Huwelijk Napoleon en Josephine de Beauharnais.

Napoleon Bonaparte en Joséphine de Beauharnais trouwden op 09-03-1796 in het geheim. Het huwelijk werd gesloten door de Franse Kardinaal Fesch. Joséphine kocht het buiten Malmaison waar de echtelieden zich konden terug trekken na drukke dagen van arbeid. Ook woonden zij in de Tuilerieen. Hun leven kwam in een stroomversnelling terecht en op 02-12-1804 werd Joséphine door Napoleon tot Keizerin van Frankrijk gekroond. De Keizer trok gewoon de kroon uit de handen van de Paus en kroonde eerst zichzelf tot Keizer aller Fransen en daarna drukte hij de kroon stevig op het hoofd van zijn echtgenote. Daarmee aangevende dat hij en niet de aanwezige Paus Pius VII deze ceremonie uitvoerde. Napoleon en Joséphine waren korte tijd Koning en Koningin van Holland. Zij kregen echter geen kinderen. Wel kreeg de Keizer in 1806 een buitenechtelijk kind Charles Léon Denuelle genaam maar deze kon de Franse troon niet bestijgen. Daardoor ontstond er een onverkwikkelijke situatie die meer voorkomt bij Edelen in het algemeen. Geen opvolger dan krijg je gegarandeerd problemen. Ook dat was Keizer Napoleon zich terdege bewust. Een oplossing lag voor de hand en dat was een echtscheiding. Zoals naar Corsicaanse gewoonte gebruikelijk, riep Napoleon de familieraad bijeen om hierover een besluit te nemen. Op 15-12-1809 besloot deze Raad de scheiding tussen de Keizer en Joséphine goed te keuren. De Franse Senaat bekrachtigde dit en Joséphine mocht de titel Keizerin blijven voeren. Zij trok zich terug op het buiten Malmaison. Een goed huwelijk was ten koste van het Staatsbelang uit elkaar gehaald. Haar twee kinderen uit het huwelijk met de Generaal de Beauharnais hadden veel te lijden onder de scheiding. Vooral haar zoon Eugène trok zich dat erg aan. Toch wist hij het midden te houden tussen de liefde voor zijn moeder en de dankbaarheid jegens zijn stiefvader, de Keizer. Eugène viel niet in ongename en werd door Napoleon benoemd tot troonopvolger van Karl Theodoor von Dalberg, Groothertog van Frankfurt.

Napoleon.

gutenberg/ Napoleon 

7 things you (probably) didn’t know about the Napoleonic Wars

 

1) The young Napoleon showed little promise

2) The royal navy attacked a city

3) All sides understood the ‘propaganda war

4) The best way to defeat Spain was to invade Argentina

5) Nobody expected the Spanish Inquisition to end

6) The showdown at Waterloo was delayed due to rain

7) Waterloo was not the final battle against France

Read all: historyextra

Note boasts rare signatures of naNapoleon, Josephine

Full signatures from a pair of notorious lovebirds — Napoleon and Josephine — lend an otherwise routine 19th-century French marriage contract a rare prestige among other love notes on display at a high-end jewelry and antique showcase in Florida.

Just weeks after the French Senate declared him emperor, Napoleon and Josephine de Beauharnais were witnesses to the wedding of General Pierre-Augustin Hulin, who took part in the storming of the Bastille, sparking the French Revolution.

The document also is one of the first Napoleon signed with his full name, just as a monarch might today, instead of simply writing "Bonaparte" as he had before, Lowenherz said.
Read all: mysanantonio.

Viewing Original Napoleon Manuscript

Among those documents are four pages of prose young Napoleon Bonaparte drafted in 1795. These precious pages, written in Napoleon’s hand, are not on display in any museum. Read more:mrodenberg/viewing-original-napoleon-manuscript

Death of Napoleon 5 may 1821

Napoleon Bonaparte, revolutionary general and Emperor of the French, died on May 5, 1821, after a six-year exile on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena.

An autopsy conducted after the death of Napoleon Bonaparte stated that he had died of stomach cancer. But advanced studies conducted in 1961 found some evidence of arsenic in the ruler’s hair. Soon the rumors of poisoning ran rife. British on their part had many motives to kill Napoleon too. But recently conducted medical investigations over the death of Napoleon confirmed that the Emperor had indeed died of natural causes.

Napoleon lived in this residence on St. Helena from 1816 to 1821. (Photo by John Ekwall)

Read more: what-were-the-true-causes-of-napoleons-death

napoleonicsociety/DeathAndTheEmperor

First-Hand Descriptions of Napoleon

First-Hand Descriptions of Napoleon

By Tom Holmberg

Napoleon was 5 feet 6½ inches tall, average height at the time. In his early years he was quite lean and only after 1806 did he become heavy. In his younger years he was often described as sickly in appearance, his skin having a yellowish pallor. He had fine white teeth, which he was proud. His nose was slightly curved, with a "sharp and delicate modelling, [but] was less prominent than one is inclined to suppose from the evidence of his portraits." His eyes, deep-set, were reportedly gray or gray-blue. 

Chateaubriand described him, during the Consulate: "His face made a favourable impression on me, for up to now I had seen him only in the distance. His smile is friendly and winning, his eyes wonderful, especially in the way they are set deep under his forehead and overshadowed by his eyebrows. There is nothing of the charlatan in his appearance, nothing theatrical or artificial....An extraordinary imagination animated this cold politician; lacking the inspiration of this Muse, he could never have attained such heights."

Mary Berry also saw Napoleon in 1802, stating that his 'mouth, when speaking...has a remarkable and uncommon expression of sweetness. His eyes are light grey, and he looks full in the face of the person to whom he speaks. To me always a good sign.'

charles-von-steuben-napoleons-hats

In the same year, an Englishwoman, Fanny Burney, described his face being 'of a deeply impressive cast, pale even to sallowness, while not only in the eye but in every feature-care, thought, melancholy and meditation are so strongly marked, with so much of character, nay, genius, and so penetrating a seriousness, or rather sadness, as powerfully to sink into an observer's mind.' She also described his demeanor as 'more the air of a student than a warrior.' 

Read all: napoleon-series.org/research/napoleon/c_description

The Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars brought great changes both to Europe and the Americas. Napoleon had succeeded in bringing most of Western Europe under one rule—a feat that had not been accomplished since the days of the Roman Empire (although Charlemagne had nearly done so around 800 CE). 

In most European countries, subjugation in the French Empire bought with it many products of the French Revolution including democracy, due process in courts, abolition of privileges, etc. The increasing prosperity of the middle classes with rising commerce and industry meant that restored European monarchs found it difficult to restore pre-revolutionary absolutism, and had to retain many of the reforms enacted during Napoleon's rule. Institutional legacies remain to this day in the form of civil-law legal systems, with clearly redacted codes compiling their basic laws—an enduring legacy of the Napoleonic Code.

The Napoleonic Code in the Historisches Museum der Pfalz in Speyer.

During the wake of the Napoleonic period, nationalism, a relatively new movement, became increasingly significant. This would shape much of the course future European history. Its growth spelled the beginning of some states and the end of others, as the map of Europe changed dramatically in the hundred years following the Napoleonic Era. Rule by fiefdoms and aristocracy was widely replaced by national ideologies based on shared origins and culture. Importantly, Bonaparte's reign over Europe sowed the seeds for the founding of the nation-states of Germany and Italy by starting the process of consolidating city-states, kingdoms and principalities.

The Napoleonic wars also played a key role in the independence of the American colonies from their European motherlands. The conflict significantly weakened the authority and military power of the Spanish Empire, especially after the Battle of Trafalgar, which seriously hampered the contact of Spain with its American possessions. Evidence of this are the many uprisings in Spanish America after the end of the war, which eventually led to the wars of independence. In Portuguese America, Brazil experienced greater autonomy as it now served as seat of the Portuguese Empire and ascended politically to the status of Kingdom. These events also contributed to the Portuguese Liberal Revolution in 1820 and the Independence of Brazil in 1822.

After the war, in order to prevent another such war, Europe was divided into states according to the balance of power theory. This meant that, in theory, no European state would become strong enough to dominate Europe in the future.

Another concept emerged – that of a unified Europe. After his defeat, Napoleon deplored the fact that his dream of a free and peaceful "European association" remained unaccomplished. Such a European association would share the same principles of government, system of measurement, currency and Civil Code. Some one-and-a-half centuries later, and after another major conflagration (the Second World War), several of these ideals re-emerged in the form of the European Union.

Finding Napoleon

 I found an interesting blog

 mrodenberg/ Finding Napoleon

This website follows my adventures and thoughts as I write a novel told from Napoleon’s point of view.In 2011, research took me to Paris (of course!), Corsica (Napoleon’s birth place), and St Helena (an island—still without an airport—in the middle of the south Atlantic Ocean where Napoleon died in exile). Now, in 2012, I'm completing my manuscript and hope to have it presented to publishers before the year is over. Come along on the adventure and add your opinions to my blog.

Divorse Napoleon and Josephine.

 

Divorce Statement of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and Empress Josephine 9th January 1810 eu.art

Joséphine is now in her forties, she is as graceful as ever, but she has given up hopes of presenting her husband with the heir he so wants to ensure the continuity of the Empire. Her daughter Hortense has – very reluctantly – married Louis Bonaparte, Napoléon’s brother. The new Emperor is giving serious thought to the adoption of the couple’s eldest son, who is both his nephew and Joséphine’s grandson (gossip even has it that Napoléon, not Louis, is in fact the father, but this has never been proven). In any case this plan collapses, along with Joséphine’s hopes, when the child suddenly dies at the age of seven. By then Napoléon no longer shares his wife’s bed, and he resolves at last on a divorce. The Senate decree that effects it is but a formality, and the religious marriage, contrary to Joséphine’s expectations, turns out to be no hurdle. An annulment, of dubious validity under Canon law, is granted by the diocesan tribunal of Paris in a matter of weeks. 

Joséphine retires with sadness and dignity to her country house of Malmaison. She follows from afar the arrival of the new Empress, Marie-Louise of Austria, the birth one year later of Napoléon’s long awaited heir blog.catherinedelors.com/josephine-and-bonaparte-a-romance/

 

Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I - detail Napoleons brothers and sisters - 1805-1807 David, Jacques-Louis

Consecration of the Emperor Napoleon I - detail Napoleons brothers and sisters - 1805-1807

David Jacques-Louis

Napoléon, invité du Chorus du 5 au 15 avril

Les visiteurs pourront partir à la découverte de cette figure de l'histoire de France. 450 pièces et gravures seront présentées.

« En partenariat avec la société Horus France, nous présenterons plus de 450 pièces et gravures, pour bon nombre originales. Toutes seront commentées. La mise en scène sera chronologique. » Cette exposition n'a encore jamais été montrée en France. « La première aura donc lieu au parc Chorus. C'est une énorme satisfaction pour nous », se réjouit Josiane Périon.

het Napoleonjaar 2011

Den Helder – Ter gelegenheid van het Napoleonjaar wordt in 2011 zes keer het tijdschrift “Napoleon in Nederland 1811-201” uitgegeven. Dit magazine staat geheel in het teken van het bezoek van Napoleon aan ons land. Vrijdag vindt de presentatie plaats van de tweede editie, die over het bezoek aan Den Helder en Texel gaat.

In 1811 bezocht keizer Napoleon tussen 24 september en 31 oktober zijn nieuwe onderdanen op voorheen Hollands, sinds 1810 Frans grondgebied. Voor Den Helder, door Napoleon ‘Gibraltar van het noorden’ genoemd en Texel, had Napoleon grootse plannen. Die gingen niet door, vanwege zijn ondergang bij Waterloo.

Napoleon in Nederland 1811-2011 is een combinatie van een historisch tijdschrift en een reisgids. In elk nummer is een kaart opgenomen met de plekken die nog steeds herinneren aan Napoleons aanwezigheid en de moeite waard zijn om te bezoeken.

Op vrijdag 25 maart om 17.00 uur ’s middags wordt het tweede tijdschrift gepresenteerd in Nogal Wiedus aan de Zeeweg 6. Tijdens een borrel, onder de klanken van een Franse accordeonist, wordt “Napoleon in Nederland 1811-2011 # 2” in ontvangst genomen door de organisatoren van “Den Helder 200 jaar na Napoleon”.

Napoleon in Nederland 1811-2011 is een uitgave van Stichting ThemaTijdschriften. Stichting ThemaTijdschriften heeft een samenwerking gerealiseerd met het Nationaal Historisch Museum. Napoleon in Nederland 1811-2011 wordt onderdeel van de Maand van de Geschiedenis in 2011 en zal daarin prominent naar voren komen.

Soldatenbrief, 1813

Vanaf 1795 tot 1814 was het gebied dat later Limburg zou gaan heten, bij Frankrijk ingelijfd. Het noorden hiervan maakte deel uit van het Departement van de Roer, het zuiden van het Departement van de Nedermaas. In 1798 werd in Frankrijk de Dienstplichtwet ingevoerd en ook de jongens uit onze streek werden verplicht dienst te nemen bij het Franse leger. Een van hen, Matthias Banens, schreef deze enigszins onbeholpen brief in de winter van 1813, vlak voor zijn vertrek naar Rusland, vanuit de Ecole Militaire in Parijs aan zijn oom en tante in Maastricht. Het briefhoofd in kleur stelt een soldaat van de keizerlijke garde voor. Daarnaast in medaillon de portretten van keizer Napoleon Bonaparte en zijn echtgenote Joséphine de Beauharnais.

Bed, boudoir, bath

The bathroom of Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte in Versailles.

The breakfast room of Emperor Napoleon I Bonaparte and Empress Marie-Louise in the Trianon in Versailles. The table is laid with the Empire style Tea-set "Vieux-Paris", property of the Emperor. One of his hats on the couch in the background.

Bedroom of Marie-Louise, seond wife of Napoleon I. Furniture by Jacob Desmalter; 1809

Bedroom of Queen Hortense, daughter of Josephine Beauharnais. Hortense married Louis, King of Holland, Napoleon's brother. She is the mother of Emperor Napoleon III. Furniture (1805/06) by the brothers Jacob.

Boudoir of Empress Marie-Louise, second wife of Napoleon I Bonaparte (1808)

Trees in Paris

Within France between 1804 and 1813 Napoleon spent 277 million on roads, and to ensure that they were protected from the sun, in 1811 he initiated a law declaring that all roads "not planted with trees and capable of being, shall be palnted." More than any other royal decree or royal palace this simple law was to change the look of France. - Vincent Cronin

Josephine and Napoleon

A saying goes, "Love is a many splendid thing. Love lifts us up where we belong." Love can make even the toughest and hardest of hearts mellow, it can turn the wisest into simple fools and emperors to mere imploring souls.

Napoleon Bonaparte, we all know him as the great Emperor of France. Now, a man of such decree we don't imagine to be a compassionate, romantic soul. But it seems otherwise for he had been a true, passionate lover to a hazel eyed beauty named Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie.

Marie Josèphe was born on June 23, 1763 to a white Creole family who owned a sugar plantation. Although the family was once rich, by the time she was born, they were not as prosperous, since a hurricane destroyed their estate in 1766. So, Marie Josèphe was not brought up to meet the standards of the high society of France. But she is lucky and was married to aristocracy - Alexander de Beauharnais. She bears two children with Alexander - Eugène (1781) and Hortense (1783).

Marie Josèphe is a fast learner. Although the financial status of her family did not permit her to indulge in mingling with socialites, she learns fast and few years later she becomes one of France's most popular social-butterflies fondly known as Rose. Also, with that comes her habit of spending beyond her means.

Her plentiful life soon comes to an end as she and her husband both get arrested during the French revolution. Alexander was executed on July 23, 1794 and she too expects the same fate on herself. But her fate would not have it that way and in July Maximilien Robespierre and his supporters were arrested and executed. Thus The Terror was over and Josephine was released on August 6, 1794, after almost four months in prison.

Meeting Napoleon

The tale of Josephine and Napoleon's encounter bears many versions. But in all, one character remains mutual - France's leading political figure Paul Barras. Following her return from Prison and reuniting with her children, Paul was one of Josephine's closest friends. But some versions of this story claim that she was his mistress. One thing remains certain - it was Paul Barras that was responsible for the meeting between Napoleon and Marie Josèphe.

During the time of their meeting, Napoleon was on the lookout for a suitable woman for marriage. With his high position of authority at a very young age, he found himself in a situation where the generals and almost all other officers he commanded were older than him. Therefore he had concluded that if he married an older, rich woman, he could claim to be older than he actually was and thereby earn more respect from his officers. Barras who was aware of Napoleon's intentions had made provisions for both to meet at a party. (Some texts claim that he arranged for them to meet as Barras wished to get rid of Marie Josèphe as he had found a new mistress.)

Another popular version, which many historians claim is also less likely is the following. According to Marie Josèphe's daughter, Hortense;s journals - Memoirs of Queen Hortense (2v), published in 1927:

"Following the riots on the 13th Vendémiaire a law was passed forbidding any private citizen to have weapons in his house. My brother, unable to bear the thought of surrendering the sword that had belonged to his father, hurried off to see General Bonaparte, who at that time was in command of the troops stationed in Paris. He told the General he would kill himself rather than give up the sword. The General, touched by his emotion, granted his request and at the same time asked the name of his mother, saying he would be glad to meet a woman who could inspire her son with such ideals…"

In spite of how they met, one thing was for certain. At their first meeting itself, Josephine managed to captivate this great emperor with her charm. He was head over heels in love with her; it was it was love at first sight! Refusing to call her Rose, he names her Josephine and from then on, she was known among everyone as Josephine. The Emperor begins to pursue this beauty and it is evident through many letters which he had written to her. One really famous example, appears to follow an amusing evening,

December 29, 1975 - Paris

"I awake full of you. Your image and last evening's intoxication have left my senses no repose whatever.

Sweet and incomparable Josephine, what a strange effect do you produce upon my heart! Are you vexed? Do I see you sad? Are you troubled? . . . My soul is crushed with grief, and there is no repose for your lover; but is there any the more when, abandoning myself to the profound emotion which masters me, I draw from your lips, from your heart, a flame which consumes me? Ah! It was last night I really understood that your portrait was not you!

You are leaving at noon; I shall see you in three hours. Meanwhile, mio dolce amor, a thousand kisses; but do not give me any, for they burn my blood…"

mourning ring

LONDON.- Sir John Soane’s Museum in London and independent charity The Art Fund today announce the return of a lost treasure to the Museum – a gold mourning ring containing a lock of Napoleon’s hair, one of Sir John Soane’s prized possessions. This acquisition is a triumph for the Museum, which was unable to acquire the ring at auction earlier this year. The mourning ring originally belonged to Sir John Soane, celebrated architect and founder of the eponymous Museum, founded in 1833. It was one of his most treasured private possessions, but was not left to his Museum, featuring on his will among other items to be kept “as heir looms in my family”. However, it eventually passed out of the family’s ownership and was deemed ‘lost’. This autumn, thanks to a £30,000 grant from The Art Fund and support from Soane enthusiasts, the museum reclaimed this lost treasure for a total of £41,000 and returned it to its original home.

The ring first went on sale at Christie’s in June this year - marking the first time the Museum had had news of its whereabouts since Soane’s death in 1837. One of only two pieces of jewelery specifically bequeathed to Sir John Soane’s family, the ring was recognized as a significant, personal, item to be returned to Sir John’s extraordinary collection.

On the day of the June sale, the Museum was the under-bidder. Frustration turned to delight, however, when the buyer learned of the Museum’s interest and felt that the ring should return to its original home. With the generous support of The Art Fund and private donors, The Soane was finally able to purchase the ring as it had hoped, enabling the Museum to enhance its presentation of another aspect of Sir John’s complex and enthusiastic personality.

Tim Knox, Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum said: “Soane had a horrible fascination with Napoleon and this ring, with its plait of the vanquished Emperor’s hair, was the ultimate trophy. We are thrilled to get it back to its old home.”

Like many fashionable, literary and aristocratic people of his time, Soane was fascinated by Napoleon. The lock of hair contained in the ring was presented to Sir John by Elizabeth (Betsy) Balcombe who was the daughter of an official on St Helena where Napoleon was imprisoned. As a child, Betsy became a favorite of the Emperor and she later wrote memoirs of their friendship.

Sir John Soane’s Museum Archive contains the following brief letter of presentation from Miss Balcombe: “Knowing how much Mr. Soane esteems the reliques of great men Miss E. Balcombe presents him with a lock of Bonaparte’s hair received by her from the hands of that great Personage.” Soane must have commissioned the ring to contain this ‘relique’.

Hallmarked London 1822, the year after Napoleon’s death on St Helena , the ring contains a lock of plaited brown hair. A French inscription on the inside reads (in English): “This lock of hair of Napoleon Buonaparte was presented to John Soane Esquire by Miss Elizabeth Balcombe.” It also includes the words Prier Pour Moi (pray for me). The French inscription is something Soane might well have chosen, particularly in the context of Napoleon, as he had a passion for all things French.

The creation of a commemorative mourning ring adds an additional dimension to Soane’s fascination with the Emperor, something clearly expressed in a number of places in his museum, but in particular in an arrangement of items on the south wall of the Breakfast Room displaying two contrasting portraits of Napoleon – one as a young and idealistic soldier, the other as the bloated Emperor on the eve of his downfall.

Ingres

Ingres painted this portrait two years before Napoleon I was on His Imperial Throne. After Bonaparte and his wife, Josephine de Beauharnais, toured the northern departments of France in 1803, it was decided that portraits of the First Consul should be sent to five towns in the region to remind citizens of their loyalty to the new regime. Five artists-the young Ingres, Marie-Guilhemine Benoist, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, Robert Lefèvre, and Charles Meynier-ultimately received commissions from the minister of the interior to paint full-length portraits of Bonaparte. Ingres's painting, destined for Liège, in present-day Belgium, shows the First Consul pointing to an August 1803 decree that designated 300,000 francs for the reconstruction of that city, which had been partially destroyed by Austrian troops nine years earlier. As with the imperial portrait, it is unlikely that Bonaparte posed for Ingres.

 

Bonaparte as First Consul

Napoleon I on His Imperial Throne

 

1809 Lettre Josephine a Napoleon