© 2004 by Society for French Studies
The Little Horn: Apocalyptic Literature of the Consulate and Empire
The aim of this article is to examine the evolution of apocalyptic exegesis during the Consulate and Empire. Contemporary commentaries on the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel provide a fascinating and hitherto unexplored record of the dynamics of religious and political belief in early nineteenth-century France. In the last decade of the eighteenth century, numerous attempts were made to explain the French Revolution in terms of Biblical prophecy. However, the restoration of civil order after the coup d’état of Brumaire, together with the rapid recovery of the Church after the Concordat, made the conclusions of previous apocalyptic speculation appear redundant. The majority of the French clergy hailed Napoleon as the providential saviour of the Church and compared him to Cyrus or Moses. This article examines the ways in which a number of Catholic theologians and laymen deciphered the bizarre symbols and imagery of Daniel's famous vision in order to make sense of Napoleon’s rise to power. A study of French Catholicism in its historical context enables us to understand how different and often contradictory political and religious beliefs were articulated within the conventions of apocalyptic exegesis.
Je considérais ses cornes, et je vis une petite corne qui sortait du milieu des autres.
Daniel 7. 8