Introduction

Abstract

This essay introduces the collection of papers by sketching the events of the Hundred Days and making the case for legitimation being the central feature of the period as well as the central problem for those involved in the conflict. It argues that a wide range of literary, social, and cultural events and artefacts become salient in registering, but also in sustaining, Napoleon’s legitimacy and that of other Great Powers. It also sets out the case that these various cultural dimensions should be seen as essential components of the fragile legitimacy of states, rather than simply epiphenomenal to the military dimensions of the period.