Napoleon crowned Emperor of the French
- Date
- 2 December 1804
- Category
- Politics & governance
- Region
- France
- Era
- Modern
- Significance
On 2 December 1804, in the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris and in the presence of Pope Pius VII, Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned Emperor of the French, inaugurating the First French Empire and the Bonaparte dynasty.
Breaking with tradition, Napoleon took the crown from the pope's hands and crowned himself, then crowned his wife Joséphine empress, a gesture later immortalised in Jacques-Louis David's monumental painting. The ceremony fused elements of Carolingian, ancien régime and revolutionary symbolism, and Napoleon swore an oath to preserve the gains of the Revolution, including equality before the law and the sale of national lands. The coronation transformed the republican general who had seized power in 1799 into a hereditary monarch, consolidating his personal authority and signalling to Europe's older dynasties that France's revolutionary upheaval had produced a new and ambitious imperial power. It set the stage for more than a decade of continental warfare as Napoleon sought to extend French dominance across Europe.
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Empires active in 2 December 1804
- British Empire1583 CE – 1997 CE
- Russian Empire1721 CE – 1917 CE
- Qing Dynasty1636 CE – 1912 CE
- Spanish Empire1492 CE – 1976 CE
- Portuguese Empire1415 CE – 1999 CE
- Mughal Empire1526 CE – 1857 CE
Related politics & governance events
- Promulgation of the Napoleonic Code21 March 1804
- Britain abolishes the transatlantic slave trade25 March 1807
- Congress of Vienna and the Concert of EuropeSeptember 1814 – June 1815
- The Slavery Abolition Act ends slavery across the British Empire28 August 1833 (in force 1 August 1834)
- The Revolutions of 1848 (the Springtime of Peoples)1848–1849
- Commodore Perry forces the opening of Japan1853–1854 (Treaty of Kanagawa, 31 March 1854)
Also relevant
- Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire6 August 1806
- Muhammad Ali becomes governor of Egypt1805
- United States completes the Louisiana Purchase30 April 1803
Further reading
The wider story
Conquerors: How Portugal Forged the First Global Empire
Fast-paced narrative of Portugal's seaborne empire.
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