Josephine Bonaparte
Jun 6th, 2001 | 04:20 PM
#3
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There is a link to SS Peter and Paul Church in Rueil-Malmaison, where Josephine is buried, at: <BR>http://www.napoleon.org/us/us_ci/gui...ail.asp?num=57 <BR>Apparently she died of natural causes, following a severe throat infection, suspected of being cancer. She was already weak from heavy demands made on her by constant entertaining of guests at Malmaison during Napoleon's exile on Elba.
Jun 6th, 2001 | 04:33 PM
#4
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Jane, <BR>Thanks for being an equal-opportunity history person! <BR> <BR>Josephine spent some wonderful but lonely days of her life at Malmaison, her French home. (It's part of the name of the town "Rueil-Malmaison", as well as the name of the home she lived in & the surrounding grounds.) It was happy for her in some ways because she was surrounded by roses there, which she cultivated. It was sad because she was often alone & missed Napolean, despite their divorce. (Her name was the last word he is alleged to have uttered.) Her real first name was Rose, in fact; Josephine was a name Napolean gave to her. "Malmaison" was thus named because many years prior to its inhabitation by townsfolk, it had served as a leper colony. <BR> <BR>The whole history of the relationship between "The Emperor" & "Empress" is pretty interesting. She'd been married prior to the marriage to Napolean & her first husband was executed during the reign of terror. She was older than Napolean by several years, but both lied about their ages (he made himself older, she younger) on their civil marriage papers. They cheated on each other fairly extensively during their union. Napolean felt a certain kindred spirit in Josephine from the beginning, as both were born on islands--she on Martinique, he on Corsica. Members of his family actively despised her & referred to her as "The Creole". <BR> <BR>Even more than a century later, they're still regarded as one of the most famous "love stories" of all time. <BR>Best Wishes, <BR>Kathy
Jun 6th, 2001 | 04:50 PM
#6
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Oui, <BR>She did cheat on him & one of her love letters to a lover was published in a British newspaper. <BR> <BR>But he did impregnate not one but 2 women prior to their divorce. <BR> <BR>She stayed because he loved her, yes, he could have had her exiled or killed. <BR> <BR>N'accusez pas, svp. <BR> <BR>Another from the Islands <BR>
Jun 6th, 2001 | 05:06 PM
#7
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As Kathy says, even after their divorce (because of Josephin'e inability to produce an heir), they remained in love. Although Napoleon later married Marie Louise, he claimed to have loved only Josephine in all his life. Josephine's two children from her marriage to Vicomte Alexandre Beauharnais were Eugene and Hortense, and Hortense married Napoleon's brother, Louis Bonaparte, and became the mother of the future Napoleon III. So Josephine was instrumental in the development of post-Napoleonic political history both in France and in Europe. Queen Hortense is also buried in the same church.
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Jun 7th, 2001 | 05:56 AM
#11
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Josephine : A Life of the Empress <BR>by Carolly Erickson <BR>St Martins Press; ISBN: 0312200013 <BR> <BR>As for her childhood, not much seems to be known. She was born on the island of Martinique of a local landowner, but her family's fortune was sufficiently bad for her to be sent to France in her teens for a marriage of convenience to a distant relative to salvage the estate. I think her childhood home at Trois-Ilets still survives. <BR>
Jun 7th, 2001 | 08:59 AM
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I read a wonderful biography called <BR>Napoleon and Josephine... what focused quite a lot on Josephine... I shall have to go home and get the author and publisher, but this was only a year or two ago.. and yes Josephine was born on Martineque..Napoleon's family detested her and called her "that dirty creol" (no slur on my part intended for creols) for the entire span of their marriage.
