Eugène de Beauharnais

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Eugène de Beauharnais, portrait by Andrea Appiani , 1810. Beauharnais' signature:Signature Eugène de Beauharnais.PNG
Eugène de Beauharnais, portrait by Andrea Appiani, around 1800
Coat of arms of the Duke of Leuchtenberg from the House of Beauharnais
The Leuchtenberg residence in Eichstätt
Eugensberg Castle around 1850

Eugène-Rose de Beauharnais (German Eugen Herzog von Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstätt ) (born September 3, 1781 in Paris , †  February 21,  1824 in Munich ) was Napoleon's stepson I and was later adopted by him. He was Viceroy of Italy from 1805 and married Auguste von Bayern . He stood out as commander in 1809 and in 1810 was pretender to the throne of the Grand Duchy of Frankfurt . He took part in the Russian campaign of 1812 and in 1813 temporarily commanded the French troops in Germany. He returned to Italy and surrendered in 1814. He received the title of Duke of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstätt from his father-in-law and from then on lived in the Kingdom of Bavaria .

Life

Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg
Funerary monument of Eugène de Beauharnais

Origin and youth

Eugène de Beauharnais was the first child from the first marriage of Napoleon's wife Joséphine . His father was Alexandre Vicomte de Beauharnais . After his parents separated, his sister Hortense (born 1783) lived with his mother, Eugène with his father until his death in the turmoil of the revolution in 1794 under the guillotine . Eugène's mother, who had survived the turmoil of the revolution, managed to regain a foothold in society. She married General Napoleon Bonaparte from Corsica in 1796 and became Empress of the French at his side in 1804 . Eugène was made an officer by his stepfather Napoleon in 1797 and accompanied Napoleon as his adjutant during the Italian and Egyptian campaigns . In 1805, Napoleon appointed him Prince and State Chancellor of France. In the same year he took him to Milan , where Napoleon was crowned King of Italy .

French viceroy of Italy

On June 7, 1805, Napoleon set up Eugène as Viceroy of Italy, but without greater powers. Eugène, shortly before adopted by Napoleon, married the 17-year-old Princess Auguste Amalie of Bavaria on January 13, 1806 and one day later ecclesiastically in Munich on the instructions of Napoleon and in the presence of the French imperial couple, and thus became the son-in-law of the previous Elector Max IV Joseph and, since January 1st, 1806, the first Bavarian King Max I. Joseph. An intimate love affair developed from the marriage for reasons of state; The two remained a happy couple for life. A week after the wedding, they left for Milan, accompanied by Friederike von Wurmb , the princess' tutor. The common endeavor to get Napoleon's kingship in Italy remained unfulfilled, after all, Eugène also became Prince of Venice in 1807 . When Austrian troops marched into Italy in the spring of 1809 , Eugène was able to prove himself as a soldier again. After initially hapless actions in the Battle of Sacile on 16 April 1809, he and the defeated Napoleon's troops the Austrians under Archduke Johann in the Battle of Raab in Hungary on 14 June 1809. obedience to Napoleon, he then submitted the by Andreas Hofer cited rebellious Tyrol and had Hofer shot on February 20, 1810 in Mantua .

On March 1, 1810, Napoleon raised his stepson and adoptive son to Grand Duke of Frankfurt and promised him the successor to Prince-Primate Karl Theodor von Dalberg ; Until his death, Eugène was to continue his business in Italy. The subsequent Napoleonic offer to become Crown Prince of Sweden turned down Eugène. With the birth of Napoléon II on March 20, 1811, he was no longer the heir to the French imperial crown, but continued to stick with his adoptive father. He took part in his Russian campaign of 1812 and experienced the dishonorable and loss-making retreat of the Grande Armée , which shook him very much. Nevertheless, in January 1813, he took over the supreme command of the rest of the French army in Germany. After the Battle of Großgörschen , which Napoleon and Eugène were able to win again, albeit with severe losses, Eugène returned to Milan in May 1813. In August he had to go back into the field on Napoleon's orders, this time against Austria. While Napoleon was defeated in the Battle of Leipzig on October 18, 1813, the Viceroy continued to fight in Italy.

On February 8, 1814, he was still able to assert himself against the Austrians in the Battle of Mincio , but after the official news of Napoleon's renunciation of the throne, he surrendered his arms on April 17, 1814. He concluded a convention with Field Marshal Bellegarde that placed the administration of his kingdom in the hands of the Allies. In the face of increasing anti-French sentiment, Eugène left his kingdom of Italy and arrived with his family on May 4, 1814 at the Bavarian royal court in Munich. During the Congress of Vienna and the rule of the Hundred Days , he was briefly discussed as the possible Grand Duke of Genoa and as the regent of France. The annexation of Genoa to Sardinia-Piedmont and the return of the emperor and Fouche's assumption of power after Napoleon's final overthrow put such plans to a quick end in 1815.

Duke of Leuchtenberg

In order to provide for the family of the son-in-law, he received the title of Duke of Leuchtenberg  - in a royal deed of November 14th and a royal declaration of November 15, 1817 from Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria at the suggestion of his minister Maximilian Graf von Montgelas Based on the Upper Palatinate Landgrave of the same name , where the Leuchtenberg house died out after the 17th century - and awarded to a Prince of Eichstätt . He received the title of duke without any ownership ties; the mediation of a new principality formed from goods, rents and rights "in the area of ​​Eichstädt" was carried out by a royal commissioner, government councilor Carl Joseph Hartmann . With the title, Eugène also received a new coat of arms. From then on, the new prince led a quiet life in Munich or at Ismaning Castle, which he acquired in 1816, as a summer residence; he visited his principality with the residence of Eichstätt only a few times, in particular to indulge his passion for hunting in the vast forests of his principality, or as a stopover on long journeys. Eichstätt only functioned as a “sideline for stately activity and princely representation” (Hintermayr, p. 479). Nevertheless, because of his generosity - he supported, for example, the poor relief and financed its own building for the Eichstätter casino and theater company - and his proximity to the people during his rare visits to Eichstätt, he became very popular. In Munich, from autumn 1817, the Palais Leuchtenberg was built for the Prince of Eichstätt by court architect Leo von Klenze - with an interruption of several months because of a dispute with Crown Prince Ludwig , who finally submitted to his father and recognized his declaration of November 15, 1817. In autumn 1821 the family was able to move into their new splendid domicile with its 253 rooms.

Eugène visited his sister Hortense, whom he admired, on Lake Constance several times ; she had bought Arenenberg Castle there around 1817 . He then bought the neighboring Sandegg estate from the farmer Johann Eigenmann. This gave him the attractively located building plot for his Eugensberg Castle . This is located in Salenstein in the canton of Thurgau in Switzerland on the south bank of the Untersee opposite the island of Reichenau . It was built between 1819 and 1821, neither architect nor building plans are known. In August 1822, the ducal family in Eichstätt received Crown Prince Oskar of Sweden - son of Karl XIV. Johann of Sweden, the former French Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte - who asked for the hand of the eldest daughter Josephine and she did so on May 22, 1823 married in Munich.

Eugène de Beauharnais suffered two strokes in 1823 and died in 1824. He was buried on February 25, 1824 next to his daughter Carolina Clotilde. His tomb, designed by Bertel Thorwaldsen , Pietro Tenerani and Ernst Mayer based on a design by Leo von Klenze (1830), is located in the former court church of St. Michael in Munich .

progeny

Civil wedding of Eugène de Beauharnais to Auguste von Bayern, painted by François-Guillaume Ménageot .

The marriage to Auguste von Bayern had seven children:

Honors

His name is entered on the triumphal arch in Paris in the 24th column.

In 1818 he was made an honorary member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

The plant genus Leuchtenbergia Hook is named after him . from the family of the cactus plants (Cactaceae) with the species Leuchtenbergia principis .

Others

In 1803 Eugène acquired the Hôtel Villeroy in Paris, which has since been called the Hôtel de Beauharnais . He renovated it and furnished it preciously in the style of the Empire. The building was later used by Friedrich Wilhelm III. acquired and initially served as the seat of the Prussian legation. It has been the residence of the German Ambassador in France since 1961. During his time as Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy, Eugène de Beauharnais was a great patron and patron of the Italian gem cutter Giovanni Beltrami , who, thanks to Eugène de Beauharnais, created numerous works for the Bonapartes family.

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Eugène de Beauharnais  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ napoleon.org
  2. ↑ Member entry by Eugen Herzog von (Eugène de Beauharnais) Leuchtenberg (with picture) at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on February 3, 2016.
  3. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names - Extended Edition. Part I and II. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin , Freie Universität Berlin , Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5 doi: 10.3372 / epolist2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Beauharnais, Eugène de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Beauharnais, Eugène-Rose de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Napoleon's stepson, son of Joséphine de Beauharnais, general, duke
DATE OF BIRTH September 3, 1781
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris , France
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 1824
Place of death Munich , Bavaria