Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (15 November 1784–24 June 1860) was Emperor Napoleon I's youngest brother, reigning as King of Westphalia from July 8, 1807, to October 26, 1813, under the title Jerome Napoleon I (formal name in German is Hieronymus Napoleon). According to historian Owen Connelly, Jerome was regarded as a close confidant who brought many benefits to Napoleon due to his military, financial, and political triumphs.
He was given the title Prince of Montfort in 1816. After his nephew Louis Napoleon became President of the Second French Republic in 1848, Jerome returned to the political scene, serving as Marshal of France from 1850 and President of the Senate French Institute from 1852. Jerome was Emperor Napoleon's sole sibling and lived to see the founding of the Second French Empire and the restoration of the Bonaparte Royal Family.
Jérôme Bonaparte Early Life
Jerome was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, as the eighth and final child of Carlo Buonaparte and his wife Letizia Ramolino (the fifth son who lived to adulthood). Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte, Lucien Bonaparte, Élisa Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte, Pauline Bonaparte, and Caroline Bonaparte were his siblings.
He attended Juilly Catholic College and Lay College at Irish College in Paris before joining the French Navy and moving to America. Jerome married Elizabeth "Betsy" Patterson (1785–1879), the daughter of a rich shipowner and trader, William Patterson, on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1803, in Baltimore.
His older brother Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of the First French Republic, did not accept his younger brother Jerome and Elizabeth's marriage, so he persuaded Pope Pius VII to annul it; however, the Pope refused, so he unilaterally declared his disapproval (according to a decree of the First French Empire on March 11, 1805, Napoleon was already Emperor).
Jerome was traveling with his wife from America to Europe at the time, and Elizabeth was expecting their first child. They sailed to Portugal, a neutral country, and then to Italy to persuade his brother to acknowledge the marriage. Elizabeth attempted to sail to Amsterdam in the hopes of reaching France by land so that their child might be born on French soil, but Emperor Napoleon refused to allow the ship to enter the harbor. Elizabeth was forced to travel to the United Kingdom, where their first child, Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte (1805–1870), was born.
Because Emperor Napoleon was so persistent, Jerome was forced to grant Elizabeth's divorce request, following which she and her son returned to America. Elizabeth announced her divorce from Jerome through a special decision and act of the Maryland State Assembly in 1815.
Jérôme King of Westphalia
When Jérôme and Catharina arrived in Kassel, the stately palaces had been looted. As a result, they ordered a plethora of elegant and expensive furniture and other things from prominent Parisian manufacturers. Local artists began manufacturing premium French-style items in order to earn commissions. The king also sought to renovate his capital's architecture, with the royal theater being one of the few projects undertaken.
Jérôme erected it next to the summer mansion, formerly known as "Wilhelmshöhe" until being renamed "Napoléonshöhe" by Leo von Klenze. Jérôme commissioned huge pictures of himself and his wife, Queen Catharina, to emphasize his rulership and to enjoy his images. Other paintings, by several of the most notable French painters of the day, honor his military triumphs.
Emperor Napoleon expected the Kingdom of Westphalia, as a vassal state of the First French Empire, to set an example for other German states. It was the site of the first Parliament/Congress model on German territory, as well as the adoption of the constitution. Jérôme introduced the imperial style from Paris to Westphalia, giving the new state a modern and recognizable appearance.
As a result, this minor kingdom has garnered more attention since the renowned Treaty of Westphalia, which concluded the Thirty Years' War in 1648. Kassel underwent a significant cultural transformation as a result of King Jerome's initiatives.
Jérôme, on the other hand, was appalled by his brother, Emperor Napoleon, due to his lavish spending habits. His government was required to pay expenses equivalent to Napoleon's court (which oversees a larger and more significant province), and Napoleon refused to financially support Jérôme.
Jérôme was given leadership of one Grande Armée legion moving towards Minsk in 1812. But the young king was so determined to finish his tour of the country first, Napoleon rebuked Jerome, ordering him to leave Westphalia immediately and leave the opulent pitfalls behind. Jérome took Mir Castle after the Battle of Mir (1812). On Napoleon's orders, Jérôme returned to Westphalia with all of his courtiers. Fearing a Coalition invasion after his defeat in Russia in the winter of 1812, Jerome petitioned Napoleon to allow his wife to travel to Paris. Napoleon agreed after two requests.
Jérôme briefly rejoined the army in 1813, when his kingdom was threatened from the East by the advancing allied armies of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire. He led a small detachment against these armies. After a skirmish with a group of enemy troops, he set up camp, hoping for reinforcements from the French army in the west.
However, the main Coalition army had occupied Kassel before reinforcements arrived. The Westphalian kingdom was declared dissolved, and Jérôme's reign came to an end. He then escaped to France in order to reconnect with his wife in Paris. Following Napoleon's final defeat in 1815, the Allies would rearrange the former Westphalian borders, together with the surviving German nations, into a Germanic Confederation led by the Austrian Empire.
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