House of Bonaparte

House of Bonaparte
Country	French Empire Kingdom of Italy Kingdom of Spain Kingdom of Westphalia Kingdom of Holland Kingdom of Naples Grand Duchy of Tuscany
Titles	Emperor of the French Emperor in Elba King of Italy King of Spain King of Holland King of Westphalia King of Naples King of Rome (courtesy title only) Grand Duchess of Tuscany
Founded	1804
Founder	Napoleon, Emperor of the French
Final ruler	Napoleon III, Emperor of the French
Current head	Disputed: Charles, Prince Napoléon or Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon
Dissolution	1815: Bourbon Restoration 1870: Defeat in Franco-Prussian War
Ethnicity	Corsican (originally Tuscany) later French
Cadet branches	Prince Canino Line (extinct) Prince Napoléon Line

The House of Bonaparte was an imperial and royal European dynasty founded by Napoleon in 1804, a French military leader who rose to notability out of the French Revolution and transformed the French Republic into the First French Empire within five years of his coup d'état. Napoleon turned the Grande Armée against every major European power 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, founding 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 their ancestral Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Westphalia, the Kingdom of Holland and the Kingdom of Naples. The dynasty was in a position of power for around a decade until the Napoleonic Wars began to take their toll. Making very powerful enemies such as Austria, United Kingdom, Russia and Prussia, as well as royalist (particularly Bourbon) restorational movements in France, Spain, the Two Sicilies and Sardinia, the dynasty eventually collapsed under its own weight.

The imperial family during Napoleon's reign consisted of the members of the Bonaparte family – Napoleon, his siblings, his wife and son – and some other close relatives, namely Joachim Murat, Joseph Fesch and Eugène de Beauharnais.

Between the years 1852 and 1870 there was a Second French Empire, again a member of the Bonaparte dynasty would rule; Napoleon III the son of Louis Bonaparte. However after the Franco-Prussian War, 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 is ironically from a Bourbon mother.

Italian Origins

The Bonaparte (originally Buonaparte) family were from minor Italian nobility who held most of their property in the hill town of San Miniato near Florence, Italy. The name derives from Italian, buona, "good" and parte, "part" or "side".

After settling in Florence the family enjoyed a relationship with the then ruling Medici family. Jacopo Buonaparte 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.^[1] 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.^[2]

The family later separated into two branches; One stayed in San Miniato, and the other moved to Sarzana. Buonaparte-Sarzana, Nobili di Sarzana had been compelled to leave Florence due to the defeat of the Ghibellines. A member of the Sarzana branch and ancestor to Napoleon, Francesco Buonaparte came to Corsica in 16th century and the island was in Genoese possession.

The Buonaparte tomb lies in the Church of San Francesco in San Miniato.

The last member of the Italian branches was a canon named Gregoire Bonaparte, who died in 1803 leaving Napoleon as heir.^[3]

Imperial House of France

Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1801), by Jacques-Louis David.

Imperial coat of arms

The Four Napoleons

Napoleon is the most prominent name associated with the Bonaparte family because he conquered much of the Western world during the early part of the 19th century. He was elected as First Consul of France on 10 November 1799 with the help of his brother, Lucien Bonaparte, and president of the Council of Five Hundred at Saint-Cloud. He was crowned Emperor of the French and ruled from 1804–1814, 1815.

Following his conquest of most of Western Europe, the first Napoleon made his elder brother Joseph (1768–1844) king first of Naples (1806–1808) and then of Spain (1808–1813), his third brother Louis (1778–1846) King of Holland (1806–1810) (subsequently forcing his abdication after his failure to subordinate Dutch interests to those of France) and his youngest brother Jérôme Bonaparte (1784–1860) King of Westphalia, the short-lived realm created from some of the states of northwestern Germany (1807–1813).

Napoleon's son Napoléon François Charles Joseph (1811–1832) was created King of Rome (1811–1814) and was later styled Napoléon II by loyalists of the dynasty, though he only ruled for two weeks after his father's abdication. Louis-Napoléon (1808–1873), son of Louis, was president of France in 1848–1852 and emperor in 1852–1870, reigning as Napoleon III; his son, Napoléon, Prince Imperial (1856–1879) died fighting the Zulus in Natal, South Africa. 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.

Crowns held by the family

Emperors of the French

• Napoleon (1804–1814, 1815), also King of Italy (1805–1814) and Emperor in Elba (1814–1815)
• Napoleon II (1815), styled King of Rome from birth, but never reigned
• Napoleon III (1852–1870)

Kings of Holland

• Louis I (1806–1810)
• Louis II (1810), also Grand Duke of Berg (1809–1813)

King of Naples

• Joseph I (1806–1808)

King of Westphalia

• Jérôme I (1807–1813)

King of Spain

• Joseph I (1808–1813)

Grand Duchess of Tuscany

• Elisa Bonaparte (1809–1814)

The family tree

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

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 Bonaparte (Corte, 1768–Florence, 1844), King of Naples, then King of Spain, married Julie Clary, sister of Napoleon's childhood sweetheart, Désirée, who was to become the wife of General Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (later Charles XIV of Sweden)
   • Julie Joséphine Bonaparte (1796–1796)
   • Zénaïde Laetitia Julie Bonaparte (1801–1854)
   • Charlotte Napoléone Bonaparte (1802–1839)
2. Napoléon (I) Bonaparte (1769–1821) Emperor of the French
   • Napoléon (II) François Joseph Charles Bonaparte (1811–1832), Prince Imperial, King of Rome, Prince of Parma, son of Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria (of the Habsburg dynasty), Empress consort, then Duchess of Parma
3. Lucien Bonaparte (1775–1840) Roman Prince of Canino and Musignano
   • 3 daughters with first wife, Christine Boyer:
     • Charlotte Christine Bonaparte (1795–1865), married Prince Mario Gabrielli
     • Victoire Gertrude Bonaparte (1797–1797)
     • Christine Charlotte Alexandrine Egypta Bonaparte (1798–1847), married Count Arvid Posse, then married Lord Dudley Stuart
   • 10 children with second wife, Alexandrine de Bleschamp:
     • Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte (1803–1857), ornithologist and politician married Princess Zénaïde Bonaparte (1801–1854)
       • Joseph Lucien Charles Napoléon Bonaparte (1824–1865)
       • Alexandrine Gertrude Zénaïde Bonaparte (1826–1828)
       • Lucien Louis Joseph Napoléon (Cardinal) Bonaparte (1828–1895)
       • Julie Charlotte Pauline Zénaïde Laetitia Désirée Bartholomée Bonaparte (1830–1900)
       • Charlotte Honorine Joséphine Pauline Bonaparte (1832–1901)
       • Léonie Stéphanie Elise Bonaparte (1833–1839)
       • Marie Désirée Eugénie Joséphine Philomène Bonaparte (1835–1890)
       • Augusta Amélie Maximilienne Jacqueline Bonaparte (1836–1900)
       • Napoléon Charles Grégoire Jacques Philippe Bonaparte (1839–1899)
         • Zénaïde Victoire Eugénie Bonaparte (1860–1862)
         • Marie Léonie Eugénie Mathilde Jeanne Julie Zénaïde Bonaparte (1870–1947)
         • Eugénie Laetitia Barbe Caroline Lucienne Marie Jeanne Bonaparte (1872–1949)
       • Bathilde Aloïse Léonie Bonaparte (1840–1861)
       • Albertine Marie Thérèse Bonaparte (1842–1842)
       • Charles Albert Edmond Bonaparte (1843–1847)
     • Laetitia Christine Bonaparte (1804–1871)
     • Joseph Lucien Bonaparte (1806–1807)
     • Jeanne Adélaïde Bonaparte (1807–1829)
     • Paul Marie Bonaparte (1808–1827)
     • Louis Lucien Bonaparte (1813–1891)
     • Pierre Napoléon Bonaparte (1815–1881)
       • Roland Bonaparte (1858–1924) married Marie Blanc
         • Princess Marie Bonaparte (1882–1962) married Prince George of Greece
       • Princess Jeanne Bonaparte (1861–1910)
     • Antoine Lucien Bonaparte (1816–1877)
     • Alexandrine Marie Bonaparte (1818–1874)
     • Constance Marie Bonaparte (1823–1876)
4. Maria-Anna Elisa Bonaparte (1777–1820), Grand-Duchess of Tuscany, married Félix Bacciochi Levoy, Prince of Lucca
   • Marie-Laetitia Bonaparte Bacciochi Levoy
5. Louis Bonaparte (1778–1846), King of Holland, married Hortense de Beauharnais, Napoleon's stepdaughter
   • Napoléon Charles Bonaparte (1802–1807)
   • Napoléon Louis Bonaparte (1804–1831)
   • Charles Louis Napoléon (III) Bonaparte (1808–1873) Emperor of the French, married Maria Eugenia Ignacia Augustina Palafox de Guzmán Portocarrero y Kirkpatrick
     • Napoléon Eugène Louis John Joseph Bonaparte, Prince Imperial (1856–1879)
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
   • Prince Achille Murat (1801–1847), married Catherine Willis Gray (1803–1867), great-grandniece of George Washington.
   • Prince Napoléon Lucien Charles Murat (16 May 1803–10 April 1878), married Caroline Georgina Fraser (1810–1879).
     • 5 Children, including:
     • Prince Louis Napoléon Murat (Paris, December 22, 1851 – Paris, September 22, 1912), married in Odessa, 23 November 1873 Eudoxia Mikhailovna Somova (Kharkov, February 17, 1850–Nice, May 6, 1924), related to Orest Somov, and had issue now extinct in male line (great-grandfather of actor René Auberjonois)
8. Jérôme Bonaparte (1784–1860), King of Westphalia
   • 1 child from first marriage, to Betsy Patterson of Baltimore:
   • Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte (1805–1870), married Susan May Williams
     • 2 sons:
     • Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II (1830–1893), married Caroline Le Roy Appleton Edgar
       • Louise-Eugénie Bonaparte (1873–1923), married in 1896 Count Adam Carl von Moltke-Huitfeld (1864–1944)
       • Jerome Napoléon Charles Bonaparte II (1878–1945), married Blanche Pierce Stenbeigh: no posterity
     • Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1851–1921), U.S. Attorney General married Ellen Channing Day
   • 3 children from second marriage, to Princess Catharina of Württemberg, including:
   • Jérôme Napoléon Charles Bonaparte I (1814–1847)
   • Mathilde Laetitia Wilhelmine Bonaparte (1820–1904), married Anatoly Nikolaievich Demidov, 1st Prince of San Donato: no posterity
   • Napoléon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon (1822–1891), called Plon-Plon married Princess Marie Clothilde of Savoy daughter of Victor Emmanuel II of Italy
     • Napoléon Victor Jérôme Frédéric Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon (1862–1926) married Princess Clémentine of Belgium
       • Marie Clotilde Eugénie Alberte Laetitia Geneviève Bonaparte (1912–1996) married Count Serge de Witt
       • Louis Jérôme Victor Emmanuel Léopold Marie Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon (1914–1997), married Alix de Foresta
         • Charles Marie Jérôme Victor Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon (born 1950)
           • Two children from first marriage, to Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies of the Bourbon family:
           • Caroline Marie Constance Bonaparte (Princess Caroline Napoléon) (born 1980)
           • Jean-Christophe Louis Ferdinand Albéric Bonaparte, Prince Napoléon (born 1986)
           • 1 child and 1 adopted child from second marriage, to Jeanne-Françoise Valliccioni (born 1958):
           • Sophie Catherine Bonaparte (born 1992)
           • Anh Laëtitia Bonaparte (born 1998, adopted)
         • Catherine Elisabeth Albérique Marie Bonaparte (born 1950)
         • Laure Clémentine Geneviève Bonaparte (born 1952)
         • Jérôme Xavier Marie Joseph Victor Bonaparte (Prince Jérôme Napoléon) (born 1957)
     • Napoléon Louis Joseph Jérôme Bonaparte (1864–1932) Russian General
     • Marie Laetitia Eugénie Catherine Adélaïde Bonaparte (1866–1926) married Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta

Bonaparte arms

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

• 

  Armoiries de Charles-Marie Bonaparte.

• 

  Arms of Napoleon and Napoleon II, as Emperor of the French.

• 

  Arms of Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain.

• 

  Arms of Lucien Bonaparte, Prince of Canino and Musignano.

• 

  Arms of Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland.

• 

  Arms of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia.

2011 DNA research

According to a study in 2011, Napoleon Bonaparte, and therefore all the Bonaparte (males only), belonged to haplogroup E1b1b1c1* (E-M34*). This haplogroup, rare in Europe, 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 ".^[4]

Living Members

The headship of the family is in dispute between Charles, Prince Napoléon, born 1950, great-great-grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte by his second marriage; and his son Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon (born 1986) who was appointed heir in the will of his grandfather Louis, Prince Napoléon. The only other male member of the family is Charles' unmarried brother, Prince Jérôme Napoléon (born 1957). There are no remaining descendants in the male line from any other of Napoleon's brothers. There are, however, numerous descendants of Napoleon's illegitimate, but recognized son Walewski from his union with Marie, Countess Walewski. Of these include the Wattier family and its union with the Bonaparte family. The later descendants were the Peschongs and Herrs. A descendant of Napoleon's sister Caroline Bonaparte is actor René Auberjonois.

See also

• History of France
• History of Spain
• History of Italy
• History of the Netherlands
• Line of succession to the French throne (Napoleonic)
• Napoleon (disambiguation)
• Timeline of the Napoleonic era

References

External links

• Genealogy of the Bonaparte family
• Paul Theroff, Bonaparte descendants (includes female-line and illegitimate descendants)
• (Italian) The coat of arms of the Tuscan branch of Bonaparte family in State Archives of Florence