Marshal Michel Ney

"Le brave des braves", as Napoleon called him after commanding the rear guard in the retreat from Moscow, Michel Ney was killed this day in Paris, in 1815. It was no stray bullet that felled one of Napoleon's elite marshals, but the work of a firing squad. Soon after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo and subsequent exile, Ney was charged with treason, tried, and found guilty by the Chamber of Peers.

The Chamber of Peers consisted of nobles under the Bourbon reign, which was restored to power following Napoleon's first defeat; at Paris. Ney facilitated Napoleon's abdication after this defeat, for which King Louis XVIII raised him to the level of Peer. When Napoleon returned from exile, Ney intercepted him with the stated intent of supporting Louis. Napoleon convinced him otherwise, and the 100 days campaign ensued. Marshal Ney was in charge of the left wing of the French army at Waterloo, which became trapped; a direct cause of the French defeat.

True to his Napoleonic sobriquet, Ney faced his firing squad without a blindfold, and in fact issued the orders to fire upon himself.

Scott includes the Marshal Ney in his "Life of Napoleon", his name appearing in the text more than 50 times.

Sir David Baird

A contemporary of Walter Scott, David Baird was born on December 6, 1757. Baird made his mark in the military, mostly in India. His first tour of duty was as a captain, with Sir Hector Munro in India. During battle, the whole force Baird was assigned to was destroyed; Baird himself captured, and held for 4 years. Several years after his release, Baird purchased a lieutenant-colonelcy and returned to India. Here, in the battle of Seringapatam, Baird distinguished himself, and was promoted to colonel.

Baird continued successful military actions in India, but was disappointed not to advance further. A command he expected to receive went to Colonel Arthur Wellesley, beginning a pattern of disappointment that would embitter Baird through his career. He was, however, knighted in 1804.

Scott was familiar with Baird, and in a personal letter to his own son Walter, described Baird:

"Respecting David Baird, besides being always a man of courage himself, and a successful general, it should never be forgotten that the army, Britain, and the whole world owe the Duke of Wellington entirely to him."

Francis II of France

Francis, the Dauphin of France, married Mary, Queen of Scots in 1558. Both were extremely young at the time; Francis just 14, and Mary 16. The marriage was arranged 10 years earlier, by Francis' father, King Henry II of France. Mary was four at that time, and had just been crowned Queen of Scotland, following the death of her father James V, King of Scots. Through this marriage, any offspring would inherit the Scottish throne, and also have a potential claim to the English crown through Mary's great-grandfather Henry VII of England.

Francis acceeded to the French throne in 1559, but there were to be no children to pursue future French acquisition. Francis was a sickly child all his life, and he died a year after taking the reins due to an infection that impacted his brain. He died on December 5, 1560.

Sir Walter Scott includes reference to Francis in Kenilworth. After Francis' death, Mary returned to Scotland, and Scott uses a suggestion made by Elizabeth I that Mary could Leicester, with whom she was extremely close, could gain a thone through marrying Mary.

Thomas Carlyle

Thomas Carlyle was born on December 4, 1795, in Ecclefechen, Scotland. Carlyle began his career as a math teacher, and later became a historian, satyrical writer and essayist. One of his best known quips is his labeling of economics as "the dismal science". He developed an interest in the philosophy of Johann Gottlieb Ficthe and German Idealism, which followed from the work of Immanuel Kant, and led to Georg Hegel.

One concept that Carlyle accepted from his absorption in German philosophy was the idea of the great man; the heroic leader. He published his "On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History" in 1841; a study of several heroic leaders, including, among others- Shakespeare, Oliver Cromwell, Odin, and Sir Walter Scott. The following is from this work:

"Of Rousseau's literary talents...not genuinely poetical...Look at a Shakespeare, at a Goethe, even at a Walter Scott! He who has once seen into this, has seen the difference of the True from the Sham-True, and will discriminate them ever afterwards."

A miss is as good as a mile

The title is a quote from Scott's journal, dated December 3, 1825. Scott was referring to Robert Pierce Gillies, who was losing his estate. According to Scott "...he was very near to being a poet-but a miss is as good as a mile, and he always fell short of the mark."

Both Scott and son-in-law Lockhart tried to help Gillies, who was a member of the Scotch Bar.

Saint Francis Xavier

December 2, 1552; death of Saint Francis Xavier. St. Francis was sent to the University of Paris for schooling, where he roomed with a Peter Faber. Later, Ignatius Loyola, 15 years Xavier's senior arrived at the University. Xavier did not take to Loyola initially, but after one of Xavier's particularly successful lectures in philosophy, Loyola approached him, whispering in his ear "What shall it profit a man if he gain the world, and lose his own soul?" Xavier and Loyola became friends on reflection of these words, and along with Faber and three others founded the Jesuit order, the Society of Jesus.

Xavier soon travelled to India, and through his good work became known as the Apostle of the Indies. Sir Walter Scott had this to say about Xavier: "One cannot deny him the courage and patience of a martyr, with the good sense, resolution, ready wit, and address of the best negotiator that ever went on a temporal embassy."

Henry I of England

December 1, 1135 - King Henry I of England dies. Henry was the fourth son of William the Conqueror. Discussion including Henry (and his brothers) is included in Scott's Ivanhoe.

"...Is Richard's title of primogeniture more decidedly certain than that of Duke Robert of Normandy, the Conqueror's eldest son? And yet William the Red, and Henry, his second and third brothers, were successively preferred to him by the voice of the nation...."