The description is here.
Perhaps unfamiliar words in tonight’s Méneval Napoleon reading.
We hear the memoirs of Bourrienne are not credible but they’re still coming up.
It’s a living thing.
A little background on all the rage concerning Napoleon.
Back in the 90s, I started reading about Napoleon. I saw in him someone so completely like myself that I was mesmerized. It made no sense. I hate war and I was pretty wimpy and a bit of a doormat.
I was surprised to learn he was so into his stepchildren and that there were widely circulated rumors that Napoleon was having an affair with his stepdaughter.
I really wanted to know the story behind this story.
This led to a year at the Sorbonne in Paris and we produced a play about this relationship.
Since the subject of Napoleon is so vast, I limited myself to “at home” Napoleon.
When the Napoleon Memoir Series started up, I had no idea what we’d find. I knew Hortense’s Memoirs very well and Marchand’s memoirs formed the source of another play we produced.
But, the others memoirs have been a revelation.
The first four memoirs: Caulaincourt, Marchand, Hortense and Lavalette were all very congruent with each other concerning their respect for the Beauharnais family.
Now Méneval is a total spitfire but he is staunchly on the Bonaparte side of the Beauharnais vs. Bonaparte Cold War that was playing out around Napoleon.
The Beauharnais were a very courageous noble French family who Napoleon seemed to favor greatly at the expense of his own blood.
This, of course, antagonized his hot blooded Corsican family.
This story is really heating up.
The memoirs and an overview are here.
I got called an antisemite on Facebook today.
To my knowledge, I’m descended from Marranos so if all Jews are bad/wrong/dishonest by blood than so am I.
The term antisemite is used by some to shut down dissent concerning legitimate grievances facing humanity.
Memoirs of Méneval about Napoleon, Book 1, 100-110
Napoleon commands Méneval to become his new secretary. Méneval continues to show how Napoleon kept his stepdaughter Hortense in close proximity to his person.
Learn more here.
If you’d like to read along on a Kindle device, the link is here.
This series is also available on iTunes, just search Tanster.
Reddit now has a bot telling people that Reddit is manipulated and crawling with publicity agents.
Why did Napoleon and Josephine both want Hortense to marry a man they knew she didn’t love?
I received a question from our Napoleon subreddit: reddit.com/r/napoleon
Question:
What were the reasons they both wanted this?
Answer:
Josephine cheated on Napoleon early in their marriage and she lost his passionate love for her. He really wanted children and she couldn’t produce any.
Based on my research, I have come to the conclusion that Napoleon developed an extremely strong affection for Josephine’s daughter Hortense. Hortense was basically everything that appealed to Napoleon in a woman. She was brilliant, pleasing, vivacious and she was probably capable of bearing children.
Josephine wanted Hortense to marry Napoleon’s brother Louis to strengthen their ties so it would be more difficult for Napoleon to divorce her.
Napoleon, who I believe was highly attached to Hortense, wanted her to marry Louis so she would take Napoleon’s last name and count as a member of his family. Napoleon could almost pass off her children as his own - as they’d be his nephews.
Before this marriage took place Napoleon had somewhat weak ties to Josephine. They had only been married civilly and they couldn’t produce children. If Napoleon discarded Josephine - obviously Hortense would have to leave him with her mother.
Josephine pressured Hortense to marry Louis to keep Napoleon. Napoleon pressured Hortense to marry Louis so he could keep her.
Something that backs this theory up is that when Napoleon finally divorced Josephine, he broke down and cried and begged Hortense to not leave him.
He also demanded she couldn’t leave him because she was mother to his nephews. Napoleon kept Hortense at court after his marriage to second wife Marie Louise.
Neither Hortense nor Marie Louise were particularly happy with this arrangement but Napoleon insisted on it.
This was after Hortense’s estrangement with Louis so Hortense had little reason to be at the palace.
Once Napoleon had returned from Elba and he saw Hortense again, Napoleon was furious at her for not leaving France (and joining him).
Hortense was Napoleon’s hostess during the hundred days and she protected him to the best of her ability during some of his last days in France.
The memoirs are here.
In these memoirs below, Méneval claims that Napoleon sat next to Hortense at meals (something Hortense corroborates).
Méneval also states that Napoleon made such a fuss over Hortense’s son (who resembled Napoleon) that it only strengthened the rumors that Napoleon and Hortense were secretly a couple.
Méneval’s memoirs are here.
In other words, whether it was Napoleon’s intention or not, through his behavior, Napoleon actually exacerbated tension in Hortense and Louis’ marriage by almost encouraging the appearance that Louis was being cuckolded by Napoleon.
This infuriated Louis. Louis exacted his revenge on Hortense. Hurting Hortense hurt Napoleon. We see this dynamic play out throughout these memoirs.
What happened is clear to anyone listening to these congruent memoirs. Many are available here.
The motivation is for you to decide.
