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Napoléon & Empire

Napoleonic Timeline: 1804

Chronology of the Napoleonic era [1769...] [1789...] [1794...] [1796] [1797] [1798] [1799] [1800] [1801] [1802] [1803] [1804] [1805] [1806] [1807] [1808] [1809] [1810] [1811] [1812] [1813] [1814] [1815] [1816...] [1840]
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804
Napoleon Bonaparte in 1804
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6 January – Napoleon Bonaparte returns to Paris. – 15 January – Appointment of Joachim Murat as Governor of Paris: it's a monarchic title that Bonaparte exhumes for the benefit of his brother-in-law. – 16 January – The First Consul reports on the situation of the Republic, inside and outside, in a message to the Senate. Clandestine landing of thirty-five royalists sent by England to organize the assassination of Bonaparte. – 24 January – Formal announcement of the King of England: he will never abandon the cause of the Bourbons.

15 February – Arrest of General Jean Victor Marie Moreau.

17 February – Report of the Chief Justice on a conspiracy involving Jean Victor Marie Moreau, Jean-Charles Pichegru and Georges Cadoudal. – 19 February – Monsignor Bernier, bishop of Orleans, orders prayers for the preservation of life of the First Consul.

25 February – Napoleon Bonaparte removes the jury for two years in the trial of attacks against his person and against the security of the Republic. – 28 February – Arrest of Jean-Chrles Pichegru which is led to the Temple jailhouse.

9 March – Georges Cadoudal is arrested at his turn.

10 March – The three consuls, Joseph Fouché, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord and the High Judge Claude-Ambroise Régnier, meeting in Council of Government, decide the kidnapping of the Duke of Enghien. The same day, Bonaparte orders three hundred dragoons to cross the Rhine river, to surround the town of Ettenheim and to remove the Duke of Enghien and his followers. – 15 March – The Duke of Enghien is arrested.

20 March – The Duke of Enghien arrives at Vincennes at five o'clock. Six hours later, he appears before a military commission. – 21 March – At three o'clock, the Duke of Enghien is executed by firing squad. Napoleon Bonaparte says: The Duke of Enghien conspired as another, we had to treat him like any other. I am the man of the state, I am the French Revolution and I argue. A law dated the same day promulgates the French Civil Code. – 27 March – The Senate asks Bonaparte to restore its authority in families. It's Fouché who introduced that motion.

6 April – Jean-Charles Pichegru is found strangled in his prison.

13 April – The Privy Council chooses for General Bonaparte the title of Emperor. – 23 April – Jean-François Curée, a Tribunat member, suggests that Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French and the imperial dignity became hereditary in his family. – 30 April – Start of the discussion of the motion Curée at the Tribunes.

3rd May – Motion is unanimously adopted, minus one vote. – 10 May – Bonaparte's wish is to be crowned by the Pope. – 16 May – On behalf of the State Council, Jean-Etienne Portalis brings to the Senate a draft Senatus consultum who proclaims Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French. – 18 May – The Senatus-consultum is approved by the Senate unanimously minus three votes. – 19 May – Fourteen Empire marshals are appointed: Berthier, Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Masséna, Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult, Brune, Lannes, Mortier, Ney, Davoust, Bessières, plus four marshals-Senators: Kellermann, Lefebvre, Perignon, Sérurier. – 20 May – The establishment of the Empire is proclaimed in the major squares of Paris by a procession which travels the streets. – 21 May – The Monitor publishes a paper protocol: the ministers and marshals will be treated in Monseigneur, the great dignitaries of Serene Highness. – 22 May – Napoleon says to a deputation of Tribunate: I like to owe everything to the people, this feeling only makes me dear new honors that I am dressed. – 26 May – The Italian Consulta gives orders to erect a monument to the glory of the Emperor. The same day, it tells the Minister of Marine: The Italian Republic owes to me the price for twelve boats and two frigates. I estimate the price is 2,400,000 livres. – 28 May – Georges Cadoudal, his accomplices and Jean-Victor Marie Moreau have their trial opened before a Criminal court of the Department of Seine without judging jury.

6 June – Publication of a formal protest of the Count of Provence against the appointment of Napoleon. – 7 June – The functions of the special courts are extended.

10 June – Georges Cadoudal is sentenced to death, with nineteen of his accomplices (including the Duke Armand de Polignac); two years in prison for Moreau. – 11 June – The sentencing to death of the Duke of Polignac, a former comrade of Napoleon Bonaparte at the military school, is commuted by him in custody until the peace.

12 June – Establishment of a monopoly on funeral benefit of the Church.

21 June – Seven accomplices of Cadoudal, sentenced to death, get their grace of Napoleon.

25 June – Cadoudal and eleven of his accomplices are executed. – 26 June – A decree orders that the new coins will now legendary "Emperor Napoleon".

3rd July – Permission is granted to comedians of the Comédie-Française to take the title of the Emperor's ordinary Comedians. – 8 July – The Emperor leaves officially Saint-Cloud to Paris to receive new letters of credence of foreign diplomats. – 9 July – In Paris, Napoleon attends a military parade, the first one since his elevation to the Empire. – 10 July – The Ministry of Religious Affairs is created. Joseph Fouché becomes Minister of General Police. – 13 July – The Holy Sacrament, when passing on the public way, will now receive military honors. – 14 July – Napoleon goes to the Invalides to distribute, seated on a throne, the first crosses of the Legion of Honor. He is preceded by the Eagles of the French Empire, ministers, marshals, and dignitaries of the imperial house. – 17 July – Napoleon tells the Minister of the Treasury: I wish that diamonds and pearls, that are the public treasury, should be installed in different decorations for the Empress. – 18 July – The Emperor begins a great inspection tour, from Boulogne to Treves, through Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend, Arras, Mons, Aachen, Cologne and Mainz.

12 October – Napoleon 1 is back in Saint-Cloud. – 16 October – At the Mount Genevra pass, Hautes-Alpes, is laid the foundation stone of an obelisk in honor of the Emperor. – 26 October – Establishment of the list of those attending the coronation of Napoleon.

2nd November – Pope Pius VII leaves Rome and begins the journey that should take him to Paris to crown Napoleon. – 9 November – The Grand Orient de France, the largest Masonic organization in France and the oldest in Continental Europe, elects Lucien Bonaparte as Grand-Master. – 18 November – The Imperial Pages, the sons of generals and senior officials, appear for the first time. – 22 November – The offices of charity have in Paris 103,454 needy rescued. – 25 November – Napoleon 1 goes before the Pope arrived at Fontainebleau. – 28 November – The Emperor and the Pope share a carriage to get to Paris.

29 November – Napoleon and Josephine receive from Cardinal Joseph Fesch the nuptial blessing in the chapel of the Tuileries, at midnight. – 30 November – The Grand Bodies of the state come to pay homage to the Pope.

2nd December – Napoleon 1 is crowned  The coronation of Napoleon, by J.L. David at Notre-Dame. – 3rd December – Report of the Prefecture of Police: Today the Stock Exchange was in no way more interesting than yesterday: few people, few business and languid arrangements consistently negative. – 5 December – Eagles are formally distributed at the Champ de Mars, in the presence of the Emperor. Jean-Nicolas Faure, a student, rushes through the crowd toward the imperial throne, crying: Liberty or Death. He is arrested. – 6 December – Napoleon 1 receives, in the throne room at the Tuileries Palace, prefects and presidents of the electoral colleges of hundred eight Departments of the Empire. The Grand Bodies of state, ministers and marshals are present. – 8 December – More than seven thousand delegates from the army, navy and National Guard are received in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre. – 9 December – The student Faure is interned at Charenton to be treated as insane until his complete recovery. – 11 December – Presentation of the Institute of tributes to Napoleon 1. – 12 December – Order of Minister of Police is given to search and seize an engraving on the Coronation which is sold, under the counter, at the Palace of Tribunes. It reads thus: Pius is stain. – 13 December – Police arrests a heretofore magistrate Beugnet of Pommeraie: he broadcasts an illegal pamphlet entitled Funeral Oration of the Duke of Enghien. – 14 December – A police report indicates an anagram circulating in Paris. Napoleon, empereur des Français (Napoleon, Emperor of the French) becomes: Ce fol empire ne durera pas son an (This crazy empire will not last a year). – 16 December – Napoleon is solemnly received at City Hall. – 17 December – An Eagle takes place in the coat of arms of Napoleon. – 20 December – Appointment of Jacques-Louis David as the first painter of the Emperor. He is ordered to execute four paintings on the coronation. – 22 December – Celebration of a Mass by the Pope in Saint-Sulpice. – 25 December – Increase the price of bread, a penny per pound. – 26 December – Celebration of a Mass by Pope Pius VII at Notre-Dame-de-Paris, Napoleon 1 attending. – 27 December – Napoleon says: By giving me the crown, my people have committed to make every effort that circumstances would require him to retain the brilliance that is necessary for its prosperity and its glory like mine . – 30 December – Each of the prelates who attended the coronation of Napoleon I receives a snuff box decorated with a portrait of the Emperor, estimated at twelve thousand Francs each. The officiating, canons and priests, share a sum of fifty thousand Francs.

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