The Emperor

A fascinating new phenomenon is taking shape in France. Not for the first time, it is a trend that is long-established in the US and Britain but which is only now finding an outlet over here. It is the growth of what might be called "black history" -- the past as seen through the eyes of Africans and other victims of colonialism. Or should that be "victims of colonialism"?

Till recently this kind of "communautarisme" -- community-based identity -- was taboo in France, where the dogma of equality for all imposed a unified vision of the world. There are no black studies departments in French universities, for example. But times are changing. There is a new restlessness among black French people -- many from the Caribbean territories -- who feel their specific experience of France's imperial glory has been written out of the books.

The symbolic coming-of-age of this movement was the recent publication of a book called "Napoleon's crime." In it Claude Ribbe seeks to establish that the emperor was a racist dictator, who was not just disdainful of blacks but actively connived in their elimination. He even instituted the first gas-chambers, Ribbe argues, which were used to kill black slaves in the holds of ships.

Many Napoleon experts have pooh-poohed his findings as inflammatory and exaggerated. But they have touched a nerve. And the media furore has been further inflated by a row over a ludicrous new law passed by parliament in February.

The law as a whole is innocuous enough -- bearing principally on measures to help French citizens who had to flee Algeria in 1962. But one obscure clause added in an amendment by a private member -- and overlooked by practically everyone at the time -- is breathtaking in its idiocy. It states that "school programmes should recognise in particular the positive role of France's presence overseas."

As every historian of note has said, arguments over the good or bad sides of colonialism are perfectly legitimate. It is perfectly fair to make the case that France brought new standards of medicine and health care to north Africa. But that this version of the past should be enshrined -- however obliquely -- in law is of course another matter entirely.

The row has only fuelled the determination of, and support for, the "black history" school of academics --which is presumably the last thing the sponsors of the law ever wanted.

The chateau at Aubigny

Hands up who has heard of Aubigny-sur-Nere. As I thought, absolutely no-one. Which is good news for visitors to this blog, because you will be among the first to discover a lost historical jewel. Aubigny is in a forgotten corner of central France and its claim to fame is simple: for 250 years it belonged to the Scots. In 1419 the future King Charles VII -- at that time still a beleaguered dauphin -- invoked France's century-old alliance with Scotland to help kick out the English. John Stuart of Darnley, cousin of the Scottish king, arrived with several thousand men at La Rochelle and in 1421 scored a signal victory over the Duke of Clarence at the battle of Bauge. He led the French army for eight more years before dying outside Orleans. Joan of Arc then picked up the baton. To reward him for his services, Charles gave John Stuart the fiefdom of Aubigny, which stayed in the Stuart family till the end of the 17th century. And the story doesn't end there because at this point King Charles II, himself a Stuart via his grandfather King James, claims Aubigny for his own. Louis XIV demurs but instead grants it to Charles's mistress, the courtesan Louise de Keroualle. She had been sent over by the Sun King to seduce Charles and was the conduit for French funds secretly made over to the English crown to keep it out of France's European wars. Louise was hated by the English but adored by Charles who made her Duchess of Portsmouth, and their illegitimate children started the line of Dukes of Richmond and Lennox. There is an Irish connection here because a century later the aristocratic patriot and rebel Lord Edward Fitzgerald spent part of his childhood at Aubigny. He was later executed by the Brits after the failure of the 1798 uprising. Princess Diana was also a descendant of Louise de Keroualle. There. Dpon't say you don't learn anything new when you visit the Champs-Elysees website.
What is left of the Scottish connection in Aubigny is not a great deal, it must be admitted. The museum is a joke (tailors' dummies in mediaeval dress and a CD recording of the local "ghost" retelling the story). But it is a lovely spot for all that. The 16th century castle is now the town hall, and Louise de Keroualle's gardens extend to one side. The mayor Yves Fromion has sensibly realised that the Scottish connection -- long forgotten -- can put the town back on the map. It is twinned with Haddington and its July 14 festivities every year are now billed as the Fetes Franco-Ecossaises. Haggis was on the menu for the open-air banquet last week and I am pleased to say that -- President Chirac's recent remarks notwithstanding -- locals were actually enjoying it.