{"id":933,"date":"2021-10-19T18:13:17","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T10:13:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/?p=933"},"modified":"2021-10-19T18:13:17","modified_gmt":"2021-10-19T10:13:17","slug":"josephine-the-forgotten-impress-of-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/2021\/10\/josephine-the-forgotten-impress-of-france\/","title":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9phine, the forgotten Impress of France"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time : <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>

Napol\u00e9on and Jos\u00e9phine met at a party given by Director Paul Barras. Ironically, Marie-Joseph-Rose de Beauharnais was Paul Barras mistress at the time. The truth can be stranger than fiction. Napol\u00e9on; a young French general; and Josephine; established in French society; met… and the rest is history. But who remember that Story..?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Jos\u00e9phine (1763-1814) born Caribbean island Martinique to a wealthy sugar plantation family. \u00a0In 1779 she was taken to France by her father. That same year she married Alexandre Beauharnais. They had two children: a son, Eug\u00e8ne and a daughter, Hortense. Hortense would later marry Napoleon\u2019s brother Louis Bonaparte in 1802. Jos\u00e9phine\u2019s first husband was guillotined during the Reign of Terror.
\nWidowed with two small children Jos\u00e9phine became the mistress to several leading political figures. For her to maintain the life style in which she was accustomed she would have to marry well or be a mistress of men of money and influence.<\/p>\n

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Jos\u00e9phine was the current mistress of Director, Paul Barras. Paul Barras has grown wary of Jos\u00e9phine and wanted a new mistress. Napol\u00e9on Bonaparte was his opportunity. Napol\u00e9on was a young and brilliant general. He was looking for a wife of status. He had won the battle of Toulon and had saved the Directory from the mob. Paul Barras invited, Napol\u00e9on to a party given by the Directory in 1795. Napol\u00e9on and Jos\u00e9phine met. Jos\u00e9phine was encouraged by Barras to flatter and entertain Napol\u00e9on. Jos\u00e9phine did not realize Paul Barras had alternative motives. Napol\u00e9on was smitten and fell in love with Jos\u00e9phine.<\/p>\n

He pursued Jos\u00e9phine\u2019s hand in marriage. Jos\u00e9phine was not impressed with Napol\u00e9on as a future lover or husband. Napol\u00e9on\u2019s pursue of Jos\u00e9phine was encouraged by Paul Barras. When Jos\u00e9phine refused Napol\u00e9on\u2019s marriage proposal, Barras informed her that he would not longer financially support her and her children. Without Barras support Jos\u00e9phine could find herself penniless. O.K. her mind was made up Napol\u00e9on and Jos\u00e9phine married 1796. Two days after their wedding Napol\u00e9on left for a campaign in Italy. He sent her several love letters expressing his love and asked Jos\u00e9phine to join him in Italy. She refused and had several extramarital affairs while he was in Italy. Finally, Jos\u00e9phine did visit Napol\u00e9on in Italy. After the Italian Campaign Napol\u00e9on returned home still madly in love.\u00a0 Jos\u00e9phine, on the other hand still felt him as a bore.<\/p>\n

During the Egyptian campaign 1978 Napol\u00e9on learned about Jos\u00e9phine\u2019s extramarital affairs. Her unfaithfulness destroyed him emotionally and he never loved Jos\u00e9phine in the pure genuine way he once had. During the Egyptian campaign he took a mistress and continued to have mistresses throughout his marriage to Jos\u00e9phine. In 1804 Napol\u00e9on said, \u201cPower is my mistress.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Napol\u00e9on returned from Egypt he was determine to divorce Jos\u00e9phine. Jos\u00e9phine, a women of her time, had escaped the guillotine and persuaded Napol\u00e9on that they should remain husband and wife. The tables had turned, Napol\u00e9on was now the unfaithful husband and Jos\u00e9phine was madly in love and became the faithful wife. Napol\u00e9on was no longer deeply in love with Josephine but had a deep devotion to her and her children. He recognized her ability has a hostess and her influence in furthering his political ambitions.<\/p>\n

On 1804 at Notre Dame de Paris, Napol\u00e9on crowned himself Emperor of French and Jos\u00e9phine became the Empress. Royals marry to increase power and for male heirs. Napol\u00e9on one of the greatest general of all times had conquered most of Europe except for England and Russia. He needed a wife that could bare a male heir.
\nJos\u00e9phine was six year older than Napol\u00e9on and was barren…<\/p>\n

A New Marriage for Napol\u00e9on could:<\/p>\n

– Strengthen alliances with another world power.<\/p>\n

– A marriage to nobility legitimize Napol\u00e9on\u2019s claim to royalty.<\/p>\n

– Provide a young wife that could bare a male heir.<\/p>\n[masterslider alias=”ms-26″]\n

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Jos\u00e9phine agreed to divorce Napol\u00e9on January 1810 and he married 18 year old Marie-Louise of Austria that same year. Marie-Louise was a member of the House of Habsburg. In 1811 she gave birth to Napol\u00e9on\u2019s son\"Free<\/a>, Napol\u00e9on II. In 1814 Napol\u00e9on Bonaparte was forced to abdicate and was exiled to Elba. Marie-Louise with her son returned to Austria and never saw Napol\u00e9on again.<\/p>\n

Napol\u00e9on and Jos\u00e9phine remained in love until both of their deaths. Napol\u00e9on no longer had the burning passionate love for Jos\u00e9phine but a respected love. She retained the title of Empress and he provided for her and her children after the divorce.<\/p>\n

It is rumored that the last words he uttered was Jos\u00e9phine and her last words were Napol\u00e9on.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time : <\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>Napol\u00e9on and Jos\u00e9phine met at a party given by Director Paul Barras. Ironically, Marie-Joseph-Rose de Beauharnais was Paul Barras mistress at the<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,85],"tags":[77,19,81,83,43,82,4,84,80],"class_list":["post-933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-famous-people","category-history","tag-77","tag-benedicte","tag-bonaparte","tag-famous-people","tag-france","tag-french","tag-gout-design","tag-history","tag-josephine"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=933"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952,"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933\/revisions\/952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goutanddesign.com\/wpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}