Napoleon had no idea his forces were about to kidnap the Pope he wrote in an 1809 letter that auctioned for $30,000 on the day after Pope Francis’s funeral.
The letter concerned the seizing of Pope Pius VII with whom Napoleon had a long and difficult relationship.
Pius’s arrest in 1809 began a period of exile, outside Rome but within Italy, and then in France, that only ended in 1812.
Pope Pius VII in 1805 by David, a painter who recorded the changing fortunes of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic period.
There was a strong anti-Clerical strand to the French Revolution, and Napoleon had personal problems with the Catholic Church – banishing and locking up a group of Cardinals who refused to recognise his second marriage.
The Pope was also the head of state of a much more consequential territory than today’s Vatican. The Papal States had refused to align to Napoleon’s Continental System and Napoleon had occupied them.
This letter was hand-written by the Emperor and signed Napole.
It was sold, at Fonainebleau (where the Pope was exiled), by Osenat as one of the star lots in a two-day sale entirely dedicated to the Napoleonic presence in the town.
“This arrest is one of the events that will define Napoleon’s reign, at a political and religious level,” Jean-Christophe Chataignier, an expert in the Napoleonic era at Osenat, told AFP. “Napoleon knows this letter will be made public and that it’s intended for authorities everywhere.”
Napoleon wrote: “It was without my orders and against my will that the pope was taken out of Rome; it is again without my orders and against my will that he is being brought into France.”
“But I was only informed of this 10 or 12 days after it had already been carried out. From the moment I learn that the pope is staying in a fixed location, and that my intentions can be made known in time and carried out, I will consider what measures I must take.,”
The catalogue is fairly clear as to what to make of that, describing the letter as a “stain on history” titling the lot: “WHEN THE EMPEROR PRETENDED TO DISAPPROVE OF THE POPE’S ARREST, WHICH HE HIMSELF HAD ORDERED.”
Hats like these were said to be worth thousands of men on the battlefield and are now worth hundreds of thousands of pounds at auction.
The letter was expected to realise between €12,000 and €15,000 but was hammered for €26,360 or $30,000.
Napoleon is still France’s most famous leader, and highly collectible as a historic figure globally.
Next month a sword he owned will be auctioned and is expected to make as much as $1.1.3 million.
The Emperor’s trademark hats are very desirable. In 2023, one sold for £1.69 million to become the most valuable auctioned.
Last month a copy of the Napoleonic Code – the set of laws that still hold some sway in France – owned by the Corsican general released £336,000 at auction.
