Joseph I Bonaparte

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For other uses, see Joseph Bonaparte (disambiguation).
Joseph I Bonaparte
Portrait of Joseph I Bonaparte, by Joseph Flaugier (c. 1809). Oil on canvas, 109 × 96.5 cm.
BornJanuary 7, 1768
Corte, Genoa
DiedJuly 28, 1844
(aged 76)
Florence, Tuscany
Burial
Les Invalides
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1794; died 1844)​
IssueJulie Joséphine Bonaparte
Zénaïde Bonaparte
Charlotte Bonaparte
HouseBonaparte
FatherCarlo Buonaparte
MotherMaria Letizia Ramolino

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte (French: Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte; Corte, January 7, 1768 – Florence, July 28, 1844), better known as Joseph I Bonaparte or Joseph Napoleon I,[1][2][3][4][5] was a French politician, diplomat and lawyer, elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, deputy for Corsica in the Council of Five Hundred (1797–1799) and its secretary, and again in the Legislative Body (1799–1800), minister plenipotentiary and member of the Council of State (1800–1804), prince and grand elector of the First French Empire (1804–1806), and King of Naples between March 30, 1806, and July 5, 1808, under the name Joseph I.

At his brother's urging, Joseph I Bonaparte also attempted to proclaim himself King of Spain from June 6, 1808, under the name Joseph I. However, far from obtaining legitimacy before the majority of public opinion and halting the dynamic of armed confrontation, this proclamation was rejected by the native organs of power such as the Council of Castile and the Supreme Central Junta, which hastened to issue a Declaration of War on the Emperor of France, Napoleon I, thereby invalidating Joseph I's self-proclamation. No country, much less the Viceroyalties, accepted the self-proclamation either, so the effective reign of Joseph I was recognized only by the French invaders themselves, while the rest of the world continued to recognize Spanish authority over its peninsular and overseas territories.

The figure of Joseph I was fiercely attacked and caricatured by the immense majority of Spaniards of that time, who never accepted his appointment and rose up against the imposition of a foreign dynasty backed by the force of French bayonets. The poet Manuel José Quintana was one of those who most distinguished himself in spreading that caricature, as when he referred to the milieu in which Joseph Bonaparte moved, "from the bosom of his impious feasts, from among the vile ruffians who flatter him and the filthy prostitutes who accompany him".[6]

Two of the nicknames most used by Spaniards were "Pepe Botella" ("Joe Bottle") and "Rey de Copas" ("King of Cups"), something the court of the "Intruder King" tried with little success to refute, insisting that he was neither a drunkard nor an inveterate gambler.[7] These nicknames were based in part on two orders signed by Joseph I in February 1809, which liberalized the manufacture, circulation and sale of playing cards and reduced the taxes on the sale of brandies and liquors in Spain. The promulgation of such measures was utterly incomprehensible in a society suffering from far more pressing problems, and fueled all kinds of conjecture.

Joseph Bonaparte also founded the Grand National Lodge of Spain and was Grand Master of the Grand Orient de France[8][9][10] and of the Grand Orient of Italy.[citation needed] He was distinguished with the Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour.[11]

Biography

Portrait of Joseph Bonaparte by Jean-Baptiste Wicar.

Joseph Bonaparte was born in Corte, on the island of Corsica, on January 7, 1768, and was baptized with the name Giuseppe Napoleone Buonaparte. He was the son of Carlo Buonaparte and Maria Letizia Ramolino and elder brother of the future emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. He studied law in Pisa (Italy). On August 1, 1794, he married Marie Julie Clary, daughter of a merchant from Marseille, in Cuges-les-Pins (Bouches-du-Rhône); they would have three daughters: Julie Joséphine Bonaparte (1796), who did not survive, Zénaïde Laetitia Julie (1801–1854) and Charlotte Napoléone (1802–1839).

In 1796 he took part in Napoleon's campaign in Italy. The following year, during the First French Republic, he acted as a diplomat, first at the court of Parma and then in Rome. He was a member of the Council of Five Hundred, the lower legislative body in the era of the Directory, in 1798. During the Napoleonic Wars he acted as his brother's envoy and signed treaties with the United States, Austria, Great Britain and the Holy See. From 1806 to 1808 he governed the Kingdom of Naples by appointment of his brother.

Invasion of Spain

Following the forced Abdications of Bayonne on May 5, 1808, Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed that he had seized the rights to the Spanish Crown, and on June 6 he published a decree appointing his elder brother as King of Spain.

Nevertheless, on that same June 6, the Supreme Central Junta issued the Declaration of War on the Emperor of France, Napoleon I, thereby invalidating the self-proclamation. On June 15 letters were sent to the overseas territories to explain to them the true situation Spain was going through, and the resistance of the legitimate government in Seville, before Napoleon could give them his altered version of events.

It was during this period that the political use of the term "Patriot" became widespread, applied initially to the defenders of the legitimate monarchy and of the political order arising from the Constitution of 1812 against the French occupation. However, after the fall of the Liberal Triennium and the repeal of that constitution by Ferdinand VII in 1814, the concept of pro-independence underwent a progressive political reorientation, shifting in broad sectors of America from a pro-royalist identification to an openly pro-independence position.

Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain, by François Gérard (c. 1808). Oil on canvas, 203 × 125 cm.

His arrival in Madrid, on July 20, took place in the midst of the invasion, following the popular uprising of May 2 against the Napoleonic troops in Madrid, which was followed by popular revolts in the rest of the country.

Although he proclaimed himself King in Madrid on July 25, he had to flee barely two months later in the face of the defeat of the French troops at the Battle of Bailén, first to Burgos, then to Miranda de Ebro, and finally to Vitoria, where he arrived on September 22 and established his headquarters, and from where he addressed several proclamations to the Spanish people that were completely ignored. Finally, the intervention of Emperor Bonaparte himself, together with the bulk of his army, enabled him to return to the capital.

With hardly any significant support, he forcibly promulgated the Bayonne Statute in an attempt to legitimize his government before the Spanish men of the Enlightenment, the so-called afrancesados, without managing to make his government's reformist program succeed. The fact that it was imposed by the invader, as well as his absolutist measures, ran up against deep popular hostility and alienated the support of the Spanish people, even that of many of the men of the Enlightenment themselves.

In 1809 he announced the founding of a Museum of Fine Arts, under the name Museo Josefino, with which he sought to channel the plundering of the numerous works of art that his brother Napoleon and the French military under his command were carrying off to France. The museum as such was never founded, but by taking advantage of the scheme, countless works of art were looted and moved to its premises. Many of these stolen works later became part of "King Joseph's baggage", which gave rise to the plot of the first novel of the second series of the Episodios nacionales by Benito Pérez Galdós.

The people of Madrid also nicknamed him El rey plazuelas ("the King of Little Squares"), since he opened many squares in the capital, mainly by demolishing churches and convents. The most important was the Plaza de Oriente, in front of the Royal Palace.

The complete rejection of his figure was set down by Joseph I himself in his letters to Napoleon:

"There is not a single Spaniard who declares himself in my favor except the small number of persons who travel with me. […] To come out of this predicament as well as possible, a man destined to reign must deploy great forces… My position does not frighten me, but it is unique in history: I do not have a single supporter here…"[12][13]

"I have as my enemy a nation of twelve million inhabitants, brave and exasperated to the extreme. My assassination is spoken of publicly, but that is not my fear. Everything that was done here on May 2 was odious… Honest men are no more attached to me than rogues. No, sire, you are mistaken: your glory will sink in Spain…"[14][15]

After the defeat at the Battle of the Arapiles, on July 22, 1812, he again abandoned Madrid to flee toward France. As he passed through Vitoria, he was overtaken by the allied troops under the command of the Duke of Wellington, who defeated his army.

He literally had to "take to his heels", hastily fleeing on horseback and leaving Spain for good on June 13, 1813, abandoning on the field much of his valuable "baggage", which consisted of the jewels of the Spanish Crown and numerous works of art stolen from different parts of Spain. This booty was in turn appropriated by Wellington, who, instead of returning it to Madrid, shipped it to London with the excuse of safeguarding it temporarily, although it never returned to Spain. Joseph Bonaparte took refuge in France, where he remained until the fall of his brother Napoleon.

Private life

Caricature alluding to the nickname Pepe Botella. At the bottom one can read: "Each one has his lot; yours is to be a drunkard until death."

During his first flight from the capital he again met in Vitoria María del Pilar Acedo y Sarriá, Countess of Vado and of Echauz, wife of the Marquess of Montehermoso, Ortuño Aguirre del Corral, an afrancesado nobleman who was among the deputies who approved the Bayonne constitution. Joseph made the Marquess a Grandee of Spain and a gentleman of the bedchamber, and granted him the Royal Order of Spain. In addition, he bought from him for 300,000 reales the Palace of Montehermoso in Vitoria, which he turned into his temporary royal palace. Both accompanied him on his trip to Paris in 1811 for the baptism of Napoleon II of France, but Ortuño died in Paris. María del Pilar would remain at his side until his flight to France, where, with the throne lost, interest was lost as well.

He also had relations with the Countess of Jaruco, a romance that cost him five million reales. María Teresa Montalvo y O'Farril had married very young the man who was then the richest in Cuba, although her husband was ruined at the court of Charles IV of Spain. Her maternal uncle was Joseph I's Minister of War. When she died young, he became infatuated with her daughter María de las Mercedes, wife of the Captain General of his guard, Christophe-Antoine Merlin. Joseph I made him Count of Merlin in 1810,[16] and kept him constantly on missions outside Madrid. In reference to this, a popular verse circulated:

The lady countess
has an inkwell
where Joseph the First
dips his pen.

The Italian opera singer Fineschi, the Frenchwoman Nancy Derjeux (whose husband made handsome profits supplying the French troops in Spain) and Baroness Burke, wife of the ambassador of Denmark, complete Joseph's "amorous conquests".

Exile in the United States (1813–1844)

Tomb of Joseph I Bonaparte in Les Invalides.

After the definitive Napoleonic defeat, Bonaparte moved to the United States, where, thanks to the sale of jewels and works of art stolen in Spain, he built a mansion on the estate called Point Breeze, located in Bordentown (New Jersey), luxuriously furnished and with an impressive collection of rare books and works of art; he also surrounded it with a large park with an artificial pond. There he dealt with personalities such as the senator and jurist Joseph Hopkinson, who also lived in Bordentown and represented Pennsylvania in Congress; the banker Nicholas Biddle, whose estate, Andalusia, was just across the Delaware River; the writer Frances Wright; the French-born banker and philanthropist Stephen Girard, for some time the largest American fortune; President John Quincy Adams and his Secretary of State Henry Clay; the politician Daniel Webster; and the Marquis de La Fayette.

In the United States, Bonaparte lived without the company of his wife, who was caring for their daughters in Europe, but with an American mistress, under the title of Count of Survilliers, devoted to charitable works and to protecting emigrated Bonapartists by means of Freemasonry until 1841, when he received authorization to settle in Florence. He died in that city in 1844 but was buried in Paris after Napoleon III requested that he be interred to the right of his brother Napoleon in Les Invalides in Paris.

In fiction

He has appeared in a number of films:

He has also appeared in two novels by the writer Juan Antonio Vallejo-Nágera:

He can also be seen in the Spanish-French TVE series Los desastres de la guerra, centered on the crisis of 1808–1814, where he is played by Philippe Roleau.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Mercader, Joan (1971). José Bonaparte, rey de España, 1808-1813: historia externa del reinado (in español). Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Instituto Jerónimo Zurita. Escuela de Historia Moderna. p. 52. Retrieved May 18, 2011. La proclamación oficial del José Napoleón I, se efectuó con toda solemnidad, el día de la fiesta de Santiago, patrón de España.
  2. ↑ Prontuario de las leyes y decretos del rey nuestro señor don José Napoleón I del año de 1810 (in español). Madrid: Imprenta Real. 1810. Retrieved May 18, 2011. En nuestro Palacio de Madrid á 3 de enero de 1810: Don José Napoleón por la gracia de Dios y por la Constitución del Estado, Rey de las Españas y de las Indias.
  3. ↑ Peña González, José (2006). Historia política del constitucionalismo español (in español). Madrid: Dykinson. p. 47. ISBN 978-84-9772-906-2. Retrieved May 18, 2011. La lista de los primeros afrancesados aparece tras la firma del Rey José I y son los "individuos componentes de la Junta Española, convocada a esta ciudad de Bayona por S.M.I y R. Napoleón I, Emperador de los franceses y Rey de Italia, hallándose reunidos en el Palacio llamado el Obispado Viejo, celebrando la duodécima sesión de la mencionada Junta, habiéndonos sido leída en ella la precedente Constitución, que durante el mismo acto nos ha sido entregada por nuestro Augusto Monarca José Napoleón I; enterados de su contenido, prestamos a ella nuestro asentimiento y aceptación, individualmente por nosotros mismos, y también en calidad de miembros de la Junta, según lo que cada uno tiene en ella, y según la extensión de nuestras respectivas facultades, y nos obligamos a observarla y a concurrir en cuanto esté de nuestra parte a que sea guardada y cumplida, por parecernos que organizado el Gobierno que en la misma constitución se establece, y hallándose al frente de él un Príncipe tan justo como el que por dicha nuestra nos ha cabido, la España y todas sus posesiones han de ser tan felices como deseamos. Y en fe de que está en nuestra opinión y voluntad, lo firmamos en Bayona a 7 de julio de 1808.
  4. ↑ Toreno [José María Queipo de Llano y Ruiz de Saravia], Conde de (1835). Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España (in español). Madrid: Imprenta de don Tomás Jordán. p. 26. Retrieved May 18, 2011. Art. 2.° Todos los oficiales y soldados de las tropas españolas prestarán juramento de fidelidad á S.M. católica el rey José Napoleón I.
  5. ↑ Napoleón o el verdadero D. Quixote de la Europa : o sean, comentarios crítico-patriótico-burlescos á varios decretos de Napoleón y su hermano José, distribuidos en dos partes y cincuenta capítulos (in español). Madrid: Imprenta de Ibarra. 1813. p. 114. Retrieved May 18, 2011. En consecuencia concede en nombre de S.M. el emperador y rei Napoleón I y de S.M. católica el REI José Napoleón I perdón general á todos los habitantes de Zaragoza baxo las condiciones siguientes:
  6. ↑ Moreno Alonso 2008, p. 262.
  7. ↑ Sánchez Mantero 2003, p. 46.
  8. ↑ Masonería e Ilustración: Del siglo de las luces a la actualidad pp. 61, 109 (in Spanish)
  9. ↑ Los altos grados de la masonería pp. 170–171 (in Spanish)
  10. ↑ La Masonería española vista desde Italia (in Spanish)
  11. ↑ Napoleón y la locura española p. 86 (in Spanish)
  12. ↑ Moreno Alonso 2008, p. 252.
  13. ↑ Abella 1997, pp. 42–43.
  14. ↑ Abella 1997, pp. 43–44.
  15. ↑ Lentz 2016, pp. 332–333: "[Joseph I] despaired that Napoleon did not understand that, in order to conquer Spain definitively, it would be necessary to mobilize enormous resources"
  16. ↑ Habana Elegante (in Spanish)
  • Diccionario Biográfico. Real Academia de la Historia José Bonaparte (in Spanish)
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