Carlo Buonaparte

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Nobile Carlo Maria Buonaparte (March 29/27, 1746 – February 24, 1785) was a Corsican lawyer and politician who briefly served as a personal assistant of the revolutionary leader Pasquale Paoli and eventually rose to become Corsica's representative to the court of Louis XVI. He is also the father of the famed Napoleon I of France.

[edit] Life

He was born in Ajaccio, Corsica as the youngest of three children. His father, Giuseppe Buonaparte, had represented Ajaccio to the council of Corte in 1749. Carlo initially followed in his father's footsteps and studied to be a Lawyer at the Pisa University, but he left after finishing part-way to marry Marie-Letizia Ramolino. Both were of Corsican nobility, and very young at the time of their marriage (Carlo was seventeen, and Marie was fourteen). Their marriage is often seen as one of economic convenience.

For a period after his marriage at Ajaccio on June 2/7, 1764, Carlo worked as a Secretary and Personal assistant to Pasquale Paoli. Paoli sent him to Rome negotiate with Pope Clement XIII in 1766. He had apparently enjoyed his time in Rome up until being forced for reasons unknown back to Corsica in 1768. At the time of his return, the Republic of Genoa had offered Corsica to Louis XV as payment for a debt. Carlo was noted for a fervent speech against the French "invasion". Political upheaval followed as France gained ownership of Corsica, and many of Paoli's supporters had to flee, Carlo and his family included. Marie-Letizia was pregnant with Napoleon Bonaparte at this time.

Soon after the French conquest of the island, Carlo Buonaparte embraced the new government. He was appointed Assessor of the Royal Jurisdiction of Ajaccio and the neighbouring districts on September 20, 1769. Short after that he became a Doctor in Laws at the University of Pisa on November 27, 1769. In April, 1770, the French administration created a Corsican Order of Nobility. He became an Advocate of the Superior Council of Corsica on December 11, 1769 and a Substitute Procurator of the King of France in Ajaccio in October 1770. Carlo already possessed the title of a "Noble Patrician of Tuscany" (Nobile Patrizio di Toscana) since 1769 by permission of the Archbishop of Pisa due to his ancestry, and had his nobility comfirmed on September 13, 1771. He then became the Assessor of the Royal Jurisdiction of Ajaccio in February 1771, Deputy of the Nobility in the General States of Corsica on September 13, 1771, Member of the Council of the Twelve Nobles of Dila (Western Corsica) on May 1772, Deputy of the Nobility of Corsica at the Royal French Court in July 1777 and finally he was named Corsica's Representative to the Court of Louis XVI of France at Versailles in 1778.

Despite being honored with many titles, Carlo's dissatisfied nature led him to embark in risky business enterprises. He made many claims on land and money through legal means, but his success was limited and he burned through his finances rapidly. His apparent fondness of gambling worsened his monetary difficulties. Carlo made note of his situation in his account book:

In Paris, I received 4,000 francs from the King and a fee of 1,000 crowns from the government, but I came back without a penny.

In 1782, Carlo was beginning to grow weak, and was suffering from constant pain. He traveled to Montpellier to seek proper medical care. Nothing could be done to quell the effects of what was believed to be stomach cancer, the very same disease that is said to have killed his son Napoleon. Carlo Buonaparte died on February 24th, 1785, and due to his frivolous spending, left his surviving wife and eight children penniless. His younger son was born only three months before he died.

[edit] Children

Carlo Buonaparte's marriage to Marie-Letizia Romalino produced thirteen children, including a stillborn child. Eight of which survived until adulthood: