In his memoirs, Pelet describes Masséna's personality as follows. However, he remains completely silent regarding 'Madame X', whom many historical narrators have recorded up to now. Furthermore, he maintains silence on Masséna's well-known penchant for looting.

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

“Everyone irritated him (Masséna) and he complained about everything. The Prince (Masséna) had great finesse and understanding of men; he did not always take into account their good qualities nor judge them favorably. His attitude was the result of knowing too well the world and affairs. Much politeness and moderation were required to hide it, but he did not always do this.”

“Then there would be nothing of which the army was not capable, as there was no one who could excite it more than Masséna. No one possessed the instinct of a great general as he did.”

“He possessed it more than he realized himself—his warrior bearing, his head which resembled those of antiquity, and his quick and flashing eye. It was thought that after he received a gunshot in the eye his sight would be impaired. It appeared that only one eye had suffered much from the exterior alteration. Moreover, his sight was just as good as Thad ever known.*) With his bold look, his pleasing wit, his military Language, this bellicose genius in the midst of fire had everything to intame our soldiers, and his character, like his talent, was eminently French.”

La Companyia de Santa Bàrbara (“The Company of Saint Barbara”) by the Catalan painter Ramon Martí i Alsina. 1891, oil on canvas,  497.5 x 405 cm, Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya (MNAC).

This painting shows the women from the city of Girona who defended the city during its siege by the French Napoleonic troops from 6 May to 12 December 1809. These women were known as Les Bàrbares (“the Barbaras” in Catalan) because they were enlisted in Saint Barbara’s Company, where they fought in first line.

Junot also appears several times in Pelet’s memoirs. It seems that it was not only Ney who was uncooperative with Masséna; the corps and division commanders under him also harbored dissatisfaction toward Masséna. Pelet suggests that Loison, a divisional general was operating in the shadows. Loison also appeared to be involved in suspicious activities regarding the “Roi Nicolas” affair surrounding Soult. It seems that Loison was quite a complex and cunning character. It is possible that Loison was also involved in encouraging Ney to loudly criticize Soult regarding the “Roi Nicolas” matter (“Mémoires du général Cte de Saint-Chamans : ancien aide de camp du Maréchal Soult, 1802-1832” p.157)

According to Pelet, Junot suffered a gunshot wound that pierced his nose during a reconnaissance mission. Looking at portraits of Junot, he is depicted as quite handsome, but it is known that he suffered multiple serious head injuries throughout his life. What kind of damage did a gunshot wound that pierced his nose inflict upon him? Pelet speculates whether these repeated head injuries might have contributed to Junot’s tragic death.

Additionally, Pelet recounts an experience of being invited to dine with Junot, where he was treated to a wonderfully delicious cornbread.

* Original text in Spanish: Native speakers, please visit the link.

source

〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜〜

JOSE MANUEL CASAL

For two hundred years, Galicians have been naming their dogs after a Napoleonic Marshal.

August 15, 2019. Updated at 9:50 AM.

Although, unlike with humans, we lack official statistics on the most common names for Galician pets, anecdotal evidence from the fields ("testimonio a pie de leira") indicates that one of the most frequent names among Galician dogs is "Ney." Why Ney? The custom goes back a long way—to 1809, to be precise, when Napoleon’s Marshal Michel Ney suffered one of his most resounding defeats in Galicia. It happened in Pontesampaio (Pontevedra), on the banks of the Verdugo River, where Spanish guerrillas forced the proud French military man and his more than 10,000 men to flee.

The retreat of Ney from Galicia, during which he joined forces with Soult in Lugo, was not exactly exemplary; the Marshal razed everything in his path to avenge his humiliating failure in Pontevedra. He thus became one of the most hated and reviled figures in Galician popular memory, which decided to take revenge in its own way: by giving his name to the household dog. It was then, in July 1809, that Galicians began to walk "Ney" alongside our ankles. The custom took root and remains to this day; 210 years later, the palleiros (Galician curs) and not-so-palleiros across half of Galicia still respond to the name of Napoleon's Marshal.

"The episode of Pontesampaio itself was mythologized by the use of the 'wooden cannon,' a way of scorning the military capacity of the French. That the names of their Marshals, Soult and Ney, were used to name dogs is in the same vein," notes Professor Ramón Villares in his canonical History of Galicia. Because many "Soults" also lounge along the rural paths (corredoiras). They are our "barnyard marshals."

MARIA AURTENECHEA

A pet with a statue

Ney has also performed the miracle of uniting urban and rural Galicia, because there are Neys not only in the countryside. One of the most famous has a statue in the center of A Coruña. It was a Golden Retriever who died in 2014 and had won the hearts of the children who visited the Plaza de Lugo market—to the point that it was decided to dedicate a life-sized monument to him in the very spot where he used to run around.

But, of course, the name of the Marshal triumphs most in rural Galicia. The smaller the population, the more Neys there are. It is the country's way of remembering the heroes of Pontesampaio. The Gallic troops ran for their lives from Pontevedra, but, much to their dismay, they left us a name with a lot of history for our dogs (cadelos).