January 1811
1st January 1811 – The Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure come into force. For New Year gifts to Empress Marie-Louise, Napoleon I offered her a locket containing her portrait .
February 1811
1st February 1811 – James Madison, President
of the United States of America, commanded British government to cease controlling american ships.
11 February 1811 – President Madison prohibited trading with Great-Britain.
20 February 1811 – François-René de Chateaubriand was elected to the French Academy, to the seat of the regicide Marie-Joseph Chénier; his reception speech, which attacks his predecessor, was banned.
25 February 1811 – Napoleon refused the Franco-Swedish alliance proposed by Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte.
28 February 1811 – In a letter to Tsar Alexander I, Napoleon noted the breakdown of their alliance.
March 1811
11 March 1811 – In Spain, the city of Badajoz was captured by Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult.
12 March 1811 – In Portugal, Marshal Michel Ney defeated at Redinha the English troops commanded by Arthur Wellesley.
20 March 1811 – In the Tuileries Palace , Paris: birth of Napoleon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte, King of Rome, the son of Napoleon 1 and Empress Marie-Louise.
April 1811
4 April 1811 – Offensive of Arthur Wellesley, then Viscount Wellington. André Masséna had to evacuate the Portuguese town of Olivença.
11 April 1811 – Spanish guerrillas attacked the French army at the Avis Pass (Battle of Guisando), in the Guadarrama Mountains in Castile .
15 April 1811 – The feudal system was abolished in Illyria.
26 April 1811 – French bishops were summoned to National Council.
May 1811
3 May 1811 – Marshal Masséna defeated Wellington at Fuentes de Oñoro [40.59277, -6.81339].
4 May 1811 – Louis Gabriel Suchet laid siege to Tarragona.
7 May 1811 – Beginning of construction of the Palace of the King of Rome on the hill of Chaillot, in Paris.
10 May 1811 – Masséna was replaced by Auguste Viesse de Marmont at the head of the Army of Portugal.
16 May 1811 – Soult was defeated at La Albuera by an Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese army.
20 May 1811 – After having indicated to an ecclesiastical commission sent by the Emperor that he was ready to compromise, Pope Pius VII went back on his decision as soon as the bishops left.
22 May 1811 – The Emperor and Empress left Rambouillet for an official trip to the West of France: Houdan, Dreux, Caen, Cherbourg .
25 May 1811 – A French convoy was attacked and destroyed by Spanish guerrillas in Salinas, Biscay. The military situation in Spain continued to worsen.
June 1811
4 June 1811 – Napoleon returned to the Court.
5 June 1811 – Napoleon received Armand de Caulaincourt, who had just left his embassy in Saint Petersburg; the ambassador warned him of the dangers of a military campaign in Russia.
9 June 1811 – The King of Rome was christened.
17 June 1811 – The Council of Bishops opened at Notre-Dame. It was composed of ninety-five prelates, whose forty-two were Italians.
18 June 1811 – Wellington retreated to Portugal.
28 June 1811 – Suchet took Tarragona, Catalonia.
July 1811
10 July 1811 – Dissolution of the National Council of Bishops by order of Napoleon I.
27 July 1811 – A million Francs was affected by decree for embellishments of the city of Rome.
August 1811
15 August 1811 – In front of the diplomatic corps, Napoleon I threatened the Russian ambassador, Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin, with war following the Tsar's decision to reopen his ports to English ships..
28 August 1811 – Poor harvests in France led to the creation of a subsistence council, intended to deal with the threat of food shortages.
September 1811
19 September 1811 – Departure of Napoleon for Holland.
20 September 1811 – Pius VII accepted the new rules for the institution of bishops.
30 September 1811 – Empress Marie-Louise joined the Emperor in Antwerp.
October 1811
18 October 1811 – Creation, in Amsterdam, of the Imperial Order of Reunion; it commemorated the union of Holland and France and replaced the Royal order of the Union.
25 October 1811 – The city of Sagunto capitulated to Louis Gabriel Suchet, who had been created Marshal three months earlier.
26 October 1811 – The French were defeated by an Anglo-Spanish army at Arroyo Molinos.
November 1811
11 November 1811 – Return of Napoleon I and Marie-Louise to Saint-Cloud.
17 November 1811 – Pius VII refused to invest the bishops of the Papal States annexed to the Empire.
December 1811
17 December 1811 – Napoleon offered Austria an alliance against Russia..
19 December 1811 – Raising of hundred and twenty thousand conscripts.
24 December 1811 – The French ambassador in Berlin offered Prussia an alliance against Russia; in the event of refusal, Silesia would become Austrian.
26 December 1811 – In Spain, Suchet besieged Valencia.
Photo credits
Photos by Lionel A. Bouchon.Photos by Michèle Grau-Ghelardi.
Photos by Marie-Albe Grau.
Photos by Floriane Grau.
Photos by Didier Grau.
Photos by people outside the Napoleon & Empire association. The photo of the church of Fuentes de Oñoro was kindly provided to us by Ms. Florence Thévenot († 2021).