Columbia Pictures
Films can provide us with historical insights that almost nothing else can. While the details won’t always be historically accurate, they can help us understand certain time periods and bring historical figures to life.
Hollywood’s latest historical film is Ridley Scott’s new Napoleon I biopic, starring Joaquin Phoenix as the French conqueror and Vanessa Kirby as his spirited first wife, Empress Joséphine.
While most of us know something about the history of Napoleon, less of us know a lot about the women in his life. While Joséphine may not have been fighting battles like her first husband, she wasn’t exactly living a boring life. From prison to extramarital affairs and fertility issues, Joséphine might be one of the most surprising historical figures we have.
Who Was Empress Joséphine?
Joséphine was born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie in 1763. Her parents were part of the French nobility and she spent most of her childhood on the Caribbean island of Martinique, where her parents own a plantation.
Unfortunately, hurricanes took their toll on the plantation and her family faced financial hardship. At 16 years old, she left the island and moved to mainland France, where she married Alexandre de Beauharnais, the Viscount of Beauharnais.
The couple had two children, a son and a daughter (who would go onto marry Napoleon’s brother and give birth to Napoleon III, the next real emperor of France) but Joséphine wasn’t happy—Beauharnais lived with his mistress. The couple separated but remained married until Beauharnais’ death, which happened by execution during the Reign of Terror.
At this time, Joséphine was imprisoned in Carmes Prison but released after several weeks after the fall of revolutionary Maximilien Robespierre.
What Was Joséphine and Napoleon’s Marriage Really Like?
Joséphine met Napoleon at a society ball in 1795, when he was still a rising star of the revolutionary army. The couple were married within a year of meeting, and even adjusted their ages on their marriage certificate to hide the fact that Joséphine was seven years older than him.
Once married, the couple were frequently apart because of Napoleon’s military campaigns. However, they kept in contact through intensely passionate love letters which are still preserved to this day. Napoleon was particularly lyrical in his letters, famously writing “To live within Josephine is to live in the Elysian fields.”
However, not everything went well for the couple as they both began to have extramarital affairs—Joséphine with French army officer Hippolyte Charles, and Napoleon with Pauline Fourès, the wife of a cavalry officer.
The couple also never had children. In the end, Joséphine agreed to a divorce so that Napoleon could have an heir.
How Did Joséphine Become An Empress?
When Napoleon was elected emperor of France in 1804, he crowned Joséphine as empress. Essentially, she was a de facto queen, taking on many of the same duties as a queen would.
When the couple annulled their marriage in 1810, Napoleon decided that Joséphine should keep the title of empress and even left her the Chateau de Malmaison outside of Paris.
The couple remained on good terms for the rest of their lives, even after Napoleon married Austrian noblewoman Marie Louise (who he divorced in 1814).
That same year, Joséphine died of pneumonia at the château. Napoleon was reportedly heartbroken and was rumoured to have locked himself in his room for two days.
Napoleon died in exile on the island of Saint Helena in 1821. Despite their marriage ending over a decade before Napoleon’s death, his last word’s were said to be “France, the army; head of the army, Joséphine.”
Was Empress Joséphine A Style Icon?
At the time, Joséphine’s style was praised for it’s elegance and the empress is even credited by being responsible for France’s part in the boom of neoclassicism and empire style.
Unfortunately, Joséphine’s fashion interests came at a great expense, with the empress going on huge shopping sprees for shoes, clothing and jewels. In Ernest John Knapton’s 1963 biography, the author wrote that Joséphine amassed a collection of 520 pairs of shoes, 673 dresses, 980 pairs of gloves and 252 hats.
We’re sure that we’ll be seeing some of Joséphine’s iconic style in the new movie.
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