Josephine de Boernais and Napoleon: A love story of fire and brimstone

The year is 1795. The goddess of fortune who smiled upon Napoleon in the sky of Toulon will also shine upon him in the sky of Paris. The Directory, the body that ruled France at the time, is looking for a soldier to protect him from the mob that is about to attack him at his residence inTuileries Palace. Napoleon accepts the challenge. He surrounds the palace with cannons. Kills dozens if not hundreds of the crowd. Saves the Directory, is promoted to the rank of General of Division, and meets a woman named Anne Marie Joseph Tascher de la Pagerie, whom he will call for short: Josephine. Josephine will be the lucky charm of his life.

This meeting is the fulfillment of part of a prophecy given twenty years earlier to little Rose by a black woman named Ephemia. In a voodoo ceremony held on the island of Martinique:

Two marriages away from the colony, two children from the first husband.

The second part of the prophecy was:

The second husband will elevate you so high that you will be more than a queen….

“But” and notice the end of the prophecy:

But he must beware of the priest who will destroy him.

And the priest, for those who don't know, is Monsieur de Talleyrand, who began his career in the ranks of the church...

From Martinique to Paris

Rose or Josephine was born in 1763, six years before Napoleon was born, on the island of Martinique, which was one of the West Indies. She was called a Creole, which was the nickname given to the French who were born in the colonies there. She was born in a small place called Les Trois Ils (The Three Islands), a name that can have a chilling meaning if we think of three islands: Corsica, Elba and Saint Helen. This is the house where she was born. Her family owned sugar cane plantations, and little Rose used to bite a lot of them, which spoiled her teeth.

She would smile a lot later in her life, but she would always do so with her mouth closed. And in her many portraits, you would never, ever, find her with her mouth open. However, due to natural disasters and the mismanagement of the father of the family, she became impoverished and the sixteen-year-old Rose was sent to France to marry a nobleman from a wealthy family, nineteen-year-old Alexandre de Beauharnais, a pretentious, self-centered man who lacked control over women. From this marriage two children would be born, a son named Egène and a daughter named Hortonez. However, the marriage would not go well and the two would live as estranged.

Then, then the revolution breaks out. Alexander, who identifies with her goals, is appointed general, but due to a military failure caused by his negligence, he is thrown into prison and his name will be included in the list of those sentenced to death. Rose proves to be brave and will strive in the high windows of the Terror for the father of her children. As a result, she will also be thrown into prison in the Carmelite monastery, and his name will also be included in the list of those sentenced to death. Alexander is executed by guillotine, but the power of prophecy is stronger than anything, and a day before the date on which Rose was to be taken to the guillotine, Robespierre's head is beheaded. Rose is set free

Josephine de Beauharnais, a small and beautiful woman, five feet tall, slender, with small hands and feet. Her eyes are dark brown with long eyelashes, her hair is light brown, usually curled and combed forward, her skin is magnificent, she speaks with a slight Creole accent, and her laugh is captivating and captivating.

It is associated with the high society women who rule the salons, most notably the beauties of Paris, Madame Tallin and Madame Racamier. However, she is impoverished and, as a single mother, she needs a source of support. Although she is one of the many mistresses of the powerful man in the Directory, Paul Barra, she is looking for a stable source of support, which she finds in General Bonaparte, whose star is rising.

Stormy love full of crises

Although his gaze terrifies her, she writes to a friend, the life expectancy of generals at that time was short and she entertains the idea that she will soon be able to live comfortably based on a generous pension from a general's widow. And Napoleon? Napoleon was deceived into thinking that a large fortune awaited her in Martinique, which at that time was ruled by Britain. Although the truth was that he fell in love with her to the roots of his spaniel's ears.

Then, on the night of December 1795, 6, in this house, number XNUMX Rue Chantorain, which until recently had been renamed Rue de la Vactoire, in honor of the famous tenant who would live there, Napoleon placed a note at the head of Josephine's bed, still sleeping:

I wake and I am filled with you. Your image and your intoxicating pleasures from last night give no rest to my senses. Oh, sweet Josephine! You are second to none. How strange is your influence on my heart. Are you angry with me? Are you unhappy? Are you excited? My soul is broken with grief, and my love for you gives me no rest. But how can I rest when I am exhausted from your lips and from your heart by a burning flame.

Yes, one night I learned how much you are superior to your image. You are leaving at noon today. In three hours I will see you again, and until then a thousand kisses from Miu Dolce Amor, but please do not return any to me, for they set my blood on fire.

Two months later, on March 1796, XNUMX, the two married.

Ragido, Josephine's notary, tries to dissuade her from this perverse idea of ​​marrying a man whose only possessions are his sword and military cloak. The words were spoken to Josephine privately, but the door of the room was open and Napoleon overheard them. He will not forget Ragido.

The marriage ceremony will take place in this room in the building on Rue d'Antin, which still exists today and belongs to the bank "Paribas - Bank of Paris and the Low Countries". In the marriage registration document, Napoleon will add a year and a half to his age and Josephine will reduce her age by four years so that they appear to be of the same age. Napoleon, who has in the meantime been appointed commander of the army stationed on the Italian border, will be a long time late in arriving as he has been studying maps to prepare the plan for the invasion of Italy and has forgotten to look at his watch. After two nights of love, which did not leave much of an impression on Josephine, Napoleon leaves Paris and goes south, to the army headquarters in Nice, and Josephine? Josephine breathes a sigh of relief. Now she can go back to having fun.

At each of the eleven stops on his way to Nice, Napoleon writes a passionate love letter to Josephine. A messenger rushes out with the letter to Frieze. Napoleon arrives atNice, where he is greeted by three old, experienced and battle-trained generals, Augereau, Clermont and Massena. They look with disdain at the young, thin and small officer who has been sent to command them, but minutes pass before Augereau feels a strange sensation, as he later confesses to General Massena: “I can’t understand it – this little quarter of a chicken scares me.”

On the eve of the first battle at Montanotte, Napoleon writes to Josephine:

It is one after midnight and I receive a letter, a sad letter and my soul is as crushed as if it were dead. He was our chief storekeeper. You met him once or twice at Barra's. I feel the need of someone to comfort me, my dearest, dearest of all. My only consolations are in writing to you. The thought of you is the star that illuminates my moral ideas, the secret of all my troubles. What is the past? What is the future? What is that magical medium that surrounds us and hides from us those things that interest us most. We live and die surrounded by miracles. Is it surprising that priests, ascetics and swindlers have traded, sold this quality, this strange weakness of ours, in order to simply convey our ideas and make them yield to their own ambitions.

Josephine de Beauharnais betrays Napoleon and he remains unscathed.

Napoleon shares his philosophical musings with Josephine, and she? She shares her bed with a new lover, a hussar, a lieutenant-rank officer, three years younger than Napoleon, and one centimeter shorter than him, his name is Hipolyte Charle – brown skin, blue eyes, black hair. His ability to make Josephine laugh, along with the perfect way he tied his tie, won Josephine's heart. Another advantage he had over Napoleon was his free time and availability.

Napoleon wins victory after victory, brilliant victories, but he is tired, exhausted and a little ill. His soul goes out to Josephine and he writes to her:

When I am tempted to curse my fate, I place my hand on the tablet of my heart and touch your picture. Love floods me with happiness and illuminates my life with a radiant light.

He misses Josephine and urges her to come to Italy, and he writes:

Where are you, Josephine? What's the point of honor, of victories, of waving flags without you? You must be with me, with my heart in my arms.

And the next day he will write:

I want you to come, to be with me, in my arms, on my lips. Like wings, come to me. A kiss on your heart, and another one lower, much lower.

And how low? We know this from another letter in which he describes Josephine closely:

A little white shoulder, a sweet mouth. Firm white breasts, a little face like a painting. With the Creole scarf on her head, and with that little black forest.

And Josephine? Josephine does not dream of leaving the pleasures of Paris, where she is the star of the evening as the wife of the victorious general in Italy. However, when her cool letters are sent infrequently, Napoleon begins to suspect and writes:

Hurry, and I warn you that if you delay you will find me dead. The fatigue combined with your absence is more than my strength can bear. What are you doing? Why don't you come? If it is a lover who is stopping you – beware of Othello's dagger?

Josephine understands that she cannot stay in Paris without a good reason. And she invents a reason – pregnancy, a fake pregnancy of course. Napoleon is overjoyed, and writes:

I have wronged you and I do not know how to atone for my sins. I have reproached you for remaining in Paris even though you are suffering. Forgive me, my dear. My love for you has robbed me of my common sense. I will never recover from it. I am hopeless. I am worried about the state of your health. If I could hold you in my arms I would be happy. But the distance that separates us fills me with sorrow. A child as dear as you. Will soon be born in your arms. If I could hold you in my arms I would be happy, but unfortunately a person like me cannot be anything, not even for a moment.

And he writes at the same time to his brother Joseph:

My friend, I am in despair because my wife, the most delightful creature on earth, is ill, and I am depressed by gloomy thoughts about her condition. I beg you to tell me the truth about her condition, and in the name of the bond of blood and the noble brotherhood which unites us, I beg you to look after her as I would. Although you cannot love her as I do, you are the only man in the world who can take my place. You are the only man on earth for whom I have ever had any affection. Oh, and Josephine, you are the only two people who interest me. Tell me the truth, you know his fiery nature…

However, the fake pregnancy cannot last long, and Josephine is forced to sadly announce that the pregnancy has failed and with a heavy heart she will board a carriage that will take her south to Italy. At her side, who else? Hippolyte Charles, and on the other side, her pet dog, Fortuna, whom Napoleon has hated ever since he scratched his leg when he was forced to share Josephine's bed with him.

Napoleon, despite the enormous pressure he is under, showers her with love and honors, but she is bored, she writes to a friend, and will soon return to Paris.

Napoleon completes the conquest of all of northern Italy, signs a peace treaty with Austria at Campo Formio, and returns to Paris as the victor and the great peacemaker. However, his rising political power threatens the Directory, which seeks to keep him as far away from Paris as possible. And on the advice of Monsieur de Talleyrand, he is sent at the head of an army of thirty thousand soldiers to conquer Egypt. On the eve of his departure, he tells Josephine that he will ensure her arrival in Egypt once the situation there stabilizes. Will he board the ship, and Josephine? Josephine will continue to the sulfur baths at Plumbier, known as a cure for getting pregnant – a real pregnancy, of course.

When Napoleon arrives in Egypt, he discovers that Josephine is unfaithful to him and is furious. He takes a mistress, about whom you can read in the article Marguerite Polin-Belize – The Woman Who Almost Took Napoleon from Josephine And decides to leave Egypt and divorce Josephine.

The night that saved Napoleon and Josephine's marriage

Napoleon leaves, abandons, the army in Egypt under circumstances for which today he would be brought before a state commission of inquiry. When the news of his landing in southern France, on the coast of ProvenceWhen Josephine arrives, she will leave Paris in a panic to welcome him and get ahead of his family who despise her. However, she travels one way and Napoleon arrives in Paris another. He arrives at their house on Rue de la Victoire, orders all her belongings to be removed from the house, enters the bedroom and locks the door.

Josephine will arrive later. She will stand in front of the locked door, knock on it, cry bitterly, beg to be let in, but the door remains locked. Early in the morning, when Josephine is almost desperate, her clever maid suggests that she enlist her two children for the mission. And so the three of them stand in front of the locked door and cry. Then the door opens and Josephine enters. In the morning, when Joseph arrives with the necessary documents to settle the divorce, he is disappointed to find the two spouses together in bed.

Napoleon would write in his memoirs:

When I arrived in Paris, at the house on the rue de la Victoire, I said to myself: Nothing connects me and Josephine anymore. She will never set foot on my doorstep again. I don't care what people say. They will chat for a day or two, and on the third day they will stop. Forgive her? Never!!! The next day I said: Well, well, here she is! You wouldn't think I forgave her - never!! But how much I would have given my teeth to grind in my heart about her betrayal. When I saw her climbing the stairs, bitter with tears, my eyes caught sight of Agen and Hortonez, and there they were walking after her, crying.

I did not acquire from my mother a heart indifferent to tearful eyes. Agen He is my Greek all my way in Egypt, and I saw him as my adopted son. How honest he is, how good a fellow. Hortonez – society will open its arms to her. All her acquaintances praise and glorify her. I must confess that I was shaken to the core. I did not have the strength to be cruel to the cries of these poor children. I said to myself: Do they have to suffer because of their mother's crimes? And what could I do? He whose heart is not tender is not a man.

So as you can see Napoleon was sensitive and emotional – here is an example of this. This also ties in with what Napoleon said in 1806 to his finance minister, Mulan:

Do not think that I have not a sensitive heart like other people. I had to develop the habit of self-control. From my earliest childhood I worked to sever the chord which now makes no sound to me.

From love to friendship

But the relationship between Napoleon and Josephine will not return to normal. The tables will turn. Josephine will become a faithful, devoted wife, a pampering, caring woman, and her lust for debauchery will be replaced by an insatiable lust for wasting money. Meanwhile, the burning flame of love, which burned in Napoleon's heart, will turn into a wonderful friendship with appreciation for Josephine's social skills, which cast a spell on the people of Paris, and made a significant contribution to Napoleon's public relations. However, Napoleon will ensure that their bedrooms will be located in separate wings of the palace, far from each other, and that a secret corridor will lead to his bedroom, through which a long procession of women will pass.

When word of the parade reaches Josephine, she will cause hysterical scenes of jealousy. Napoleon will respond by saying:

She always thinks I will fall in love seriously. Can't she understand that love is not for me. Love is a passion that makes a person abandon everything for it. I am certainly not the kind of person who would give myself entirely to love. So what does she care, Josephine, that I amuse myself with women for whom I feel no emotion?

And in one of his letters to her he writes:

I don’t understand your complaints about the women I correspond with (“correspond” – that’s what he calls it). I only love one and that’s my little Josephine. She’s amiable, she’s capricious, and she’s easily offended. Her quarrels are as graceful as the rest of her actions. And she, she’s always admired, except when she’s jealous, when she turns into a little demon…”

The divorce from Josephine

In 1809, Napoleon is at the height of his political power. Although the seeds of disaster have already been planted in Spanish soil, their sprouts are still not visible. Now he decides to divorce Josephine in order to marry Marie Louise of Austria, who will be able to bear him an heir. Napoleon is a brave man – on the battlefield, in politics, but facing Josephine he is overcome with heartache. After failing to convince others to convey the message to her, he is forced to confront her himself.

She faints. He sheds a tear, but after she comes to her senses she realizes that the decision cannot be taken back. He will give her everything she asks for. The palace in Malmaison, a hunting lodge in Navarre, an allowance of three million francs a year and leave her the title of Empress. He will also continue to be interested in her and care for her even after the divorce.

Despite the divorce, Napoleon and Josephine maintained a good relationship and she even got to see her ex-husband's son, who was born about a year after the divorce. In 1814, shortly after Napoleon was exiled to the island of Elba, Josephine caught a cold while walking in the gardens of Malmaison with Emperor Alexander I. The cold turned into pneumonia and Jophine died on 1 May 29. When Napoleon heard of her death, he locked himself in his room for two days and sought solace.

Napoleon continued to love Josephine until the end of his life, although he said he did not appreciate her. It is therefore not surprising that his last words were “France, the army, the head of the army, and Josephine” (“France, l'armée, tête d'armée, Joséphine”).

Twenty-six years after Napoleon left a note at Josephine's bedside: "I awaken and my whole being fills you," he closes his eyes as his whole being fills her.

Some say that Napoleon's biggest mistake was his invasion of Russia, but if you ask me, the biggest mistake of his life was his divorce from Josephine, as she was the lucky charm of his life.