Napoleon met Josephe Rose de Beauharnais who soon
became his "incomparable Josephine."

Josephine was born in Martinique, she had married
Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnais, who was beheaded
during the Reign of Terror. She had two children
Hortense and Eugine. The pretty Creole widow,
though no longer young, had all the graces and
coquetry of the old regime. She herself had
narrowly escaped the guillotine, so she was
living life to the fullest in her search for
a rich and powerful protector. Napoleon forgot poor
Desiree and fell hopelessly in love with Josephine,
who stood for everything feminine and elegant.
Even though Josephine did not think much of the young
General Napoleon Bonaparte, she flirted with him
anyway, just as she did with many others, including
General Paul Barras. Barras was an important member
of the Convention who had helped to bring about
Robespierre's downfall and had subsequently been
appointed commander of Paris.

Napoleon Bonaparte and Josephine married at the town
hall on March 9, 1796, in a civil ceremony. On the
marriage certificate, Napoleon wrote that he was two
years older than he actually was, and Josephine took
four years off her real age, of 33.


I don't love you, not at all; on the contrary,
I detest you Tou're a naught, gawky, foolish
Cinderella. You never write me; you don't love
your own husband; you know what pleasures your
letters give him, and yet you haven't written
him six lines, dashed of so casually!

What do you do all day, Madam? What is the
affair so important as to leave you no time
to write to your devoted lover? What affecton
stiffles and puts to one side the love, the
tender constant love you promised him? Of
what sort can be that marvelous being, that
new lover that tyrannizes over your days, and
prevents your giving any attention to your
husband? Josephine, take care! Some fine
night, the doors will be broken open and there
I'll be.

Indeed, I am very uneasy, my love, at recieving
no news of you; write me quickly for pages,
pages full of agreeable things which shall
fill my heart with the pleasantest feelings.

I hope before long to crush you in my arms
and cover you with a million kisses as though
beneath the equator.
Napoleon Bonaparte

Web Site created in English by
Savanah ~Laverne