Bonaparte , Ital. Buonaparte , family name of Napoleon I , emperor of the French. Parentage Napoleon's father, Carlo Buonaparte, 1746-85, a petty Corsican nobleman, was a lawyer in Ajaccio. He supported (1768-69) Pasquale Paoli , then changed sides and became one of the staunchest leaders of the pro-French party in Corsica. He sent his sons to be educated in France. Napoleon's mother, Letizia, or Laetitia, Ramolino Bonaparte, c.1750-1836, was given the title Madame Mère at Napoleon's court. After the final downfall of Napoleon she found refuge in Rome. Napoleon's Siblings Joseph Bonaparte Joseph, 1768-1844, was the eldest of the children of Carlo and Letizia to survive infancy. Having gained some note as French minister to Parma and Rome, he became (1797) a member of the Council of Five Hundred for Corsica. Joseph later negotiated a treaty (1800) with the United States and represented France in the peace negotiations at Lunéville (1801) and Amiens (1802). When Napoleon became emperor, Joseph bitterly protested being left out of the line of succession. In 1806 Napoleon made him king of Naples, which Joseph administered very inefficiently, and in 1808 he was made king of Spain instead. Thoroughly unsuccessful in defending his throne during the Peninsular War , he reluctantly abdicated in 1813. From 1815 to 1841 he lived mainly in the United States—at Bordentown, N.J. He died in Italy. Napoleon I was born a year after Joseph, in 1769. Lucien...
Bonaparte , Ital. Buonaparte , family name of Napoleon I , emperor of the French. Parentage Napoleon's father, Carlo Buonaparte, 1746-85, a petty Corsican nobleman, was a lawyer in Ajaccio. He supported (1768-69) Pasquale Paoli , then changed sides and became one of the staunchest leaders of the pro-French party in Corsica. He sent his sons to be educated in France. Napoleon's mother, Letizia, or Laetitia, Ramolino Bonaparte, c.1750-1836, was given the title Madame Mère at Napoleon's court. After the final downfall of Napoleon she found refuge in Rome. Napoleon's Siblings Joseph Bonaparte Joseph, 1768-1844, was the eldest of the children of Carlo and Letizia to survive infancy. Having gained some note as French minister to Parma and Rome, he became (1797) a member of the Council of Five Hundred for Corsica. Joseph later negotiated a treaty (1800) with the United States and represented France in the peace negotiations at Lunéville (1801) and Amiens (1802). When Napoleon became emperor, Joseph bitterly protested being left out of the line of succession. In 1806 Napoleon made him king of Naples, which Joseph administered very inefficiently, and in 1808 he was made king of Spain instead. Thoroughly unsuccessful in defending his throne during the Peninsular War , he reluctantly abdicated in 1813. From 1815 to 1841 he lived mainly in the United States—at Bordentown, N.J. He died in Italy. Napoleon I was born a year after Joseph, in 1769. Lucien...
