Questions about Jérôme Bonaparte
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Who was Jérôme Bonaparte and why is he historically significant?
Jérôme Bonaparte was the youngest brother of Napoleon I, born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on the 15th of November 1784, who ruled as King of Westphalia from 1807 to 1813. Most historians consider him the most unsuccessful of Napoleon's brothers, though he later served as Marshal of France from 1850 and as President of the Senate in 1852. His grandson Charles Joseph Bonaparte founded what became the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1908.
Why did Napoleon annul Jérôme Bonaparte's marriage to Elizabeth Patterson?
Napoleon annulled the marriage by imperial decree on the 11th of March 1805, because he wanted to marry his siblings into European royal families to strengthen the Bonaparte dynasty. Unable to secure an annulment from Pope Pius VII, Napoleon acted unilaterally. Jérôme accepted the annulment in exchange for a naval command, a generalship, an imperial title, and ultimately the Kingdom of Westphalia.
What was the Kingdom of Westphalia under Jérôme Bonaparte?
The Kingdom of Westphalia was a French client state created in 1807 from former Holy Roman Empire territories in northwestern Germany, with its capital at Kassel. Jérôme Bonaparte ruled it until 1813, when Allied forces liberated Kassel and the kingdom was declared dissolved. It is historically notable for receiving the first written constitution and parliament on German soil, decades before comparable institutions appeared elsewhere in Germany.
What did Jérôme Bonaparte do during Napoleon's Russian invasion of 1812?
Jérôme was given command of a corps tasked with marching toward Minsk, but abandoned the campaign after being reprimanded for insisting on travelling in full royal state. He returned to Westphalia with his entire court at the moment his forces were most needed. Historians have concluded that tens of thousands of lives were most likely lost as a result of his withdrawal.
Who founded the FBI and how was he related to Jérôme Bonaparte?
Charles Joseph Bonaparte, born in 1851 and a grandson of Jérôme Bonaparte through his American-born son Jérôme Napoléon Bonaparte, established a Bureau of Investigation within the Department of Justice in 1908. He served as United States Attorney General under President Theodore Roosevelt from 1901 to 1909 and argued before the Supreme Court more than five hundred times. That bureau, expanded under director J. Edgar Hoover, was renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935.
How has Jérôme Bonaparte been portrayed in film and literature?
Jérôme Bonaparte appears in several productions, including the 1928 Vitaphone film Glorious Betsy, where Conrad Nagel played him opposite Dolores Costello as Elizabeth Patterson, and the 1936 film Hearts Divided, where Dick Powell portrayed him. British actor David Birkin played him in the Hornblower television series. Ruth Hull Chatlien's 2013 historical novel The Ambitious Madame Bonaparte centers on his Baltimore marriage.