The Josephine B. Trilogy
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Hortense’s lover, Charles Flahaut—believed to be Talleyrand’s illegitimate son—asked Hortense to marry him, but she refused because Louis was opposed to a divorce, and ultimately Flahaut married another woman. Their illegitimate son, Charles Auguste Demorny, was prominent in the government of Napoleon III, his unacknowledged half-brother.
On condition that Eugène never take up arms again (which prevented him from coming to Napoleon’s aid during the Hundred Days), Eugène was offered the title Duke de Leuchtenberg by Tsar Alexandre. Eugène, Auguste and their children settled in Munich, living happily and quietly. He died of apoplexy at the age of forty-three.
Of seven children, six grew to maturity. Each married into royalty:
Josephine married the Crown Prince of Sweden (son of General Bernadotte and Eugénie-Désirée Clary—Joseph and Julie’s nephew), becoming Queen of Sweden.
Eugénie married Prince Frederick Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a German prince.
Augustus married Queen Maria II of Portugal (but died shortly after).
Amélie married the Emperor of Brazil.
Théodelinde married Guillaume de Württemberg, a German count.
Maximilian married Grand Duchess Maria, daughter of the Tsar of Russia.
Through Eugène, Josephine’s progeny live on in most of the royal houses of the world today.
Chronology
March 9, 1800. Napoleon and Josephine’s fourth-year anniversary.
March 29, 1800. Napoleon meets with Royalist agent Cadoudal.
June 18, 1800. The Marquis de Beauharnais dies at Saint-Germain-en-Laye at the age of eighty-six.
October 10, 1800. The Opéra plot: revolutionaries attempt to assassinate Napoleon at the Opéra.
December 24, 1800. Royalist assassination attempt by exploding gunpowder nearly succeeds.
February 9, 1801. Lunéville peace treaty is signed with Austria.
July 7 to August 5, 1801. Josephine goes to the spa at Plombières to be treated for infertility.
January 4, 1802. Hortense and Louis marry.
March 27, 1802. Amiens peace treaty is signed with Britain.
April 18, 1802. Concordat with the Church is celebrated.
June 15 to July 12, 1802. Josephine returns to the spa at Plombières to undergo another treatment for infertility.
August 2, 1802. Napoleon is declared First Consul for Life as the result of a popular vote. (Fouché opposed.)
September 14, 1802. Fouché is demoted.
October 10, 1802. Hortense and Louis’s first child is born, Napoleon-Charles.
November 1 or 2, 1802. Pauline Bonaparte’s husband, Victor Leclerc, dies of yellow fever in Saint-Domingue (Haiti today).
March 14, 1803. Josephine’s Aunt Désirée dies.
May 1803. Josephine’s goddaughter, Stéphanie Tascher, fifteen, sails from Martinique on Le Dard.
Shortly before May 18, 1803. Le Dard is captured by the British.
May 18, 1803. England declares war on France.
August 18, 1803. Stéphanie arrives in France by ship from England, after being held hostage.
February 4, 1804. A Royalist plot to kidnap Napoleon is discovered.
February 19, 1804. General Moreau is arrested.
March 9, 1804. Georges Cadoudal is arrested.
March 15, 1804. Duke d’Enghien is arrested in Germany.
March 21, 1804. Duke d’Enghien is “tried” and executed.
March 27, 1804. Fouché makes a motion in the Senate inviting Napoleon to make his glory “immortal.”
April 7, 1804. Napoleon and Josephine ask Louis if they can adopt his son. (Refused.)
May 18, 1804. A new constitution based on the Civil Code is proclaimed. Napoleon is proclaimed hereditary Emperor by a national plebiscite.
June 28, 1804. Cadoudal is executed. General Moreau is banished.
July 10, 1804. Fouché is reinstated as Minister of Police.
July 30–September 11, 1804. Josephine goes to Aix-la-Chapelle to take a treatment for infertility.
October 11, 1804. Hortense and Louis’s second son, Napoleon-Louis, is born in Paris.
November 25, 1804. Napoleon receives Pope Pius VII at Fontainebleau.
December 1, 1804. Josephine and Napoleon are married by the Church.
December 2, 1804. Coronation at Notre-Dame. Napoleon and Josephine are crowned Emperor and Empress of the French.
May 26, 1805. Napoleon is crowned King of Italy in Milan.
June 7, 1805. Eugène is named Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy.
August 1 to August 30, 1805. Josephine goes to Plombières-les-Bains for yet another treatment for infertility.
October 21, 1805. Battle of Trafalgar. The French fleet is defeated.
December 2, 1805. Napoleon scores a decisive victory in the Battle of Austerlitz.
January 14, 1806. Eugène marries Princess Auguste-Amélie of Bavaria in Munich.
June 5, 1806. Louis and Hortense are formally proclaimed King and Queen of Holland.
December 13, 1806. Caroline’s reader, Éléonore Denuelle, gives birth to a son, Léon, thought to be fathered by Napoleon (but possibly by Joachim Murat).
May 4, 1807. Louis and Hortense’s eldest son, Napoleon-Charles, dies.
July 27, 1807. Napoleon returns after an absence of ten months.
April 21, 1808. Hortense and Louis’s third son, Louis-Napoleon, is born prematurely.
December 1808. Eugène intercepts a letter revealing a plot to put Joachim Murat on the throne should Napoleon be killed in battle. Napoleon is alerted.
January 23, 1809. Napoleon returns to Paris from Spain and, shortly afterwards, Talleyrand is demoted.
End of September 1809. Countess Marie Walewska becomes pregnant by Napoleon.
November 30, 1809. Napoleon tells Josephine that they must divorce.
December 15, 1809. Formal divorce ceremony.
December 16, 1809. Josephine moves out of the Tuileries Palace.
March 27, 1810. Napoleon and Austrian Archduchess Marie-Louise meet for the first time at Compiègne.
March 29, 1810. Josephine moves to the Château de Navarre at Évreux.
April 1, 1810. Napoleon and Marie-Louise are married at Saint-Cloud.
May 4, 1810. Napoleon’s mistress, Countess Marie Walewska, gives birth to a son in Warsaw.
March 20, 1811. Napoleon and Marie-Louise’s son, François-Charles-Joseph-Napoleon II, King of Rome, is born.
September 15 or 16, 1811. Charles Flahaut and Hortense’s son is born.
December 17, 1812. Le Moniteur prints the XXIX Bulletin, outlining the massive losses of the Grande Armée in Russia.
August 10, 1813. Austria joins the Allies.
August 26–27, 1813. Napoleon defeats the Allies at the Battle of Dresden.
October 16–19, 1813. Battle of Leipzig. Napoleon’s army is defeated and reduced to 40,000.
November 22, 1813. Speaking on behalf of the Allies, Auguste’s father, King Max of Bavaria, tries (unsuccessfully) to induce Eugène to abandon Napoleon.
February 15, 1814. Joachim Murat makes a declaration of war against Eugène.
March 28, 1814. Empress Marie-Louise and the Bonapartes make a decision to abandon Paris. Josephine gets an urgent message from Hortense: flee.
March 29, 1814. Josephine leaves Malmaison to go to Évreux.
April 1, 1814. Hortense and her two boys arrive at Évreux with the news that Paris has capitulated.
April 6, 1814. Napoleon abdicates.
April 16, 1814. Tsar Alexandre visits Josephine at Malmaison.
May 14, 1814. Tsar Alexandre visits Josephine, Hortense and Eugène at Saint-Leu. Josephine catches a chill.
May 29, 1814. Josephine dies at noon.
February 26, 1815. Napoleon escapes Elba.
March 21, 1815. Napoleon returns to Paris
June 18, 1815. Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo.
June 22, 1815. Napoleon abdicates a second time.
October 15, 1815.
Napoleon arrives at Jamestown, St. Helena.
May 5, 1821. Napoleon dies.
Characters
Agathe: Josephine’s scullery maid.
Arberg, Countess d’: Josephine’s second lady of honour, replacing Chastulé.
Auguié, Adèle: Madame Campan’s niece and Hortense’s closest friend, as well as her maid.
Avrillion, Mademoiselle: Josephine’s mistress of the wardrobe.
Bacchiochi, Elisa Bonaparte (Princess of Piombino, Grand Duchess): Napoleon’s eldest sister; married to Félix.
Beauharnais, Eugène (Viceroy of Italy): Josephine’s son by her first husband; married Princess Auguste-Amélie of Bavaria and had six children.
Beauharnais, Fanny: Josephine’s aunt through her first husband; poet and eccentric.
Beauharnais, Marquis de: the father of Alexandre, Josephine’s first husband; married to Josephine’s Aunt Désirée.
Bonaparte, Hortense Beauharnais (Queen of Holland): Josephine’s daughter by her first husband; married Napoleon’s brother Louis and had four sons (little Napoleon, Petit and Oui-Oui by her husband; Charles Auguste Demorny by Charles Flahaut).
Bonaparte, Jérôme (King of Westphalia): Napoleon’s youngest sibling; first married Elizabeth Patterson (annulled), then Princess Catherine of Württemberg; one child by his first wife, four by his second.
Bonaparte, Joseph (King of Naples, King of Spain): Napoleon’s older brother; married to Julie Clary, by whom he had two daughters.
Bonaparte, Letizia (Signora Letizia, Madame Mère): Napoleon’s mother.
Bonaparte, Louis (King of Holland): Napoleon’s brother; married Hortense and had three sons.
Bonaparte, Lucien: Napoleon’s brother; disowned by him; first married Christine, with whom he had two children; widowed, he married Alexandrine, with whom he had eleven.
Bonaparte, Napoleon (Emperor of the French, King of Italy): first wife, Josephine; second wife, Marie-Louise, by whom he had one son, Napoleon-François-Charles-Joseph.
Borghèse, Pauline Bonaparte (Princess Borghèse): Napoleon’s sister, renowned for her beauty; first married to Victor Leclerc, then widowed; subsequently married Prince Camillo Borghèse. Dermide, her son by Leclerc, died at the age of six.
Bourrienne, Fauvelet: Napoleon’s first secretary.
Cadoudal, Georges: Royalist agent, convicted of conspiracy.
Cambacérès, Jean-Jacques de: Second Consul, Arch-Chancellor.
Campan, Madame: schoolmistress and former lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie Antoinette.
Caulaincourt, Armand de: French Ambassador to Russia, Minister of Foreign Affairs. Josephine had known his family since before the Revolution and had helped them during the Terror.
Chimay, Thérèse Tallien (Princess de Chimay): Josephine’s close friend. Divorced from Tallien (who died indigent, likely suffering from venereal disease) and the mother of a number of illegitimate children by the financier Ouvrard. Ostracized by the court and polite society, she nevertheless married Prince de Chimay. One of her sons by Chimay married a woman whose biological father is believed to have been Napoleon.
Constant: Napoleon’s valet.
Corvisart, Dr. Jean: Imperial doctor to Napoleon and Josephine for many years, then doctor to Empress Marie-Louise. He conspired with the Austrians to help keep Marie-Louise and her son from joining Napoleon on Elba by telling her that her health was not strong enough for such a voyage.
Denuelle, Éléonore: Caroline’s reader, Napoleon’s mistress. Her claim that Napoleon was the father of her son, Léon, was later substantiated.
Désirée, Aunt: see Montardat.
Despréaux, Monsieur: dance master.
Duchâtel, Adèle: Josephine’s lady-in-waiting; mistress to Napoleon, courted by Eugène.
Duplan, Monsieur: hairdresser.
Duroc, Christophe: Napoleon’s aide and Hortense’s first love.
Fesch, Joseph (Archbishop of Lyons, Cardinal): Napoleon’s uncle by marriage.
Flahaut, Charles: Hortense’s lover and father of her son Charles Auguste Demorny (raised by Flahaut’s mother, the romance novelist Madame de Souza, with financial help from Hortense).
Fouché: Minister of Police, at various times; intriguer.
Frangeau, Madame: midwife.
Gazzani, Carlotta: Josephine’s reader and Napoleon’s mistress (briefly).
Georges, Mademoiselle: actress, Napoleon’s mistress.
Gontier: Josephine’s elderly manservant.
Grassini: Italian singer, Napoleon’s mistress.
Horeau, Dr.: Dr. Corvisart’s student; Josephine’s physician at the time of her death.
Isabey: portrait artist, art teacher, Josephine’s make-up artist.
Junot, Andoche: Napoleon’s aide; Governor of Paris; Caroline’s lover.
Lavalette, Émilie Beauharnais: Josephine’s niece by her first husband; married to Lavalette. After Napoleon’s second and final defeat, Émilie disguised herself as a man and took her husband’s place in prison (where he’d been condemned to death), allowing him to escape to Bavaria. Tragically, while in prison, she suffered a miscarriage and lost her sanity. Pardoned in 1822, Lavalette returned to his wife in France, but she did not recognize him. However, his attentive care partially restored her memory and their last years together were happy ones.
Leroy, Monsieur: fashion designer.
Méneval: Napoleon’s secretary, replacing Fauvelet Bourrienne.
Mimi: Josephine’s childhood maid; a mulatto from Martinique, formerly a slave. She married one of Napoleon’s cabinet guards and during the Hundred Days gave refuge to Hortense.
Montardat, Désirée: Josephine’s godmother and aunt; first married to Monsieur Renaudin, who was suspected of trying to murder her. Her second husband was Marquis de Beauharnais, the father of Josephine’s first husband. Shortly after the Marquis’s death, she married Pierre Danès de Montardat (“Monsieur Pierre”), the mayor of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Moreau: popular general convicted of conspiracy; exiled to America but returned from exile to join the Russian forces. He was killed by a French cannonball at the Battle of Dresden in 1813.
Moustache: Napoleon’s courier.
Murat, Caroline Bonaparte (Duchess de Berg, Queen of Naples): Napoleon’s youngest sister; married to Joachim Murat, with whom she had four children.
Murat, Joachim (Duke de Berg, King of Naples): Caroline Bonaparte’s husband.
Rémusat, Claire (“Clari”): lady-in-waiting to Josephine.
Rochefoucauld, Chastulé, Countess de la: Josephine’s distant cousin and lady of honour.
Roustam: Napoleon’s Mameluke bodyguard.
Talleyrand: Minister of Foreign Affairs and traitor.
Talma: the most renowned actor of his day.
Tascher, Stéphanie: Josephine’s niece and goddaughter.
Thérèse: see Chimay.
Walewska, Countess Marie: Napoleon’s Polish mistress, the mother of his son Alexandre.
Beauharnais Genealogy
Bonaparte Genealogy
Selected Bibliography
Anyone who ventures into the Napoleonic Empire is quickly overwhelmed by the vast number of books that have been published on all aspects of the period. After over a decade of immersion in this moment in history, I still feel I have only scratched the surface. My bibliography now lists almost four hundred titles; I will note only a few.
Researching this novel, I was highly entertained—“diverted” is a suitably eighteenth-century word—by the many memoirs of the period: those of Mademoiselle Avrillion, Fauvelet Bourrienne, Las Cases, Constant, Madame Ducrest, Baron Fain, Fouché, Madame Junot, Méneval, Madame Rémusat, and especially Hortense. In all cases it was necessary to judge the veracity and objectivity of the author (who was, in many cases, a ghost writer), making the search for “truth” rather like trying to find one’s way through the hall of mirrors at a fun fair.
For information about Josephine, my mainstays have continued to be: Impératrice Joséphine, Cor
respondance, 1782-1814, compiled and edited by Maurice Catinat, Bernard Chevallier and Christophe Pincemaille (Paris: Histoire Payot, 1996) and L’impératrice Joséphine by Bernard Chevallier and Christophe Pincemaille (Paris: Presses de la Renaissance, 1988) as well as Ernest John Knapton’s Empress Josephine (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1963). An award-winning biography was published as I was in the final stages of this work: Françoise Wagener’s L’Impératrice Joséphine (1763–1814) (Paris: Flammarion, 1999).
It is difficult to select one particular book about Napoleon: there are so many. Although decidedly pro-Napoleon, Vincent Cronin’s Napoleon (London: Collins, 1971) remains one of the best, in my opinion. At the very least it is highly readable and captures the spirit of the time. Frank McLynn’s Napoleon: A Biography (London: Pimlico, 1998) is a recent and balanced account I consulted frequently.
Other books of note: Joan Bear’s Caroline Murat (London: Collins, 1972); Jean-Paul Bertaud’s Bonaparte et le duc d’Enghien; le duel des deux Frances (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1972); Hubert Cole’s The Betrayers: Joachim and Caroline Murat (London: Eyre Methuen, 1972) and Fouché: The Unprincipled Patriot (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1971); Émile Dard’s Napoleon and Talleyrand (London: Philip Allan & Co., Ltd., 1937); Walter Geer’s Napoleon and His Family: The Story of a Corsican Clan (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1928); Carola Oman’s Napoleon’s Viceroy: Eugène de Beauharnais (New York: Funk and Wagnall, 1966); Jean Tulard’s Fouché (Paris: Fayard, 1998) and Murat (Paris: Fayard, 1999).
Three books in particular provided a wealth of wonderful detail: Bernard Chevallier’s award-winning L’art de vivre au temps de Joséphine (Paris: Flammarion, 1998); Maurice Guerrini’s Napoleon and Paris: Thirty Years of History (New York: Walker and Company, 1967); Frédéric Masson’s Joséphine, Empress and Queen, (Paris and London: Goupil & Co., 1899).
I am often asked to recommend a non-fiction book on the subject of Josephine and Napoleon. Evangeline Bruce’s Napoleon and Josephine: The Improbable Marriage (New York: Scribner, 1995) is excellent—a highly readable and generally accurate account of both personal and political worlds.