Maréchal Canrobert

Who he was

François Certain de Canrobert (the family name was usually written Certain Canrobert) was born on 27 June 1809 at Saint-Céré (Lot) and died in Paris on 28 January 1895. His father was an infantry captain, Antoine Certain de Canrobert; his mother was Angélique de Niocel (napoleon.org, Fondation Napoléon, biography of Canrobert).

A Saint-Cyr man (entered 1826), he made his career in Algeria, where he led the zouaves at the assault on Zaatcha. He became a brigadier general in 1850 and a divisional general in January 1853. In the Crimean War he took over the Army of the East when Saint-Arnaud died, was wounded at the Alma, began the siege of Sevastopol and won at Inkerman. Napoleon III made him a senator in 1855 and Marshal of France on 18 March 1856. He commanded the 3rd corps of the Army of Italy at Magenta and Solferino (1859) and, in 1870, the 6th corps at Gravelotte and Saint-Privat; he was taken prisoner when Metz capitulated on 28 October 1870 (napoleon.org).

Under the Third Republic he stayed faithful to the Empire and became one of the figures of the Bonapartist party. He sat in the Senate for the Lot from 1876 and for the Charente from 1879 until 1894, with the Appel au peuple group, and generally voted with the conservatives (French Wikipedia, "François Certain de Canrobert"). By the 1880s he was the old soldier of the Second Empire whom the Republic still honoured at state occasions: in 1878 he represented the French government at the funeral of King Victor-Emmanuel II, and his last official appearance was at Mac-Mahon's funeral in 1893 (same source). When he died he was the only surviving marshal of the Second Empire. His funeral was held on 3 February 1895 at Saint-Louis-des-Invalides and he was buried in the crypt of the governors there (Wikipedia; napoleon.org).

On 19 January 1863, in Paris (8th arrondissement), he married Leïla Flora Macdonald, born in India (#Maréchale Canrobert). Of their children Marie knew the daughter #Claire and two sons, Marcel and Louis; see #the Canrobert family. In 1882 he bought the house called L'Églantine at Jouy-en-Josas, near Versailles, where Marie stayed in 1883 and 1884 (Jouy-en-Josas local-history site, "François de Canrobert : un maréchal d'Empire à l'Églantine").

Marie and the Marshal

Marie first sees the name in the Paris of 1878, through the Gavinis. On 6 December 1878 her mother and aunt "ont fait connaissance du maréchal Canrobert et de M. de Bourgoing" at the theatre with Mme Gavini (083.0365); on Christmas Day she regrets having missed the previous night's performance, where "Canrobert, Fleury, de Bourgoin, Duruy" were present (083.0463). On 5 July 1878 the name appears only inside a newspaper clipping she pastes in, a list of notables at the memorial mass for Queen Mercedes of Spain at the Madeleine (081.0323). On 3 February 1880 Mme Gavini seats Marie at the Multedo-Satena wedding beside Haussmann, "le maréchal Canrobert et le frère de Filippini" (087.0414). In these years he is a celebrity seen at the edge of the Gavini circle, not an acquaintance of the Bashkirtseffs.

The real acquaintance dates from February 1883, when the Maréchale came to Marie's studio with her daughter (see #Maréchale Canrobert). Marie dines at their house on 17 May 1883, in the rue de Marignan, and the Marshal gives her his arm to go in to dinner: "Il est sourd de sorte que je ne le suis presque pas et j'écoute avec complaisance des anecdotes historiques sues par cœur" (099.0467). The joke is Marie's own deafness, which she hid behind his.

In July 1883 her aunt takes her to Jouy-en-Josas, where she stays three days: "Le maréchal a les plus grandes façons, la maréchale est divine et Claire est charmante" (100.0294, 8 July). At the end of August she spends a Sunday there with Dina and her aunt (101.0240), and in early September a longer stay, from about 2 September until her return to Paris on 11 September (101.0305–101.0332). The Marshal is in bed then; General Bourbaki comes to see him, and Marie visits him twice a day, finding him "toujours aimable, prévenant et empressé de savoir si tout au monde est fait pour que je sois bien et ne m'ennuie pas" (101.0309, 5 September). On 30 August she had noted his carriage accident: "on dit que ce ne sera rien, mais à cet âge" (101.0289).

The Canroberts' usefulness for the Salon is never far from her mind. On 26 August 1883 she notes: "Par les Canrobert, on tient tout le Jury. La princesse Mathilde reçoit tous les grands et on sera heureux de lui être agréable" (101.0250); on 17 December: "les Canrobert peuvent m'être utiles pour le Salon" (102.0502). The marshal himself stays a figure of respect, one she never mocks. At the Hochon soirée of 1 May 1884 "c'est le maréchal qui m'a menée au buffet" (104.0078); on 15 May 1884 he comes with his son Louis, who has just made his first communion, to thank her for the prayer-book she sent, and "est entré en criant que je suis aussi bonne que belle" (104.0179–0180).

On 4 August 1884, at Versailles, Marie takes a seat beside the Maréchale and Claire for the National Assembly's Congress, "les mêmes qu'il y a cinq ans au dernier Congrès"; "Le maréchal est très entouré" (105.0423). That evening, tired of the whole family, she makes an exception for him: "Le maréchal seul est toujours sympathique et admirable" (105.0435). It is her last judgement of him.

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