Coronation as King of Italy — 26 mai 1805

In Milan Cathedral, Napoleon placed the iron crown of the Lombard kings on his own head, declaring: 'God gave it to me, woe to him who touches it.' The Italian Republic became the Kingdom of Italy, with Eugène de Beauharnais as viceroy. The annexation of Genoa in June finally convinced Vienna and Saint Petersburg to form the Third Coalition.

From Italian Republic to kingdom

The Italian Republic, born of the Lyon consulta of 1802, had Bonaparte as its president. Having become emperor, he could no longer preside over a republic: the Italian title had to be aligned with the French one. In March 1805 the council of state of Milan came to Paris to offer the crown.

The solution was a personal union: Napoleon was king of Italy, but the two crowns were to be separated at his death. The promise cost nothing and calmed the chancelleries, for a time.

The Iron Crown

On 26 May 1805, in the Duomo of Milan, Napoleon placed on his own head the Iron Crown of the Lombard kings, the ancient diadem of Monza, pronouncing the traditional formula: 'God gave it to me, woe to him who touches it.'

The gesture repeated that of Notre-Dame six months earlier and deliberately chose a legitimacy older than that of the Habsburgs: it was the crown of Charlemagne and the medieval emperors taken up under their noses. Eugène de Beauharnais was appointed viceroy in June and would govern the kingdom until 1814.

The trigger of the Third Coalition

In June the Ligurian Republic was annexed to France: Genoa and its navy passed under the French flag. For Vienna, which had just seen Lombardy become a kingdom and northern Italy wholly organised from Paris, this broke the balance of Lunéville.

Austria joined Russia and England in the Third Coalition during the summer. Three months after Milan, Napoleon broke the camp of Boulogne and marched for the Danube.