comte de Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné Las Cases

Born in 1766 in Languedoc, Emmanuel, comte de Las Cases was a French nobleman, naval officer, and writer. During the upheavals of the French Revolution he left France, and in exile he worked on an atlas and other writings before eventually returning to public life.

He is remembered above all for accompanying Napoleon Bonaparte to Saint Helena after Waterloo. There, Las Cases kept detailed notes of conversations, reflections, and daily life around the exiled emperor until he was expelled from the island in 1816.

Those notes became Le Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, the book that made his name endure. More than a memoir, it played a major part in creating the powerful legend of Napoleon in 19th-century Europe, which is why Las Cases remains such an important figure for readers interested in history, memory, and political myth.