A Wife Of A Legend

A Wife Of A Legend

On a threadbare rug in August 15th, 1769, Napoleon Bonaparte was born. He was the second born to Carlo Bonaparte and Letizia Bonaparte who were a noble family of that time. Napoleon grew up to become a triumphed dictator of France, but this conqueror had a family life all his own. Napoleon had married two women by the names of Josephine Rose and Marie Louise. Even though Marie Louise was his second wife, he always had a fierce love for Josephine, his first wife.   Josephine was only known in history as “the charming and promiscuous socialite that stole Napoleon’s heart” (Resendes 1). She led a life moved by the French Revolution. Not many details are known of Josephine, but she had a unique life of her own before and after Napoleon that makes her worth recognizing.
Joséphine Rose Tache de la Pagerie was born on 1763 on the French island of Martinique. She was born on her parents slave plantation, but didn’t stay there too long. At the age of 16 she left for Paris to marry Alexandre de Beauharnais in 1779. She bore him two children, Eugene, (1781-1824) their first born and only boy, and Hortense, (1783-1837) their second born and only girl (biographybase 1). Joséphine and Alexandre had a rocky relationship due to his womanizing and ongoing affairs, while Joséphine was a woman of the society. A trial was set against Joséphine by Alexandre after the birth of Hortense. The odd thing about Hortense’s birth was that around that time, it was common for babies to be born late, but it was uncommon for them to be born early. Hortense was born 1½ weeks early which raised suspicion that Joséphine had become infidel. She won the case and became a free woman from Alexandre.. Alexandre was later sent to the guillotine like many other French aristocrats in the period they called, “The Terror”. Though she was divorced from Alexandre, she still looked after his children. Some people believed that she was doing this from the kindness of her heart; others believed...