The Treaty of Fontainebleau was concluded on 11 November 1807 at the Palace of Fontainebleau between Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire and his brother Louis Bonaparte's Kingdom of Holland. Under the terms of the treaty, Napoleon annexed the strategically important town of Vlissingen (Flushing) to France, while Louis received the province of East Frisia from the recently defeated Prussians in compensation. [1] The treaty would prove to be the first step towards Napoleon's full annexation of Holland. [2]
Vlissingen on the island of Walcheren had a well-defended naval base and was strategically located at the mouth of the Scheldt estuary, guarding the entrance to the key port of Antwerp. The town and the area of Dutch Flanders to the south were part of the province of Zeeland in the Dutch Republic until the region was occupied by the French in 1795, during the French Revolutionary Wars. Under the terms of the Treaty of The Hague in May of that year, which concluded the war between the French and Dutch, Dutch Flanders was ceded to France, while Vlissingen was placed under French-Dutch co-dominion, and the French were allowed to station a garrison at Vlissingen. [1]
Napoleon had installed his brother Louis as the puppet king of Holland in 1806, but grew increasingly dismayed by his brother's refusal to introduce conscription and deliver troops and ships for the French war effort, as well as Louis' reluctance to enforce the Continental System and his tolerance of large-scale smuggling of goods to and from England. Napoleon therefore moved toward gradually dissolving the Kingdom of Holland and annexing the territory to his empire. [1]
At the invitation of the French imperial cabinet, a group of representatives of the Kingdom of Holland travelled to Paris in September 1807 to negotiate a treaty. The treaty was signed at the Palace of Fontainebleau on 11 November 1807 by Jean-Baptiste de Nompère de Champagny, for France, and Willem Six van Oterleek, Johannes Goldberg and Frederik van Leyden van Westbarendrecht, for Holland. [3] [4]
Under the terms of treaty, the Kingdom of Holland ceded Vlissingen to France. However, Holland would continue to be responsible for maintaining the dykes protecting Vlissingen. [3] In return, Louis would be compensated with territories from the Prussians and Russians, who had recently suffered crushing defeats against the French in the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt (October 1806) and Battle of Friedland (June 1807). The Kingdom of Holland would receive Jever from Russia and the province of East Frisia from Prussia, as well as the formerly independent territory of Kniphausen. In addition, would Louis receive the enclave of Luyksgestel, formerly ruled by the Prince-Bishopric of Liège, in exchange for Lommel, and would also receive several former Prussian enclaves in Gelderland: Zevenaar, Huissen and Malburgen (now part of Arnhem). [5]
The treaty was officially ratified on 21 January 1808. [2]
The Treaty of Fontainebleau would be the first step towards Napoleon's full annexation of Holland, completed in 1810. [2]
Protests against the French annexation of Vlissingen included an anonymous, clandestine pamphlet entitled Klagt eener Vlissingsche Moeder (Complaint by a Vlissingen Mother), in which a mother lamented that her sons would be forced to fight in the French army and said that the mothers of Vlissingen would do everything to protect their sons from this fate. She was furious about the gruesome disasters (ijsselijkste rampen) that would follow from the annexation and begged King Louis to be a "true father of the people" and rescue the inhabitants of Vlissingen from the French. [2]
In violation of the terms of the treaty, the French general Monnet also occupied Fort Rammekens, a few miles east of Vlissingen, the French claiming that possession of the fort was essential to the defense of the town. [3]
In the night of 14–15 January 1808, just months after the treaty, the province of Zeeland was hit by a heavy storm which caused severe flooding. The damage and loss caused by the storm was highest in Vlissingen, where a number of houses collapsed and 31 inhabitants lost their lives. [2]
In July 1809, the British landed an expeditionary force on the island of Walcheren. The aim of the campaign was to destroy the French fleet thought to be in Vlissingen, and block off the port of Antwerp. The French garrison at Vlissingen capitulated to the British on 15 August after the town was bombarded by the British navy, suffering heavy damage. However, the campaign was ultimately a failure and the British forces withdrew from Walcheren by the end of that year.
Following the treaty, Vlissingen became part of the French arrondissement of Eeklo in the department of Escaut, and in 1810 the town joined the arrondissement of Middelburg in the newly-formed department of Bouches-de-l'Escaut. After Napoleon's defeat in 1814, Vlissingen became part of the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
East Frisia joined the Kingdom of Holland as the department of Oostfreesland. Upon annexation of the kingdom by Napoleon, most of it became the Département Ems-Oriental. East Frisia was re-annexed by Prussia in 1813 but given over to the Kingdom of Hanover, ruled by British king George III, in 1815.
Zevenaar, Huissen and Malburgen (now part of Arnhem), the former Prussian enclaves in Gelderland which had been given over to the Kingdom of Holland as part of the treaty, did not join Holland for several years because the new owner of those territories, Joachim Murat's Grand Duchy of Berg, delayed relinquishing them. In 1808 Dutch troops marched into Zevenaar and officially took possession of the town. The enclaves were reclaimed by Prussia in 1813 but became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1816. [6]
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of conflicts fought between the First French Empire under Napoleon Bonaparte (1804–1815) and a fluctuating array of European coalitions. The wars originated in political forces arising from the French Revolution (1789–1799) and from the French Revolutionary Wars (1792–1802) and produced a period of French domination over Continental Europe. The wars are categorised as seven conflicts, five named after the coalitions that fought Napoleon, plus two named for their respective theatres: the War of the Third Coalition, War of the Fourth Coalition, War of the Fifth Coalition, War of the Sixth Coalition, War of the Seventh Coalition, the Peninsular War, and the French invasion of Russia.
The Kingdom of Holland was the successor state of the Batavian Republic. It was created by Napoleon Bonaparte in March 1806 in order to strengthen control over the Netherlands by replacing the republican government with a monarchy. Since becoming emperor in 1804, Napoleon sought to extirpate republican tendencies in territories France controlled, and placed his third brother, Louis Bonaparte, on the throne of the puppet kingdom. The name of the leading province, Holland, now designated the whole country. In 1807, East Frisia and Jever were added to the kingdom.
The Canal through Walcheren in the Netherlands crosses the east of Walcheren. It connects the Westerschelde and the Veerse Meer.
The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislative Assembly, and the third being the Directory. The Napoleonic era begins roughly with Napoleon Bonaparte's coup d'état, overthrowing the Directory, establishing the French Consulate, and ends during the Hundred Days and his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. The Congress of Vienna soon set out to restore Europe to pre-French Revolution days. Napoleon brought political stability to a land torn by revolution and war. He made peace with the Roman Catholic Church and reversed the most radical religious policies of the Convention. In 1804 Napoleon promulgated the Civil Code, a revised body of civil law, which also helped stabilize French society. The Civil Code affirmed the political and legal equality of all adult men and established a merit-based society in which individuals advanced in education and employment because of talent rather than birth or social standing. The Civil Code confirmed many of the moderate revolutionary policies of the National Assembly but retracted measures passed by the more radical Convention. The code restored patriarchal authority in the family, for example, by making women and children subservient to male heads of households.
The Franco-Swedish War or Pomeranian War was the first involvement by Sweden in the Napoleonic Wars. The country joined the Third Coalition in an effort to defeat France under Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine or Rhine Confederation, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria and Russia at the Battle of Austerlitz. Its creation brought about the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire shortly afterward. The Confederation of the Rhine lasted for only seven years, from 1806 to 1813, dissolving after Napoleon's defeat in the War of the Sixth Coalition.
The Treaties of Tilsit, also collectively known as the Peace of Tilsit, were two peace treaties signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland, at the end of the War of the Fourth Coalition. The first was signed on 7 July, between Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander I, when they met on a raft in the middle of the Neman river. The second was signed with Prussia on 9 July. The treaties were made at the expense of King Frederick William III of Prussia, who had already agreed to a truce on 25 June after the Grande Armée had captured Berlin and pursued him to the easternmost frontier of his realm.
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Hanover, and joined 38 other sovereign states in the German Confederation in June 1815. The kingdom was ruled by the House of Hanover, a cadet branch of the House of Welf, in personal union with Great Britain between 1714 and 1837. Since its monarch resided in London, a viceroy, usually a younger member of the British royal family, handled the administration of the Kingdom of Hanover.
The War of the Fourth Coalition was a war spanning 1806–1807 that saw a multinational coalition fight against Napoleon's French Empire, subsequently being defeated. The main coalition partners were Prussia and Russia with Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain also contributing. Excluding Prussia, some members of the coalition had previously been fighting France as part of the Third Coalition, and there was no intervening period of general peace. On 9 October 1806, Prussia declared war on France and joined a renewed coalition, fearing the rise in French power after the defeat of Austria and establishment of the French-sponsored Confederation of the Rhine in addition to having learned of French plans to cede Prussian-desired Hanover to Britain in exchange for peace. Prussia and Russia mobilized for a fresh campaign with France, massing troops in Saxony.
Treaty of Fontainebleau may refer to:
Maria Anna Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi Levoy, better known as Elisa Bonaparte, was an imperial French princess and sister of Napoleon Bonaparte. She was Princess of Lucca and Piombino (1805-1814), Grand Duchess of Tuscany (1809-1814) and Countess of Compignano by appointment of her brother.
The Grand Duchy of Berg, also known as the Grand Duchy of Berg and Cleves, was a territorial grand duchy established in 1806 by Napoleon after his victory at the Battle of Austerlitz (1805) on territories between the French Empire at the Rhine river and the German Kingdom of Westphalia.
The Prussian Regiment was a foreign regiment of the French Imperial Army formed in late 1806 and made up by Prussian prisoners of war. Though it only served for a short time, the regiment saw service in the Peninsular War, but was disbanded in 1813 following the 1813 reorganisation of the foreign regiments.
Carel Hendrik, comte Ver Huell was a Dutch naval officer and politician. He married Maria Johanna de Bruyn on 22 February 1789 at Hummelo, and had three sons with her.
The Principality of Erfurt was a small state in modern Thuringia, Germany, that existed from 1807 to 1814, comprising the modern city of Erfurt and the surrounding land. It was subordinate directly to Napoleon, the Emperor of the French, rather than being a part of the Confederation of the Rhine. After nearly 3 months of siege, the city fell to Prussian, Austrian and Russian forces. Having mainly been Prussian territory before the Napoleonic Wars, most of the lands were restored to Prussia by the Congress of Vienna.
Events from the year 1807 in France.
The First French Empire or French Empire and also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from 18 May 1804 to 4 April 1814 and again briefly from 20 March 1815 to 7 July 1815, when Napoleon was exiled to St. Helena.
Maarten, Baron van der Goes van Dirxland was a Dutch politician who served as government minister. He was a moderate within the Patriots faction that came to govern the Batavian Republic. His son Louis Napoleon van der Goes van Dirxland was also active as a minister.
The German Emperors after 1873 had a variety of titles and coats of arms, which in various compositions became the officially used titles and coats of arms. The title and coat of arms were last fixed in 1873, but the titles did not necessarily mean that the area was really dominated, and sometimes even several princes bore the same title.
The Second period of French rule in the Ionian Islands began in August 1807, when the Septinsular Republic, a Russian protectorate comprising the seven Ionian Islands, was occupied by the First French Empire in accordance with the Treaty of Tilsit. The French annexed the Republic but maintained most of its institutions for local governance. In 1809–10, the British occupied the southernmost islands, leaving only Corfu, Paxoi, and the mainland exclave of Parga in French hands. The British also imposed a naval blockade on the French-ruled islands, which began to suffer from famine. Finally, the British occupied Paxoi in late 1813 and Parga in March 1814. Following the Abdication of Napoleon, the French governor-general in Corfu, François-Xavier Donzelot, capitulated and the French garrison was evacuated. In 1815, the islands became a British protectorate, the United States of the Ionian Islands.