Editing François-René de Chateaubriand (section)

===Consulate and Empire===
{{further|French Consulate}}
{{further|First French Empire}}
Chateaubriand took advantage of the amnesty issued to ''émigrés'' to return to France in May 1800 (under the [[French Consulate]]); he edited the ''[[Mercure de France]]''. In 1802, he won fame with ''[[The Genius of Christianity|Génie du christianisme]]'' ("The Genius of Christianity"), an [[apologetics|apologia]] for the Catholic faith which contributed to the post-revolutionary religious revival in France. It also won him the favour of [[Napoleon I of France|Napoleon Bonaparte]], who was eager to win over the Catholic Church at the time.

James McMillan argues that a Europe-wide Catholic Revival emerged from the change in the cultural climate from intellectually-oriented classicism to emotionally-based [[Romanticism]]. He concludes that Chateaubriand's book:
{{blockquote|did more than any other single work to restore the credibility and prestige of Christianity in intellectual circles and launched a fashionable rediscovery of the Middle Ages and their Christian civilisation. The revival was by no means confined to an intellectual elite, however, but was evident in the real, though uneven, rechristianisation of the French countryside.<ref>James McMillan, "Catholic Christianity in France from the Restoration to the separation of church and state, 1815-1905." in Sheridan Gilley and Brian Stanley, eds., ''The Cambridge history of Christianity'' (2014) 8 217-232</ref>}}

Appointed secretary of the legation to the [[Holy See]] by Napoleon, he accompanied [[Joseph Fesch|Cardinal Fesch]] to Rome. But the two men soon quarrelled, and Chateaubriand was appointed minister to the [[Rhodanic Republic|Republic of Valais]] in November 1803.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.napoleon.org/histoire-des-2-empires/articles/quand-le-valais-etait-francais/|title=Quand le Valais était français|access-date=2 June 2021|language=fr|website=[[Fondation Napoléon]]|author=Czouz-Tornare, Alain-Jacques}}</ref> He resigned his post in disgust after Napoleon ordered the execution in 1804 of Louis XVI's cousin, [[Louis Antoine, Duke of Enghien]]. Chateaubriand was, after his resignation, completely dependent on his literary efforts. However, and quite unexpectedly, he received a large sum of money from the Russian Tsarina [[Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden)|Elizabeth Alexeievna]]. She had seen him as a defender of Christianity and thus worthy of her royal support.

Chateaubriand used his new-found wealth in 1806 to visit Greece, [[Asia Minor]], the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Tunisia, and Spain. The notes he made on his travels later formed part of a prose epic, ''Les Martyrs'', set during the Roman [[Persecution of Christians|persecution of early Christianity]]. His notes also furnished a running account of the trip itself, published in 1811 as the ''Itinéraire de Paris à Jérusalem'' (''Itinerary from Paris to [[Jerusalem]]''). The Spanish stage of the journey inspired a third novella, ''Les aventures du dernier Abencérage'' (''The Adventures of the Last [[Abencerrages|Abencerrage]]''), which appeared in 1826.

On his return to France at the end of 1806, he published a severe criticism of Napoleon, comparing him to [[Nero]] and predicting the emergence of a new [[Tacitus]]. Napoleon famously threatened to have Chateaubriand sabred on the steps of the [[Tuileries Palace]] for it, but settled for merely banishing him from the city.<ref>Douglas Hilt, "Chateaubriand and Napoleon" ''History Today'' (Dec 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 12, pp 831-838</ref>  Chateaubriand therefore retired, in 1807, to a modest estate he called ''Vallée-aux-Loups'' ("''Wolf Valley''"), in [[Châtenay-Malabry]], {{convert|11|km|mi|abbr=on}} south of central Paris, where he lived until 1817. Here he finished ''Les Martyrs'', which appeared in 1809, and began the first drafts of his ''Mémoires d’Outre-Tombe''. He was elected to the [[Académie française]] in 1811, but, given his plan to infuse his acceptance speech with criticism of the Revolution, he could not occupy his seat until after the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]]. His literary friends during this period included [[Germaine de Staël|Madame de Staël]], [[Joseph Joubert]] and [[Pierre-Simon Ballanche]].