 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "House of Bonaparte" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
TheHouse of Bonaparte (originallyBuonaparte)[a] is a former imperial and royal Europeandynasty of Corsican origin. It was founded in 1804 byNapoleon I, the son ofCorsican noblemanCarlo Buonaparte andLetizia Buonaparte (née Ramolino). Napoleon was a Frenchmilitary leader who rose to power during theFrench Revolution and who, in 1804, transformed theFrench First Republic into theFirst French Empire, five years afterhiscoup d'état of November 1799 (18 Brumaire). Napoleon and theGrande Armée had to fight against every major European power (except for the ones he was allied with, includingDenmark-Norway) and dominated continentalEurope through a series of military victories during theNapoleonic Wars. He installed members of his family on the thrones of client states, expanding the power of the dynasty.
The House of Bonaparte formed theImperial House of France during theFrench Empire, together with some non-Bonaparte family members. In addition to holding the title ofEmperor of the French, the Bonaparte dynasty held various other titles and territories during theNapoleonic Wars, including theKingdom of Italy, theKingdom of the Spain and the Indies, theKingdom of Westphalia, theKingdom of Holland, and theKingdom of Naples. The dynasty held power for around a decade until the Napoleonic Wars began to take their toll. Making very powerful enemies, such asAustria,Britain,Russia, andPrussia, as well as royalist (particularlyBourbon) restorational movements in France, Spain, theTwo Sicilies, andSardinia, the dynasty eventually collapsed due to the final defeat ofNapoleon I at theBattle of Waterloo and therestoration of the Bourbon dynasty by theCongress of Vienna.
During the reign ofNapoleon I, the Imperial Family consisted of the Emperor's immediate relations – his wife, son, siblings, and some other close relatives, namely his brother-in-lawJoachim Murat, his uncleJoseph Fesch, and his stepsonEugène de Beauharnais.
Between 1852 and 1870, there was aSecond French Empire, when a member of the Bonaparte dynasty again ruled France:Napoleon III, the youngest son ofLouis Bonaparte. However, during theFranco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, the dynasty was again ousted from the Imperial Throne. Since that time, there has been a series of pretenders. Supporters of the Bonaparte family's claim to the throne of France are known asBonapartists. Current headJean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon has a Bourbon mother.
The Bonaparte (originallyItalian:Buonaparte) family werepatricians in the Italian towns ofSarzana,San Miniato, andFlorence. The name derives fromItalian:buona ("good") andparte ("part" or "side"). In Italian, the phrase "buona parte" is used to identify a fraction of considerable, but undefined, size in atotum.[3]
Gianfaldo Buonaparte was the first known Buonaparte at Sarzana around 1200. His descendant Giovanni Buonaparte in 1397 married Isabella Calandrini, a cousin of later cardinalFilippo Calandrini. Giovanni became mayor ofSarzana and was named commissioner of theLunigiana byGiovanni Maria Visconti in 1408. His daughter, Agnella Berni, was the great-grandmother of Italian poetFrancesco Berni and their great-grandson Francesco Buonaparte was an equestrianmercenary at the service of theGenoeseBank of Saint George. In 1490, Francesco Buonaparte went to the island ofCorsica, which was controlled by the bank. In 1493, he married the daughter of Guido da Castelletto, representative of the Bank of Saint George inAjaccio, Corsica. Most of their descendants during subsequent generations were members of the Ajaccio town council. Napoleon's father,Carlo Buonaparte, received apatent of nobility from theKing of France in 1771.[1]
There also existed a Buonaparte family inFlorence; however, its possible relationship with the Sarzana and San Miniato families is unknown.Jacopo Buonaparte of San Miniato was a friend and advisor toMediciPope Clement VII. Jacopo was also a witness to and wrote an account of thesack of Rome, which is one of the most important historical documents recounting that event.[4] Two of Jacopo's nephews, Pier Antonio Buonaparte and Giovanni Buonaparte, however, took part in the 1527 Medici rebellion, after which they were banished from Florence and later were restored byAlessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence. Jacopo's brother Benedetto Buonaparte maintained political neutrality.[5] The San Miniato branch extinguished with Jacopo in 1550. The last member of the Florence family was a canon named Gregorio Bonaparte, who died in 1803, leaving Napoleon as heir.[6]
A Buonaparte tomb lies in the Church of San Francesco inSan Miniato. A second tomb, theChapelle Impériale, was built by Napoleon III in Ajaccio 1857.[7]
| ||
|---|---|---|
Views Homes and honours | ||
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(May 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
In 1793Corsica formally seceded from France and sought protection from the British government, promptingPasquale Paoli to compel the Bonapartes to relocate to the mainland.Napoleon I is the most prominent name associated with the Bonaparte family because he conquered much of Europe during the early 19th century. Due to his indisputable popularity in France both among the people and in the army, he staged the Coup of 18 Brumaire and overthrew theDirectory with the help of his brotherLucien Bonaparte, president of theCouncil of Five Hundred. Napoleon then oversaw the creation of a new Constitution that made him theFirst Consul of France on 10 November 1799. On 2 December 1804, he crowned himself Emperor of the French and ruled from 1804 to 1814, and again in 1815 during theHundred Days after his return from Elba.
Following his conquest of most of Western Europe, Napoleon I made his elder brotherJoseph first King of Naples and then of Spain, his younger brother Louis King of Holland (subsequently forcing his abdication in 1810 after his failure to subordinate Dutch interests to those of France), and his youngest brotherJérôme as King of Westphalia, a short-lived realm created from several states of northwestern Germany.
Napoleon's sonNapoléon François Charles Joseph was madeKing of Rome and was later styled as Napoleon II by loyalists of the dynasty, though he only ruled for two weeks after his father's abdication.
Louis-Napoléon, son of Louis, was President of France and then Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870, reigning asNapoleon III. His son,Napoléon, Prince Imperial, died fighting theZulus inNatal, today the South African province ofKwaZulu-Natal. With his death, the family lost much of its remaining political appeal, though claimants continue to assert their right to the imperial title. A political movement for Corsican independence surfaced in the 1990s which included a Bonapartist restoration in its programme.[citation needed]
Note: Bold for common names
Carlo-Maria (Ajaccio, 1746–Montpellier, 1785) marriedMaria Letizia Ramolino (Ajaccio, 1750–Rome, 1836) in 1764. He was a minor official in the local courts. They had eight children:
Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, then King of Spain, 1768–1844Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769–1821, Emperor of the FrenchLouis Bonaparte, 1778–1846, King of HollandNapoleon III, 1808–1873, Emperor of the FrenchJérôme Bonaparte, 1784–1860, King of WestphaliaThe arms of the Bonaparte family were:Gules two bends sinister between two mullets or. In 1804, Napoleon I changed the arms toAzure animperial eagle or. The change applied to all members of his family except for his brother Lucien and his nephew, the son from Jérôme's first marriage.
2.svg)
.svg)
.svg)
_2.svg)
-2.svg)
According to studies by G. Lucotte and his coauthors based on DNA research since 2011, Napoleon Bonaparte belonged toY-DNA (direct male ancestry) haplogroupE1b1b1c1* (E-M34*). This 15000-year-old haplogroup has its highest concentration inEthiopia and in theNear East (Jordan,Yemen). According to the authors of the study, "Probably Napoléon also knew his remote oriental patrilineal origins, because Francesco Buonaparte (the Giovanni son), who was a mercenary under the orders of the Genoa Republic in Ajaccio in 1490, was nicknamedTheMaure ofSarzane." The latest study identifies the common Bonaparte DNA markers from Carlo (Charles) Bonaparte to 3 living descendants.[8][9]
Lucotte et al. published in October 2013 the extended Y-STR of Napoleon I based on descendant testing, and the descendants were E-M34, just like the emperor's beard hair tested a year before. The persons tested were the patrilineal descendants of Jérome Bonaparte, one of Napoleon's brothers, and ofAlexandre Colonna-Walewski, Napoleon's illegitimate son withMarie Walewska. These three tests all yielded the same Y-STR haplotype (109 markers) confirming with 100% certainty that the first Emperor of the French belonged to the M34 branch of haplogroup E1b1b.
STR strongly suggests that the Bonaparte belong to the Y58897 branch, which means that the ancestor 3000 years ago or a bit more lived in Anatolia, but all relatives in the database with a common ancestor with over 1000 years are found in their own the Massa - La Spezia small area in Italy.[10][11][12] There are at the moment no relatives in the database older than that, which means they are very rare in Europe.[citation needed]
Charles, Prince Napoléon (born 1950, great-great-grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte by his second marriage), and his sonJean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon (born 1986 and appointed heir in the will of his grandfatherLouis, Prince Napoléon)[citation needed]currently dispute the headship of the Bonaparte family.[13] The only other male members of the family are Charles's recently married (2013) brother, Prince Jérôme Napoléon (born 1957) and Jean-Christophe's son, Prince Louis Napoléon (born 2022). There are no other legitimate descendants in the male line from Napoleon I or from his brothers.
There are, however, numerous descendants of Napoleon's illegitimate, unacknowledged son, Count Alexandre Colonna-Walewski (1810–1868), born fromNapoleon I's union with Marie, Countess Walewski. A descendant of Napoleon's sisterCaroline Bonaparte was actorRené Auberjonois. Recent DNA-matches with living descendants of Jérôme and Count Walewski have confirmed the existence of descendants of Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother, namely the Clovis family.[9]
carlo maria buonaparte nobility 1771.
.jpg)
.svg)
{{cite web}}:External link in|website=
Media related toHouse of Bonaparte at Wikimedia CommonsHouse of Bonaparte | ||
| Vacant Title last held by House of BourbonasKing of France | Ruling House of theFrench Empire 1804–1814 | Succeeded byas King of France |
| Vacant Title last held by House of Orléansas King of the French | Ruling House of theFrench Empire 1852–1870 | Empire Abolished Third French Republic Declared |
| Preceded byasNominal King of Italy | Ruling House of theKingdom of Italy 1805–1814 | Succeeded byasKing of Lombardy–Venetia |
| Preceded byasKings of Spain andNaples | Ruling House of theKingdom of Naples 1806–1808 | Succeeded by |
| Ruling House of theKingdom of Spain 1808–1813 | Succeeded by | |
| Preceded by New Creation Succeeded theBatavian Republic | Ruling House of theKingdom of Holland 1806–1810 | Kingdom Abolished Part of theFrench Empire Kingdom of the Netherlands created in 1815 |
| Preceded by | Ruling House of theKingdom of Westphalia 1807–1813 | Kingdom Abolished Dissolved afterBattle of Leipzig Status quo of 1806 restored |
