House of Bonaparte

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For other uses, see Bonaparte (disambiguation).

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"Prince Napoléon" redirects here. For other uses, see Prince Napoléon (disambiguation).
House of Bonaparte
French: Maison Bonaparte
Italian and Corsican: Casa di Buonaparte
French imperial family
Coat of Arms of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French
Coat of arms assumed by Emperor Napoleon I
Country First French Empire First & Second French Empire
Flag of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.svg Kingdom of Italy
Bandera de España 1808-1813.svg Kingdom of Spain
Flag of the Netherlands.svg Kingdom of Holland
23x15px Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Westphalia Kingdom of Westphalia
Bandiera Elba.svg Principality of Elba
Andorra Principality of Andorra
24px Grand Duchy of Berg
Flag of the Principality of Lucca (1805-1809).svg Principality of Lucca and Piombino
Titles
Style(s) Imperial Majesty (France)
Majesty (other Crowns)
Founded 18 May 1804 (1804-05-18)[1][2]
Founder Napoleon Bonaparte
Final ruler Napoleon III
Current head Disputed:
Deposition France:
1814 (1st) (1814 (1st))
1815 (2nd) (1815 (2nd))
1870 (3rd) (1870 (3rd))
Italy:
1814 (1814)
Spain:
1813 (1813)
Westphalia:
1813 (1813)
Elba:
1815 (1815)
Ethnicity Corsican (originally Italian)
later French
Cadet branches

The House of Bonaparte (originally Buonaparte) is a former imperial and royal European dynasty of Italian (Genoese) origin. It was founded in 1804 by Napoleon I, the son of Corsican nobleman Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Buonaparte (née Ramolino). Napoleon was a French military leader who rose to power during the French Revolution and who, in 1804, transformed the First French Republic into the First French Empire, five years after his coup d'état of November 1799 (18 Brumaire). Napoleon and the Grande Armée had to fight against every major European power (except for the ones he was allied with, including Denmark-Norway) and dominated continental Europe through a series of military victories during the Napoleonic Wars. He installed members of his family on the thrones of client states, expanding the power of the dynasty.

The House of Bonaparte formed the Imperial House of France during the French Empire, together with some non-Bonaparte family members. In addition to holding the title of Emperor of the French, the Bonaparte dynasty held various other titles and territories during the Napoleonic Wars, including the Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Westphalia, the Kingdom of Holland, and the Kingdom of Naples. The dynasty held power for around a decade until the Napoleonic Wars began to take their toll. Making very powerful enemies, such as Austria, Britain, Russia, and Prussia, as well as royalist (particularly Bourbon) restorational movements in France, Spain, the Two Sicilies, and Sardinia, the dynasty eventually collapsed due to the final defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and the restoration of former dynasties by the Congress of Vienna.

During the reign of Napoleon I, the Imperial Family consisted of the Emperor's immediate relations – his wife, son, siblings, and some other close relatives, namely his brother-in-law Joachim Murat, his uncle Joseph Fesch, and his stepson Eugène de Beauharnais.

Between 1852 and 1870, there was a Second French Empire, when a member of the Bonaparte dynasty again ruled France: Napoleon III, the youngest son of Louis Bonaparte. However, during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the dynasty was again ousted from the Imperial Throne. Since that time, there has been a series of pretenders. Supporters of the Bonaparte family's claim to the throne of France are known as Bonapartists. Current head Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon, has a Bourbon mother.

Italian origins

The Bonaparte (originally Italian: Buonaparte ) family were patricians in the Italian towns of Sarzana, San Miniato and Florence. The name derives from Italian: buona ("good") and parte ("part" or "side"). In Italian, the phrase "buona parte" is used to identify a fraction of considerable, but undefined, size in a totum.

Gianfaldo Buonaparte was the first known Buonaparte at Sarzana around 1200. His descendant Giovanni Buonaparte in 1397 married Isabella Calandrini, a cousin of later cardinal Filippo Calandrini. Giovanni became mayor of Sarzana and was named commissioner of the Lunigiana by Giovanni Maria Visconti in 1408. His daughter, Agnella Berni, was the great-grandmother of Italian poet Francesco Berni and their great-grandson Francesco Buonaparte was an equestrian mercenary at the service of the Genoese Bank of Saint George. In 1490, Francesco Buonaparte went to the island of Corsica, which was controlled by the bank. In 1493, he married the daughter of Guido da Castelletto, representative of the Bank of Saint George in Ajaccio, Corsica. Most of their descendants during subsequent generations were members of the Ajaccio town council. Napoleon's father, Carlo Buonaparte, received a patent of nobility from the King of France in 1771.[1]

There also existed a Buonaparte family in Florence; however, its eventual relation with the Sarzana and San Miniato families is unknown. Jacopo Buonaparte of San Miniato was a friend and advisor to Medici Pope Clement VII. Jacopo was also a witness to and wrote an account of the sack of Rome, which is one of the most important historical documents recounting that event.[3] Two of Jacopo's nephews, Pier Antonio Buonaparte and Giovanni Buonaparte, however, took part in the 1527 Medici rebellion, after which they were banished from Florence and later were restored by Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence. Jacopo's brother Benedetto Buonaparte maintained political neutrality.[4] The San Miniato branch extinguished with Jacopo in 1550. The last member of the Florence family was a canon named Gregorio Bonaparte, who died in 1803, leaving Napoleon as heir.[5]

A Buonaparte tomb lies in the Church of San Francesco in San Miniato. A second tomb, the Chapelle Impériale, was built by Napoleon III in Ajaccio 1857.

  • Coat of arms of the Buonaparte of Sarzana

  • Coat of arms of th Bonaparte family in San Miniato.svg

    Coat of arms of the Buonaparte of San Miniato

  • Blason fam it Firenze Santa Maria Novella.svg

    Coat of arms of the Buonaparte of Florence

Imperial House of France

Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801), by Jacques-Louis David
Imperial coat of arms
The Four Napoleons

Napoleon I is the most prominent name associated with the Bonaparte family because he conquered much of Europe during the early 19th century. Due to his indisputable popularity in France both among the people and in the army, he staged the Coup of 18 Brumaire and overthrew the Directory with the help of his brother Lucien Bonaparte, president of the Council of Five Hundred. Napoleon then oversaw the creation of a new Constitution that made him the First Consul of France on 10 November 1799. On 2 December 1804, he crowned himself Emperor of the French and ruled from 1804 to 1814, and again in 1815 during the Hundred Days after his return from Elba.

Following his conquest of most of Western Europe, Napoleon I made his elder brother Joseph king first of Naples and then of Spain, his younger brother Louis King of Holland (subsequently forcing his abdication in 1810 after his failure to subordinate Dutch interests to those of France), and his youngest brother Jérôme King of Westphalia, a short-lived realm created from several states of northwestern Germany.

Napoleon's son Napoléon François Charles Joseph was created King of Rome and was later styled as Napoléon II by loyalists of the dynasty, though he only ruled for two weeks after his father's abdication.

Louis-Napoléon, son of Louis, was President of France and then Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870, reigning as Napoleon III. His son, Napoléon, Prince Imperial, died fighting the Zulus in Natal, today the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. With his death, the family lost much of its remaining political appeal, though claimants continue to assert their right to the imperial title. A political movement for Corsican independence surfaced in the 1990s which included a Bonapartist restoration in its programme.[citation needed]

Crowns held by the family

Emperors of the French

Kings of Holland

King of Naples

King of Westphalia

King of Spain

Grand Duchess of Tuscany

Heads of the House of Bonaparte (since 1852)

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See also: Line of succession to the French throne (Bonapartist)

Disputed since 1997:

The family tree

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Carlo-Maria (Ajaccio, 1746–Montpellier, 1785) married Maria Letizia Ramolino (Ajaccio, 1750–Rome, 1836) in 1764. He was a minor official in the local courts. They had eight children:

  1. Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte (Corte, 1768–Florence, 1844), King of Naples, then King of Spain, married Julie Clary.[group 1]
  2. Napoléon (I) Bonaparte (1769–1821) Emperor of the French: Married (i) Joséphine de Beauharnais; no issue. Adopted Eugène and Hortense de Beauharnais. Married (ii) Marie Louise of Austria;
  3. Lucien Bonaparte (1775–1840) Roman Prince of Canino and Musignano
  4. Maria-Anna Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820), Grand-Duchess of Tuscany, married Félix Baciocchi, Prince of Lucca
    • Marie-Laetitia Bonaparte Baciocchi
  5. Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (1778–1846), King of Holland, married Hortense de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepdaughter
  6. Maria Paola or Marie Pauline Bonaparte (1780–1825) Princess and Duchess of Guastalla, married in 1797 to French General Charles Leclerc and later married Camillo Borghese, 6th Prince of Sulmona.
  7. Maria Annunziata Caroline Bonaparte (1782–1839) married Joachim Murat, Marshal of France, Grand Duke of Berg, then King of Naples
  8. Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (1784–1860), King of Westphalia


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Bonaparte arms

The arms of the Bonaparte family were: Gules two bends sinister between two mullets or. In 1804, Napoleon I changed the arms to Azure an imperial eagle or. The change applied to all members of his family except for his brother Lucien and his nephew, the son from Jerome's first marriage.

DNA research

According to studies by G. Lucotte and his coauthors based on DNA research since 2011, Napoleon Bonaparte belonged to Y-DNA (direct male ancestry) haplogroup E1b1b1c1* (E-M34*). This 15000-year-old haplogroup has its highest concentration in Ethiopia and in the Near East (Jordan, Yemen). According to the authors of the study, "Probably Napoléon also knew his remote oriental patrilineal origins, because Francesco Buonaparte (the Giovanni son), who was a mercenary under the orders of the Genoa Republic in Ajaccio in 1490, was nicknamed The Maure of Sarzane." The latest study identifies the common Bonaparte DNA markers from Carlo (Charles) Bonaparte to 3 living descendants.[6][7]

Lucotte et al. published in October 2013 the extended Y-STR of Napoleon I based on descendant testing, and the descendants were E-M34, just like the emperor's beard hair tested a year before. The persons tested were the patrilineal descendants of Jérome Bonaparte, one of Napoleon's brothers, and of Alexandre Colonna-Walewski, Napoleon's illegitimate son with Marie Walewska. These three tests all yielded the same Y-STR haplotype (109 markers) confirming with 100% certainty that the first Emperor of the French belonged to the M34 branch of haplogroup E1b1b.

STR strongly suggests that the Bonaparte belong to the Y58897 branch, which means that the ancestor 3000 years ago or a bit more lived in Anatolia, but all relatives in the database with a common ancestor with over a 1000 years are found in their own the Massa - La Spezia small area in Italy.[8][9][10] There are at the moment no relatives in the database older than that, which means they are very rare in Europe.

Living members

Charles, Prince Napoléon (born 1950, great-great-grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte by his second marriage), and his son Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon (born 1986 and appointed heir in the will of his grandfather Louis, Prince Napoléon) currently dispute the headship of the Bonaparte family.[11] The only other male member of the family is Charles's recently married (2013) brother, Prince Jérôme Napoléon (born 1957). There are no other legitimate descendants in the male line from Napoleon I or from his brothers.

There are, however, numerous descendants of Napoleon's illegitimate but unacknowledged son, Count Alexandre Colonna-Walewski (1810–1868), born from Napoleon I's union with Marie, Countess Walewski. A descendant of Napoleon's sister Caroline Bonaparte was actor René Auberjonois. Recent DNA-matches with living descendants of Jérôme and Count Walewski have confirmed the existence of descendants of Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, namely the Clovis family.[7]

  • Napoleon II - Napoleon I's only legitimate child. Portrait by Moritz Daffinger

  • Charles, Count Léon (1806–1881), son of Napoleon I

  • Comte Walewski (1856) Napoleon I's unacknowledged son

  • Jérôme Bonaparte, founder of the surviving legitimate Bonapartist line of succession

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Julie was sister of Napoleon's childhood sweetheart, Désirée, who was to become the wife of General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (later Charles XIV, King of Sweden).

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Jacopo Bonaparte: Sac de Rome. Écrit EN 1527 par Jacques Bonaparte. Témoin oculaire, hrsgg. by Bonaparte, Napoléon Louis, Florenz 1850
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

House of Bonaparte
Vacant
Title last held by
House of Bourbon
as King of France		 Ruling House of the French Empire
1804–1814		 Succeeded by
House of Bourbon
as King of France
Vacant
Title last held by
House of Orléans
as King of the French		 Ruling House of the French Empire
1852–1870		 Empire Abolished
Third French Republic Declared
Preceded by as Nominal King of Italy Ruling House of the Kingdom of Italy
1805–1814		 Succeeded by
House of Habsburg
as King of Lombardy–Venetia
Preceded by as Kings of Spain and Naples Ruling House of the Kingdom of Naples
1806–1808		 Succeeded by
House of Murat
Reverted to Spanish Bourbons in 1815)
Ruling House of the Kingdom of Spain
1808–1813		 Succeeded by
House of Bourbon
Preceded by
New Creation
Succeeded the Batavian Republic
 Ruling House of the Kingdom of Holland
1806–1810		 Kingdom Abolished
Part of the French Empire
Kingdom of the Netherlands created in 1815
Preceded by
New Creation
Formed from the territories ceded by Prussia in Peace of Tilsit
 Ruling House of the Kingdom of Westphalia
1807–1813		 Kingdom Abolished
Dissolved after Battle of Leipzig
Status quo of 1806 restored
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