#buonaparte

[ic-napology]

Was chatting just right now with @credo--ergo-sum and suddenly remembered my main silly Naposéphine headcanon. Now I need to share it with you too.

So Napoleon gave Josephine the name she's famous with, but I headcanon that it also happened viceversa. I've always been bothered by how she called him "Bonaparte" despite them being very close. I know that it was normal back then, but it still feels odd to me, so I needed to find some other reason.

Naps dropped the U from his original surname Buonaparte around the time of their marriage. It was for pronounciation purposes, because "uo" is not pronounced the same way in Italian and in French. Maybe many thought it was actually "ou". If you know both languages you know it's a little mess.

I keep imagining Napoleon hearing his name contantly butchered for seventeen years, even without mocking intentions. In the context of his first years in France, it must have drawn a parallel with how excluded and estranged he felt. A name represents you and the way people treat it represents how they take you and your presence. Also think about how the British made a point of calling him "BUonaparte", as a reminder of how he wasn't even French to begin with, much less deserving of being their sovereign.

The period around his marriage was crucial for Napoleon's process to belong to the French society, which the marriage itself was a huge part of. It makes sense that he took the name-changing decision now.

I headcanon that "Bonaparte" was the way Josephine personally butchered his name. Can't bother with dealing with a difficult sound, so let's drop it already - that seems typical Josephine laziness. Especially about letters you may also write ("oh non, please don't talk to me about writing...")

But Napoleon might have actually liked the sound of it. Maybe he liked it because it came from her? That's not important. He surely must have liked how it was faster to write too. He would then take inspiration from that to change his surname.

Josephine helped Napoleon when he had to enter in Parisian society and become the figure we know today as Napoleon Bonaparte. It's nice to think that his final name was her idea, not just the opposite, as in "I helped in creating you so your name will tell everyone about it".

That would mean that Josephine sticked to "Bonaparte" as a reminder of that.

Do you like this headcanon? Hope it isn't too much of a stretch from reality!

[empirearchives]

Hi! I was wondering is there an actual source stating that calling Napoléon "Buonaparte" was meant as derogatory? I've read here (https://mrodenberg.com/2012/09/13/bonaparte-or-buonaparte/) that on Saint-Helena, the British addressed him as that to undermine his legitimacy as French ruler. Also, I know of another historical figure, Prieur de la Côte-d'Or, who not being very fond of him used the same appellation when talking about Napoleon

Hey! Yes, it was definitely used in a derogatory way to delegitimize Napoleon’s rule by denying his frenchness. Napoleon’s brother, Louis, commented on this in his A Reply to Sir Walter Scott’s History of Napoleon in 1829:

Another visible object is, that of desiring to make Napoleon pass as a foreigner in France. In fact, if such were not the intentions of the author, why this obstinacy in writing the family name of Napoleon, Buonaparte, instead of Bonaparte, consecrated as it is by long habit? Certainly the letter O is not more or less noble or French than the letter U, but it is done to impress a foreign character upon Napoleon, and divide his glory from that of France.

The Italian nation is sufficiently glorious for one to be proud of belonging to it, especially of deriving one’s origin from this beautiful country; but when one has been born under the laws of France, grown up on its soil, with no other knowledge of foreign countries, even of beautiful Italy, than that gained with the victorious legions of France, it is rather too ridiculous to receive from an English author the certificate of a foreigner.

The name Buonaparte was being used by the coalitions before the St. Helena years, especially by the British, so there are quite a lot of examples.

To be clear, Buonaparte was Napoleon’s birth name and the name he preferred to go by for over 20 years. He changed his name during the French Revolution during a wave of name changes across France to more revolutionary and patriotic names. That being said, Bonaparte is already listed as his name on his baptism certificate* in 1771 (“Neapoleone Bonaparte”) when he was nearly 2 years old, which is 3 years into French rule of Corsica. On the same document, his father’s name is spelled as Buonaparte.

It’s a little complicated. The spelling of names weren’t very standardized and were subject to a lot of variation. But the usage of the name Buonaparte was definitely intentional among Napoleon’s enemies. You can tell pretty easily when someone is saying it in a bad faith manner.

From the historian Andrew Roberts (Napoleon: A Life):

For decades thereafter, British and Bourbon propagandists re-inserted the ‘u’ in order to emphasize Napoleon’s foreignness, such as in François-René de Chateaubriand’s snappily titled 1814 pamphlet Of Buonaparte and the Bourbons and the Necessity of Rallying Round our Legitimate Princes for the Happiness of France and that of Europe, in which he wrote: ‘No hope was left of finding among Frenchmen a man bold enough to dare to wear the crown of Louis XVI. A foreigner offered himself, and was accepted’ (Chateaubriand, Of Buonaparte p. 5). Even after the British royal family changed the name of their dynasty from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor in 1917, some British historians still ridiculed Napoleon for dropping the ‘u’ from his surname.

It becomes obvious when people change how they refer to Napoleon depending on their current stance or relationship with him. For example, when France and Russia were allies, Tsar Alexander I calls him Napoleon or even the Emperor Napoleon. But when the alliances change and Napoleon is removed from power, Alexander referred to him as Buonaparte.

From the historian Marie-Pierre Rey (Alexander I):

Alexander’s use of the Corsican family name of Buonaparte is interesting, implying that for Alexander Napoléon was no longer emperor of the French — and not even French by nationality!

So there were two purposes to calling him Buonaparte: to accentuate his commoner origins as well as his foreignness in order to delegitimize his authority as head of state.

Thanks for the interesting question!

————

* (The baptism document can be found on Archives de la Corse-du-Sud -> Etat Civil -> Ajaccio -> 1771 -> Baptemes -> 6 MI 4/21)

[dreamconsumer]

Empress Josephine.

[roehenstart]

Joseph Bonaparte (1768-1844). Unknown artist.

[worldhistorian1845]

Napoleon Buonaparte

Napoleon was a very important person in reforming the French education system, as also creating something called civil code, and he also negotiated the Concordat of 1801. The Concordat of 1801 was a agreement with Napoleon Buonaparte and Pope Pius VII that redefined the status of Roman Catholic Church's in France after the French Revolution.

To further add on, Napoleon was a Former Emperor of the French side, which gave his respect and popularity after his death and before his death. His most important achievement for the French side was that he was one of the most successful generals of the French armies. To conclude, Napoleon Buonaparte was one of the most popular people in history, forming some of Europe and it's most important decisions.

[ringio]

[lilysfroggies]

Anniversary of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Death

Rest in Peace 💐

[napoleonic-confessions]

[duchesssoflennox]

EIGHT SURVIVING CHILDREN OF CARLO AND LETIZIA BONAPARTE, SIBLINGS OF NAPOLEON I 🥺🌟♥️

254 years ago on this day, Napoleon Bonaparte, the first French emperor was born

On the occasion of his birthday, meet the Eight surviving children of Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte, who lived to adulthood

Letizia Bonaparte gave birth to 13 children between 1768 and 1784; five of them died, two at birth and three in their infancy...😥🥀

Among the 13 children, the first child who died was Napoleone Buonaparte, who was born on August 17, 1765 and died on the same day... The last child to die was Jérôme Bonaparte, who died 95 years after his eldest brother...

The registered names of all the children of Carlo and Letizia Bonaparte:

• Napoleone Buonaparte (born and died 17 August 1765)

• Maria Anna Buonaparte (3 January 1767 – 1 January 1768)

• Joseph Bonaparte (7 January 1768 – 28 July 1844)

• Napoleon Bonaparte (Later French emperor) (15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821)

• Maria Anna Buonaparte (14 July 1771 – 23 November 1771)

• A stillborn child (1773)

• Lucien Bonaparte (21 March 1775 – 29 June 1840)

• Maria Anna (Elisa) Bonaparte (3 January 1777 – 7 August 1820)

• Louis Bonaparte (2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846)

• Pauline Bonaparte (20 October 1780 – 9 June 1825)

• Caroline Bonaparte (25 March 1782 – 18 May 1839)

• Jérôme Bonaparte (15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860)

[empirearchives]

Some really sweet and less well-known pictures of Napoleon from the 1790s:

[dreamconsumer]

Napoleon Bonaparte according to artificial intelligence.

[roehenstart]

Portrait of Julia Clary and her daughters Zenaide and Carlotta. By Jean-Baptiste Wicar.

[pedroam-bang]

Napoleon (2023)

[ringio]

[napoleondidthat]

Napoleon: shabby chic edition

[diagnosed-anxiety-disorder]

apologizes if some parts look rushed, my tablet was about to die and i wanted to finish it before it ran out of battery ._.