A Brief History
On January 10, 1810, Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, divorced Josephine, Empress of the French, the only woman Napoleon ever really loved.
Digging Deeper
Digging deeper, we find Napoleon and Josephine married on March 9, 1796, beginning a love and lust-filled marriage marred by indiscretions on both sides!
Napoleon, arguably the most important mortal man in history (the subject of more books than any other man, except for Jesus) married Josephine and later crowned her Empress, a title he refused to strip her of even when they divorced.
Josephine, actually born Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie (no wonder Napoleon just called her Josephine!), was 6 years older than Napoleon and had already given birth to a son and a daughter. The daughter, named Hortense, later married Napoleon’s brother, making her both his step-daughter and sister-in-law!
Alas, Josephine did not bear Napoleon the heir that he craved, neither male nor female, and Napoleon felt compelled to divorce her and remarry someone who would produce children for him.
Reluctantly, the royal couple went their separate ways and just a couple months later, Napoleon married his second wife, Marie-Louise, saying, “I married a womb.” Clearly, Josephine was his true love, although both he and Josephine famously engaged in affairs.
Napoleon’s children left no significant lineage for him after all, but Josephine ended up becoming a significant source of royal offspring, including Napoleon III, royalty in Brazil and Russia and the current royal heads of several European countries (Greece, Norway, Luxembourg, Sweden, Belgium and Denmark). Josephine, called Rose before Napoleon “renamed” her, died in 1814 without knowing of all those illustrious descendants.
While in exile, Napoleon pined for Josephine and was never visited by Marie-Louise. With his final breath, he spoke the name Josephine!
Question for students (and subscribers): Was Napoleon right to divorce Josephine? Please let us know in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
The following are among the best recent books published on this time period (we recommend reading them in the order listed below):
Conner, Susan O. The Age of Napoleon. Jaico Publishing House.
Markham, J. David. Napoleon For Dummies. For Dummies, 2005.
Zarzeczny, Matthew D. Meteors That Enlighten the Earth: Napoleon and the Cult of Great Men. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2013.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="997 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=997">68 Comments
Was Napoleon’s weenie really crooked or is that just sour grapes? People want to know!
Dear Steven, it is actually one of the great mysteries! Seriously, Time and CNN have actually covered the topic… See http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1988719_1988728_1988695,00.html and http://edition.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/08/21/mf.missing.famous/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
This should be covered in a … penetrating… fashion. 😉 Thanks for the sites!
Speaking of penises… See also http://www.toptenz.net/top-ten-famous-penises.php
LOL, the beat goes on!
I want to comment on this article but I just find myself laughing at this comment thread too much.
Dear Mark,
What did you find funny about the comments?
Best,
Dr. Zarzeczny
Isn’t it obvious? Almost everyone is parroting the same comment over and over again like a bunch of dunderheads.
Dear Janey,
Well, I do wish there was more interaction among commenters rather than just a list of comments. I like when individuals ask each other questions and discuss with each other. It is nice when readers are engaged with each other in a respectful manner.
Do you think Napoleon and Josephine truly loved each other or does the fact that they both committed adultery while married diminish their relationship in any way? Can someone truly love someone else and cheat on that person?
Best,
Dr. Zar
If Napoleon loved Josephine so much, why did he have so many affairs?
Honestly, the story of Napoleon and Josephine is kind of sad and tragic. While it is obvious that they were in a very tumultuous relationship, they both seemed to be broken up by the divorce. If this were a modern day relationship, these two would be all over the tabloids.
It is a shame to see two people that love each other lose each other all because of the children factor. Even Napoleon’s last words were about Josephine instead of Marie-Louise. It is a shame that Marie-Louise got stuck in this love triangle.
This type of love story is still better than twilight and it is sad to see Napoleon divorce the one who he really loved.
It’s points like this that illustrate just how little we know about history. Napoleon is way more interesting than I ever thought.
I think it’s funny how napoleon kind of gave his wife a new name.
I feel like a man with Napoleon’s power would be hard to engage in marriage with. I feel like both of them would both easily have affairs (regardless of their love) just because of the power both possess and the amounts of time they go without seeing each other.
Its interesting to see how Napoleon thought about having a child. Even though he may have loved Josephine he ended up leaving her because of how important it was for him to have a son directly from him. Adoption was not an option.
It is kind of sad how even though Napoleon loved Josephine so much, he still had to divorce her. He needed an heir to reign after he died, and because she could not give that to him, they had to lose the love they had.
This story shows the importance Napoleon placed on having children. He was willing to sacrifice his love for Josephine just to have an heir to his throne. Too bad it was all for nothing.
Napoleon should have told Josephine he was going to divorce her BUT still loved her and that he could keep her as a secret lover or something. I was sad that they had to get divorced! As far as the cheating goes, I think that it would be hard when Napoleon would go away for months and months and have no one there to love you or give attention to you. I do not condone cheating, but I feel that for this time period and circumstance that it is more understandable.
I feel like Napoleon was being selfish when he divorced Josephine. He was only thinking about himself and the future of his empire and didn’t give a second thought to how Josephine would feel.
Napoleon should have discussed this with Josephine before he did it. I guess it’s also important to have a son if that’s really what he wanted to do.
good love story for the ages
Divorce… the easy way out! What ever happened to till death do us part? — DAVID WARDLE
Napolean was very slick with this one thats for sure. However i still think the church should have been against the divorce.
Some things about people have not changed about people after all these years, selfish!
I think it was wrong for Napolean to divorce his wife just to get re-married…all for a son. Selfish!
Its sad that he divorced her only because of that reason. True love does exist and im sure he regretted it even after.
i bet he regretted burning that bridge with her when he was on his death bed.
I guess he did not love her as much as the dynasty he sought to create
In a time and place where you needed a son to take over the crown after you, that probably was his only choice. Although he regretted it, it had to be done for his reign.
Certainly a different time and place.
Having a male heir was probably more important to Napoleon than his love with Josephine
This really proves Napoleon’s main concern was furthering his empire and nothing else.
Josephine and Napoleon were a tragic love story. They would have stayed together if she were able to bear children. He even made the rude comment ” I married a womb” about his new wife Marie-Louise. He was using her to insure an heir to the throne. Napoleon’s love for Josephine is shown when he spoke of her name in his final breathes.
His relationship with Josephine, was smooth until it came time for them to have children, when back then having kids was the most important thing, and especially for Napoleon who was trying to continue his empire.
Why would he get rid of something that was so great in his life. If he really loved her like that he wouldnt have divorced her. I think the only reason he would do this was to focus on his dynasty and take care of his empire.
As harsh as it seems now, an heir was probably the most important thing to someone such as Napoleon, especially in those days
That’s horrible that Marie-Louise never visited Napoleon! It’s obvious that the marriage really did not matter to either of them.
Well I guess he just did not know what he really wanted. He had to go back and fourth. Since his last words was his first wife that must be the one he truly loved.
Sad to see that an heir was more important that true love. But it was the time.
Just another Love Affair broken by selfishness.
Too bad Napoleon felt that he had to give up someone that made him happy just so he could produce a heir.
Regardless of wanting his own children he should have never divorced his one true love, it was dumb.
Sad that he denied himself the woman he truly loved for offspring.
Very sad, but being such an important historical figure it is no surprise that he needed an heir.
Dumb, selfish decision. Just because you think you need some sort of succession doesn’t mean you should willingly lose something that makes you enjoy life.
Napoleon was being a bit too selfish when making this decision
selfish decision where he took offspring over the woman he loved
This just shows how people can think about themselves
I understand wanting someone to carry on your legacy, but to lose something you love and generates happiness in your life would be terrible. It’s like a lose win situation either way you look at it.
Thats sad
Very selfish of him.
Napoleon’s motivation proved to show that keeping power within his family was more important than anything else, including love.
Imagine how great that must have been for Josephine to be loved by the most powerful man in the time period
He divorced to have a successor to the throne just shows how far monarchs will go to keep power in the family.
Weird that Napoleons daughter married his brother.
Well I guess you do what you have to do, while it may be weird it does sort of make sense due to the need of an heir at the time of which napoleon ruled.
all is fair in love and war, this is sad in a way its like the power couple finally finds the end of the road, but i know the experience was great!!!
You would think that if a man loved a women so much he would overlook the fact that she couldn’t have his children and stay with her. I can tell how much he truly love Josephine with him not only cheating on his then current wife with her but also speaking her name before dying.
It’s so heartbreaking knowing that the only reason they split up was because of the fact that she couldn’t have children. That seems to be something that can ruin a lot of relationships.
Women can’t help if they can have children or not. And thats no excuse to leave a women because of that situation.
It’s sad that he would just divorce her like that just because she can’t help it if she can’t produce children.
If they loved each other so much I don’t see why affairs would have happened so often.
It’s bad to divorce someone just because they can’t give you a child, I would be so mad.
I think it is ironic that he would divorce his one true love for someone to just bare children.
It’s weird to think that that was kind of common back then.. If the women was not getting pregnant or anything then it was her fault automatically. Sometimes being killed just because.
i would hate to be Marie-Louies, because she was only a womb to Napoleon. no wonder why she didn’t come see him on his death bed. or maybe it was just a contract marriage that she agreed to.