To whom does Napoleon refer in this letter to Josephine?
score:4
This site claims the letter to be dated 30 March 1796 (Apparently 10 Germinal) and sent from Nice. This is a mere three weeks after their whirlwind romance and marriage on March 9 that year, shortly after Napoleon's appointment to command the bankrupt Army of Italy.
From context the "visitors" might be parents of Napoleon's step children by Josephine - Eugene and Hortense - and this may in fact be what Josephine intended to imply. The intimation is clearly made that Josephine was not yet "made up" for the day, despite the mid-morning hour, so such visitors would not alarm her new husband much. However:
JosΓ©phine, left behind in Paris, in 1796 began an affair with a handsome Hussar lieutenant, Hippolyte Charles. Rumors of the affair reached Napoleon; he was infuriated, and his love for her changed entirely.
I could not confirm timing but it is not inconceivable that Josephine had already met Charles and begun, or begun contemplating, an affair with the dashing young cavalryman, given this comment from Napoleon's letter:
And then there are the four days from the 23rd to the 26th; what were you doing, since you were not writing to your husband? Ah, my love, that βVousβ and those four days make me long for my former indifference. Woe to the person responsible!
It is well known that the best lies, and the easiest to maintain, are the smallest lies. Eugene and Hortense were already 15 and 12, so how could an early morning visitor be permanently hidden from Napoleon and his family. I suspect that the "visitors" referred to were Charles (and possibly companions), but that Josephine phrased the reference to imply that they were visitors for the children rather than for herself.
More post
- π Is there any valid basis for this claim that German Emperor Wilhelm II and the Hohenzollern family had Jewish blood?
- π Why did other German political parties disband so fast when Hitler was appointed chancellor?
- π How reliable is a Maya codex facsimile?
- π What are the occurences of total war in the Native Americans?
- π Were NC, IL, and VA's latest concurrent constitutions' effective dates coincidental?
- π Why was Carpathia overloaded?
- π Why did Mozi's philosophy die out in China?
- π Could rΕnin become a samurai again?
- π What systems of opression did colonial South America utilized to acculturate indigenous peoples, compared to the ones used in North America?
- π Other than coffee and tobacco what major product became Cuba's source of wealth in the 18th century?
- π Why didn't Germany bomb the crap out of Stalingrad to win the city?
- π Why was America much better prepared earlier in World War II in the air than in other respects?
- π Has there ever been a significant security breach of information from someone with Alzheimer's or dementia divulging classified information?
- π How much did gunpowder cost per barrel in 1605 in London?
- π Did any civil resistence against the allied occupation of Japan exist?
- π Did Western governments object to repression of western communists during Stalinism?
- π Has the sun ever set on the British Empire? If so when?
- π My father (DOB 09/03/1919) entered the army 01/1942. By 12/42 he made Sgt. He was a 1st Sgt. when separated 10/45. Is this unusual?
- π During feudalism in Europe, was one's allegiance to the lord more or less important than the allegiance to the king?
- π What is the 'rank switching' done by Roman Legionnaires in HBO's 'Rome' called, and did it actually happen?
- π Why didn't Russia help Saddam Hussein as it is helping Syria now?
- π Was the date skip of the Gregorian calender reform understood to skip weekdays accordingly?
- π What percentage of US households had electricity and telephones in 1940?
- π Why was Germany unified in Versailles not Berlin?
- π How safe were ancient boats on the sea?
- π How were taxes collected for traveling merchants in the middle ages?
- π How much did Israel pay the Libyan Flight 114 shootdown victims?
- π Did relic sellers have a specific name or term for their profession?
- π Is there a factual basis for the character of Morgan le Faye from the King Arthur tale?
- π Articles 3 & 5 of the Tripartite Pact are unclearly formulated. Was this standard for the period?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- π To whom does Napoleon refer in this letter to Josephine?
- π Whom does this statue to the left of the cordonata leading up to Piazza del Campidoglio depict?
- π In this letter from the English Civil War, what does THO stand for?
- π To whom does Jefferson refer in the "Tree of Liberty" quote?
- π Did Albert Einstein really receive this rejection letter from the University of Bern?
- π Why does this London Underground poster from 1924 have a Star of David atop a Christmas tree?
- π Did active frontiersmen really eat 20,000 calories a day? How does this compare to other highly-active people in recorded history?
- π How does this bird trap work?
- π Does anyone recognize the identity and location of this octagonal structure?
- π Why does this statue have five legs?
- π Why does the CIA report on the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich refer to it as "Operation Salmon" rather than "Operation Anthropoid"?
- π What does the eighth samurai crest / symbol in this picture signify?
- π Does anyone know what type of structure this is?
- π What is this card, and why does it go "on the hat"?
- π Where does this hairstyle originate from?
- π What language is this and what does it say?
- π What does this spear & carpentry square symbol mean?
- π What does this Samurai crest mean?
- π What does the inscription on this sword mean?
- π What does King Henry III have on his lap in this illustration from a Matthew Paris chronicle?
- π What does this acronym and the symbol in the middle represent?
- π What language does this look like?
- π What does this Swiss banner/blazon/coat of arms/flag stand for?
- π Does anyone know the history on this artillery shell I found in my grandfatherβs shed?
- π Which German cities does this article in The Economist allege that Britain destroyed?
- π WW1 Uniform - Which country does this uniform belong to?
- π What does the first Versal in Book of Kells refer to?
- π What does this Italian soldier's 1930βs uniform tell us about his job and rank?
- π What does this Rx glyph mean in what looks like Latin?
- π What does this quote from the Roman imperial poet Rutilius mean?
