by popular demand some amazing revolutionary / napoleonic women ! these are only those i could remember at the moment and on which i know a substantial amount of stuff & if i made a mistake feel free to correct me !
- CHEVALIER D’EON ; OK WHERE DO I START. sHE WAS A SPY OF LOUIS XV’S CABINET NOIR. ALSO she wAS TRANS. TrANS SPY CAN IT GET ANY RADDER IN THE 18tH CENTURY ?? ?? before she came out she infiltrated the russian court as a french noblewoman !! she came out around her forties i think ??? and literally forced louis xvi to buy her a new wardrobe. her end is kinda sad tho and it gives me feels but. well. wanna know more ? the first part of her autobiography is here ( warning : lots has been ghostwritten so take it w a grain of salt ! ) & her wikipedia !
- EMPRESS JOSEPHINE ; fUCK FUCK one of my fave historical figures all time . she was born in 1763 & she was the daughter of colonists ( who kinda failed at being successful and wealthy tBH ) in martinique. first married vicomte alexandre de beauharnais ( a crap husband ) and dragged his shitty ass before court & obtained custody over their children. he tried to kidnap their son eugene but had to give the boi back. they kinda reconciled for the kids
alexandre was guillotined during the frev but josephine survived. might have had a thing with lazare hoche but that sprung off and naps fell in love w her. NOW THE GOOD SHIT STARTS. sHE initially wasn’t that in love w nap but HO BOI ( theres some super sin letters aND THE YWERE LITERALLY SHAGGING EACH OTHER WHEN POSSIBLe honestly the first consulate is my fave era bc ?? they loved each other so mUCH )
SHE WAS SO KIND AND SO BADASS AT THE SAME TIME. imo she was one of the main players behind napoleon’s coup bc honestly she lobbied so much bless her salon & ‘seduced ’ director gohier into being friendly towards nap and tHEN DUMPED BOTH HIM AND HER OLD FRIEND BARRAS ??? she called naps out on his sexism and gave a lot to charities and women’s organisations like heck ?? ?
they divorced :’( bc of political reasons but anyways napoléons son would once say : “ if josephine had been my mother, my father would never have been sent to st helena and i would not be wasting away here in vienna. my mother is kind but weak; she was not the wife my father deserved. ” 10/10 would date.
beware when doing research - lots is biased !! DONT READ KATE WILLIAMS’ BOOK IT SUCKS and ITS FULL OF MISTAKES IF SHE’S a PROFESSOR OF HISTORY THEN I AM PRESIdENT OF THE INTERNATIONaL NAPOLEONIC SOCIETY. everything relying on louis hastier is likely fake. there’s a free biography by ernest knapton here but its not that great - if you know french i recommend pierre branda or bernard chevallier. otherwise andrea stuart’s rose of martinique / sandra gulland’s fiction is a good go as well. this tumblr user has some rlly nice posts on her as well ! - PAULINE FOURES ; ok theres not that much but she was naps mistress in egypt and after kléber’s death she went to brasil w a friend of hers where she became a successful entrepreneur. she had a sawmill and when she was older she returned to france and scandalized everyone bc she was wearing man’s clothes and smoking a pipe also she had parrots and lived until the age of ninety ( 90 ) or sth.
- PAULINE BONAPARTE ; the only one of the bonaparte sisters to go visit naps in exile. she was a socialite and honestly #iconic she was super loyal 2 naps and tbh his fave sister. aLSO SO BEAUTIf UL IM GAY. idk that much about her except that she was goals but im def gonna read more !
- CAROLINE BONAPARTE ; after the fall of naps she was deemed too dangerous to be close to any of her family members again and i think that says a lot tbh. she was really rad !! and politically not always following her brother’s course !! ! ! uhhhhhhhhhhmmm theres a biography but im a poor hoe. cUNNING AF THO
- MANON ROLAND ; a central figure in the rEV SUPER SMART but unfortunately married to an old man. SHE WAS MOSTLY SELF EDUCATED AND YET !!!! she had her own salon wrote political articles & was a crucial member of the girondin faction !! you wanted to get in the inner circle of the girondist faction ? manon was the one u needed. sHE WAS SO SO SO SMART!! her husband wasn’t that impressive BUT SHE USED HIS POSITION TO PUSH THROUGH HER OWN AGENDA AND eVERYONE KNEW IT !!! you should be able to find her memoirs online & there’s probably some books on her as well. i mean shes in my book of the 100 most significant revolutionaries and that says something.
- HORTENSE DE BEAUHARNAIS ; tHE QUEEN OF HOLLAND AND NAPS STEPDAUGHTER. her son was napoleon ‘oui oui’ iii. ( yes that was his nickname ) she was one of naps best friends like they were both serious af and first she couldn’t stand him but theY WERE AMAZIN FRIENDS LATER. wAS SUPER GOOD AT COMPOSING ART AND DRAWING !! she composed partant pour la syrie and designed the insigna of the ordre of union. also rocked at playing billiards just like her mom josephine. she wrote memoirs as well !! but beware - its suspected to have been kinda ghostwritten.
ALBINE DE MONTHOLON ; shagged naps @ st helena & her youngest daughter is thought to have been naps illegal child. she was really fucking smart and called naps out on his sexism like they had a whole bunch of conversations on it and she forced him to change his opinion. while i strongly doubt she was in the conspiracy to poison naps (if there was even a conspiracy) she did read a book abt arsenic poisoning - it strikes me as more likely that she suspected naps being poisoned - not unlikely tbh bc she really was enthralled by his personality. according 2 her daughter she had a secret mission from naps to his family. ANYWAYS SHES RAD AND I THINK sHE WROTE MEMOIRS AS WELL BUT I CANT FIND THEM BASED ON EXCERPTS FROM MY BOOK sHES AWESOME I WOULD DATE HER 10/10.
