The Sieges of Zaragoza (1808-1809) as seen by French memorialists: convergences and singularities
(†) Jean-René Aymes
Sorbonne Nouvelle University-Paris 3
Published: 22/12/2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.31338/ahi.2023.2.2
ABSTRACT: In this article, the works of the most important French memorialists, such as André Étienne d’Audebert de Férussac, Joseph Rogniat, and Louis-François Lejeune, written about fights during the Sieges of Zaragoza (1808-1809) from the point of view of Napoleonic invaders, has been analysed. The convergences are materialised when the exceptionality of the defence by Spaniards, the brave and proud behavior of their civil population, the leadership exercised by the monks, the determinant role of women, the ailing and suffering of its inhabitants or the judgments of persons so transcendental as José de Palafox, Agustina de Aragón, or the Countess of Bureta are presented. In the same way, the singularities that these memorialists show when they offer the details in their descriptions are marked. In this sense, the most generous became Lejeune, who, taking advantage of the prevailing romantic current, reminds the Sieges of a tremendous emotional burden absent in the rest of the relations, which are more technical and less detailed.
KEYWORDS: Sieges of Zaragoza, French memorialists, Spanish War of Independence (Peninsular War), Louis-François Lejeune, Joseph Rogniat, André Étienne d’Audebert de Férussac.
