NAPOLEON AT SCHOENBRUNN

Engraved Imperial Decree with manuscript insertions, signed ("Charles Maurice"), prince de Tallyrand, appointing Paul Cadroy to the Assembly, Schoënbrunn, 20 June 1809

Footnotes

NAPOLEON CONDUCTS IMPERIAL BUSINESS FROM HIS TEMPORARY HEADQUARTERS IN AUSTRIA & APPOINTS A NOTORIOUS REVOLUTIONARY TO THE ASSEMBLY.

Napoleon occupied the Hapsburg palace of Schonbrunn in Vienna on two occasions, for a few days in late 1805 after his victory at Austerlitz and again for several months from May 1809, during which time he signed the eponymous treaty with Austria in October of that year. Documents issued from this palace therefore are relatively uncommon. Whilst enjoying the regal opulence of the palace and attending performances at the palace theatre, Napoleon also narrowly missed an assassination attempt at Schonbrunn by one Friedrich Saps, a pastor's son from Erfurt, who tried to stab the Emperor whilst reviewing the troops from the palace steps.

Paul Cadroy (1751-1813) was a lawyer before the Revolution but after being elected to represent Landes in the National Convention and then Bouches-du-Rhône and Var, he soon 'earned a notorious reputation as a Reactionary in that region. While he denounced royalists in the Convention, in the Midi he offered them his protection. He organized his Company of Jesus, which terrorized and pursued republicans throughout the Midi, and he played a leading role in organizing many of the prison massacres in the region (especially the massacre at Fort St. Jean). Afterwards, he returned to Paris where he faced several denunciations for his actions in the Midi, particularly after he was elected to serve in the Council of 500. Having earned a detestable reputation in Paris, he became part of the Clichy Club. Sentenced to deportation in September 1796, he escaped abroad and returned to France at the end of 1799. During the Empire, he served as mayor of Saint-Server, where he died on 9 October 1813' (Karen L. Greene, The Rise and Fall of a Revolutionary: The Political Career of Louis-Marie Stanislas Fréron, Representative on Mission and Conventionnel, 1754-1802, 2004, PhD thesis online).