon Bonaparte to power as First Consul of the French First Republic. In the view of most historians, it ended the French Revolution and would soon lead to the coronation of Napoleon as Emperor of the Fre ...

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

Journal des débats The ''Journal des débats'' (, ''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 outbreak ...

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

François-René de Chateaubriand François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Bri ...

, Charles-Marie-Dorimond de Féletz,

Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie Jean François Boissonade de Fontarabie (12 August 17748 September 1857) was a French classical scholar. Life He was born in Paris. In 1792 he entered the public service during the administration of Charles François Dumouriez, General Dumouriez ...

Conrad Malte-Brun Conrad Malte-Brun (; born Malthe Conrad Bruun; 12 August 177514 December 1826), 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 writi ...

, 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 , 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 criticism, a chronicle ...

, 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 gove ...

tendencies by the

French Consulate The Consulate () was the top-level government of the First French Republic from the fall of the French Directory, Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799 until the start of the First French Empire, French Empire on 18 May 1804. ...

, Bertin was imprisoned at the

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

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, military outpost (military), outposts, and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a hegemony, dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the ...

, 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 governmen ...

, 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 The Hundred Days ( ), 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 of King Louis XVIII o ...

, 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. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

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 ...

, 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-

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

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 (), officially the ''Kingdom of France'' (), was a liberalism, liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 9 August 1830, after the revolutionary victory of the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 26 Februar ...

. He died in Paris in 1841.

Ingres Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres ( ; ; 29 August 1780 – 14 January 1867) was a French Neoclassicism, Neoclassical Painting, painter. Ingres was profoundly influenced by past artistic traditions and aspired to become the guardian of academic ...

's 1832 portrait of Bertin, first exhibited at the 1833

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

, is one of his most famous works.

References

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