Charles Lucien Bonaparte

Charles Lucien Bonaparte

Charles Lucien Bonaparte
Born 24 May 1803
Died 29 July 1857 (aged 54)
Nationality French
Fields zoology

Charles Lucien (Carlo Luciano) Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French biologist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte.

Biography

Bonaparte was the son of Lucien Bonaparte and Alexandrine de Bleschamp, and nephew of Emperor Napoleon. He was raised in Italy. On 29 June 1822, he married his cousin, Zénaïde, in Brussels. Soon after the marriage, the couple left for Philadelphia in the United States to live with Zénaïde's father, Joseph Bonaparte.[1] Before leaving Italy, Carlo had already discovered a warbler new to science, the Moustached Warbler, and on the voyage he collected specimens of a new storm-petrel. On arrival in the United States, he presented a paper on this new bird, which was later named after Alexander Wilson.

Bonaparte then set about studying the ornithology of the United States[1] and updating Wilson's American Ornithology. The revised edition was published between 1825 and 1833. In 1824, Bonaparte tried to get the then unknown John James Audubon accepted by the Academy of Natural Sciences, but this was opposed by the ornithologist George Ord.

At the end of 1826, Bonaparte and his family returned to Europe. He visited Germany, where he met Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar, and England, where he met John Edward Gray at the British Museum, and renewed his acquaintance with Audubon. In 1828, the family settled in Rome. In Italy, he was the originator of several scientific congresses, and lectured and wrote extensively on American and European ornithology and other branches of natural history.[1] Between 1832 and 1841, Bonaparte published his work on the animals of Italy, Iconografia della Fauna Italica. He had also published Specchio Comparativo delle Ornithologie di Roma e di Filadelfia (Pisa, 1827), presenting a comparison between birds of the latitude of Philadelphia and Italian species.[1] He created the genus Zenaida, after his wife, for the Mourning Dove and its relatives.

In 1849, he was elected to the Roman Assembly and participated in the creation of the Roman Republic. According to Jasper Ridley, when the Assembly convened for the first time: "When the name of Carlo Bonaparte, who was a member for Viterbo, was called, he replied to the roll-call by calling out Long live the Republic!" (Viva la Repubblica!).[2] He participated in the defense of Rome against the 40,000 French troops sent by his cousin Louis Napoleon. He left Rome after the Republican army was defeated in July 1849. He landed at Marseilles, but was ordered to leave the country by Louis Napoleon. He reaffirmed his political beliefs the following year in naming Wilson's Bird-of-paradise (Cicinnurus respublica) in honor of the republican idea.

He travelled to England, attending the meeting of the British Association in Birmingham. He then visited Sir William Jardine in southern Scotland. Charles then began work on preparing a methodical classification of all the birds in the world, visiting museums across Europe to study the collections. In 1850,[1] he was allowed to return to France and made Paris his home for the rest of his life. In 1854, he became director of the Jardin des Plantes.[1] In 1855, he was made a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He published the first volume of his Conspectus Generum Avium before his death, the second volume being edited by Hermann Schlegel.

Bonaparte also studied amphibians and reptiles, and is the author of Vipera ursinii, commonly known as Orsini's viper.

Family

Prince Charles and Princess Zénaïde Bonaparte had twelve children, listed below :

Name Date of birth Date of death
Joseph Lucien Charles Napoleon Bonaparte, 3rd Prince of Canino and Musignano13 February 18242 September 1865 (aged 41)
Alexandrine Gertrude Zénaïde Bonaparte9 June 1826 May 1828
Lucien Louis Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte, 4th Prince of Canino and Musignano15 November 182819 November 1895 (aged 67)
Julie Charlotte Bonaparte5 June 183028 October 1900 (aged 70)
Charlotte Honorine Joséphine Pauline Bonaparte4 March 18321 October 1901 (aged 69)
Léonie Stéphanie Elise Bonaparte18 September 183314 September 1839 (aged 5)
Marie Désirée Eugénie Joséphine Philomène Bonaparte18 March 183528 August 1890 (aged 55)
Augusta Amélie Maximilienne Jacqueline Bonaparte (married the son of Charlotte Bonaparte Gabrielli)9 November 183629 March 1900 (aged 63)
Napoléon Charles Grégoire Jacques Philippe Bonaparte, 5th Prince of Canino and Musignano5 February 183911 February 1899 (aged 60)
Bathilde Aloïse Léonie Bonaparte26 November 18409 June 1861 (aged 20)
Albertine Marie Thérèse Bonaparte12 March 18423 June 1842 (aged 0)
Charles Albert Bonaparte22 March 18436 December 1847 (aged 4)

Works

In conjunction with M. de Pouancé, he also prepared descriptive catalogue of pigeons and one of parrots which were published after his death. Among his papers published are:

References

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5  Wilson, James Grant; Fiske, John, eds. (1900). "Bonaparte, Charles Lucien Jules Laurent". Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.
  2. ↑ Jasper Ridley, Garibaldi, Viking Press (1976), p. 268.

Bibliography

External links

Charles Lucien Bonaparte
House of Bonaparte
Born: 24 May 1803 Died: 29 July 1857
Titles of nobility
Preceded by
Lucien I		 Prince of Canino and Musignano
1840–1857 		Succeeded by
Joseph