Scrivere all’imperatore

La retorica delle domande d'impiego all'amministrazione napoleonica (1800-1815)

By Valentina Dal Cin

Image coming soon

Extent: 284 pages

Publisher: Viella – libreria editrice

Subjects: Early Modern & Renaissance Studies

Series: I libri di Viella

Series volume number: 534

Language: Italian

Paperback (Published)

(May 2025)

ISBN: 9791254699706

Price: $33.00

In stock

Napoleon has been credited with promoting merit, following the revolutionary principle that public employment was open to all and based on ability, as enshrined in the Declaration of Rights of 1789. The book asks to what extent access to the administration was actually based on professionalism and how much other recruitment criteria counted, such as political loyalty, economic needs, family prestige and recommendations.


Napoleon has been credited with promoting merit, following the revolutionary principle that public employment was open to all and based on ability, as enshrined in the Declaration of Rights of 1789. The book asks to what extent access to the administration was actually based on professionalism and how much other recruitment criteria counted, such as political loyalty, economic needs, family prestige and recommendations. To answer this question, hundreds of questions sent to the sovereign and the Minister of the Interior by aspiring officials in the Empire and the satellite states of the peninsula were analyzed. These narratives, designed to be successful, highlight how the French and Italians interpreted the new governmental logics, allowing us to observe the interaction between society and institutions from a different perspective.

  • By (author) Valentina Dal Cin