
by Professor Tom Bartlett
Napoleon and Ireland
- Tuesday 20 July 2021, 8pm/ Online talk
- Tuesday 20 July 2021, 8pm French time/ 7pm Irish time
- Free access (online)
This year is the bicentenary of Napoleon Bonaparte’s death and in this context Professor Bartlett, Emeritus Professor at the University of Aberdeen, will examine the historical reality of Napoleon and Ireland: his relations with the United Irishmen, with Theobald Wolfe Tone (and his widow), and the importance of Barry O'Meara one-time personal physician to Napoleon. Then he will consider the legend of Napoleon in nineteenth-century Ireland as shown by folklore, ballads, poems, re-enactments, theatre and, lastly in film. The talk will conclude with some reflections on Napoleon's influence on the revolutionary generation, in particular on Patrick Pearse, and will pose the question - was the ghost of Napoleon Bonaparte in the General Post Office at Easter 1916.
(Re)watch the talk: