The Illyrian Provinces were an
autonomous province of France during the
First French Empire
The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...
that existed under
Napoleonic Rule from 1809 to 1814.
The province encompassed large parts of modern
Italy
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
and
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
, extending their reach further east through
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
,
Montenegro
, image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg
, coa_size = 80
, national_motto =
, national_anthem = ()
, image_map = Europe-Mont ...
, and
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. Its capital was
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
(). It encompassed six
''départements'', making it a relatively large portion of territorial France at the time. Parts of Croatia were split up into Civil Croatia and Military Croatia, the former served as a residential space for French immigrants and Croatian inhabitants and the latter as a military base to check the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
.
In 1809,
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
invaded the region with his
Grande Armée after key wins during the
War of the Fifth Coalition forced the
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire, officially known as the Empire of Austria, was a Multinational state, multinational European Great Powers, great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the Habsburg monarchy, realms of the Habsburgs. Duri ...
to cede parts of its territory. Integrating the land into France was Bonaparte's way of controlling Austria's access to the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
and
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
and expanding his empire east. Bonaparte installed four governors to disseminate French bureaucracy, culture, and language. The most famous and influential governor was
Auguste de Marmont, who undertook the bulk of Bonaparte's bidding in the area. Marmont was succeeded by
Henri Gatien Bertrand (1811–12),
Jean-Andoche Junot (1812–13), and
Joseph Fouché (1813–14).
Marmont pushed the
Code Napoléon throughout the area and led a vast infrastructural expansion. During 1810, the French authorities established the ''Écoles centrales'' in Croatia and Slovenia. Although the respective states were allowed to speak and work in their native languages,
French was designated as the official language and much of the federal administration was conducted as such. French rule contributed significantly to the provinces even after the Austrian Empire recovered the area in 1813-1814. Napoleon introduced a greater national self-confidence and awareness of freedoms, as well as numerous political reforms. He introduced equality before the law,
compulsory military service for men, a uniform tax system, abolished certain tax privileges, introduced modern administration,
separated church and state and nationalized the judiciary. French presence in this region saw to a diffusion of
French culture and the creation of the
Illyrian Movement.
Etymology
The name "Illyrian" was probably suggested to Napoleon by Auguste de Marmont, who was influenced by the civic and revolutionary intelligentsia in Dalmatia, Dubrovnik and Carinthia, and wanted to use it to support the sense of commonality of the peoples living in the Provinces, which went beyond Napoleon's basic geostrategic rationale to form the provinces, though historians have discussed the extents of the influence of historical ideas of Illyrism both in France and locally, as well as a
Neoclassicist allusion to the ancient names of the
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
n coast, known as
Illyria in antiquity and
Illyricum during the
Roman era.
History

The
Slovene Lands, ruled by the
Habsburg monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...
, were first occupied by the
French Revolutionary Army after the
Battle of Tarvis in March 1797, led by General
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
. The occupation caused huge civil disturbances. The French troops under the command of General
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte tried to calm the worried population by issuing special public notices that were published also in
Slovene. During the withdrawal of the French army, the commanding general Bonaparte and his escort made a stop in
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
on April 28, 1797. Upon the 1805
Battle of Austerlitz and the
Peace of Pressburg, French troops once again occupied parts of Slovene territory. Supply of the French troops and steep war dues were a huge burden for the population of the occupied territories. The foundation of the provincial brigades in June 1808 and extensive preparations for the new war did not stop Napoleon's
Grande Armée, which completely defeated the
Austrian troops at the
Battle of Wagram on July 6, 1809.
After the Austrian defeat, the Illyrian Provinces were created by the
Treaty of Schönbrunn on 14 October 1809, when the Austrian Empire ceded the territories of western ("Upper")
Carinthia with
Lienz in the
East Tyrol,
Carniola,
Gorizia and Gradisca, the
Imperial Free City of Trieste, the
March of Istria
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. Its length is 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of March. The March equinox on the 20 or 21 ...
, and the
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
n lands southwest of the river
Sava
The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...
to the
French Empire. These territories lying north and east of the
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
were amalgamated with the
former Venetian territories of
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
and
Istria
Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; ; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian: ; ; ) is the largest peninsula within the Adriatic Sea. Located at th ...
, annexed by Austria in the 1797
Treaty of Campo Formio, and the former
Republic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa, or the Republic of Dubrovnik, was an maritime republics, aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (''Ragusa'' in Italian and Latin; ''Raguxa'' in Venetian) in South Dalmatia (today in southernmost ...
, which all had just been adjudicated to the Napoleonic
Kingdom of Italy
The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...
in 1805 and 1808, into the Illyrian Provinces, technically part of France.
The
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
imposed a blockade of the Adriatic Sea after the signing of the
Treaty of Tilsit (July 1807), which brought merchant shipping to a standstill, a measure which seriously affected the economy of the Dalmatian port cities. An attempt by joint Franco-Italian force to seize the British-held Dalmatian island of
Vis (Lissa) failed on 22 October 1810.
In August 1813, the Austrian Empire again declared war on France. Austrian troops led by generals
Christoph von Lattermann and
Franz Tomassich invaded the Illyrian Provinces. Lattermann operated in northern parts, while Tomassich invaded Dalmatia. The strategic port of
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...
was taken on 29 October. Croat troops enrolled in the French army switched sides. Zara (now called
Zadar) surrendered to Austrian and British forces after
a 34-day siege on 6 December 1813. In the regions of Dubrovnik and Kotor local insurrections forced the French to retreat into the cities. Insurrection in the
Bay of Kotor region was aided by
Montenegrin forces. Arrival of British naval forces led to the
siege
A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
of Kotor, forcing French garrison to surrender on 3 January 1814. In the region of Dubrovnik, a provisional Ragusan administration was established, hoping for the restoration of the Republic. After the
Siege of Dubrovnik, the French garrison surrendered on 27 January 1814, thus effectively ending French rule in the Illyrian Provinces, while the
Treaty of Paris (30 May 1814) formally reduced French territory to the 1792 borders. The appearance of Austrian forces in the Bay of Kotor region caused the Prince-Bishop of Montenegro to turn over the territory to Austrian administration on 11 June. The British withdrew from the Dalmatian islands as the final part of the handover of these islands to their Austrian allies in July 1815, following the conclusion of the
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...
.
Administration

The capital was established at ''Laybach'', i.e.
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
in modern
Slovenia
Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
. According to Napoleon's Decree on the Organization of Illyria (''Decret sur l'organisation de l'Illyrie''), issued on April 15, 1811, the Central Government of the Illyrian Provinces (''Gouvernement general des provinces d'Illyrie'') in Ljubljana consisted of the governor-general (''gouverneur-général''), the general intendant of finance (''intendant général des finances'') and the commissioner of the judiciary (''commissaire de justice''). With two judges of the Appellate Court in Ljubljana they formed the Minor Council (''Petit conseil'') as the supreme judicial and administrative authority of the Provinces.
Subdivision
The area initially consisted of eleven
departments, though the subdivision was never completely enacted:
In 1811, the Illyrian provinces saw an administrative reorganization, when the country was divided initially in four – Laybach (Ljubljana), Karlstadt (Karlovac), Trieste (Trst), Zara (Zadar) – on 15 April in seven
provinces
A province is an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outside Italy. The term ''provi ...
(''intendances'', similar to French ''départements''). Each province was further subdivided into
districts, and these into
cantons.
A province (''intendancy'') was governed by a provincial intendant, districts were administered by subdelegates (each district capital that was not a province capital had a subdelegation with a subdelegate, similar to French
subprefect) and in cantons
justices of the peace had their seats. Municipalities – with municipal council, mayor and deputy mayors in larger municipalities; or council, municipality president-syndic and deputy president-deputy syndic – were units of local government. All officials and councillors were appointed by the emperor or the governor-general, depending on their relevance and/or size of the subdivision unit in which they served.
List of provinces
List of provinces (''intendances'') and districts:
Two
Chambers of Commerce were established, at Trieste and at Ragusa. The ecclesiastical administration was reorganized in accordance with the new political borders; two
archdioceses were established with seats at
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
and
Zara, with
suffragan diocese
A suffragan diocese is one of the dioceses other than the metropolitan archdiocese that constitute an ecclesiastical province. It exists in some Christian denominations, in particular the Catholic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandr ...
s at
Gorizia
Gorizia (; ; , ; ; ) is a town and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia. It is located at the foot of the Julian Alps, bordering Slovenia. It is the capital of the Province of Gorizia, Region ...
,
Capodistria,
Sebenico,
Spalato and
Ragusa (1811).
Governors-general
The French administration, headed by a governor-general, introduced
civil law (the Napoleonic ''
Code civil'') across the provinces. The seat of the governor-general was at Laybach. The governors-general were:
*
Auguste de Marmont (8 October 1809 – January 1811)
*
Henri Gatien Bertrand (9 April 1811 – 21 February 1813)
*
Jean-Andoche Junot (21 February 1813 – July 1813)
*
Joseph Fouché (July 1813 – August 1813)
Population
The population (1811) was given at 460,116 for the intendancy of Ljubljana, 381,000 for the intendancy of Karlovac, 357,857 for the intendancy of Trieste and 305,285 for the intendancy of Zara, in total 1,504,258 for all of Illyria. A French decree emancipated the
Jew
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...
s; in effect the decree abolished a
Habsburg regulation which had forbidden Jews to settle within Carniola.
Political arrangements
Despite the fact that not all French laws applied to the territory of the Illyrian Provinces, Illyrian offices were accountable to ministries in Paris and to the Higher Court of Paris. Inhabitants of the Illyrian Provinces had Illyrian nationality. Initially the official languages were French, Italian and German, but in 1811 Croatian and Slovenian were further added, the latter becoming official for the first time in history.
Among the main changes the French empire brought were the overhaul of administration, the changing of the schooling system – creating universities and making Slovene a learning language – and the usage of the
Napoleonic Code
The Napoleonic Code (), officially the Civil Code of the French (; simply referred to as ), is the French civil code established during the French Consulate in 1804 and still in force in France, although heavily and frequently amended since i ...
and the
Penal Code
A criminal code or penal code is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of, a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain Crime, offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that ...
.
Although the French did not entirely abolish the
feudal system
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structuring socie ...
, their rule familiarized in more detail the inhabitants of the Illyrian Provinces with the achievements of the
French Revolution and with contemporary
bourgeois society. They introduced equality before the law,
compulsory military service and a uniform tax system, and also abolished certain tax privileges, introduced modern administration, separated powers between the state and the church (the introduction of the
civil wedding, keeping civil registration of births etc.), and nationalized the judiciary. The occupants made all the citizens theoretically equal under the law for the first time.
The French also founded a university () in 1810 (which was disbanded in 1813, when Austria regained control, but whose Basic Decree of 4 July 1810, which ordered the reorganization of the former Austrian lycees in Ljubljana and Zara into , is now considered the charter of the University of Ljubljana). They established the first
botanic garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...
at the city's edge, redesigned the streets and made vaccination of children obligatory. At Karlovac, the headquarters of the Croatian military, a special French-language military school was established in 1811.
The linguist
Jernej Kopitar and the poet
Valentin Vodnik succeeded in instructing the authorities at that time that the language of the inhabitants living in the present-day Slovenian part of the Illyrian Provinces was actually
Slovene.
Although at the time of the Illyrian Provinces the
educational reform did not come to life to its fullest ability, it was nevertheless of considerable social significance. The plan for reorganisation of the school system provided for education in elementary and secondary schools in Slovene in Slovenian areas. There were 25
gymnasia in the Illyrian provinces.
Proclamations were published in the provinces' official newspaper, the ''Official Telegraph of the Illyrian Provinces'' (). The newspaper was established by Marmont. In 1813, the French author
Charles Nodier worked in Ljubljana as the last editor of the journal, significantly renovated it, and published it in French, Italian, and German.
The "French gift" of letting Slovene be used at school was one of the most important reforms
and it won the sympathy of members of the so-called "Slovene National Awakening Movement". Marmont's school reform introduced, in the fall of 1810, a uniform four-year primary school and an extended network of lower and upper gymnasiums and crafts schools.
Valentin Vodnik, author of the poem "Illyria Arise", wrote numerous school books for primary schools and lower gymnasiums; since textbooks (and teachers) were scarce, these books made the realization of the idea of Slovene as a teaching language possible.
Legacy
Although French rule in the Illyrian Provinces was short-lived and did not enjoy great popular support, it significantly contributed to greater national self-confidence and awareness of freedoms, especially in the Slovene lands. The opinion of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
's rule and the Illyrian Provinces changed significantly at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, when liberal Croatian and Slovene intellectuals began to praise the French for liberation from Austrian rule.
It could also be established today that the short period of the Illyrian Provinces marked the beginning of an enhanced awareness of the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity.
The
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...
confirmed Austria in the possession of the former Illyrian Provinces. In 1816 they were reconstituted without Dalmatia and Croatia, yet now with all of Carinthia, as a
Kingdom of Illyria, which was formally abolished only in 1849, even though the civil administration of the Croatian districts had already been placed under Hungarian administration in 1822.
The memory of the French and of the
Emperor Napoleon is embedded in Croatian and Slovene traditions, in their folk art and folk songs. The presence of the French on Croatian and Slovene territories reflects also in the surnames and house names of French origin, in frescoes, and other paintings depicting French soldiers as well as in rich immovable cultural heritage (roads, bridges, fountains).
In 1929, a national ceremony was held in
Ljubljana
{{Infobox settlement
, name = Ljubljana
, official_name =
, settlement_type = Capital city
, image_skyline = {{multiple image
, border = infobox
, perrow = 1/2/2/1
, total_widt ...
during which a monument was erected to Napoleon and Illyria at French Revolution Square. It was filmed by
Janko Ravnik.
One of the central streets in
Split city centre is named after Marshal
Marmont, in appreciation of his enlightened rule in
Dalmatia
Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...
.
See also
*
List of French possessions and colonies
From the 16th to the 17th centuries, the First French colonial empire existed mainly in the Americas and Asia. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the second French colonial empire existed mainly in Africa and Asia. France had about 80 colonie ...
*
Republican French rule in the Ionian Islands
*
Septinsular Republic
*
Imperial French rule in the Ionian Islands
*
Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy
Notes
References
Bibliography
*Bradshaw, Mary Eloise (1928). ''The Napoleonic Influence on the Illyrian Provinces''. University of Wisconsin—Madison Press.
OCLC
OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...
: 54803367
*Bradshaw, Mary Eloise (1932). ''The Illyrian Provinces''. University of Wisconsin—Madison Press.
OCLC
OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...
: 49491990
*
*
External links
*
{{Authority control
First French Empire
Modern history of the Balkans
History of Dalmatia
19th century in Croatia
19th century in Montenegro
Austrian Empire
19th century in Italy
States and territories established in 1809
1809 establishments in Europe
1816 disestablishments in Europe
Former states and territories in Slovenia