The Memorial of Saint Helena

What it is

The Memorial of Saint Helena is a journal-memoir written by Emmanuel de Las Cases, who accompanied Napoleon into exile after his defeat at Waterloo. It records near-daily conversations between Las Cases and Napoleon about his life, career, and political ideas. Las Cases began writing it in 1815 and continued until he was expelled from the island; it was first published in 1823, after Napoleon's death. The image shown here is a library scan of a later printed volume, not the original manuscript.

Why it matters

Published after Napoleon's death, the Memorial became hugely popular across Europe and shaped how the public remembered him, presenting him as a reflective, almost heroic figure in exile. It became a founding text of the Napoleonic legend and Bonapartism, and later influenced figures such as Charles de Gaulle. But because it is Las Cases' record, filtered through his own admiration and purposes, it tells us as much about how the Napoleon myth was built as about Napoleon himself.

Look closer

• Why might Las Cases have wanted to record Napoleon's own words so carefully?
• How might a text written by an admirer differ from one written by an enemy?
• What does the popularity of this book suggest about how people wanted to remember Napoleon?