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2 December 1804Reputable source · 2 sourcesWell documented

Napoleon Crowns Himself Emperor

At Notre-Dame, he takes the crown from Pope Pius VII's hands and places it on his own head

On the timeline · around 2 December 1804 · CollapseCollapseNapoleon Crowns Himself Emperor18171818181918201821

Quick facts

Location
Notre-Dame de Paris
Date
2 December 1804
Officiant
Pope Pius VII
Result
Birth of the First French Empire (1804-1814; 1815)

What happened

Napoleon's coronation as Emperor of the French took place on Sunday 2 December 1804 at Notre-Dame de Paris, with Pope Pius VII in attendance after traveling from Rome for the ceremony. At the moment of coronation the new emperor placed the crown on his own head before crowning his wife, Empress Josephine, who knelt before him. He had already secured approval for the imperial title through a plebiscite, giving the coronation a constitutional cover even as it broke sharply with the practice of prior French monarchs, who were crowned by the Church. Napoleon blended rites drawn from the Carolingian dynasty, the Ancien Regime, and the Republic into a single ceremony designed to claim legitimacy from every available tradition at once.

Why it matters

Crowning himself signaled that his authority rested on his own power and the people's plebiscite, not on the Church's blessing, a break from a thousand years of French coronation practice. It also marked the formal birth of the First French Empire, the government he would lead for the next decade of continuous war.

How we know

World History Encyclopedia's account of the coronation describes the self-crowning, Pius VII's presence, and the ceremony's mixture of Carolingian, Ancien Regime, and republican elements.

Sources

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Napoleon Crowns Himself Emperor · The Napoleonic Wars · SourcedStory