Elisa Bonaparte
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| Elisa Bonaparte | |
|---|---|
Grand Duchess of Tuscany | |
| Reign | 3 March 1809 – 1 February 1814 |
| Predecessor | Charles II, Duke of Parma (as King of Etruria) |
| Successor | Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany |
| Princess of Lucca and Piombino | |
| Reign | 19 March 1805 – 18 March 1814 |
| Predecessor | Antonio II Boncompagni Ludovisi as Prince of Poimbino |
| Successor | Maria Luisa as Duchess of Lucca Luigi I Boncompagni-Ludovisi as Prince of Poimbino |
| Co-ruler | Felice Pasquale Baciocchi |
| Born | Maria Anna Buonaparte 3 January 1777 Ajaccio, Corsica, France |
| Died | 7 August 1820 (aged 43) Trieste, Austrian Empire |
| Burial | |
| Spouse | |
Roman Catholicism | |
| Signature |  |
Maria Anna Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi Levoy (
She was the fourth surviving child and eldest surviving daughter of
As Princess of Lucca and Piombino, then Grand Duchess of Tuscany, she became Napoleon's only sister to possess political power. Their relations were sometimes strained due to her sharp tongue. Highly interested in the arts, particularly the theatre, she widely encouraged and promoted the subject within the territories she ruled over.
Early life
Élisa was born in Ajaccio, Corsica. She was christened Maria-Anna, but later officially adopted the nickname "Élisa" (her brother Lucien, to whom she was very close in childhood, nicknamed her Elisa). In June 1784, a bursary allowed her to attend the Maison royale de Saint-Louis at Saint-Cyr, where she was frequently visited by her brother Napoleon. Following the French Revolution, the Legislative Assembly decreed the Maison's closure on 16 August 1792 as it shut down institutions associated with the aristocracy. Élisa left on 1 September with Napoleon to return to Ajaccio.
Around 1795, the
Marriage and family
Élisa married Levoy in a civil ceremony in Marseille on 1 May 1797, followed by a religious ceremony in Mombello, where Napoleon had a villa. He had moved there with his family in June 1797. Concerned about Baciocchi's reputation as a poor captain, Napoleon had some initial reservations about his sister's choice of spouse. Their religious ceremony was held on the same day as her sister Pauline's marriage to general Victor-Emmanuel Leclerc.
In July, Baciocchi was promoted to
During the rise of the Consulate, she and her brother Lucien held an artistic and literary salon at the Hôtel de Brissac, at which she met the journalist
At the start of November 1800, Lucien was reassigned from his job as
On 18 May 1804, the French Senate voted in favour of setting up the
Princess of Piombino and Lucca
Her separation from her husband in 1805 was seen favorably by Napoleon (though he soon rejoined her after her promotion to Lucca). On 19 March 1805, Napoleon awarded her the Principality of Piombino, which had been French property for some years and was of major strategic interest to Napoleon due to its proximity to Elba and Corsica. Felice and Élisa took the titles "Prince and Princess of Piombino". In June 1805, the oligarchic Republic of Lucca, which had been occupied by France since late 1799, was made a principality and added to Felice and Élisa's domain, their entry into Lucca and investiture ceremony following on 14 July 1805.
Napoleon had contemptuously called Lucca the "dwarf republic", due to its small size in terms of territory, but despite this it was a bulwark of political, religious, and commercial independence. Most of the power over Lucca and Piombino was exercised by Élisa, with Félix taking only a minor role and contenting himself with making military decisions. The inhabitants of Lucca, under French occupation and begrudging the loss of their independence, knew Élisa ironically as "la Madame" and had little sympathy for Napoleon, Élisa, or their attempts to "Frenchify" the republic.
Very active and concerned with administering the area, Élisa was surrounded at Lucca by ministers who largely remained in place right to the end of her reign. These ministers included her
On 31 March 1806 Napoleon withdrew Massa and Carrara from the
In 1807 she set up the Committee of Public Charity for distributing charity funds, made up of clergy and lay-people, and also instituted free medical consultations for the poor so as to eradicate the diseases then ravaging Lucca's population. She demolished Piombino's hospital to build a new one in the former monastery of Sant' Anastasia, with the new building opening in 1810, and also set up the Casa Sanitaria, a dispensary in the town's port. On 5 May 1807, decreed the established of the "Committee for the Encouragement of Agriculture, Arts and Commerce" to encourage and finance the invention of new machines and new techniques to increase the territories' agricultural production and experimental plantations such as those of
Élisa also set up many teaching establishments in Lucca and, in 1809, a "Direction Générale de l'Instruction Publique" (General Department of Public Education). On 1 December 1807 she set up the "Collège Félix", the only boys' secondary school in the principality. For girls, she began by fixing set curricula for convents that also operated as schools, then set up a body of "dames d'inspection" to verify that these curricula were being adhered to. Teaching of girls aged 5 to 8 was made compulsory, though the laws were not always well applied. On 2 July 1807, Élisa founded the "Institut Élisa" within the limits of a former convent for noble-born girls, to produce well-educated and cultivated future wives. On 29 July 1812, Élisa set up an establishment for young poor girls, the "Congregazione San Felice", though this did not long outlive Élisa's fall.
As with Napoleon, Élisa set up city improvement works in her territories, mainly to expand the princely palaces. These works were hotly contested, especially in Lucca, where the expansion of the princely palaces necessitated the demolition of the
At Massa, she demolished a cathedral on 30 April 1807. The palace at Lucca was fully redecorated and the gardens improved, with the creation of a botanical garden with a menagerie and aviary in 1811. She also began road construction, notably the "route Friedland" to link Massa and Carrara, with work beginning on 15 August 1807 but becoming delayed and only completed in 1820. Lucca's status as a spa town was also bolstered by her improvement of the architecture and decor of the town's baths. She began construction of an aqueduct into Lucca in 1811, but this too was only completed after her fall.
Grand Duchess of Tuscany
In 1801, Napoleon created the
Élisa had wished to become Governess of Tuscany in 1808, but she became ill late in the year and could not take part in state affairs. She recovered in February 1809. On 3 March 1809, Napoleon established the
Elisa was the only woman Napoleon entrusted with a real political responsibility. He normally disliked politically active women, and while he did appoint his second wife regent during his absence, that post was nominal only. Elisa was thus an exceptional case for Napoleon in this issue. He was later to say about her
- "My sister, Elisa, has a masculine mind, a forceful character, noble qualities and outstanding intelligence; she will endure adversity with fortitude."[2]
On 2 April 1809, Élisa arrived in Florence, where she was coldly received by the nobility. Her arrival coincided with a revolt against compulsory conscription that ended after a mayor and a judge were assassinated. The conscription and many new taxes imposed on Tuscany by Napoleon were sources of conflicts in the region. As at Lucca, Élisa tried to nationalise the goods of the clergy and closed many convents.
She continued her patronage of arts and science. In 1809, she commissioned the sculptor
Élisa later became unwillingly involved in Napoleon's removal of Pope Pius VII. Pius opposed the Empire's annexation of the Papal States, and excommunicated Napoleon in the bull Quum memoranda on 10 June 1809. Napoleon had Pius removed from Rome on 6 July, and sent to Savona. The pope passed by Florence, but Élisa did not meet him in person and asked him to leave the region as soon as possible, so as not to be seen as welcoming brother's enemy.
Élisa's relations with Napoleon became increasingly strained. Napoleon frequently recalled Élisa for any irregularity in her execution of his orders in Tuscany. On 17 March 1810, Élisa arrived in Paris for Napoleon's marriage to
Fall and exile
In 1813, with Napoleon facing the allied coalition after his
Napoleon was exiled to Elba on 13 April 1814 under the
Marriage and issue
She married Felice Pasquale Baciocchi, a member of Corsican nobility, on 1 May 1797, created Prince Français, Duke of Lucca and Prince of Piombino and Prince of Massa-Carrara and La Garfagnana. They were parents of five children:
- Felix Napoléon Baciocchi (1798–1799).
- Napoléon Baciocchi (1803–1803).
- Elisa Napoléone Baciocchi (1806–1869); married Philippe, Comte Camerata-Passioneï de Mazzoleni (1805–1882), and had one son:
- Jérôme Charles Baciocchi (1810–1811).
- Frédéric Napoléon Baciocchi (1813–1833).
-
Elisa Napoléone by Marie-Guillemine Benoist, 1810 -
Portrait with her daughter Elisa by François Gérard, 1811
Bibliography
- (in French) Florence Vidal, Élisa Bonaparte, éd. Pygmalion, 2005. 310 p. (ISBN 2857049692)
- (in French) Emmanuel de Beaufond, Élisa Bonaparte, princesse de Lucques et de Piombino, Paris : L'Univers (brochure hors-série du quotidien catholique), 1895. 32 p.
- (in French) Paul Marmottan, Élisa Bonaparte, Paris : H. Champion, 1898. 317 p.
- (in French) Jean d'Hertault, comte de Beaufort (under the pseudonym Jean de Beaufort), Élisa Bonaparte, princesse de Lucques et Piombino, grande-duchesse de Toscane (1777–1820), 1904 (brochure de 16 pages)
- (in French) Sforza, Giovanni, I figli di Elisa Baciocchi, in Ricordi e biografie lucchesi, Lucca, tip.ed. Baroni 1916 [ma 1918]. pp. 269–293
References
- ^ Image Archived 19 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Margery Weiner, The Parvenu Princesses: Elisa, Pauline and Caroline Bonaparte (John Murray, 1964)
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| French Princes | ||
Several family members held additional titles in vassal states | ||
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