Jean Tulard


Jean Tulard is a French academic and historian. Considered one of the best specialists of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Napoleonic era, he is nicknamed by his peers "the master of Napoleonic studies".
He was a professor at the Sorbonne University and at Sciences Po Paris. He is a member of the Institut de France via the Académie des sciences morales et politiques. He is also very interested in the history of cinema.

Career

After graduating first in his class with an agrégation in history and a PhD in literature, he became a boarder at the Fondation Thiers from 1961 to 1964, before becoming a research associate at the French National Centre for Scientific Research . Director of Studies at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in 1965, he was appointed professor at the Université Paris-Sorbonne and the Sciences Po Paris in 1981. Jean Tulard was President of the Société de l'histoire de Paris et de l'Île-de-France from 1973 to 1977, and President of the from 1974 to 1997.
President of the Société de l'histoire de Paris et de l'Île-de-France, he was also president and then honorary president of the Institut Napoléon, and a member of the board of directors of the Cinémathèque française and 4.8.
He is a member of the board of the Cinémathèque française and of the Comité pour l'histoire préfectorale, and was the historical consultant for the TV film Valmy, by Jean Chérasse and Abel Gance, and for La Révolution française, by Robert Enrico and Richard T. Heffron. Honorary president of the Institut Napoléon, he has chaired the scientific advisory board of the Figaro Histoire since 2012.
A member of the Centre Vendéen de Recherches Historiques, he has also been a member of the Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques since 16 May 1994, elected to the History and Geography section in the chair of Roland Mousnier. He was President of the Academy in 2005.

Why Napoleon?

Because of his family origins, Jean Tulard devoted his doctoral thesis to the history of the administration in Paris.
He intended to study at the Faculty of Law and become a magistrate. A problem with his enrolment led him to change his course.
After completing his thesis, which covered the period of the First French Empire, he became a lecturer at the Sorbonne in 1967 and began to devote himself to Napoleonic studies.
In 1965, Michel Fleury, director of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, under whose supervision he wrote a thesis on the Prefecture of Police under the July Monarchy, created a new research department, the "Chair of History of the First Empire". Jean Tulard was elected to this chair, which he held for thirty-five years. At the same time, he joined the University of Paris IV to teach the history of the French Revolution and the First French Empire. He also taught administrative history at Sciences-Po Paris.

Forensic verification of Louis XVII's heart identity: Tulard's expertise in deciphering royal remains

Tulard was one of the experts involved in verifying the heart believed to be that of Louis XVII, actually the Dauphin of France as the heir apparent to the throne, who died in 1795 in imprisonment. Scientists using DNA samples from Queen Anne of Romania, and her son André de Bourbon-Parme, maternal relatives of Louis XVII, and from a strand of Marie Antoinette's hair, proved the young royal's identity. Historic evidence as to the location of the heart over the decades was also considered. In a summary of the investigation in 2004, Tulard wrote: "This heart is... almost certainly that of Louis XVII. We can never be 100 per cent sure but this is about as sure as it gets".

Film activities

Jean Tulard took part as a "historical consultant" in the TV film Valmy, directed by Jean Chérasse and Abel Gance and broadcast for the first time in 1967. With a total running time of 208 minutes, the film is divided into three parts: 1. the fall of royalty, 2. chronicling the summer of 1792, 3. Battle and birth of the Republic.
In 1989, he was the "historical adviser" for the film La Révolution française, directed by Robert Enrico and Richard T. Heffron, in a co-production with French, Italian, German, Canadian and British investors. Depending on the version, the film lasts between 180 and 360 minutes.
Jean Tulard is a member of the Sponsorship Committee of the Institut régional du cinéma et de l'audiovisuel de Corse, chaired by French director Magà Ettori.

Literature

Jean Tulard is a member of the jury for the Prix des Hussards, created by Food critic Christian Millau.

Private life

Jean Tulard spent his childhood in Albi in the region of Occitania in the Southern France, and developed a passion for cinema. His mother started out as a primary school teacher and later became curator of the archives of the Musée de la Préfecture de Police.
Married to Marie-Josée Fagnot, Jean Tulard had three children.

Publications

Many of the following books have been translated into many languages, including English:
  • 1962 : Histoire de la Crète.
  • 1964 : L'Anti-Napoléon, la légende noire de l'Empereur.
  • 1964 : La Préfecture de Police sous la monarchie de Juillet.
  • 1965 : Alexander von Humboldt, L'Amérique espagnole en 1800.
  • 1968 : Première édition critique des Œuvres littéraires et écrits militaires de Napoléon, 3 volumes.
  • 1970 : Nouvelle Histoire de Paris : le Consulat et l'Empire.
  • 1971 : Bibliographie critique des Mémoires sur le Consulat et l'Empire.
  • 1971 : Le Mythe de Napoléon.
  • 1973 : Atlas administratif de l'Empire français.
  • 1973 : Lettres inédites de Cambacérès à Napoléon.
  • 1976 : Paris et son administration.
  • 1978 : La Vie quotidienne des Français sous Napoléon.
  • 1978 : Napoléon ou le mythe du sauveur.
  • 1979 : Napoléon et la noblesse d'Empire.
  • 1981 : Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène.
  • 1982 : Dictionnaire du cinéma. Tome I : Les Réalisateurs.
  • 1982 : Le Grand Empire - rééd. 2009.
  • 1983 : Murat.
  • 1985 : Dictionnaire du cinéma. Tome II : Acteurs, producteurs, scénaristes, techniciens.
  • 1985 : les Révolutions.
  • 1985 : Joseph Fiévée, conseiller secret de Napoléon.
  • 1987 : Histoire et dictionnaire de la Révolution française 1789-1799.
  • 1988 : Dictionnaire Napoléon.
  • 1989 : Nouvelle Histoire de Paris : la Révolution.
  • 1990 : La Contre-Révolution.
  • 1990 : Guide des films.
  • 1990 : Almanach de Paris.
  • 1990 : Les Écoles historiques.
  • 1991 : Le Directoire et le Consulat.
  • 1991 : Le Métier d'historien.
  • 1991 : Jean Tulard, Alfred Fierro et Jean-Marc Leri, L'histoire de Napoléon par la peinture, Paris, Belfond, 1991, 317 p., prix Paul-Marmottan 1991.
  • 1992 : Napoléon II.
  • 1993 : Procès-verbal de la cérémonie du sacre et du couronnement de Napoléon signé par Louis-Philippe de Ségur.
  • 1993 : Napoléon : jeudi 12 octobre 1809, le jour où Napoléon faillit être assassiné.
  • 1993 : Itinéraire de Napoléon au jour le jour.
  • 1994 : La Petite Histoire de France.
  • 1994 : Le Marché de l'histoire.
  • 1995 : La France de la Révolution et de l'Empire.
  • 1995 : Dictionnaire du Second Empire.
  • 1995 : Histoire et dictionnaire du Consulat et de l'Empire.
  • 1995 : La Morale de l'histoire.
  • 1996 : Mémoires de Talleyrand.
  • 1996 : Le Temps des passions : espérances, tragédies et mythes sous la Révolution et l'Empire.
  • 1997 : Napoléon : le pouvoir, la nation, la légende.
  • 1997 : Jeanne d'Arc, Napoléon, le paradoxe du biographe.
  • 1998 : Joseph Fouché.
  • 1999 : Le 18-Brumaire. Comment terminer une révolution.
  • 2005 : Dictionnaire du roman policier, 1841-2005 : auteurs, personnages, œuvres, thèmes, collections, éditeurs.
  • 2005 : Les Thermidoriens.
  • 2006 : Napoléon - Les grands moments d'un destin.
  • 2008 : Les Pieds Nickelés de Forton, coll. « Une œuvre, une histoire ».
  • 2009 : Dictionnaire amoureux du cinéma
  • 2009 : Alexandre Dumas,.
  • 2011 : Talleyrand ou la douceur de vivre, Bibliothèque des Introuvables, Paris.
  • 2012 : Détective de l'histoire, Éditions Écritures
  • 2012 : Dictionnaire amoureux de Napoléon, Plon
  • 2012 : La Berline de Napoléon Albin Michel
  • 2012 : Le Pouvoir du Mal, les méchants dans l'Histoire Éditions SPM
  • 2012 : Napoléon chef de guerre, Tallandier.
  • 2013 : Quand Laurel rencontra Hardy, éditions SPM, Paris,.
  • 2014 : La Police parisienne - Entre deux révolutions, éditions du CNRS, collection Biblis, Paris, 194 pages,.
  • 2014 : Napoléon et quarante millions de sujets - La centralisation et le Premier Empire, Tallandier,.
  • 2015 : Le Monde selon Napoléon, Tallandier
  • 2016 : Rossini sous Napoléon, éditions SPM,.
  • 2016 : Les historiens de Napoléon, éditions SPM,.
  • 2017 : Le Monde du crime sous Napoléon, La Librairie Vuibert.
  • 2018 : Le Nouveau Guide des films, dir., Bouquins, 928 p.
  • 2019 : Tyrans, assassins et conspirateurs éditions SPM,.
  • 2019 : De Napoléon et quelques autres sujets, Tallandier,.
  • 2019 : Le Musée du crime - Chroniques du 36 quai des Orfèvres, Maisonneuve et Larose, Hémisphères,.
  • 2020 : L'Europe au temps de Napoléon, Cerf.
  • 2021 : Marengo ou l'étrange victoire de Bonaparte, Buchet/Chastel,
  • 2023 : L'Empire de l'argent, Tallandier

    Prizes and awards

  • Grand prix Gobert from the Académie française.
  • Prix Berger from the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, for his Nouvelle Histoire de Paris, written with French historians Raymond Cazelles and Marcel Reinhard, and published under the auspices of the Council of the City of Paris.
  • Prix Georges-Mauguin from the Académie des sciences morales et politiques.
  • Grand prix national de l'Histoire.
  • Prix du Mémorial, grand prix littéraire d'Ajaccio - for the body of his work.
  • Prix Marmottan from the Académie des Beaux-Arts.
  • Prix Pierre-Lafue, for his book Napoléon II, the son of Napoleon.
  • Prix Richelieu.
  • Prix Simone-Genevois.
  • Prix de l'Union.
  • Ambassadors Prize .
In April 2010, he became Commander of the Legion of Honour, created by Napoleon.