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Napoleon's General outfit is definitely my favourite of all the Napoleonic uniforms.

Napoleon and Josephine in Napoleon & Josephine a love story (1987)

I just saw the new Napoleon film at the cinema and needless to say, it was a 2,5 hour cringe fest full with historical inaccurate bs in every single scene.

Here is a newly released piece of art of Napoleon Bonaparte as an artillery officer by Mariusz Kozik. What a refreshing sight after looking at grumpy Joaquin Phoenix' face for 2,5 hours.

That awkward moment when Lucien called Josephine a whore and almost got murdered by his own brother.

(scene from Napoleon & Josephine a love story, 1987)

Happy Birthday to Napoleon who was born today on 15th August 1769.

Napoleon at the siege of Toulon.

Early portrait of Napoleon as an artillery officer, portrait was made by Gilles Louis Chrétien.

Battle of Montereau 1814

Was Napoleon Bisexual?

I have seen several tumblr posts (or it is the same being reblogged over and over again haha) on a specific book: Napoleon bisexual emperor by Frank Richardson. Unfortunately this book is seemingly very hard to find and since I'm no expert on determining someone's sexuality, I just wanted to share a few quotes I found on this subject since it seems to fascinate quite some people, myself included.

Here is a piece from the ebook dictator's sex lives:

“There has been a great deal of speculation that Napoleon was gay. He tolerated homosexuality in the army and refused to outlaw homosexual practices in his Napoleonic Code. Many men wrote of his “seductive charm”. General de Segur put it most succinctly: “In moments of sublime power, he no longer commands like a man but seduces like a woman.”

Later during his exile on st Helena Napoleon confided something to Caulaincourt upon meeting a handsome man:

"He told me that for him the heart was not, the organ of sentiment; that he felt emotions only where men experience feelings of another kind: nothing in the heart, everything in the loins and in another place, which I leave nameless."

One of the famous arguments used to proof Napoleon's possible bisexuality was Napoleon's obsession with the young Tsar of Russia, Alexander I. When they first met on a raft on the River Tilsit, Napoleon exclaimed: "It is Apollo!" Later he wrote to his wife Josephine: "If he were a woman I would make him my mistress."

Josephine’s maid talked about Napoleon’s “predilection for handsome men”. His aides were often young and effeminate, and he would caress them. Even his secetary Meneval described some of Napoleon's behaviour which would be viewed as slightly unusual:

"In these days of leisure, which was but apparent, for it usually concealed an increase of cerebral activity, Napoleon appeared embarrassed how to spend his time. He would go and spend an hour with the Empress, then he would return, and sitting down on the settee, would sleep, or appear to sleep for a few minutes. He would then come and seat himself on the corner of my writing-table, or on one of the arms of my chair, or even on my knees. He would then put his arm round my neck, and amuse himself by gently pulling my ear, or by patting me on the shoulder, or on the cheek. He would speak to me of all sorts of disconnected subjects, of himself, of his manias, of his constitution, of me, or of some plan that he had in his head."

Some historians affirm that Napoleon had multiple affairs with men, mainly soldiers but of course there is no  real evidence to back this up, yet at the same time it was of course logical that such meetings would not leave much if any evidence behind.

Keith Stern (Queers in History, 2009) mentions that Napoleon was particularly inclined toward same-sex love with his fellow soldiers, and that many of his aides were notoriously effeminate. General Duroc, who served as Grand Marshal of the palace, was widely rumored to be the emperor’s lover. As well, Gaspard Gourgaud, one of Napoleon’s aides/lovers, jealously guarded access to his master.

We can however never be certain whether Napoleon was truly bisexual though there are some experiences and written down encounters that suggest that he was. Of course being bisexual in the 18th and 19th century would have been a completely different experience than in the 21st century. It is however noticable how virtually every country in Europe punished sodomy severely yet Napoleon decided to decriminalize the act of sodomy completely.

There is one last interesting thing to observe: Napoleon had a homosexual friend, Laugier de Bellecour who studied with him on the École Militaire. It is known that Laugier sometimes teased Napoleon about his moralities concerning sexual activities with men which eventually resulted in the fight between the two. Later Napoleon said he regretted it and often spoke of his friend with genuine affection.

Make of this what you wish but it will certainly remain an interesting subject to study.

This is a portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte made by Francesco Cossia in 1797 during the Italy campaign.

It was commissioned by Maria Cosway, an English admirer. Napoleon sat for the portrait in his campaign tent while he was on the road between Verona and Viena in March 1797. But it is known that Napoleon had great difficulties sitting still for portraits so eventually Francesco Cossia gave up on the portrait and refused to receive money for it. Nevertheless this uncompleted portrait does give us a glimps into the life of a 27 year old Napoleon as it is one of the few portraits drawn from actual life.

Waterloo 2022

On thursday 16th june I travelled to Waterloo to take part in the Waterloo battle. I played the part of a fusiler soldier in the 85é regiment with the original banner flying from our part of the French bivac. On the first day we just spent the time building up the camp and setting everything in place, the temperatures were comfortable enough to go and explore the battlefield and its numerous monuments.

Most of the reenactors arrived on friday so the camp, which started from just a few tents, grew into a proper large camp. There were three camps in total: The French bivac, us, we stayed over in the vineyard behind Napoleon’s last headquarters. The allies camp was located at Hougemont farm and the civilian camp just beside the Lion of Waterloo. On friday we had our first military drills, we were also woken up every morning at 7:00 with the trumpet blowing the reveille. Life in bivac consists of drills, cleaning weapons, making cartouches, and of course camping without any modern equipment or electricity. Our regiment slept in tents, the picture with the tent and shako was mine. One regiment from Germany went full hardcore and slept on the ground on just a strawbed underneath the stars but the weather was incredibly hot so that might have been a good idea after all. 

During the friday evening I did get a bit drunk with a group of Italians, I am myself from the Netherlands. We wandered to the spot where Napoleon’s tent was located and we saw him chatting with a few of his marshalls accompanied with his mameluk bodyguard. We all cheered: Vive l’Empereur! as loudly as we could which drew his attention to us as he greeted us. I felt bold enough to ask for a selfie with the emperor which he was happy to do so when I got my picture and a hug even, all the marshalls wanted to be on the photo with him as well. Napoleon was played by the wonderful Max Schneider who is just an exact clone of the real Napoleon, same height, same eye colour, same hair and the exact same behaviour and mannerisms, he was perfect in character for the entire event. I pretty much got drunk that night just celebrating with people from all over Europe until 4:00 in the morning so I didn’t get any sleep at all.

On Saterday we knew it was going to be very hot, 35 degrees in the full sun with barely any shadow in the French bivac, the allies had more fortune since they had a lot of trees providing shadow. The military drills were pushed forward in the morning because of the heat so I was standing in full uniform at 10:00 in the morning to drill, our regiment was attached to three other regiments with one commanding officer, Leclerc, we did some weapon drills and planned our movements for the battle later this day. The battle itself was set for the evening because it was simply too hot during the midday. The original plan was to march the 7km to the battlefield in full uniform but due to the heat, the staff of the event hired tour buses with airco to take us to the battlefield, just imagine the sight of several tour busses full with fully armed Napoleonic soldiers and weapons, it was a very weird sight as we were escorted by the Belgian police to the battlefield. 

The battle itself was incredible and very tiresome as it was still over 30 degrees celcius. We marched onto the field and took our position as Napoleon rode past us giving us a speech, we all raised our muskets and yelled vive l’empereur! as he went past us, the atmosphere I felt then was just absolutely amazing. The French artillery fired the first canon shots opening the battle which lasted about 2 hours. Of course we all know how the battle ended but near the end of the battle, Napoleon returned trying to motivate us to fight even harder. One of the British canon shots went a little bit wrong and part of the cartouche landed right in front of the public stands in the grass which caused a lot of dirt to kick up while the audience screamed. At the end of the battle all of the French infantry we formed a giant square while Napoleon rode around us giving us one final speech, we cheered and screamed while we once again took on the English. Unfortunately we eventually all had to retreat and thus the battle ended. The Belgian police was there proving us with water as well since the temperatures were still scorching.

We arrived back at our bivac at 22:30 but most of us were so tired from the heat, the barely amount of sleep of the previous two nights and the knowledge that we had to march to battle once more at 07:00 in the morning so we slept a little earlier. Fortunately, the winds changed so the temperature dropped to just 14 degrees but this sudden drop caused most of us to wake up shivering in our tents at 3:00 in the night. On sunday morning we marched towards the battlefield which was much more managable thanks to lower temperatures and played the battle again. This time our regiment acted as voltigeurs so we could play as light infantry. We spread out on the right flank trying to outflank the British 95th rifles, we bayonet charged them which was a lot of fun. The second battle also lasted 2 hours and believe me, after 4 hours of battle and several more of drilling, you can barely feel your muscles anymore. 

After the battle we went back to our bivac again and with normal temperatures I decided to explore a few museums there, while being in uniform I gained entrance to all the places for free and I was asked a lot by the visitors if they could take a photograph of me, I found that quite humbling. I visited Napoleon’s last headquarters building, the table where he sat at planning the battle and his field bed. Bought some souvenirs for myself and my mother and drank some fine Waterloo beer. At the end of the day we slowly packed our stuff and went on our way home but not before I stopped at the battlefield and plucked some of the growing corn as a memorial since I marched and fought on the same ground where my 4th great grandfather fought during the actual battle of Waterloo. It was bizare to imagine that around 50,000 people died on the exact spot where I was walking. It was an unforgettable experience and I am already looking forward to next year. 

The only downside, I can’t get these French marches out of my head, we sang  chanson de l'Oignon at least over 100 times while marching... 

 Au pas camarades, au pas camarades, Au pas, au pas, au pas,

Maching on the battlefield of Waterloo as a French fusilier, it’s one of the best, if not the best, experience of my life. I am already looking forward to next year. I even got a hug and selfie from the emperor haha.

Napoleon Bonaparte congratulating Jean-Roch Coignet by a campfire.

  Jean-Roch Coignet (born on 16th August 1776) served in the French army from 1799 up through the battle of Waterloo. He was awarded with the Légion d'honneur after single-handedly capturing an Austrian cannon during the battle of Montebello in 1800. Coignet rejoined Napoleon during the hundred days, after Napoleon returned to France during his first exile in 1814. During the battle of Waterloo, he killed a Prussian officer. Coignet was fortunate to survive many campaigns, even the infamous 1812 Russia campaign.

  After the Napoleonic wars, Coignet settled down in Auxerre with his Tobacco shop. He eventually wrote down his experiences during the Napoleonic wars which were published between 1851-1853. These written down experiences proved to be very popular as eventually even a TV miniseries was made surrounding his life. Jean-Roch Coignet died on 10th december 1865 at the age of 89.

“At Auxonne, his second garrison, the young Bonaparte escaped death three times. The first, during a drowning, in 1789, at the age of twenty. (He was swimming in the Saone.) Seized by a cramp, he lost consciousness, felt life escaping from him, heard his comrades fidgeting, running on the bank, shouting that he was lost, asking for boats to fish him out. Finally, he sank to the bottom of the river. But his chest struck against a sandbank, his head emerged, he regained consciousness and, thanks to the current, he regained consciousness, got out of the water, not without vomiting a lot, he got dressed and returned to his lodgings.

The following year, he was involved in two duel cases. For the beautiful eyes of a pretty girl, Manesca Pillet, he fights with a sword with a rival, Denis Grosey, who slightly wounds him. Then he quarrels with a comrade, Lieutenant Belly de Bussy, who annoys him by playing the horn, very badly moreover, in the room above his and prevents him from working. Passing him on the stairs, Bonaparte calls out to him:

"My dear, you must get tired with your accursed instrument." "But no not at all." "Well, you are tiring the others." "I'm sorry about that." “But you better go give your horn away.” "I am the master in my room." "You could be given some doubt on that." "I don't think anyone was bold enough."

An appointment is made to fight. But the previous year, Napoleon himself drawn up the rules which obliged them to submit their disputes or differences. It was decided by the jury that in the future Bussy would be allowed to continue playing the horn and that Bonaparte would have to show himself more enduring.

Chance would have it that Napoleon met Bussy much later, on March 6, 1814, during the Battle of Craonne, in the Aisne. On that day, to find out about the enemy's positions and the topography of the surroundings, the emperor sent two aides-de-camp to seek out the mayor of Beaurieux, a neighboring village. Napoleon recognizes him: It's Bussy. 

After emigrating during the Revolution, he returned to take care of his land, where he lived alone.  "Well! Bussy, Napoleon says, do you still play the horn?" "Yes sire, and still so false." Bussy will guide him and follow him throughout the rest of the French countryside, still in hunting costume, for lack of being able to obtain a uniform. The soldiers call it " the emperor's pekin.”

- From the book: Napoléon face à la mort by Alain Frèrejean.   

The first image shows Napoleon studying at Auxonne by François Flameng and the second is a meme I quickly made that fits the second story perfectly. 

Napoleon visiting the plague victims in Jaffa during the Egypt campaign (11 march 1799).

So what really happened?

The painting below in colour was commisioned by Napoleon himself and painted by Antoine-Jean Gros. It depicts Napoleon visiting plague victims of his army in the Saint Nicholas monastery in Jaffa, Israel. How much of this scene is real?

Of course the painting and the event were perfect propaganda devices serving multiple goals: it countered the rumours that Napoleon ordered the execution of prisoners in Jaffa, it shows empathy towards his soldiers and gave him a touch of immortality being able to physically touch plague victims without falling ill.Were there any eyewitnesses that can confirm that this event actually happened? Well this is the tricky part, some say Napoleon really did visit and touch victims of the plague and others say that no such thing happened. An example is doctor Desgenettes, who is also portrayed in the painting, he claimed that Napoleon did help carry plague victims. Note, it was still unknown how the plague spread so it was considered dangerous to touch plague victims with your bare hands. (you can't catch the bubonic plague by touching sick people)

It's extremely obvious that the painting, and other depictions like the one in black/white, was made for propaganda purposes. It displays Napoleon as someone capable of the traditional thaumaturgical royal touch, French kings were often portrayed as being capable to perform miracles. It's very possible that Napoleon was indeed present at the monastery and perhaps even helped transporting the sick but there is also of course the possibility that the entire story was fabricated, the eyewitness accounts seem to differ quite a bit so we can sadly never be sure. It is however true that the monks at this Armenian monastery were asked to help out the plague-ridden Napoleonic soldiers and they received Napoleon's sword and tent as a thanks.

It's also a possibility that this story was spread in order to downplay the rumour that Napoleon ordered the euthanization of his own sick soldiers, one of the most notorious orders ever given by Napoleon. The truth lies likely somewhere in between, a combination of all possibilities and reasons.