Volume 5
While volume three does not contain any more information on J. B. Adrien Durand’s timeline, the whole manuscript is a collection of translated Martial’s Epigrams, the Poesies Lyriques, penned in volume five, consolidates Adrien Durand’s captivity, release, Italian movements, and later poetic activity into a single clarified chronology. It integrates evidence drawn from his manuscripts (Amusemens littéraires), dated poems, and contextual military events, resolving earlier ambiguities caused by retrospective copying and thematic rather than chronological arrangement.
Captivity and the conditions of writing
1794 Durand is taken prisoner by Austrian forces and transferred to Hungary.
1794–1797 He remains imprisoned in Hungary for approximately three years. During this period he composes verse, reflections, letters and documentary notes. The letters are particularly important as some original letters received by Durand are loosely inserted in the manuscript as well as copied into the manuscript. It confirms the faithful discipline of the copyist when transcribing the original materials used to produce the present manuscript. Several texts later copied into bound volumes originate here, although the manuscript books themselves were assembled decades later.
Transition from captivity to the Italian theater
Early spring 1797 While still in Hungary, Durand receives news of an impending exchange of prisoners (la nouvelle de l’échange). His writings from this moment mark a psychological shift from endurance to expectation.
18 April 1797 [the manuscript incorrectly gives April 18, 1798] Durand is present at the French camp at Leoben, participating in celebrations following the preliminaries of peace between France and Austria. This date anchors his liberation and return to French military space.
The Italian journey sequence (1797)
Following his release, Durand moves with French forces and administrative columns through northern Italy. His itinerary aligns with the operational geography of the Army of Italy rather than with a continuous combat posting.
Spring 1797 Leoben → Klagenfurt.
Summer 1797 Southward movement into Italy, passing through Castelfranco.
Late summer–autumn 1797 Residence or passage at Verona, during the reorganization of Venetian territories under French control.
3 November 1797 Documented presence in Venice, coinciding exactly with the final phase of French art confiscations and evacuations following the Treaty of Campo Formio.
Late 1797 Westward movement through Marquia Pellegrini and Brescia, concluding the Italian sequence.
Post-captivity reflection and literary consolidation
1797 Durand composes Le Songe, a reflective text synthesizing captivity, release, and moral reckoning. Although written close to the events described, the surviving form is preserved through later copying.
1799 Durand is documented at Caen, indicating reintegration into metropolitan France and a shift toward civilian life.
Later political poetry
1814–1815 Durand writes poems responding to the Bourbon Restoration, demonstrating political adaptability and continued engagement with public events.
4 April 1831 He produces celebratory verse honoring Louis-Philippe, marking his final known dated political-poetic intervention.
Clarifying note on manuscript chronology
The manuscript volumes preserving these texts are not contemporaneous notebooks but later compilations. Dates within the texts reflect moments of composition, not moments of copying. This distinction explains apparent chronological inversions within Amusemens littéraires and reinforces the need for an external, event-based timeline such as the one established here.