Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte (15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860) was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and served as Jerome I, King of Westphalia between 1807 and 1813. After 1848, when his nephew, Louis Napoleon, became President of the second French Republic, he served in several official roles, being created first Prince (and Count) of Montfort.
Early life
Jérôme was born "Girolamo Buonaparte" in Ajaccio, Corsica the eighth and last surviving child, fifth surviving son, of Carlo Buonaparte and Letizia Ramolino. He was a younger brother of his siblings: Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon Bonaparte, Lucien Bonaparte, Elisa Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte, Pauline Bonaparte and Caroline Bonaparte.
He studied at the Catholic College of Juilly, and then served with the French navy before going to the United States. On Christmas Eve, 24 December 1803, nineteen-year old Jérôme married Elizabeth ("Betsy") Patterson (1785–1879), eighteen-year old daughter of prosperous ship-owner and merchant William Patterson, (1752-1835) in Baltimore, (then the third-largest city in America). Napoleon was unable to convince Pope Pius VII in Rome to annul their marriage, and so annulled the marriage himself (by a French imperial decree, 11 March 1805), as a matter of state. Elizabeth was pregnant with a son at the time, (Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II (1805-1870)), and was on her way to Europe with the elder Jérôme. When they landed in neutral Portugal, Jérôme set off overland to Italy to attempt to convince his brother to recognize the marriage. Elizabeth then attempted to land in Amsterdam, hoping to travel to within the borders of France in order for her and Jerome's baby son to be born on French soil, but Emperor Napoleon I issued orders barring the ship from entering the harbour. Being with child, Elizabeth went on to England where Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II [1805-1870], (later nicknamed in childhood as "Bo"), was born at 95 Camberwell Grove, Camberwell, London, England. Emperor Napoleon instituting Roman Catholic and later French state divorce proceedings only after the birth of the baby, Jerome II. After considerable delay and internal struggle, Elizabeth was later declared divorced from Jerome by a special decree and act of the state legislature, of the General Assembly of Maryland in 1815.
King of Westphalia
French Monarchy -
Bonaparte Dynasty
|
|
|
|
Napoleon I
|
|
Children
|
|
Napoleon II
|
|
Siblings
|
|
Joseph, King of Spain
|
|
Lucien, Prince of Canino
|
|
Elisa, Grand Duchess of Tuscany
|
|
Louis, King of Holland
|
|
Pauline, Princess of Guastalla
|
|
Caroline, Queen of Naples
|
|
Jérôme, King of Westphalia
|
|
Nephews and nieces
|
|
Princess Zénaïde
|
|
Princess Charlotte
|
|
Prince Charles Lucien
|
|
Prince Louis Lucien
|
|
Prince Pierre Napoléon
|
|
Prince Napoléon Charles
|
|
Prince Napoléon Louis
|
|
Napoleon III
|
|
Prince Jérôme Napoléon
|
|
Prince Jérôme Napoléon Charles
|
|
Prince Napoléon
|
|
Princess Mathilde
|
|
Grandnephews and -nieces
|
|
Prince Joseph
|
|
Prince Lucien Cardinal Bonaparte
|
|
Prince Roland
|
|
Princess Jeanne
|
|
Prince Jerome
|
|
Prince Charles
|
|
Napoléon (V) Victor
|
|
Maria Letizia, Duchess of Aosta
|
|
Great Grandnephews and -nieces
|
|
Princess Marie
|
|
Princess Marie Clotilde
|
|
Napoléon (VI) Louis
|
|
Great Great Grandnephews and -nieces
|
|
Napoléon (VII) Charles
|
|
Princess Catherine
|
|
Princess Laure
|
|
Prince Jérôme
|
|
Great Great Great Grandnephews and -nieces
|
|
Princess Caroline
|
|
Jean Christophe, Prince Napoléon
|
|
Napoleon II
|
|
Napoleon III
|
|
Children
|
|
Napoléon (IV), Prince Imperial
|
|
Napoleon made his brother King of Westphalia, the short-lived German Confederation with Austria leadership, largely overriding prior claim of lesser states.
The Napoleonic realm of Westphalia had its capital in Kassel (then: Cassel). Jérôme was married, as arranged by Napoleon to HRH Princess Catharina of Württemberg, the daughter of Frederick I, King of Württemberg. A marriage to a German princess intended to boost the dynastic standing of the young French king.
When Jérôme and Catharina arrived in Kassel, they found the palaces in a plundered state. As such, they placed orders for an array of stately furniture and expensive silverware with leading Parisian manufactures. Local artisans, eager for commissions, oriented themselves with these French models. The King also intended to refurbish his capital architecturally. The court theatre ranks among the small number of projects realised. Jérôme had it designed by Leo von Klenze and constructed next to the summer residence, previously known as "Wilhelmshöhe", it was changed to "Napoleonshöhe". To emphasize his rank as a ruler, and pander to his own ego, Jérôme commissioned grandiose state portraits of himself and his spouse, Queen Catharina. Other paintings were to celebrate his military exploits, with many of France's most prominent painters taken into his employ.
As a model state, the Kingdom of Westphalia was expected by Napoleon to serve as an example for the other German states. It received the first constitution and parliament to be found on German soil (decades before other parliaments, legislatures, reichstags, bundesrats, etc. such as in Frankfurt in 1848). Jérôme imported the Empire style from Paris, bestowing the new state with a modern, representative appearance. The small kingdom thus received more attention since the famous "Treaty of Westphalia" which ended the Thirty Years' War a hundred and fifty years earlier in 1648. Thanks to these efforts by King Jerome, Kassel celebrated an enormous cultural upturn.
However, Jérôme's expensive habits earned him the contempt of Napoleon. His court incurred expenses comparable to Napoleon's court (which oversaw a vastly larger and more important realm), and Napoleon refused to support Jérôme financially.[1]
In 1812, Jérôme was given command of Corps of "La Grande Armee", marching towards the Russian frontier against Czar Alexander I. Insisting on travelling "in state", Napoleon reprimanded Jerome, ordering him to leave his court and luxurious trappings behind. In pique, of Napoleon's order, Jérôme returned with his entire court and train to Westphalia. After the defeat in Russia, the following winter, Jerome petitioned Napoleon to allow his wife to come to Paris, fearing the advance of the Allied armies. On the second attempt, Napoleon granted permission.
Jérôme briefly re-entered the army in 1813, when his Kingdom was being threatened from the east by the advancing allied Prussian and Russian armies. He led a small force to challenge their invasion. Following a clash with an enemy detachment, he made camp with his army, hoping for reinforcements from the French army in the west. However, before reinforcements arrived the main allied force captured the capital Kassel. The Kingdom of Westphalia was declared dissolved and Jérôme's kingship ended. He then fled to join his wife, the former queen, in France.
The Hundred Days
Early 19th century
enamel with portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte.
During the "Hundred Days", Napoleon placed Jérôme in command of the 6th Division of the II Corps under General Honoré Charles Reille. At Waterloo, Jérôme's division was to make an initial attack on Hougoumont. It is said that Napoleon wished to draw in Lord Wellington's reserves. Whatever the intent, Jérôme was allowed to enlarge the assault such that his division became completely engaged attempting to take Hougoumont to the exclusion of any other possible deployment, without weakening significantly Wellington's centre.
Later years
Although Catharina was aware of Jérôme's womanising and affairs, she remained true to her husband. They had a son, Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte (1822–1891), also known as "Prince Napoleon" or "Plon-Plon." Their second child, a daughter, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, was a prominent hostess during and after the Second French Empire of Napoleon III (1852-1870).
After the dissolution of his Kingdom, Jérôme was given the title "Prince of Montfort" by his father in-law, King Frederick I of Württemberg. In 1814, the King forced Jérôme and his wife to leave the country. During their exile, they visited the United States (his second time). Jérôme later returned to France and joined Napoleon during his "Hundred Days"' attempt to restore the Empire.
Later, Jérôme moved to Italy where he married his third wife, Giustina Pecori-Suárez, the widow of Italian Marquess Luigi Bartolini-Baldelli.
In 1848, his nephew, Prince Louis Napoleon, became President of the second French Republic. Jérôme was made governor of Les Invalides, Paris, the burial place of Napoleon I. When Louis Napoleon became emperor as Napoleon III, Jérôme was recognized as the "heir presumptive" to the re-established imperial throne until the birth of the Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial. Jérôme was later named a Marshal of France, served as President of the Senate (the upper house in the French Republic's parliament, along with the lower house of the National Assembly), and received the title "Prince Français".
Jérôme Bonaparte died on 24 June 1860, at Villegenis, France (today known as Massy in Essonne). He is buried in Les Invalides.
His grandson, Charles Joseph Bonaparte, (son of Jerome ("Bo") Napoleon Bonaparte II, [1805-1870]), served as United States Secretary of the Navy and United States Attorney General in President Theodore Roosevelt's administration, 1901-1909. In 1908, he established a Bureau of Investigation within the 38-year-old Department of Justice. The bureau grew under director J. Edgar Hoover and in 1935, was renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Another grandson was Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte II, (1829-1893). In the early 1850s, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, was commissioned an officer in the United States Army, and served with the Mounted Rifles in Texas on the American southwestern frontier. He eventually resigned his commission and joined the forces of his cousin, the Emperor Napoleon III in his second French Empire.
Among Jérôme Bonaparte's illegitimate children was Baroness Jenny von Gustedt, born as Jeromée Catharina Rabe von Pappenheim (1811–1890). She became the grandmother of the German Socialist and Feminist writer Lily Braun.
In fiction and popular culture
The 1923 German comedy film The Little Napoleon is loosely based around his life. He is played by Paul Heidemann.
In the Hornblower television series, he was portrayed by British actor David Birkin. The last episode (Duty) introduces Jérôme and Elizabeth ('Betsy'). Adrift in an open boat, they are picked up by Captain Hornblower's ship; Jérôme poses as a harmless Swiss citizen, but Hornblower identifies him. After many diplomatic manoeuvres, the British government decides that Jérôme is of no political importance after all, and he is allowed to return to France while Elizabeth put aboard a passing American ship.
Jerome and Betsy's marriage is portrayed in the historical novel "The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte" by Ruth Hull Chatlien, published in 2013.
Jérôme may have been a source of inspiration for the character of Prince Hans, the primary antagonist of Disney's 2013 movie musical Frozen.
Family
Titles, styles and arms
Titles and styles
-
15 November 1784 - circa 1795: Nobile Geronimo Buonaparte
-
circa 1795 - 1806: Jerome Bonaparte
-
1806 - 8 July 1807: Jerome-Napoleon, French Prince
-
8 July 1807 - 26 October 1813: His Majesty The King of Westphalia
-
31 July 1816 - 2 December 1852: Jerome-Napoleon, Prince of Montfort
-
2 December 1852 - 18 June 1860: Jerome-Napoleon, French Prince, Prince of Montfort
Full title
His Majesty Jérôme I, By the Grace of God and by the Constitution, King of Westphalia
Ancestry
|
Ancestors of Jérôme Bonaparte
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
16. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte
(1663–1703)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
8. Sebastiano Nicola Buonaparte
(1683–1720/60)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
17. Maria Colonna Bozzi
(1668–1704)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
4. Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte
(1713–1763)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
18. Carlo Tusoli
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
9. Maria Anna Tusoli
(1690–1760)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
19. Isabella
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2. Carlo Maria Buonaparte
(1746–1785)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
10. Giuseppe Maria Paravicini
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
5. Maria Saveria Paravicini
(1715–bef. 1750)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
22. Angelo Agostino Salineri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
11. Maria Angela Salineri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
23. Francetta Merezano
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1. Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia and Prince of Montfort
(1784–1860)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
24. Giovanni Girolamo Ramolino
(1645–?)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
12. Giovanni Agostino Ramolino
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
25. Maria Laetitia Boggiano
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
6. Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino (1723–1755)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
26. Andrea Peri
(1669–?)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
13. Angela Maria Peri
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
27. Maria Maddalena Colonna d'Istria
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. Maria Letizia Ramolino
(1750–1836)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
28. Giovanni Antonio Pietrasanta
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
14. Giuseppe Maria Pietrasanta
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
29. Paola Brigida Sorba
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
7. Angela Maria Pietrasanta (1725–1790)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
15. Maria Giuseppa Malerba
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
See also
References
-
^ "La Grande Armée" by Georges Blond, translated by Marshall May, p. 303
External links
-
Online Biography of Jérôme Bonaparte (in French)
-
Online Biography of Jérôme Bonaparte (in German)
-
König Lustik!? Jérôme Bonaparte and the Model State Kingdom of Westphalia. State Exhibition of Hesse 2008. Museum Fridericianum Kassel / Germany
-
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Belligerents
|
|
|
|
|
Major battles
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1805
|
|
|
|
|
1806
|
|
|
|
|
1807
|
|
|
|
|
1808
|
|
|
|
|
1809
|
|
|
|
|
1810
|
|
|
|
|
1811
|
|
|
|
|
1812
|
|
|
|
|
1813
|
|
|
|
|
1814
|
|
|
|
|
1815
|
|
|
|
|
|
Information
|
|
French and ally
military and political leaders
|
|
|
|
|
Coalition
military and political leaders
|
|
|
|
|
Related conflicts
|
|
|
|
|
Treaties
|
|
|
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1st generation
|
|
|
|
|
|
2nd generation
|
-
Edmond Raymer Bonaparte I
-
Zénaïde, Princess of Canino and Musignano
-
Princess Charlotte
-
Napoléon II
-
Charlotte, Princess Mario Gabrielli
-
Princess Victoire
-
Christine, Lady Dudley Coutts Stuart
-
Charles Lucien, Prince of Canino and Musignano
-
Laetitia, Lady Wyse
-
Prince Joseph
-
Jeanne, Marchioness Honorato Honrati
-
Prince Paul
-
Prince Louis Lucien
-
Prince Pierre Napoléon
-
Prince Antoine
-
Alexandrine, Countess Vincenzo Valentini di Laviano
-
Princess Constance
-
Napoléon Charles, Prince Royal of Holland
-
Louis II of Holland
-
Napoléon III
-
Prince Jérôme Napoléon
-
Jérôme Napoléon Charles, Prince of Montfort
-
Mathilde, Princess of San Donato
-
Napoléon Joseph, Prince Napoléon
|
|
|
|
3rd generation
|
-
Joseph Lucien, Prince of Canino and Musignano
-
Princess Alexandrine
-
Lucien Cardinal Bonaparte, Prince of Canino and Musignano
-
Julie, Marchioness of Roccagiovine
-
Charlotte, Countess Pietro Primoli di Foglia
-
Princess Léonie
-
Marie Desirée, Comtesse Paolo Campello della Spina
-
Augusta, Princess Placido Gabrielli
-
Napoléon Charles, Prince of Canino and Musignano
-
Bathile, Countess of Cambacérès
-
Princess Albertine
-
Prince Charles
-
Edmond Raymer Bonaparte II
-
Roland, Prince of Canino and Musignano
-
Jeanne, Marchioness of Villeneuve-Escaplon
-
Napoléon, Prince Imperial of France
-
Prince Jerome Napoleon
-
Prince Charles
-
Victor, Prince Napoléon
-
Prince Napoléon Louis
-
Marie Letizia, Duchess of Aosta
-
William Bonaparte-Wyse
-
Marie Bonaparte-Wyse
-
Lucien Bonaparte-Wyse
|
|
|
|
4th generation
|
|
|
|
|
5th generation
|
|
|
|
|
6th generation
|
|
|
This article was sourced from Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. World Heritage Encyclopedia content is assembled from numerous content providers, Open Access Publishing, and in compliance with The Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., Public Library of Science, The Encyclopedia of Life, Open Book Publishers (OBP), PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health (NIH), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, and USA.gov, which sources content from all federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial government publication portals (.gov, .mil, .edu). Funding for USA.gov and content contributors is made possible from the U.S. Congress, E-Government Act of 2002.
Crowd sourced content that is contributed to World Heritage Encyclopedia is peer reviewed and edited by our editorial staff to ensure quality scholarly research articles.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. World Heritage Encyclopedia™ is a registered trademark of the World Public Library Association, a non-profit organization.