Language and Education under Napoleon

Abstract

For the Napoleonic regime, the classroom represented an important instrument for in its attempt to construct a loyal social elite—the masses de granite upon which a lasting dynasty could be constructed—the Napoleonic state created a series of lycées and secondary schools to educate the sons of the local elites. These efforts included a concerted effort to spread French to those parts of the Empire where it was not widely spoken and, in some local contexts, reached into the primary school system otherwise neglected by the regime. Despite these efforts, the classroom remained a complex social context, one which resembled less a conduit for official culture running from centre to periphery, than a meeting place where practice had to be negotiated.