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| styles =
| styles =
| other_titles =
| other_titles =
| noble family = [[House of Bonaparte]]
| noble family = [[House of Bonaparte|Bonaparte]]
| house-type =
| house-type =
| father = [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]
| father = [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]
| mother = [[Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne]]
| mother = [[Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne]]
| birth_name =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = December 13, 1806
| birth_date = 13 December 1806
| birth_place = Paris, France
| birth_place = Paris, France
| christening_date =
| christening_date =
| christening_place =
| christening_place =
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1881|04|14|1806|12|13}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1881|04|14|1806|12|13|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Pontoise]], Paris, France
| death_place = [[Pontoise]], Paris, France
| burial_date =
| burial_date =
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}}
'''Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne, Count Léon'''<ref name="creation of count">{{cite book |last1=Stacton |first1=David |title=Charles Léon |date=1966 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=France |isbn=9780671098605 |page=310}}</ref> (December 13, 1806–1881) was an illegitimate son of Emperor [[Napoleon]] of France and [[Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne]]. Brought up in France, he began a military career in Saint-Denis where he was head of a battalion of the national guard.
'''Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne, Count Léon'''<ref name="creation of count">{{cite book |last1=Stacton |first1=David |title=Charles Léon |date=1966 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=France |isbn=9780671098605 |page=310}}</ref> (13 December 1806 – 14 April 1881) was an illegitimate son of Emperor [[Napoleon]] of France and Napoleon's mistress [[Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne]]. Brought up in France, Léon began a military career in Saint-Denis where he was head of a battalion of the national guard.


Admirative of his father [[Napoleon]], he tried to keep the memory of the [[First Empire (France)|First Empire]] alive by organizing several commemorations. After the fall of his cousin [[Napoleon III]] and of the [[Second Empire (France)|Second Empire]] he retired in [[Pontoise, France]] and died in poverty.
Admirative of his father, he tried to keep the memory of the [[First Empire (France)|First Empire]] alive by organizing several commemorations. After the fall of his cousin [[Napoleon III]] and of the [[Second Empire (France)|Second Empire]], Léon retired in [[Pontoise, France]], and died in poverty.


== Biography ==
== Biography ==
Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne was born December 13, 1806 at No. 29, [[Rue de la Victoire]], [[9th arrondissement of Paris]], Paris, France, to Napoleon and Napoleon's sister [[Caroline Murat]]'s maid, Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne.<ref name="DOB">{{cite book |last1=Glover |first1=Gareth |title=Napoleon in 100 Objects |date=2020 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=9781526731371}}</ref><ref name="Place of birth">{{cite book |last1=Bonaparte |first1=Queen Hortense Eugénie Cécile |title=The Memoirs of Queen Hortense, Volume 1 |date=2016 |publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing |isbn=9781786258380}}</ref> Napoleon chose his second name of Léon.<ref name="Name">{{cite book |last1=Bedei |first1=Philippe |title=MINI DICTIONNAIRE DE L'HISTOIRE DE FRANCE: TOME 5 |date=2021 |publisher=BoD - Books on Demand |isbn=9782322219667 |page=131}}</ref> He was Napoleon's first son, but was entrusted to a tutor and initially brought up in ignorance of his heritage.<ref name="Name" /> Napoleon had thought for a long time that he was sterile because his wife [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]], who already had two children from a previous marriage, failed to get pregnant. Léon's was of "undeniable political importance" since it showed it was not Napoleon who was sterile.<ref name="Name" /> Napoleon acknowledged Léon as his son and gave him a pension of 3,000 pounds a year and rights to the profits on wood sold from [[Moselle]].<ref name="acknowledgment">{{cite book |last1=Tsouras |first1=Peter G. |title=Napoleon Victorious!: An Alternative History of the Battle of Waterloo |date=2017 |publisher=Greenhill Books |isbn=9781784382117 |page=200}}</ref><ref name="pension & wood">{{cite book |last1=Vizetelly |first1=Ernest Alfred |title=The Court of the Tuileries, 1852-1870: Its Organization, Chief Personages, Splendour, Frivolity, and Downfall |date=1907 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |location=France |page=179}}</ref>
Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne was born on 13 December 1806 at No. 29, [[Rue de la Victoire]], [[9th arrondissement of Paris]], Paris, France, to Napoleon and Napoleon's sister [[Caroline Murat]]'s maid, Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne.<ref name="DOB">{{cite book |last1=Glover |first1=Gareth |title=Napoleon in 100 Objects |date=2020 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=9781526731371}}</ref><ref name="Place of birth">{{cite book |last1=Bonaparte |first1=Queen Hortense Eugénie Cécile |title=The Memoirs of Queen Hortense, Volume 1 |date=2016 |publisher=Pickle Partners Publishing |isbn=9781786258380}}</ref> Napoleon chose his second name of Léon.<ref name="Name">{{cite book |last1=Bedei |first1=Philippe |title=MINI DICTIONNAIRE DE L'HISTOIRE DE FRANCE: TOME 5 |date=2021 |publisher=BoD - Books on Demand |isbn=9782322219667 |page=131}}</ref> He was Napoleon's first son, but was entrusted to a tutor and initially brought up in ignorance of his heritage.<ref name="Name" /> Napoleon had thought for a long time that he was sterile because his wife [[Joséphine de Beauharnais]], who already had two children from a previous marriage, failed to get pregnant. Léon's birth was of "undeniable political importance" since it showed that Napoleon was in fact not sterile.<ref name="Name" /> Napoleon considered adopting Léon, but realized his other illegitimate children would have claim to the crown and therefore abandoned the idea.<ref name="adoption">{{cite journal |title=The Three Sons of Napoleon |journal=The English Illustrated Magazine |date=April–September 1906 |volume=25 |issue=25 |page=127}}</ref> Although he did not legitimize Léon, Napoleon acknowledged Léon as his son and gave him a pension of 25,000 Francs a year and rights to the profits on wood sold from [[Moselle]].<ref name="acknowledgment">{{cite book |last1=Tsouras |first1=Peter G. |title=Napoleon Victorious!: An Alternative History of the Battle of Waterloo |date=2017 |publisher=Greenhill Books |isbn=9781784382117 |page=200}}</ref><ref name="pension & wood">{{cite book |last1=Vizetelly |first1=Ernest Alfred |title=The Court of the Tuileries, 1852-1870: Its Organization, Chief Personages, Splendour, Frivolity, and Downfall |date=1907 |publisher=Chatto & Windus |location=France |page=179}}</ref>


Léon – short for Napoleon – was raised away from the imperial court, but always under his father's protection. The Emperor made him an heir in his will, and gave him the title of count.<ref name="creation of count" />
Léon – short for Napoleon – was raised away from the imperial court, but always under his father's protection. The Emperor made him an heir in his will, and gave him the title of count.<ref name="creation of count" />


In 1832, Léon shot an orderly of the Duke of Wellington's, Charles Hesse, in a duel over losing 16,000 [[francs]] to Hesse in a card game.<ref name="Duel">{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Andrew |title=Napoleon: A Life |date=2014 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780698176287}}</ref><ref name="DOB" /> Writer Gareth Glover stated Léon was "completely unmanageable" in adulthood and became a "hardened gambler", having to go to debtor's prison twice.<ref name="DOB" /> Biographer Andrew Roberts wrote he was an "argumentative drunken wastrel".<ref name="Duel" />
In 1832, Léon shot an [[Batman (military)|orderly]] of the Duke of Wellington's, [[Charles Hesse]], in a duel over losing 16,000 [[francs]] to Hesse in a card game.<ref name="Duel">{{cite book |last1=Roberts |first1=Andrew |title=Napoleon: A Life |date=2014 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780698176287}}</ref><ref name="DOB" /> Writer Gareth Glover stated Léon was "completely unmanageable" in adulthood and became a "hardened gambler", having to go to [[Debtors' prison|debtor's prison]] twice.<ref name="DOB" /> Biographer [[Andrew Roberts, Baron Roberts of Belgravia|Andrew Roberts]] wrote he was an "argumentative drunken wastrel".<ref name="Duel" />


He married Françoise Fanny Jouet, with whom he had four children live past infancy (three sons and one daughter).<ref name="Place of birth" /> He died "poverty-stricken" on April 14, 1881.<ref name="Duel" /><ref name="Place of birth" /> He is buried in a mass grave in Pontoise, Paris, France.<ref name="Pontoise grave">{{cite web |title=Le fils de Napoléon enterré à Pontoise |url=https://www.ville-pontoise.fr/histoire/fils-napoleon-enterre-a-pontoise |website=Pontoise |access-date=September 23, 2021}}</ref>
He married Françoise Fanny Jouet, with whom he had four children live past infancy (sons Charles, Gaston and Fernand; and daughter Charlotte).<ref name="Place of birth" /><ref name="Children names">{{cite news |last1=Hennebicq |first1=Maurice |title=Le petit-fils de l'Empereur |url=https://www.sudouest.fr/2011/11/02/le-petit-fils-de-l-empereur-542672-3415.php?nic |access-date=September 23, 2021 |publisher=Sud Ouest |date=February 11, 2011 |archive-date=September 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924165551/https://www.sudouest.fr/2011/11/02/le-petit-fils-de-l-empereur-542672-3415.php?nic |url-status=live }}</ref> He died "poverty-stricken" on 14 April 1881.<ref name="Duel" /><ref name="Place of birth" /> He is buried in a mass grave in Pontoise, Paris, France.<ref name="Pontoise grave">{{cite web |title=Le fils de Napoléon enterré à Pontoise |url=https://www.ville-pontoise.fr/histoire/fils-napoleon-enterre-a-pontoise |website=Pontoise |access-date=September 23, 2021 |archive-date=September 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924165552/https://www.ville-pontoise.fr/histoire/fils-napoleon-enterre-a-pontoise |url-status=live }}</ref>


Léon’s daughter Charlotte Mesnard, who was interviewed in 1921 at the age of 55, said her father had a striking resemblance to Napoleon. She also said that two of Léon's sons and her own son were killed in the [[First World War]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/04/23/109803978.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=June 12, 2018 |archive-date=January 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103181630/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/04/23/109803978.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Comte Charles Léon, Léon's great-grandson, died in 1994.<ref name="Descendants">{{cite book |last1=Weider |first1=Ben |last2=Forshufvud |first2=Sten |title=Assassination at St. Helena Revisited |date=1995 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=9780471126775 |page=471}}</ref>
Léon’s daughter Charlotte Mesnard, who was interviewed in 1921 at the age of 55, said her father had a striking resemblance to Napoleon. She also said that two of Léon's sons and her own son were killed in the [[First World War]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/04/23/109803978.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=June 12, 2018 |archive-date=January 3, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103181630/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/04/23/109803978.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Comte Charles Léon, Léon's grandson, died in 1994.<ref name="Descendants">{{cite book |last1=Weider |first1=Ben |last2=Forshufvud |first2=Sten |title=Assassination at St. Helena Revisited |date=1995 |publisher=Wiley |isbn=9780471126775 |page=471}}</ref>

==Ancestry==
{{ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;
|1= 1. '''Charles Léon Denuelle de La Plaigne, Comte Léon'''
|2= 2. [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]
|3= 3. [[Eléonore Denuelle de La Plaigne]]
|4= 4. [[Carlo Maria Buonaparte]]
|5= 5. [[Maria Letizia Ramolino]]
|6= 6. Dominique Denuelle de La Plaigne
|7= 7. Françoise Charlotte Eléonore Couprie
|8= 8. [[Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte]]
|9= 9. Maria Saveria Paravicini
|10= 10. Giovanni Geronimo Ramolino
|11= 11. Angela Maria Pietrasanta
|16= 16. Sebastiano Nicola Buonaparte
|17= 17. Maria Anna Tusoli
|18= 18. Giuseppe Maria Paravicini
|19= 19. Maria Angela Salineri
|20= 20. Giovanni Agostino Ramolino
|21= 21. Angela Maria Peri
|22= 22. Giuseppe Pietrasanta
|23= 23. Maria Giuseppa Malerba
}}


==Further reading==
==Further reading==
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[[Category:Counts Léon|Charles Leon]]
[[Category:Counts Léon|Charles Leon]]
[[Category:Illegitimate children of Napoleon]]
[[Category:Illegitimate children of Napoleon]]
[[Category:Sons of emperors]]
[[Category:Sons of kings]]


{{France-noble-stub}}
{{France-noble-stub}}

Latest revision as of 01:48, 14 April 2024

Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne
Count Léon
Born13 December 1806
Paris, France
Died14 April 1881(1881-04-14) (aged 74)
Pontoise, Paris, France
Noble familyBonaparte
Spouse(s)Françoise Fanny Jouet
FatherNapoleon Bonaparte
MotherLouise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne

Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne, Count Léon[1] (13 December 1806 – 14 April 1881) was an illegitimate son of Emperor Napoleon of France and Napoleon's mistress Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne. Brought up in France, Léon began a military career in Saint-Denis where he was head of a battalion of the national guard.

Admirative of his father, he tried to keep the memory of the First Empire alive by organizing several commemorations. After the fall of his cousin Napoleon III and of the Second Empire, Léon retired in Pontoise, France, and died in poverty.

Biography

[edit]

Charles Léon Denuelle de la Plaigne was born on 13 December 1806 at No. 29, Rue de la Victoire, 9th arrondissement of Paris, Paris, France, to Napoleon and Napoleon's sister Caroline Murat's maid, Louise Catherine Eléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne.[2][3] Napoleon chose his second name of Léon.[4] He was Napoleon's first son, but was entrusted to a tutor and initially brought up in ignorance of his heritage.[4] Napoleon had thought for a long time that he was sterile because his wife Joséphine de Beauharnais, who already had two children from a previous marriage, failed to get pregnant. Léon's birth was of "undeniable political importance" since it showed that Napoleon was in fact not sterile.[4] Napoleon considered adopting Léon, but realized his other illegitimate children would have claim to the crown and therefore abandoned the idea.[5] Although he did not legitimize Léon, Napoleon acknowledged Léon as his son and gave him a pension of 25,000 Francs a year and rights to the profits on wood sold from Moselle.[6][7]

Léon – short for Napoleon – was raised away from the imperial court, but always under his father's protection. The Emperor made him an heir in his will, and gave him the title of count.[1]

In 1832, Léon shot an orderly of the Duke of Wellington's, Charles Hesse, in a duel over losing 16,000 francs to Hesse in a card game.[8][2] Writer Gareth Glover stated Léon was "completely unmanageable" in adulthood and became a "hardened gambler", having to go to debtor's prison twice.[2] Biographer Andrew Roberts wrote he was an "argumentative drunken wastrel".[8]

He married Françoise Fanny Jouet, with whom he had four children live past infancy (sons Charles, Gaston and Fernand; and daughter Charlotte).[3][9] He died "poverty-stricken" on 14 April 1881.[8][3] He is buried in a mass grave in Pontoise, Paris, France.[10]

Léon’s daughter Charlotte Mesnard, who was interviewed in 1921 at the age of 55, said her father had a striking resemblance to Napoleon. She also said that two of Léon's sons and her own son were killed in the First World War.[11] Comte Charles Léon, Léon's grandson, died in 1994.[12]

Ancestry

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
  • La descendance naturelle de Napoleon I: Le comte Léon; Le comte Waleswki[13] (translated in English): The natural descent of Napoleon 1st : Count Leon, Count Waleswki by Joseph Valynseele
  • Le Comte Léon, bâtard infernal de Napoléon[14] (translated in English): Le Comte Léon, infernal bastard of Napoleon by Joseph Verbet
  • Napoleon's Love Child: A Biography of Count Leon[15] by Dennis Walton Dodds, ISBN 9780718303334

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Stacton, David (1966). Charles Léon. France: Simon and Schuster. p. 310. ISBN 9780671098605.
  2. ^ a b c Glover, Gareth (2020). Napoleon in 100 Objects. Frontline Books. ISBN 9781526731371.
  3. ^ a b c Bonaparte, Queen Hortense Eugénie Cécile (2016). The Memoirs of Queen Hortense, Volume 1. Pickle Partners Publishing. ISBN 9781786258380.
  4. ^ a b c Bedei, Philippe (2021). MINI DICTIONNAIRE DE L'HISTOIRE DE FRANCE: TOME 5. BoD - Books on Demand. p. 131. ISBN 9782322219667.
  5. ^ "The Three Sons of Napoleon". The English Illustrated Magazine. 25 (25): 127. April–September 1906.
  6. ^ Tsouras, Peter G. (2017). Napoleon Victorious!: An Alternative History of the Battle of Waterloo. Greenhill Books. p. 200. ISBN 9781784382117.
  7. ^ Vizetelly, Ernest Alfred (1907). The Court of the Tuileries, 1852-1870: Its Organization, Chief Personages, Splendour, Frivolity, and Downfall. France: Chatto & Windus. p. 179.
  8. ^ a b c Roberts, Andrew (2014). Napoleon: A Life. Penguin. ISBN 9780698176287.
  9. ^ Hennebicq, Maurice (February 11, 2011). "Le petit-fils de l'Empereur". Sud Ouest. Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  10. ^ "Le fils de Napoléon enterré à Pontoise". Pontoise. Archived from the original on September 24, 2021. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  11. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on January 3, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  12. ^ Weider, Ben; Forshufvud, Sten (1995). Assassination at St. Helena Revisited. Wiley. p. 471. ISBN 9780471126775.
  13. ^ Valynseele, Joseph (1964). La descendance naturelle de Napoleon I: Le comte Léon; Le comte Waleswki.
  14. ^ Vebret, Joseph (2018). Le Comte Léon, bâtard infernal de Napoléon (in French). De Borée.
  15. ^ Dodds, Dennis Walton (1974). Napoleon's Love Child: A Biography of Count Leon. Kimber. ISBN 9780718303334.
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