Joséphine de Beauharnais (June 23, 1763 – May 29, 1814) was the first Empress of the French Empire. She was Emperor Napoleon's first Empress.
She was previously married to Alexandre de Beauharnais, a nobleman who was beheaded during the French Revolution, and had two children, Eugène de Beauharnais and Hortense de Beauharnais, before marrying Napoleon. Emperor Napoleon III was the son of Hortense and hence Josephine's grandson. Many Danish and Swedish kings are descended from Eugène de Beauharnais, as are the royals of Belgium, Norway, and Luxembourg.
Napoleon and Empress separated in 1810 since she was unable to conceive children for Emperor Napoleon, but Napoleon permitted her to keep the title of Empress and maintain close ties with her. Emperor Napoleon once penned many love letters to the Empress during his lifetime. Her Malmaison palace is famous for its magnificent rose garden, which she enjoyed and spent much of her time collecting rose varieties from around the world. She also printed a history of rose work.
Name
The name "Joséphine de Beauharnais" refers to Queen Joséphine of France. However, the owner never used that name because "Beauharnais" was Joséphine's previous husband's surname, and after marrying Napoleon, she no longer used that surname and instead used Napoleon's "Bonaparte." "Joséphine" was the name Napoleon used to address her, and she did not use it before meeting the future emperor of France, probably using her middle name "Josèphe" instead. Also, before meeting Napoleon, she went by the names Rose, Marie-Rose, or Tascher de la Pagerie (or de Beauharnais), and in his later years, he used her unmarried surname, Tascher de la Pagerie.
She took the name Joséphine Bonaparte after marrying Napoleon. As the title "Joséphine de Beauharnais" is supposed to have appeared during the Bourbon Renaissance, the Bourbon royal family certainly did not want to use their enemy Napoleon's Bonaparte surname, nor did he want to recognize the title of Empress.
Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie was Queen Joséphine's given name. She was born in Les Trois-Îlets, on the Caribbean island of Martinique, into a family of large farmers who had a sugar cane plantation (which is now a museum). Joseph-Gaspard Tascher (1735–1799), knight, Lord la Pagerie, and maritime officer, was her father. Rose-Claire des Vergers de Sannois (1736–1807) was her mother. Anthony Brown, her maternal grandfather, was perhaps Irish.
A hurricane blew over her home in 1766, causing significant economic devastation to her family. Fortunately, Edmée was the mistress of Marquis Francis of Beauharnais. When the Marquis' health began to deteriorate, Mrs. Edmée attempted to match Catherine-Désirée, Marie Josephe's sister, with the Marquis' son, Alexandre de Beauharnais. Apparently, the Tascher family reaped significant financial rewards from their marriage to the Marquis Beauharnais family. Catherine-Désirée died unexpectedly on October 16, 1777, at the age of 12, before meeting the Marquis' family; therefore, Marie Joseph was chosen to replace her sister's betrothal.
Marie Josèphe traveled to France with her father in October 1779, and on December 13, 1779, she married Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnais at Noisy-le-Grand. The couple lived in Paris, initially in the Marquis Beauharnais' mansion on rue Thévenot and then at a residence on route Neuve Saint-Charles. Eugène (1781–1824) and Hortense (1783–1837) were the two children they had together.
Marie Josephe, now the wife of a Viscount, could live a more comfortable existence. However, further events revealed that the couple's life was not joyful. Alexandre's husband was frequently away from home; on days when he wasn't in the army, Alexandre frequently visited his former teacher, Antoine Patricol, at La Roche-Guyon. When Marie Josephe complained about her husband's apathy, Alexandre dismissed her as illiterate. The couple's relationship warmed up a little after Marie Josephe gave birth to her first baby, Eugène, but after only a few weeks, the husband returned to the chorus of being away from home.
In July 1782, Alexandre de Beauharnais and his former lover, Laure de Girardin, Lady Longpré, arrived on the island of Martinique. While her husband and ex-lover were having fun abroad, Marie Josephe became pregnant with their daughter, Hortense. Alexandre believed that Hortense was the son of Marie Josephe's adultery, so he demanded that Joséphine be kicked out of the house and sent to live at the Penthemont convent while the child was given to a nanny. Marie Josèphe went to court and won on February 3, 1784. Alexandre was forced to pay alimony to his wife and children.
Alexandre then plotted to kidnap her son Eugène again, and this led to messy litigation. Finally, Aunt Marie-Euphémie-Désirée arranged an agreement under which Alexander had to admit fault and provide 6,000 livres for his wife annually. Marie Josèphe's financial situation during this period was relatively difficult, so she and her daughter planned to return to their homeland, leaving France in June 1788. For three years, she and her daughter had no place to live. fixed, but Marie Josephe had more or less influence in the community of Martinique. Paul Barras' memoirs record that around this time rumors arose that Marie Josèphe was having an affair and having an illegitimate child with the locals, which worsened her relationship with Alexander de Beauharnais.
French Revolution Period
Joséphine was able to rescue numerous relatives from prison through her relationship with the president of the security committee, Marc-Guillaume-Alexis Vadier, but she was unable to save her husband. Alexandre de Beauharnais was arrested and imprisoned at Carmes jail on March 2, 1794, by the Committee of Public Safety. On July 23, 1794, Alexandre de Beauharnais and his cousin Augustin were beheaded in Paris at the Palace of the Revolution (Place de la Révolution, now Piazza Concorde).
Marie Josephe was arrested on April 18, 1794, on accusations of having intimate relations with counter-revolutionary elements. On April 21, a warrant for her arrest was issued, and she was imprisoned at Carmes jail until July 28. During her confinement, she corresponded with her two children through handwritten notes on scrawled scraps of paper. Correspondence with the family was thereafter prohibited. Marie Josèphe, on the other hand, was released only a few days later, after Maximilien de Robespierre's Jacobin faction was deposed in August. Jean-Lambert Tallien, a coup leader, freed Thérèse Cabarrus and, afterward, Marie Josèphe on July 27, 1794. Marie Josephe inherited the property of her late husband, Alexandre, in June 1795.
Marie-Josèphe's family's economic situation is dire at the moment because she has no fixed income and her late husband's property is still being taken. Marie-Josèphe, on the other hand, used the social relationships and economic conditions in France at the time to strengthen the family economy. She took over her husband's property, paid off debts, and increased her income. As a result, the family may live well in a rented flat on Paris's Chantereine Street and even keep the residence in Croissy. Marie-Josèphe sent her two children to famous institutions in Saint-Germain-en-Laye with a lot of money in her purse.
Son Eugène attended an Irish school conducted by priest Mac Dermott, while daughter Hortense was educated by Lady Campan, the late Queen Maria Antonia's Grand Maid. Marie Josephe also enrolled in order to establish contacts with a variety of French political figures. Theresa, the wife of Jean-Lambert Tallien, who rescued her from prison, was a close friend of hers. The two women were also at the top of the list of luxury women in French society at the time, and they had an impact on the fashion of the French elite. Marie Josèphe also had a strong relationship with the head of the Catholic regime, Paul Barras, to the point where many speculated that the two were lovers. Marie-Josèphe went by the name "Rose" at the time.
Josephine Married Napoleon
Rose and Napoleon Bonaparte met in 1795, and the two fell in love. Napoleon, at this time, was a famous general emerging after the suppression of the riots on the 13th of the month of Picking the Grapes and was 6 years younger than her. According to an anecdote recounted by Napoleon (and confirmed by Eugène, Hortense, and Paul Barras), after the riot, the authorities ordered the confiscation of all Parisian weapons for security reasons, among them the sword of Alexandre de Beauharnais. So the boy Eugène de Beauharnais dared to go to Napoleon to ask for his father's sword, which was approved by Napoleon. The next day, Madame Rose went to Napoleon to give thanks. Falling in love with the beautiful woman, Napoleon asked to visit her residence, and such intimate visits thereafter became more frequent.
Napoleon proposed to Rose in January 1796, and the two married on March 9, 1796. Napoleon used to call her Joséphine, and she used the name instead of "Rose" for the rest of her life. The marriage of Joséphine and Napoleon was not well accepted by her husband's family, who were surprised that Napoleon married an elderly woman and had his own child. Napoleon's mother and sisters, who came from a commoner aristocracy, were particularly offended by Joséphine's aristocratic and dignified behavior. Napoleon Bonaparte embarked on an expedition to Italy just two days after the wedding. He wrote a lot of love letters to Joséphine.
However, the relationship between Joséphine and Napoleon was fraught with difficulties, such as numerous infidelity allegations on both sides. While Napoleon was on the expedition in Italy, Joséphine had an affair with Hippolyte Charles, a lieutenant in the light cavalry. Napoleon was enraged when he heard the news. However, during the Egyptian expedition in 1798, Napoleon had an affair with Pauline Fourès, the wife of a junior officer, who was dubbed "Napoléon's Cleopatra."
This affair harmed the marriage of husband and wife, Joséphine and Napoleon. Another tragic scandal came just days before Napoleon rose to the throne when Joséphine discovered her husband having an affair with her servant, Élisabeth de Vaudey. Hortense, Joséphine's stepdaughter, intervened and reconciled the pair after they had a nasty argument, and the marriage almost split apart.
There was no evidence of Joséphine's affair (if any) after Hippolyte Charles, but Napoleon continued to have affairs with a number of other women. Napoleon remarked that "my mistress is power" in 1804.
On December 24, 1800, Joséphine was nearly killed in a bomb assault while attending a performance of Joseph Haydn at the Paris theater with her husband, family, and friends. She sat in the second carriage with her daughter Hortense and other friends, leaving behind her husband owing to the necessity to dress, and on the route to the theater, a bomb exploded, killing several passersby and one of the horses driving the cart. The bomb's explosive force smashed the carriage window, and shrapnel damaged Hortense's hand. Fortunately, no one else was hurt, and the group arrived safely at the show.
Empress of the First Empire
Napoleon was crowned Emperor of France in 1804, and Joséphine was crowned Queen. On December 2, 1804, the coronation took place at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Napoleon crowned himself first and then Joséphine, declaring her empress.
Similarly to the former feudal monarchy, Joséphine had her own servants and an entire board dedicated to managing the queen's accommodations. Adélade de La Rochefoucauld, the wife of a Beauharnais-allied family, was named Grand Maid (Première dame d'honneur). A relative of Joséphine, Émilie de Beauharnais, was appointed Lady of the Queen's Dress (Dame d'atour). The wives of Napoleon's generals and subordinates were titled Lady of the Palace (Dame de Palais), including Jeanne Charlotte du Lucay, Madame de Rémusat, Elisabeth Baude de Talhout, Lauriston, d'Arberg, Marie Antoinette Duchâtel, Sophie de Segur, Séran, Colbert, Savary, and Aglaé Louise Auguié Ney.
However, the marriage of the Emperor and Empress was in danger of falling apart when Joséphine was unable to bear children for the Emperor. The fact that one of Napoleon's lovers, Éléonore Denuelle, bore the Emperor an illegitimate child demonstrated that Napoleon still had the potential to perpetuate the race and that the Queen was to blame for his sterility. Although the Emperor adored the Empress, the priority of children and heirs forced him to consider divorce in order to remarry.
After the death of Napoleon Charles Bonaparte, Hortense's son with Louis Bonaparte, in 1807, Napoleon decisively decided to divorce. He informed Joséphine of this decision on December 30, 1809, and the Queen also approved a divorce so that her husband could bear children. The two officially divorced on January 10, 1810. However, after the divorce, Napoleon claimed that Joséphine still had the right to retain the title of Empress.
Joséphine End of Life
Joséphine lived at the Malmaison house near Paris after her divorce. Her ex-husband and she have a friendly connection. Napoleon named her Princess of Navarre in April 1810. The emperor also "subsidized" his ex-wife's luxury spending habits, which included several exceedingly expensive outfits, shoes, and jewels. Even when the former Empress's debt pile drove her close to bankruptcy several times, it was the Emperor who managed it. Some think that Napoleon and his ex-wife still had a covert affair, although this has not been confirmed.
Napoleon II was born in March 1811 to Queen Marie-Louise and was called the "Roman King" by Napoleon. Napoleon arranged for Joséphine to meet his own son, who had consumed many of her tears, two years later.
Joséphine died on May 29, 1814, at Rueil-Malmaison, shortly after meeting Tsar Alexander I at the Malmaison mansion. During this meeting, she is said to have implored the tsar to reunite her with her now-exiled husband. Joséphine was laid to rest in the Rueil Church of Saint Pierre-Saint Paul after her death. Hortense, Joséphine's daughter, was also interred nearby.
While in exile in Elba, Napoleon learned about Joséphine's death from a French daily. He stayed in his room for two days without seeing anyone. During his exile in Saint Helena, the former emperor admitted that he adored but did not respect Joséphine. Napoleon mentioned Joséphine's name, together with the names of France, the French army, and the position of Commander of the Army, before his death: "France, army, Commander of the army, Joséphine." "France, l'armée, tete d'armée, Joséphine"
Appearance and Personality
Queen Joséphine stood at an average height, was thin and well-shaped, and had long, lustrous chestnut-colored hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion. Her nose is small and straight, and her mouth was beautiful, but her teeth are not beautiful so she rarely opens her mouth. She has a noble manner and a lovely, gentle voice.
According to academic Carolly Erickson, Queen Joséphine's criteria for selecting a husband were to prioritize logic over emotion; in other words, she was able to find a guy capable of meeting her financial and social needs. She sensed the potential of Napoleon as a future political leader. Joséphine is also known for her extravagant spending habits, and it is conceivable that her lover Barras purposefully paired her with Napoleon Bonaparte to alleviate her financial load. Joséphine is also gorgeous, pleasant, and generous.
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