The French Empire & Kingdom of Italy from Lapie's 1811 map. James Wyld 1844
£300
SKU
'The French Empire and the Kingdom of Italy with part of the States of the Confederation of the Rhine from Lapie's Map 1811'
The map, historic at the time of publication, shows the French Empire of Napoleon at its peak. It notably shows the weakened and reduced Swiss Confederacy. In 1811, Switzerland’s territory was fragmented under Napoleonic rule, with some areas absorbed directly into the French Empire and others tied to Napoleonic satellites. Valais had been annexed by France in 1810 as the Department of Simplon, Geneva had long since been incorporated as part of the Department of Léman, and portions of Jura and Bern were assigned to the Department of Haut-Rhin, extending France’s frontier across the Jura mountains. The canton of Neuchâtel was not part of Switzerland at all but had been granted by Napoleon in 1806 to Marshal Berthier as a principality within the Confederation of the Rhine. Meanwhile, the rest of Switzerland existed as the 19-canton Confederation restored by Napoleon’s Act of Mediation in 1803, technically independent but effectively a French satellite, leaving the country a patchwork of French departments, client states, and cantonal confederacy under French dominance. Swiss territorial integrity was restored at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, after Napoleon’s defeat. The Congress formally recognized Switzerland’s neutrality and guaranteed the country’s independence and territorial integrity under international law. In 1811, the Kingdom of Italy as shown on the map was one of Napoleon’s satellite states, but in name only: it was effectively part of the French Empire. Created in 1805 out of the former Cisalpine Republic, it covered much of northern and central Italy, including Lombardy, Venetia, Emilia, and Romagna. Napoleon himself took the crown as King of Italy in Milan in 1805, and his stepson Eugène de Beauharnais (Josephine’s son) ruled as Viceroy. The Kingdom had its own administration, code of laws (modeled on the Napoleonic Code), and army, but its policies, finances, and military were tightly controlled from Paris. By 1811, the Kingdom of Italy was at its greatest territorial extent, stretching from the Alps to the Adriatic and down toward central Italy, but it was fully subordinate to French power and existed as part of Napoleon’s imperial system.
Size 58 x 93 cm | 22.5 x 36.5 inches
Date Published: 1844 [dated]
Type: Large folio decorative hand coloured 19th century atlas map
Author: Wyld, James
Publication: Wyld's New General Atlas
Condition: Good |
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