January 1804
6 January 1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte, who had been for a week inspecting the fleet and visiting harbors near Boulogne, returned to Paris.
15 January 1804 – Appointment of Joachim Murat as Governor of Paris: it's a monarchic title that Bonaparte exhumed for the benefit of his brother-in-law.
16 January 1804 – The First Consul reported on the situation of the Republic, inside and outside, in a message to the Senate. Clandestine landing of thirty-five royalists sent by England to organize the assassination of Bonaparte.
24 January 1804 – Formal announcement of the King of England: he would never abandon the cause of the Bourbons.
15 February 1804 – Arrest of General Jean Victor Marie Moreau.
17 February 1804 – Report of the Chief Justice on a conspiracy involving Jean Victor Marie Moreau, Jean-Charles Pichegru and Georges Cadoudal.
19 February 1804 – Monsignor Bernier, bishop of Orleans, ordered prayers for the preservation of life of the First Consul.
February 1804
25 February 1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte removed the jury for two years in the trial of attacks against his person and against the security of the Republic.
28 February 1804 – Arrest of Jean-Charles Pichegru, who is led to the Temple jailhouse.
March 1804
9 March 1804 – Georges Cadoudal was arrested at his turn.
10 March 1804 – The three consuls, Joseph Fouché, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord and the High Judge Claude-Ambroise Régnier, meeting in Council of Government, decide the kidnapping of the Duke of Enghien.
The same day, Bonaparte orders three hundred dragoons to cross the Rhine river, to surround the town of Ettenheim and to remove the Duke of Enghien and his followers.
15 March 1804 – The Duke of Enghien was arrested.
20 March 1804 – The Duke of Enghien arrived at the Château de Vincennes at five o'clock. Six hours later, he appeared before a military commission.
21 March 1804 – At three o'clock, the Duke of Enghien was executed by firing squad. Napoleon Bonaparte said: The Duke of Enghien conspired as another, we had to treat him like any other. I am the man of the state, I am the French Revolution and I argue
. A law dated the same day promulgated the French Civil Code.
27 March 1804 – The Senate asked Napoleon Bonaparte to make his authority hereditary; it was Fouché who introduced that motion.
April 1804
6 April 1804 – Jean-Charles Pichegru was found strangled in his prison.
13 April 1804 – The Privy Council chose for General Bonaparte the title of Emperor.
23 April 1804 – Jean-François Curée, a Tribunat member, suggested that Napoleon Bonaparte would be proclaimed Emperor of the French and the imperial dignity would become hereditary in his family.
30 April 1804 – Start of the discussion of Curée's motion at the Tribunat.
May 1804
3rd May 1804 – Motion was unanimously adopted, minus one vote, that of Lazare Carnot.
10 May 1804 – Napoleon Bonaparte made known his wish to be crowned by the Pope..
16 May 1804 – On behalf of the State Council, Jean-Etienne Portalis brought to the Senate a draft Senatus consultum proclaiming Napoleon Bonaparte as Emperor of the French.
18 May 1804 – The Senatus-consultum was approved by the Senate unanimously minus three votes.
19 May 1804 – Fourteen Empire marshals were appointed: Berthier, Murat, Moncey, Jourdan, Masséna, Augereau, Bernadotte, Soult, Brune,
Lannes, Mortier, Ney, Davoust, Bessières, plus four marshals-Senators: Kellermann, Lefebvre, Perignon, Sérurier.
20 May 1804 – The establishment of the Empire was proclaimed in the major squares of Paris by a procession which travels the streets.
21 May 1804 – The Monitor published a paper protocol: the ministers and marshals would be treated in "Monseigneur", the great dignitaries of "Serene Highness".
22 May 1804 – Napoleon said to a deputation of Tribunat: I like to owe everything to the people, this feeling only makes me dear new honors that I am dressed.
26 May 1804 – The Italian Consulta gave orders to erect a monument to the glory of the Emperor. The same day, it tells the Minister of Marine: The Italian Republic owes to me the price for twelve boats and two frigates. I estimate the price is 2,400,000 livres
.
28 May 1804 – Georges Cadoudal, his accomplices and Jean-Victor Marie Moreau had their trial opened before a Criminal court of the Department of Seine without judging jury.
June 1804
6 June 1804 – Publication of a formal protest of the Count of Provence against the appointment of Napoleon.
7 June 1804 – The functions of the special courts were extended.
10 June 1804 – Georges Cadoudal was sentenced to death, with nineteen of his accomplices (including the Duke Armand de Polignac); two years in prison for Moreau.
11 June 1804 – The sentencing to death of the Duke of Polignac, a former comrade of Napoleon Bonaparte at the military school, was commuted by him in custody until the peace.
12 June 1804 – Establishment of a monopoly on funeral benefit of the Church.
21 June 1804 – Seven accomplices of Cadoudal, sentenced to death, got their grace of Napoleon.
25 June 1804 – Cadoudal and eleven of his accomplices were executed.
26 June 1804 – A decree ordered that the new coins would now legendary "Emperor Napoleon".
July 1804
3rd July 1804 – Permission was granted to comedians of the Comédie-Française to take the title of the Emperor's ordinary Comedians.
8 July 1804 – The Emperor officially left Saint-Cloud for Paris to receive new letters of credence of foreign diplomats.
9 July 1804 – In Paris, Napoleon attended a military parade, the first one since his elevation to the Empire.
10 July 1804 – The Ministry of Religious Affairs was created. Joseph Fouché became Minister of General Police.
13 July 1804 – The Holy Sacrament, when passing on the public way, would now receive military honors.
14 July 1804 – Napoleon went to the Invalides to distribute, seated on a throne, the first crosses of the Legion of Honor. He was preceded by the Eagles of the French Empire, ministers, marshals, and dignitaries of the Imperial house .
17 July 1804 – Napoleon told the Minister of the Treasury: I wish that diamonds and pearls, that are the public treasury, should be installed in different decorations for the Empress.
18 July 1804 – The Emperor began a great inspection tour, from Boulogne to Treves, through Calais, Dunkirk, Ostend, Arras, Mons, Aachen, Cologne and Mainz.
27 July 1804 ‒ The spread eagle was adopted as the emblem of the French Empire.
August 1804
2nd August 1804 ‒ End of counting of the results of the plebiscite on the Empire: 3,572,329 yes, 2,579 no.
11 August 1804 ‒ Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, took the title of Hereditary Emperor of Austria, under the name of Francis I.
September 1804
7 September 1804 ‒ Napoleon I meditated before the tomb of Charlemagne in Aachen.
15 September 1804 ‒ Napoleon invited Pope Pius VII to come and crown him in Paris.
October 1804
12 October 1804 – Napoleon 1 was back in Saint-Cloud.
16 October 1804 – At the Mont-Genevre pass, Hautes-Alpes, was laid the foundation stone of an obelisk [44.93298, 6.72780] in honor of the Emperor.
26 October 1804 – Establishment of the list of those attending the coronation of Napoleon.
November 1804
2nd November 1804 – Pope Pius VII left Rome and began the journey that would take him to Paris to crown Napoleon.
9 November 1804 – The Grand Orient de France, the largest Masonic organization in France and the oldest in Continental Europe, elected Lucien Bonaparte as Grand-Master.
18 November 1804 – The Imperial Pages, the sons of generals and senior officials, appeared for the first time.
22 November 1804 – The offices of charity had in Paris 103,454 needy rescued.
25 November 1804 – Napoleon 1 went before the Pope, who had just arrived at the Palace of Fontainebleau [48.40211, 2.69938]:
28 November 1804 – The Emperor and the Pope shared a carriage to get to Paris; the sovereign pontiff was housed in the Pavillon de Flore of the Louvre Palace .
29 November 1804 – Napoleon and Josephine received from Cardinal Joseph Fesch the nuptial blessing in the chapel of the Tuileries Palace, at midnight.
30 November 1804 – The Major Bodies of the state came to pay homage to the Pope.
December 1804
2nd December 1804 – Napoleon was crowned in Notre-Dame de Paris .
3rd December 1804 – Report of the Prefecture of Police: Today the Stock Exchange was in no way more interesting than yesterday: few people, few business and languid arrangements consistently negative.
5 December 1804 – Eagles were formally distributed at the Champ-de-Mars, in the presence of the Emperor . Jean-Nicolas Faure, a student, rushed through the crowd toward the imperial throne, crying: Liberty or Death.
He was arrested.
6 December 1804 – Napoleon 1 received, in the throne room at the Tuileries Palace, prefects and presidents of the electoral colleges of hundred eight Departments of the Empire. The Grand Bodies of state, ministers and marshals were present.
8 December 1804 – More than seven thousand delegates from the army, navy and National Guard were received in the Grand Gallery of the Louvre.
9 December 1804 – The student Faure was interned at the Maison nationale de Charenton (a hospice intended to accommodate the insane) to be treated as insane until his complete recovery.
11 December 1804 – Presentation of the Institute's tributes to Napoleon 1.
12 December 1804 – Order of Minister of Police was given to search and seize an engraving on the Coronation mowking Pope Pius VII which was sold, under the counter, at the Palace of Tribunat.
13 December 1804 – Police arrested a heretofore magistrate named Beugnet de Pommeraie: he broadcasted an illegal pamphlet entitled Funeral Oration of the Duke of Enghien.
14 December 1804 – A police report indicated an anagram circulating in Paris. Napoleon, empereur des Français (Napoleon, Emperor of the French)
became: Ce fol empire ne durera pas son an (This crazy empire will not last a year).
16 December 1804 – Napoleon was solemnly received at City Hall .
17 December 1804 – An Eagle took place in the coat of arms of Napoleon.
20 December 1804 – Appointment of Jacques-Louis David as the first painter of the Emperor. He was ordered to execute four paintings on the coronation.
22 December 1804 – Celebration of a Mass by the Pope in Saint-Sulpice church .
25 December 1804 – Increase the price of bread, a penny per pound.
26 December 1804 – Celebration of a Mass by Pope Pius VII at Notre-Dame-de-Paris, Napoleon 1 attending.
27 December 1804 – Napoleon said: By giving me the crown, my people have committed to make every effort that circumstances would require him to retain the brilliance that is necessary for its prosperity and its glory like mine
.
30 December 1804 – Each of the prelates who attended the coronation of Napoleon I received a snuff box decorated with a portrait of the Emperor, estimated at twelve thousand Francs each. The officiating, canons and priests, shared a sum of fifty thousand Francs.