François de Chateaubriand
Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe: Index O
Index:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Oc, langue d’
The Romance language formerly spoken in and around Provence and Roussillon, it developed into Provençal. It was characterised by its use of oc rather than oui for the word yes.
BkXIV:Chap2:Sec5 Mentioned.
O’Connell, Daniel
1775-1847. Known as The Liberator or The Emancipator, he was Ireland’s predominant political leader in the first half of the nineteenth century who championed the cause of the Catholic population. He campaigned for Catholic Emancipation and Repeal of the Union between Ireland and Great Britain.
BkXXVII:Chap11:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXXIX:Chap15:Sec1 The Roman Catholic Relief Act was not passed in Britain until April 1829 after Leo XII’s death.
O’Hegerty (O’Hagerty), Viscount
He was riding instructor to Henri V.
BkXXXVII:Chap4:Sec1 In Prague in 1833.
BkXXXVII:Chap5:Sec1 At dinner in the Hradschin Palace on the 25th of May 1833.
BkXLI:Chap6:Sec1 At Bustehrad, Prague, 27th of September 1833.
O’Hegerty, the younger
He was the son of the Viscount.
BkXXXVIII:Chap1:Sec1 At dinner with the Dauphine in Carlsbad in May 1833.
O’Larry, Mrs
She was an Irish widow in London in 1798.
BkXI:Chap2:Sec1 Chateaubriand lodged with her at 12 Hampstead Road from January to August 1798.
O’Meara, Barry Edward
1786-1836. An Irish physician, he was a surgeon in the British navy, and attended the exiled French emperor Napoleon I on St. Helena and became involved in a feud with Napoleon's custodian, Sir Hudson Lowe, whom he charged with mistreatment of Napoleon. O’Meara was forced to return to England.
BkXIX:Chap16:Sec1 He published Napoleon in Exile (1822).
BkXIX:Chap16:Sec3 Mentioned.
Occitanienne, Léontine de Villeneuve, called
Oceanus
The Ocean, personified as a sea-god, son of Earth and Air, and husband of Tethys his sister. Oceanus and Tethys are also the Titan and Titaness ruling the planet Venus. Some say from his waters all living things originated and Tethys produced all his children.
BkVI:Chap5:Sec1 Mentioned.
Octavia, Claudia
c39-62AD. Octavia was daughter to the Roman Emperor Claudius, from his marriage to his second cousin Valeria Messalina who was executed in 48 AD, accused of planning to murder Claudius. Claudius later remarried her paternal first cousin Agrippina the Younger. Agrippina the Younger had a son from her first marriage, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (the future Emperor Nero). Octavia married Nero in 53, but was later banished by him and confined on the island of Pandateria where she was murdered.
BkXIX:Chap9:Sec3 Wife of Nero. Chateaubriand draws a tacit analogy with Josephine, and Bonaparte’s rejection of her.
Odescalchi, Carlo, Cardinal
1786-1841. Cardinal from 1823, he was a member of the Roman aristocracy.
BkXXIX:Chap4:Sec1 BkXXX:Chap1:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXXX:Chap1:Sec2 A possible candidate for French veto in the Papal Conclave of 1829. A pro-Jesuit voter.
Odin
The Norse god of wisdom, war, art, culture, and the dead, he was the supreme deity and creator of the cosmos and humans.
BkXXI:Chap2:Sec1 Odin would here represent Scandinavian incursions over the Dnieper into Slavic territoriesm the ‘children of Odin’ being Scandinavians.
Odon d’Orléans
b. c1050. The blessed Odon, future Bishop of Cambrai, was head of the cathedral school at Tournai c. 1080. He taught Dialectic and Astronomy.
BkIX:Chap7:Sec2 Mentioned.
Odyssey
The epic poem by Homer tells the tale of Odysseus’ return from Troy.
BkIV:Chap8:Sec1 Chateaubriand translated from it in Paris in 1787.
BkX:Chap2:Sec1 BkXL:Chap5:Sec1 Irus, the beggar, in Book 18 tries to drive Odysseus, dressed as a beggar, from his own palace.
Oeta, Mount
Ogier the Dane
Ogier, Lahire, Hector and Lancelot were conventional names for the jacks in a pack of cards in France in the fifteenth century.
BkXXXVII:Chap5:Sec1 Mentioned.
Ogygia
Calypso’s island in Homer’s Odyssey (BkI: 44-94). (Possibly Malta, see Ernle Bradford’s ‘Ulysses Found’, despite Malta being part of a cluster of islands.)
BkXXII:Chap 26:Sec1 Mentioned.
Ohio, State and River
The State of Ohio, USA, is in the Midwest.
BkV:Chap14:Sec1 In 1790 French royalists (the French 500) under the command of the Marquis de Lesay-Marnésia and the Vicomte de Malartie founded and settled the town of Gallipolis (City of the Gauls) in Galli County at the confluence of the Scioto and the Ohio Rivers. The plan originated in a failed land speculation (the Scioto speculation), but the community though dwindling initially eventually survived.
BkVII:Chap2:Sec1 BkVIII:Chap1:Sec1 The Ohio River flows mainly south-west from Pittsburg in Pennsylvania to join the Mississippi in Illinois, as its main eastern tributary.
BkVIII:Chap2:Sec1 Chateaubriand lists the Wabash and other tributaries and features of the Ohio River down to its confluence with the Mississippi.
BkVIII:Chap5:Sec2 Mentioned. The Ohio River’s steamboats and three-masters.
BkXLI:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned as the setting for the telling of the story of Atala.
Olagnon, Jean
He was the first husband of Madame Brollo.
BkXXXIX:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.
Oldenburg, Germany
It was the old capital (Starigard) in Holstein, Germany, of Wagria, an ancient once-independent state within Holstein. Occupied by France from 1806 it was the capital of the state of Oldenburg, which became an independent country in 1815, and joined the German Empire in 1871.
BkXX:Chap6:Sec1 Oldenburg joined the Confederation of the Rhine in December 1806.
BkXX:Chap13:Sec1 In December 1810, Napoleon annexed the Hanseatic cities Hamburg, Bremen, and Lubeck, and took advantage of the occasion to acquire the entire territory between Holland and Hamburg, including the Duchy of Oldenburg. Alexander’s sister, Ekaterina, was married to the son and heir of the Duke of Oldenburg. Alexander protested. But Napoleon ‘added a fresh humiliation’: he ordered his foreign minister, Jean-Baptiste de Nompere de Champagny, the Duke of Cadore, to reject the Russian note of protest without even reading it.
Olewieff for Oleviev or Oloviev, Major
He was aide-de-camp to General Suvalov in 1814.
BkXXII:Chap 20:Sec2 Disguised as Napoleon.
Olga, Nicolaievna, Grand Duchess
1822-1829. Queen of Württemberg from 1864-1891, she was the third child of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Charlotte of Prussia.
BkXXXVI:Chap2:Sec1 Mentioned.
Olimpia Pamphili (or Pamfili), Olimpia Maidalchina
1594-1656. Famous for her wealth and beauty she had a powerful influence on Innocent X. She had been his deceased brother’s wife, and was rumoured to be his lover.
BkXXX:Chap2:Sec2 BkXXXVIII:Chap5:Sec1 Mentioned.
Olivarès, Don Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, Count of, and Duke of San Lúcar
1587-1645. He directed Spain’s Foreign policy under Philip IV for 22 years.
BkXXX:Chap11:Sec1 Mentioned.
Olive, Mademoiselle
Madame de Staël’s chambermaid.
BkXXIX:Chap1:Sec1 Mentioned.
Olivet, Pierre-Joseph-Thoulier, Abbé d’
1682-1768. Churchman and grammarian, he taught Voltaire at Louis-le-Grand College. He translated Cicero.
BkXXXIX:Chap3:Sec1 Born in Salins.
Olivet, Captain
He was a ship’s captain mentioned in Rousseau’s Confessions.
BkXXXIX:Chap12:Sec1 Mentioned.
Olivier, Mademoiselle Jeanne-Adélaïde-Gérardine
1764-1787. Born in London, she debuted in 1780. She created the role of Chérubin in Beaumarchais’ Figaro in 1784.
BkIV:Chap11:Sec1 Actress at the Théâtre-Français.
BkV:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.
Olivier, François, Chancellor of France
1487-1560. Chancellor of France 1545-1560. Michel de L’Hôpital succeeded him. He was an early humanist, referenced by Montaigne.
BkXXX:Chap11:Sec1 The reference is to Montaigne’s Essais II:17 ‘On Presumption’ where Montaigne quotes Olivier.
Olympias, or Olympia
d 316BC. The daughter of Neoptolemus, King of Epirus, the wife (395BC) of King Philip II of Macedonia, and the mother of Alexander the Great.
BkXIX:Chap1:Sec1 Legend has it she coupled with Jupiter-Zeus while he in the form of a serpent.
Omphale
The masculine but attractive Queen of Lydia, to whom Hercules was bound a slave for three years, He fell in love with her and led an effeminate life spinning wool, while Omphale wore his lion’s skin.
BkIX:Chap8:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXXVII:Chap3:Sec2 An analogy drawn with the Countess von Lieven.
Ontario
A province of Canada it stretches from the great lakes to Hudson Bay. Explored by the French it became British in 1763, and was settled by United Empire Loyalists after the American Revolution. Lake Ontario is the smallest and easternmost of the Great Lakes, fed by the Niagara River and emptying into the St Lawrence.
BkVIII:Chap5:Sec1 Its solitudes and wilderness.
Opéra, Paris
Ophir
A seaport or region from which the ships of King Solomon brought fine gold in great quantity. Sandalwood, precious stones, ivory, apes, and peacocks were also part of the triennial cargo. The location of Ophir is unknown. It has been variously identified with North-east Africa, South--east Arabia, and India, but the present tendency is to identify it with Sout-west Arabia (the modern Yemen) and possibly the neighbouring African coast.
BkXIX:Chap14:Sec3 Mentioned.
Oppian
The name of the authors of two (or three) didactic poems in Greek hexameters, formerly identified, but now generally regarded as two different persons. (1) Oppian of Corycus (or Anabarzus) in Cilicia, who flourished in the reign of Marcus Aurelius (emperor A. D. i6r18o). His poem on fishing (Halieulica), of about 3500 lines, dedicated to Aurelius and his son Commodus, is still extant. (2) Oppian of Apamea (or Pella) in Syria. His extant poem on hunting (Cynegetica) is dedicated to the emperor Caracalla, so that it must have been written after 211. The improbability of there having been two poets of the same name, writing on subjects so closely akin and such near contemporaries, may perhaps be explained by assuming that the real name of the author of the Cynegetica was not Oppian, but that he has been confounded with his predecessor. In any case, it seems clear that the two were not identical.
BkIX:Chap6:Sec2 Mentioned.
BkXVII:Chap3:Sec2 Chateaubriand translates from the Cynegetica, De La Chasse, Book II, 350-354.
Opizzoni, Carlo, Cardinal
1768-1855. A Cardinal from 1804 he was Archbishop of Bologna.
BkXXIX:Chap4:Sec1 BkXXX:Chap3:Sec1 BkXXX:Chap4:Sec1
Mentioned.
BkXXX:Chap4:Sec1 Supported as a Papal candidate by France.
Ops, Monsieur and Madame
Residents of Ghent in 1815.
BkXXIII:Chap7:Sec1 Chateaubriand dined with them.
Orange, France
A town and commune in the département of Vaucluse, in the south of France, about 21 km north of Avignon. It has the best preserved Roman theatre in Europe, as well as an Augustan triumphal arch.
BkXXII:Chap 20:Sec2 Napoleon there on his journey to Elba in 1814.
Orange, Willem-Frederic of Nassau, Prince of
1772-1843. First king of the Netherlands as William I, and Grand Duke of Luxembourg (1815–40), he was the son of Prince William V of Orange, last Stadtholder of the Netherlands. He commanded (1793–95) the Dutch army in the French Revolutionary Wars, and after the French occupation of the Netherlands he entered the Prussian and later the Austrian service. He returned to the Netherlands in 1813, and the Congress of Vienna gave him (1815) the title king of the Netherlands. His kingdom comprised present Belgium as well as the Netherlands, and he was awarded the grand duchy of Luxembourg in compensation for his family holdings in Germany, which he ceded to Prussia. Political unrest in Belgium led to the revolution of 1830. Belgium won its independence, though final recognition by William came only in 1839. When his Dutch subjects forced him to liberalize the constitution in 1840, he abdicated in favour of his son William II. BkXXII:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXXIII:Chap17:Sec1 Wounded at Waterloo.
Orbes
A village near Pontarlier it lies in the Jura.
BkXXXIX:Chap3:Sec1 Chateaubriand there in September 1833.
Orbesan, Jean d’, Baron de La Bastide
c1575-1595. A young French nobleman he died in Padua.
BkXL:Chap5:Sec1 His tomb in Padua.
Orcha, Russia
It is a town on the Dnieper.
BkXXI:Chap7:Sec1 Napoleon crossed the thinly frozen river and burnt the bridges behind him.
Orestes
Son of Agamemnon, who avenged his father’s murder, by killing his mother and her lover Aegisthus, and was pursued by the Erinnyes, a theme taken up in the legend of the Wandering Jew.
BkX:Chap2:Sec1 BkXIII:Chap9:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXIII:Chap9:Sec1 A reference to Racine’s Andromaque, where he appears.
BkXXV:Chap8:Sec1 Pylades was his close companion.
Orglandes, Zelie d’, Comtesse de Chateaubriand
Orgon, France
A small market town on the banks of the Durance River, it is on the border between the Luberon to the east and the Alpilles to the west.
BkXXII:Chap 20:Sec2 BkXXXIII:Chap8:Sec1 Napoleon there on his journey to Elba in 1814.
Oriflamme
The Oriflamme, aurea flamma, was the standard supposedly given to the ancient Kings of France by the Angel Gabriel, representing a flame on a golden ground. Those who fought under it were invincible. The red banner was kept at Saint-Denis.
BkXXII:Chap 25:Sec1 BkXXXII:Chap16:Sec1 BkXXXIV:Chap11:Sec1
BkXXXIV:Chap13:Sec1 BkXXXV:Chap3:Sec1 BkXXXIX:Chap1:Sec1
Mentioned.
Orlando Innamorato
The epic poem by the Italian poet Matteo Maria Boiardo (c1434-1494) published in 1495.
BkX:Chap1:Sec1 Chateaubriand refers to Part 2, XXXI:43-47, Part 3, VI:55 and VII:6-8. The river Rire, in the work, is near the Forest of the Ardennes. Golden Bridle is Orlando’s horse.
Orlando Furioso
The work by Ariosto, its chief character is Orlando (Roland) who pursues Angelica.
BkXXI:Chap2:Sec1 BkXXXI:Chap1:Sec2 Roland mentioned.
Orléans, France
The city in northern France, capital of the Loiret department, on the River Loire, its cathedral destroyed by the Huguenots in 1568 was re-built in the 17th century.
BkIX:Chap3:Sec1 A revolutionary court established there in 1791.
BkXVIII:Chap3Sec1 Chateaubriand there in 1807.
BkXXII:Chap8:Sec1 The Pope passed through, after his release from Fontainebleau.
BkXXIII:Chap3:Sec1 Its pro-royalist garrison in 1815.
BkXXV:Chap2:Sec1 Chateaubriand there in August 1815 having been appointed President of the Loiret Electoral College.
Orléans, Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Duchesse de
1753-1821. Wife, 1769, of Louis-Philippe II.
BkXXV:Chap6:Sec1 Buys a lottery ticket for the sale of Chateaubriand’s property in 1817.
Orléans, Duc de, see Louis-Philippe-Joseph, and Louis-Philippe I
Orléans, Gaston Duc d’
Brother of Louis XIII.
Orléans, Louis de Bourbon, Duc d’
1703-1752. The only son of Philippe II. Having succeeded his father as Duke of Orléans in 1723, he died in the abbey of St Genevieve in Paris. He was the father of Louis-Philippe I.
BkXXXII:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.
Orléans, Louis-Philippe II, Duc d’, see Louis-Philippe-Joseph
1747-1793. The eldest son of Louis-Philippe I, he was called Philippe Égalité, and was a member of a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, the dynasty then ruling France. He actively supported the French Revolution, but was nonetheless guillotined during the Reign of Terror. His son Louis-Philippe became King of France in the July Revolution of 1830.
BkXXXII:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.
Orléans, Marie, Princesse d’
1813-1839. Duchess of Wurtemberg (from 1837).
BkXXXII:Chap11:Sec1 Mentioned in 1830.
Orléans, Marie-Amélie de Bourbon-Sicile, Duchesse d’
1782-1866. The wife (from 1809) of Louis-Philippe, she was the daughter of Fernando I of the Two Sicilies. She was twice exiled in England, at Orleans House Twickenham for two years during and after the Hundred Days, and at Claremont in Surrey from 1848 to the end of her life. She had little interest in politics and raised a large family.
BkXXXII:Chap13:Sec1 BkXXXIII:Chap5:Sec1 Mentioned.
Orléans, Louis Philippe I, Duc d’
1725-1785. Son of Louis de Bourbon, duc d’Orléans, was born at Versailles, and was known as the Duc de Chartres until his father’s death in 1752. Serving with the French armies in the War of Austrian Succession, he distinguished himself in the campaigns of 1742, 1743 and 1744, and at the battle of Fontenoy in 1745, retiring to Bagnolet in 1757, and occupying his time with theatrical performances and the society of men of letters. He was succeeded by Louis Philippe II.
BkXXXII:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.
Orleans, Philippe I, Duc d’
1640-1701. The son of Louis XIII of France and Anne of Austria, and younger brother of Louis XIV of France. Father of Philippe II.
BkXXXII:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.
Orléans, Philippe II, Duc d’
1674-1723. Philippe Charles, son of Philippe I, was called Duke of Chartres (1674–1701), and then Duke of Orléans (1701–1723) was Regent of France from 1715 to 1723. His regency during the minority of Louis XV being the last regency in the kingdom of France, he is still commonly referred to as le Régent and his regency as la Régence. He was the father of Louis de Bourbon.
BkXXXII:Chap14:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXLII:Chap10:Sec1 Regent during the minority of Louis XV.
Ornano, See Sampietro d’
Ornano, See Vannina d’
Wife of Sampietro.
Orosmane (Osman)
The Sultan, and hero of Voltaire’s Zaire (1732), modelled on Othello.
BkXXXIV:Chap7:Sec1 Mentioned.
Orpheus
The mythical musician of Thrace, son of Oeagrus and Calliope the Muse, his lyre, given to him by Apollo, and invented by Hermes-Mercury, is the constellation Lyra containing the star Vega. (See John William Waterhouse’s painting – Nymphs finding the head of Orpheus – Private Collection, and Gustave Moreau’s painting – Orpheus – in the Gustave Moreau Museum, Paris: See Peter Vischer the Younger’s Bronze relief – Orpheus and Eurydice – Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg: and the bas-relief – Hermes, Eurydice and Orpheus – a copy of a votive stele attributed to Callimachus or the school of Phidias, Naples, National Archaeological Museum: Note also Rilke’s - Sonnets to Orpheus – and his Poem - Orpheus, Eurydice and Hermes.) He summoned Hymen to his wedding with Eurydice. After she was stung by a snake and died he travelled to Hades, to ask for her life to be renewed. Granted it, on condition he did not look back at her till she reached the upper world, he faltered, and she was lost. He mourned her, and turned from the love of women to that of young men. He was killed by the Maenads of Thrace and dismembered, his head and lyre floating down the river Hebrus to the sea, being washed to Lesbos. (This head had powers of prophetic utterance) His ghost sank to the fields of the Blessed where he was reunited with Eurydice. He taught Midas and Eumolpus the Bacchic rites.
BkII:Chap7:Sec5 The mystical hymns of Orpheus were called The Perfumes (Baumes).
BkVII:Chap2:Sec1 Monsieur Violet is like a new Orpheus charming the savages.
BkVII:Chap6:Sec1 His ability to charm wild creatures with his lyre-playing.
BkXXIII:Chap5:Sec1 His ability to charm the trees.
BkXLII:Chap6:Sec1 His visit to the Underworld.
Orsay, Alfred de Grimaud, Comte d’
1801-1852. The principal incarnation of dandyism in France, bisexual, and witty, he supposedly was a lover to both Lord and Lady Blessington. He married the daughter Harriet from Lord Blessington’s previous marriage, and was left his fortune. He quickly divorced and maintained a lasting relationship with the second Lady Blessington left a widow in 1829.
BkXXVII:Chap3:Sec2 Mentioned.
Orsini, Les
Orso, Count
The son of Napoleone da Cerbaia, he was slain by his cousin Alberto da Mangona, the son of Alessandro, his uncle, as a result of a continuing family feud. Alessandro and Napoleone, were the two sons of Count Alberto degli Alberti, who held Vernia and Cerbaia in the Val de Bisenzio. They quarrelled over their inheritance and killed each other, sometime after 1282.
BkXIX:Chap3:Sec1 See Dante’s Purgatorio VI:20
Osman Said, Pacha
Pacha of the Morea in 1807 according to Chateaubriand. The overall ruler of the Morea at that time was Veli Pacha the son of Ali Tebelin of Janina.
BkXVIII:Chap3:Sec2 His passport issued to Chateaubriand.
Osmond, René-Eustache, Marquis d’
1751-1838. Peer of France, he was French Ambassador to London 1816-1818. He married Hélène Dillon.
BkXI:Chap2:Sec4 Mentioned.
Osmond, Marquise, see Dillon
Ossat, Arnaud, Cardinal d’
1537-1604. A French diplomat and writer, and a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, whose personal tact and diplomatic skill steered the perilous course of French diplomacy with the Papacy in the reign of Henri IV of France.
BkXXIX:Chap13:Sec4 BkXXX:Chap2:Sec2 BkXXX:Chap11:Sec1
BkXXX:Chap11:Sec2 Mentioned.
BkXXXI:Chap1:Sec2 He was born at Larroque-Magnoac in Gascony.
Ossian, Oisin
A legendary Gaelic poet, he was supposedly the son of Finn mac Cumhail, the hero of a cycle of tales and poems that place his deeds of valour in the 3rd century AD. These traditional tales were preserved in Ireland and in the Scottish Highlands, with Ossian as the bard who sang of the exploits of Finn and his Fenian cohorts. A later cycle of Ossianic poetry centred on Cuchulain, another traditional hero. Ossian is generally represented as an old, blind man who had outlived both his father and his son Oscar. The name is remembered by most people in connection with James Macpherson, who published translations of two poems that he said had been written by Ossian himself; they were actually a combination of traditional Gaelic poems and original verses by Macpherson. Ossian caused a sensation when it was published and had a massive cultural impact during the 18th and 19th centuries. Napoleon carried a copy into battle; Goethe translated parts of it; the city of Selma, Alabama, was named after the home of Fingal, and one of Ingres’ most romantic and moody paintings, the Dream of Ossian was based on it.
BkXII:Chap3:Sec1 BkXII:Chap4:Sec1 BkXXVI:Chap6:Sec1 Mentioned.
BkXII:Chap4:Sec2 Influenced Chateaubriand.
BkXIX:Chap13:Sec1 BkXIX:Chap14:Sec1 BkXXIV:Chap11:Sec1 The work admired by Napoleon. He read it in Cesarotti’s translation.
Ostend, Oostende
The city and major port in Flanders, Belgium, it has been a city since 1265 and a major port from the eighteenth century.
BkIX:Chap16:Sec1 Chateaubriand wished to sail to Jersey from there in 1792.
BkX:Chap3:Sec1 BkXXIII:Chap7:Sec1 Chateaubriand arrived in Ostend in November 1792.
BkXX:Chap11:Sec1 Napoleon there in April 1807.
Osten-Sacken, Prince Fabian Wilhelm von der
Ostia, Italy
A part of the commune of Rome, on the coast facing the Tyrrhenian Sea, Ostia was the harbour of ancient Rome and perhaps its first colonia. Located at the mouth of the Tiber, it was said to have been founded by Ancus Marcius, the fourth king of Rome, in the 7th century BC.
BkXXX:Chap1:Sec1 BkXXX:Chap13:Sec1 Mentioned.
Othello
The play is by Shakespeare whose tragic protagonist is Othello the Moor.
BkVIII:Chap5:Sec3 Brown imitated a scene from the play.
BkXIII:Chap9:Sec1 Influenced Voltaire.
BkXXXIX:Chap13:Sec1 See Othello I:3:164-165. Chateaubriand adapts the lines.
Otho, Marcus Salvius, Roman Emperor
AD 32-69. Roman emperor (Jan.-April, AD 69). He was a friend of Nero, and his wife, Poppaea Sabina, became Nero’s mistress; Otho was repaid (AD 58) with the province of Lusitania. In AD 68 he joined the revolt of Galba against Nero, but on Galba’s accession Otho formed a conspiracy. Galba was killed, and Otho made himself emperor. Meanwhile Vitellius had been proclaimed emperor at Cologne and was on his way to Rome. Otho was defeated in N Italy and killed himself.
BkV:Chap8:Sec2 Mentioned.
Otrante, Duc d’, see Fouché
Otricoli, Italy
A town and comune in the province of Terni, Umbria, Italy. It is located on the Via Flaminia, near the east bank of the Tiber, 44 miles north of Rome and 12 miles south of Narni.
BkXXIX:Chap2:Sec3 Chateaubriand there in 1828.
Otto III, Holy Roman Emperor
980-1002. He was the fourth ruler of the Saxon or Ottonian dynasty. He was elected king of Germany in 983 on the death of his father (Holy Roman Emperor Otto II).
BkXXXVII:Chap5:Sec1 Mentioned.
Ottoboni, Pietro, Cardinal
1667-1740. The grand-nephew of the Venetian Pope Alexander VIII (1689–1691), he is remembered as a patron of musicians, including Corelli and Vivaldi. He was a Cardinal from 1689 and Cardinal-Dean from 1738 to his death.
BkXXX:Chap2:Sec2 A pen portrait of him by de Brosses. He died during the lengthy process of selecting a Pope in 1740.
Otway, Thomas
1652-1685. The English Restoration dramatist whose Venice Preserv’d, or A Plot Discover’d (1682) is based on the Histoire de la conjuration des Espagnols contre la Venise en 1618, by the Abbé de Saint-Real, though Otway modified the story considerably.
BkXXXIX:Chap13:Sec1 Quoted: See Venice Preserv’d end of Act I.
Oudart, Monsieur
He was an aide de camp to the Duc d’Orléans.
BkXXXII:Chap13:Sec1 At Neuilly on the 30th of July 1830.
Oudinot, Nicolas Charles, Duc de Reggio, Marshal of France
1767-1847. A veteran of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, he was created Marshal of France (1809) and Duke of Reggio (1810) by Napoleon I. He served as governor of Holland from 1810 to 1812. After Napoleon’s first abdication he gave his support to Louis XVIII. He commanded the National Guard during the Hundred Days, and for his support of Louis XVIII was made a peer of France. Later, he participated in the Spanish expedition of 1823.
BkXXI:Chap7:Sec1 At the Berezina.
BkXXII:Chap 22:Sec1 In Paris at the Restoration in 1814.
BkXXVIII:Chap16:Sec1 Commander of the National Guard in April 1827, not wishing to share in its disbanding, a measure that he regarded as both inappropriate and unpopular he gave in his resignation.
Ouvrard, Gabriel-Julien
1770-1846. A French financier, who enriched himself under the Directory as a war-profiteer, but later fell into debt after purchasing the Château du Raincy in 1806. He was supported by the Duc de Richelieu under the Restoration. His Memoirs were published in 1826.
BkXXXII:Chap13:Sec1 Raincy had been owned by Louis-Philippe’s father but was confiscated during the Revolution. It was later occupied by the Prussians, and then abandoned. Louis-Phillipe acquired the estate for hunting.
Ouvrier
A student of the École Polytechnique in 1830.
BkXXXII:Chap5:Sec1 Involved in the fighting of 29th July 1830.
Ovid, Publius Ovidius Naso
43-17BC. The Roman poet, Publius Ovidius Naso, was born at Sulmo. He was exiled from Augustan Rome in AD8 (for a poem, probably the Ars Amatoria, and an error, probably an indiscretion concerning Augustus’s wayward daughter Julia) and died at Tomis on the Black Sea. His greatest work is the Metamorphoses, a retelling of myths down to his own time, based on the theme of change.
BkIX:Chap2:Sec1 The Metamorphoses translated in verse by Saint-Ange, 1782. He also translated other works of Ovid.
BkXI:Chap6:Sec1 Chateaubriand quotes from Fasti VI:772.
BkXIII:Chap11:Sec1 The fecundity of narration displayed in the Metamorphoses.
BkXXX:Chap13:Sec1 His verses to Corinna (see the Amores).
BkXXXI:Chap1:Sec1 See Metamorphoses XI:480-481.
BkXXXIV:Chap14:Sec1 See Metamorphoses VII:518-613.
BkXXXVI:Chap7:Sec1 Chateaubriand uses the first line of Ovid’s Tristia in Les Martyrs. Tristia I:1 actually translates as ‘Little book, go without me – I don’t begrudge it – to the city.’
BkXXXVII:Chap10:Sec1 See Fasti IV:270-348, for the legend of Claudia Quinta.
Oxenstierna, Axel Gustaffson, Count of Södermöre
1583-1654. A Swedish statesman, the favourite minister of Gustavus Adolphus, he supported him through the Thirty Years’ War, though he disapproved of his engaging in it, and managed the affairs of the State with great ability after his death. His son Erik Axelsson (1624-1656) was also a great Swedish Statesman.
BkXXX:Chap11:Sec1 Grotius wrote to both.
Oxford, England
The University city, on the rivers Thames and Cherwell. Important from Saxon times, the university colleges were founded in the 13th century. In the Civil War Oxford was the Royalist headquarters. It houses one of the world’s great libraries, the Bodleian (`1602).
BkXII:Chap5:Sec1 There were twenty colleges in Chateaubriand’s day not the twenty-five he states in his text. The Botanical Garden was founded in 1621.
BkXII:Chap5:Sec2 Its freely distributed edition (3000 printed) of the New Testament according to the Latin Vulgate (1796) was imprinted: Novum testamentum vulgatae editionis in usum cleri gallicani in Anglia exulantis. It was funded by subscription with the aid of the Marquis of Buckingham, and distributed free to exiled French priests.