Josephine definition of Josephine in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

Josephine, 1763–1814, empress of the French (1804–9) as the consort of Napoleon I Napoleon I (nəpō`lēən, Fr. näpôlāōN`), 1769–1821, emperor of the French, b.
..... Click the link for more information. . Born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie in Martinique, she was married in 1779 to Alexandre de Beauharnais Beauharnais, Alexandre, vicomte de (älĕksäN`drə vēkôNt` də bōärnā`)
..... Click the link for more information. . Two children were born, Eugène (later viceroy of Italy) and Hortense (later queen of Holland). Josephine's husband was guillotined during the French Revolution, in 1794, but she escaped with brief imprisonment. In 1796 she was married, by a civil ceremony, to Napoleon Bonaparte, whom she had met through Paul Barras Barras, Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de
..... Click the link for more information. . Before Napoleon became emperor, they were remarried in a religious ceremony. Josephine took a prominent part in the social life of the time. Napoleon had the marriage annulled in 1809 because of her alleged infertility, so that he might marry Marie Louise Marie Louise, 1791–1847, empress of the French (1810–15) as consort of Napoleon I and duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla (1816–47), daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Francis II (later Emperor of Austria as Francis I.
..... Click the link for more information. , daughter of the Austrian emperor Francis I (Holy Roman Emperor Francis II Francis II, 1768–1835, last Holy Roman emperor (1792–1806), first emperor of Austria as Francis I (1804–35), king of Bohemia and of Hungary (1792–1835).
..... Click the link for more information. ). Thereafter Josephine lived in retirement at Malmaison.

Bibliography

See biographies by R. M. Wilson (1930), A. Castelot (tr. 1967), and C. Erickson (1999); study by F. Masson Masson, Frédéric, 1847–1923, French historian, an authority on Napoleon I and his family. His work is uncritically laudatory with regard to Napoleon himself; his admiration, however, did not deter his severe indictment of Napoleon's relatives in
..... Click the link for more information. .

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Bibliography

Josephine