comte de Emmanuel-Auguste-Dieudonné Las Cases

Born in 1766, this French nobleman, writer, and royalist lived through the upheavals of the French Revolution and spent part of those years in exile. He later returned to public life and became closely associated with Napoleon Bonaparte during the emperor’s final years.

He is chiefly remembered for accompanying Napoleon to Saint Helena in 1815 and for keeping detailed notes of their conversations. Those notes became the basis of Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène, a widely read work that did much to spread the image of Napoleon as a fallen hero and political thinker.

Published after Las Cases left Saint Helena, the book became one of the most important personal accounts connected with Napoleon’s exile. Its mix of memory, observation, and political reflection gave Las Cases a lasting place in both French literary history and Napoleonic studies.