When Napoleon Met Goethe
In 1808, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the greatest German literary figure of the modern era. Each man admired the other, although Napoleon’s motives were not solely to greet the author of one of his favourite books.
Napoleon’s meeting with Goethe at Erfurt. Photogravure from a painting by Eugène Ernest Hillemacher
The Congress of Erfurt
Born in Frankfurt on August 28, 1749, Goethe was 20 years older than Napoleon. His fame as a writer was already well-established by the time Napoleon came to power in France. The young conqueror read Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther multiple times, and carried it in his campaign library.
In 1806, Napoleon conquered Prussia. French troops occupied and sacked Weimar, where Goethe had lived since 1775. They broke into Goethe’s house; many of his friends lost everything. Still, Goethe reconciled himself to Napoleon’s empire, which he regarded as a legitimate successor to the Holy Roman Empire.
Two years later, Napoleon organized a grand congress at Erfurt, a short distance from Weimar. It was a summit meeting between Napoleon and Tsar Alexander I of Russia, intended to strengthen their alliance. The congress was also a theatrical display of French power. “I want to astound Germany with my magnificence,” said Napoleon. (1) The attendees paying court included most of the kings and princes of Germany, and notables from across Europe. Napoleon brought his favourite actor, François-Joseph Talma, and the best actors and actresses of the Comédie-Française. They presented 16 French plays, chosen by Napoleon himself.
Napoleon wanted to co-opt the German cultural elite and enhance his reputation as a friend of the arts and literature. To this end, the great Goethe was invited to an interview.
Goethe’s account of the meeting
Napoleon met Goethe on October 2, 1808 in the Governor’s Palace at Erfurt.
I have been summoned to the Emperor for eleven o’clock in the morning. A fat chamberlain, Monsieur Pole, tells me to wait. The crowd disappears. I am introduced to Savary and Talleyrand. I am called into the Emperor’s study. At the same time, Daru has his presence announced. He is immediately brought in. This makes me hesitate. I am summoned a second time. I enter. The Emperor is seated at a large round table. He is eating breakfast. On his right, at some distance from the table, is Talleyrand; on his left, Daru, with whom he discusses taxes. The Emperor signals to me to approach. I remain standing in front of him at a suitable distance. After looking at me for a moment, he says to me: ‘You are a man.’ I bow my head. He says: ‘How old are you?’
‘Sixty years.’
‘You are well preserved. You have written some tragedies.’
I replied the bare essentials. Daru began to speak…. He added that I had translated some French works and, for example, Voltaire’s Mahomet. The Emperor said: ‘That is not a good work,’ and went on in detail about how it was indecorous for the conqueror of the world to paint such an unfavourable picture of himself. He then brought the conversation to Werther, which he must have studied in detail. After several perfectly appropriate observations, he mentioned a specific part and said to me: ‘Why did you do that? It is not natural.’ And he spoke at length on this and with perfect accuracy.
I listened with a calm face, and I replied, with a smile of satisfaction, that I didn’t know whether anyone had ever made the same criticism, but that I found it perfectly justified, and that I agreed that one could find fault with this passage’s lack of authenticity. ‘But,’ I added, ‘a poet can perhaps be excused for taking refuge in an artifice which is hard to spot, when he wants to produce certain effects that could not be created simply and naturally.’
The Emperor seemed to agree with me; he returned to drama and made some very sensible remarks, as a man who had observed the tragic stage with a great deal of attention, like a criminal judge, and who felt very deeply how far French theatre had strayed from nature and truth.
He went on to talk about fatalistic plays, of which he disapproved. They belonged to the dark ages. ‘Why, today, do they keep giving us destiny?’ he said. ‘Destiny is politics.’
He turned again to Daru and spoke to him about taxes…. Marshal Soult was announced….
The Emperor rose, came straight towards me and, by a sort of manoeuvre, separated me from the other people in the line in which I found myself. He turned his back to those people and spoke to me, lowering his voice. He asked me whether I was married, whether I had children, and other personal matters.
He also questioned me on my relations with the house of the princes, on the Duchess Amalia, on the prince, and on the princess. I replied in a natural manner. He seemed satisfied, and translated for himself these replies into his language, but in slightly more forceful terms than I had managed.
I must also note that, in the whole of our conversation, I had admired the variety of his affirmative replies and gestures, because he was rarely immobile when he listened. Sometimes he made a meditative gesture with his head and said: ‘Yes’ or ‘That’s right,’ or something similar; or, if he had stated some idea, he most often added: ‘And what would Monsieur Goethe say to that?’
I took the opportunity to make a sign to the chamberlain to see if I could retire, and, on his affirmative response, I immediately took my leave. (2)
Napoleon met Goethe again on October 6, this time at Weimar, in the company of fellow writer Christoph Martin Wieland. On October 14, Goethe and Wieland were each awarded the cross of the Legion of Honour. Goethe revealed no details about about his conversations with Napoleon until many years later.
In 1815, Napoleon was defeated and exiled to the remote South Atlantic island of St. Helena, where he died on May 5, 1821. In 1828, Goethe told his friend Johann Peter Eckermann:
Napoleon was the man! Always enlightened, always clear and decided, and endowed with sufficient energy to carry into effect whatever he considered advantageous and necessary. His life was the stride of a demi-god, from battle to battle, and from victory to victory. It might well be said of him, that he was found in a state of continual enlightenment. On this account, his destiny was more brilliant than any the world had seen before him, or perhaps will ever see after him. (3)
Goethe died on March 22, 1832, at the age of 82.
You might also enjoy:
What did Napoleon like to read?
François-Joseph Talma, Napoleon’s Favourite Actor
10 Interesting Facts About Napoleon Bonaparte
When Princess Caroline met Empress Marie Louise
When the Duke of Wellington met Napoleon’s wife
When Louisa Adams met Joseph Bonaparte
When John Quincy Adams met Madame de Staël
Could Napoleon have escaped from St. Helena?
What were Napoleon’s last words?
Was Madame de Genlis Napoleon’s spy?
- Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, Mémoires du Prince de Talleyrand, Vol. I (Paris, 1891), p. 402.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Oeuvres de Goethe, X: Mélanges, translated by Jacques Porchat (Paris, 1874), pp. 307-309.
- Johann Peter Eckermann and Frédéric Jacob Soret, Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret, translated by John Oxenford, Vol. II (London, 1850), p. 40.
42 commments on “When Napoleon Met Goethe”
Join the discussion
He went on to talk about fatalistic plays, of which he disapproved. They belonged to the dark ages. ‘Why, today, do they keep giving us destiny?’ he said. ‘Destiny is politics.’
Goethe
Napoleon in America
What if Napoleon had escaped from St. Helena and wound up in the United States in 1821? Kirkus Reviews calls Shannon's novel "evocative and immersive."
Buy it now from your favorite bookseller
Napoleon was reading all the time.
He certainly was a voracious reader, John.
Hi Shannon
As a great admirer of Napoleon, this page is like a candy store to me. There is so much to read that I spend almost my whole free time reading your articles. I am very happy that I found your page and thank you.
Thank you, Samir. That’s so kind of you to say. I’m glad you’re enjoying the site.
Interesting article and well written. A nice reading for Napoleon fans as in my case.
Thanks, Chorch. Glad you liked it.
I had no idea Bonaparte was such a reader. I assumed that he read about great generals and rulers, but I didn’t know about the literature.
Neither did I, until I started doing the research for Napoleon in America. I’m impressed that he read so much, given all the demands on his time.
What an insight into two great men
Thanks, Catherine.
Thanks for yet another fascinating insight into Napoleon’s life and character. So glad I found this blog!
Thanks, Christoph. I’m glad you’re enjoying the blog.
This is very interesting, and would be even more so if the material were a bit more explicit in places. For example, what did Napoleon mean by “fatalistic plays”? Oedipus? Macbeth? Or something more ephemeral?
I think Goethe failed to see the dark side of Napoleon, though.
I wish I could read German, as it would be interesting to see Goethe’s account in the original. Talleyrand (whose memoirs are not the most trustworthy) provides a record of the meeting that differs somewhat from Goethe’s – he doesn’t mention the “fatalistic plays.”
You always share such great info!
Thanks, Hunter.
It should be noted that the opinion of Goethe among his fellow Germans was sorely tested by his gushing approval of the Corsican conqueror. That he who trampled the sacred soil of Hermann the Cherusker and Frederick of Hohenstaufen should be raised high above all! Sacrilege! He was to be amply forgiven by his generation and those to follow by the virtuousity of his prose. But they could not forget. They could never forget!
Well put, Glenn. Thanks.
Like many before me, I am loving every article I’m finding in this site. Thank you for such a tremendous amount of work you’ve dedicated to this! I’m still working the rounds of much of what has been written so far, but I am quite curious about how Napoleon was viewed by the Prussians before WW1. I remember reading somewhere that Kaiser Wilhelm II greatly admired Napoleon, and wanted to receive the Legion of Honor and be invited to view Napoleon’s tomb, which never happened and was one of the sources of his bitter relations with the French, albeit relatively minor. Are there any truths to these? Thank you!
Thanks, Jolo, I’m glad you’re enjoying the site. You pose a good question, to which I don’t know the answer. According to biographer John Röhl, in 1891 the Kaiser said at Erfurt, “In this place the Corsican parvenu utterly humiliated us and dishonoured us abominably, but it was from this place too that the beam of avenging light shot out in 1813 and struck him to the ground.” (Wilhelm II: The Kaiser’s Personal Monarchy, 1888-1900, p. 366) This doesn’t make him sound like much of an admirer. Perhaps some readers of this post can comment with more expertise.
Once again, a nice article. Napoleon’s remark “vous êtes un homme” continues to somewhat intrigue me.
And here I go again: Goethe also met Napoleon’s brother Louis in 1810. The encounter is described by Goethe in very positive terms.
Thanks, Pim. I didn’t know about Goethe’s meeting with Louis. I’ll look that up.
While on the continuous search to know more about this interesting man this is the third time I’ve unknowingly stumbled across one of your articles on Napoleon. The last two being the same as the first where I tell myself “Hey this is great. Where am I, and who wrote this?” Only to realize I’ve been here before!
Thanks for sharing these with us.
Thanks, Inigo. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the articles.
Both men chose their words carefully.
It would appear so.
Why did Talleyrand live in Kensington Square?
After Louis XVI was arrested in August 1792, Talleyrand knew that he too was in danger of being arrested, so he fled from Paris to London (he had earlier been there on a diplomatic mission, trying to prevent war between France and England). A number of French émigrés went to England at the time, to escape the French Revolution. Talleyrand lived in London until early 1794, when he was expelled by the British government. He then went to the United States.
Both N and G were anti-Romanticism and favored Classicism, G’s Weimar Classicism, for example. G finally rejected Romanticism because he didn’t approve of the literati-intelligentsia messing around with old Germanic fairy spinnings and trips to the countryside to swoon over daffodils. He and N agreed on a progressive, technocratic future grounded in things Hellenistic classical. But N was defeated and G’s Weimar Classicism never really took off. What I call MEFM (medievalist euro-fairy mysticism) continued, and to this day still commands great following (e.g. Rowling, Tolkien). Check out Caspar David Friedrich’s “Chasseur in the Forest,” which symbolizes the French lost in the Brothers Grimm’s backyard.
Thanks for this analysis, Lawrence. I like the term “medievalist euro-fairy mysticism.” For readers who are interested, here’s a link to Friedrich’s “The Chasseur in the Forest”: https://www.wga.hu/html_m/f/friedric/2/206fried.html.
In the aftermath of Jena, Prussian troops stormed through Weimar, followed closely by the French. It was at this point that Goethe really feared for his property, particularly his books and manuscripts–he thought, and probably with good reason, that they would become fuel for bivouac fires. So he sent a brave friend to Ney’s HQ to ask for protection. Ney blew him off, apparently with more on his mind that books.
Marshal Lannes overheard the request and sent a contingent of grenadiers to surround Goethe’s house and keep it and its occupant safe. “Shoot anybody who tries to get over the garden wall,” he said, and meant it.
Goethe was apparently happy with his guards, and asked Lannes to dinner. I can tell you they didn’t discuss literature; the marshal’s reading material was at that time mostly Berthier’s orders. In 1808, in addition to meeting and greeting Napoleon, Goethe again invited Lannes to dinner several times and as his guest at the performance of Corneille’s Oedipus, a play way outside the marshal’s comfort zone.
Thanks for these details, Margaret, and thank goodness for Marshal Lannes! I have to smile trying to picture him at the theatre with Goethe. I hope that interested readers who would like to know more about this episode will read your excellent biography, The Emperor’s Friend: Marshal Jean Lannes.
First of all a great read! Thank you!
I was reading Immortality by Milan Kundera where the author tells the reader about the meeting between Napoleon and Goethe, and that’s how I landed here!
Thanks, Ragnar. I’m glad you enjoyed the article.
What is known about Napoleons knowledge of languages? I understand that he studied german when young but did he really speak german? Many thanks for this site!
You’re welcome, Jan. Napoleon spoke Corsican, Italian and French. He did not speak German.
Reading “War and Peace” with the “Tolstoy Together” group. I’ve been to Erfurt and intend to go again, now with another perspective.
That’s great, Ray. I hope you have a good trip, whenever you’re able to return there. I’d like to get to Erfurt myself someday.
Goethe admired Napoleon more than all the other particular rulers in Germany !
Thanks, Ron.
I read in the book “Conversations with Goethe” that at the first meeting, after Goethe took his leave, Talleyrand wrote that Napoleon leaned over to him and said, “Voila un homme!” (“THAT is a man!”).
Thanks for adding this, Robert.