A Tournament Of Shadows: XIII. A Ballet Of Falling Saber Strokes It was during the second day of the Battle of Eylau that Joachim Murat appeared in his most terrible aspect. This battle, which began February 7, 1807, was the most important (and bloody,) that had yet occurred. France and Russia had never yet brought such to the battlefield, and a complete victory on either side would have settled the fate of Europe. It was during this fight that... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows: XII. Le Grand Sanhedrin Napoleon was relentless. At the Treaty of Presburg, Austria ceded her share of the Venetian lands to the Kingdom of Italy, and the Tyrol to Bavaria, which, with Württemberg, was recognized as a kingdom. On August 6, 1806, he dissolved the Holy Roman Empire. In its place, he established the Confederation of the Rhine. To add to his collection of German states, Napoleon began his campaign against the Prussians, roundly defeating... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows: XI. The Emperor With An Iron Crown In 1803 Napoleon implemented his new laws (the Napoleonic Code) upon the many lands under his control. In May 1804, he was finally crowned Emperor of France. Soon after Napoleon had been elected, Emperor Francis II of Austria entered into negotiations with him for the reciprocal acknowledgment of the new titles. Napoleon insisted upon being recognized first, and when that was done, Francis proclaimed himself hereditary Emperor of... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows: X. The Parisian Sibyl In August 1802, Napoleon was declared the First Consul for life.[1] Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, however, remained at the health waters of Plombières-les-Bains that autumn, beginning to despair of any honorable career in France. He turned his thoughts again to plans of emigration. The entire family was so alarmed at Napoleon’s ambitious proceedings, and so little confident in their prosperous issue that, like Bernadotte, they were seriously proposing to settle in the United States.... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows: IX. The Oginsky Canal In 1802 Mikhail Ilyich was appointed Director Of Economy for the Oginsky Canal in the Minsk Province. Andrei Mikhailovich was pleased with the long journey when moving there. Along the way, they spent several days in Polotsk and he was fascinated by the art gallery and cabinet of curiosities in the Jesuit-operated Saint Eufrosyne Monastery. The Oginsky Canal was the brainchild of Michael Kazimierz Oginsky (a statesman from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth,) that... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows: VIII. At Heart A Friend Of France Tsar Pavel Petrovich, against the wishes of his late mother, took punitive measures against Persia after Russia’s victory over them. Lacking his mother’s experience and tactfulness, Tsar Pavel signed the proclamation on the annexation of Georgia to the Russian Empire in December 1800, finalized by a decree on January 8, 1801.[1] A month later, in March 1801, Tsar Pavel Petrovich was assassinated—strangled in his own bed.[2] The annexation was... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows: VII. Illuminati In July 1898 the Quasi-War began. It was the first war the United States would fight since achieving independence in 1785. It was ironic that her enemy was France, a former ally without whose assistance American independence might never have been achieved. Much had changed in fifteen years. In 1793, France beheaded King Louis XVI and Queen Marie during its bloody revolution. Maximilien Robespierre and the Committee of Public Safety rose to power during... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows VI. The Grand Master Of Malta An unintended consequence of the Ottoman’s capture of Constantinople was the flood of new, or rather, lost knowledge, found its way into the West. Greek scholars and Greek learning spread throughout Europe as a result of the monks who fled that ancient capital of the Eastern Empire. The effect of Greek manuscripts flooding Western Europe was many-layered. It produced a renewed impulse for language study and translation. It also... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows V. Knights Of Malta Peter the Great opened the doors of modern Europe to Russia in the eighteenth-century, and by doing so allowed for the introduction of novel ideas. Though her Western counterparts had something of a head start, philosophies ranging from Voltaire to Freemasonry found their place in Russia. It was during the reign of Catherine the Great, in 1779, that Count Cagliostro visited St. Petersburg, introducing new Masonic rites to the capital. As... Read more
A Tournament Of Shadows IV. The King Of Fire After successfully evading the detection of Admiral Horatio Nelson of Britain’s Royal Navy for thirteen days, Napoleon and the French fleet landed in Alexandria on July 1, 1798, the minarets of Alexandria announcing that his point was gained.[1] As he was reconnoitering the coast a strange sail appeared on the verge of the horizon. “Fortune!” exclaimed Napoleon. “I ask but six hours more—wilt thou refuse them?” The vessel proved to... Read more
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