-
Introduction
Napoleon Bonaparte died at 5.49pm on 5 May 1821 at Longwood on the island of St Helena. An autopsy was carried out on 6 May; a preliminary cast for a death mask was taken on 7 May; and on 9 May, the Emperor was buried, in the presence of French and English witnesses. Yet since the nineteenth century, mystery and myths have shrouded Napoleon’s death, and the events and people that surrounded it…
This dossier is a collection (regularly updated with new content) of new and exciting information, manuscripts, as well as key texts, about and commentaries on Napoleon’s death, autopsy, burial and his death masks and a selection of images and artefacts related to the events.
-
Timeline
-
Commentary
Who was present at Napoleon’s death? – May 2021
Document and commentary > Napoleon’s last will and testament, with a new introduction by Chantal Prevot – February 2021
“Four, for the gospel makers” – The eye-witness memoirs of Napoleon on St Helena by Peter Hicks – May 2021
Napoleon’s corpse is definitely at Les Invalides! by Jacques Macé – 2003
The Affair of Napoleon’s Death Masks, by Chantal Prévot – Updated April 2021
The gastric disease of Napoleon Bonaparte: brief report for the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death on St. Helena in 1821, by Alessandro Lugli, Fatima Carneiro, Heather Dawson, Jean-François Fléjou, Richard Kirsch, Rachel S. van der Post, Michael Vieth, Magali Svrcek
First accounts of the “Death of Buonaparte” in the British newspapers, by Peter Hicks – June 2021
The Death of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Retour des Cendres: French and British Perspectives, by Fiona Parr – 2011
Arsenic and the Emperor, by Barbara Krajewska – 2004
Napoleon Bonaparte’s gastric cancer: a clinicopathologic approach to staging, pathogenesis, and etiology, by Alessandro Lugli, Inti Zlobec, Gad Singer, Andrea Kopp Lugli, Luigi M Terracciano and Robert M Genta*
The “poisoning” of Napoleon by Jacques Macé (in French) – 1999
What happened when the news of Napoleon’s death reached Europe? Interview with Thierry Lentz (Jan 2019)
On General Bertrand’s St Helena Cahiers or notebooks: “Here we are at Napoleon’s bedside at Longwood, as he breathes his last”. Interview with François Houdecek (March 2021)
Napoleon at St Helena Interview with Pierre Branda about his book Napoléon à Sainte Hélène, (January 2021)
-
Documents
Longwood House on St Helena
Plan of Longwood House in 1821 at the time of Napoleon’s death published in Général Montholon’s Récits de la captivité de l’empereur Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène (1847) here with additional commentary and photographs of Longwood House today.
“Descriptive sketch of Saint Helena / to accompany Lieut. Read’s geographical plan of the island”
Napoleon’s last will and testament
Napoleon’s last will and testament, an English translation with a new introduction (February 2021) by Chantal Prevot
Napoleon announcing his own death: Draft of letter to Governor Lowe announcing Napoleon’s death dictated by the Emperor himself to Montholon a few days earlier
Documents relating to Napoleon’s autopsy
In a collection of papers belonging to Governor Hudson Lowe held at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France there are several manuscripts (written in English) pertaining to the autopsy of Napoleon including:
> Report of appearances on dissection on the body of Napoleon Bonaparte signed by 5 British medical men.
> In this letter, Francis Burton of the 66th Regiment offers an explanation of why Dr Antommarchi hadn’t signed the autopsy report.
> a copy of a letter from Thomas Reade to Sir Hudson Lowe dated 6 May stating what happened at the dissection of General Bonaparte.
> Appearances on the examination of the body of Napoleon from notes taken by assistant surgeon Walter Henry of the 66th Regiment.Burial
Transcription of part of a letter from Sir Hudson Lowe to Lord Bathurst (14 May 1821) describing the construction of Napoleon’s tomb.
Page from burial register 1820-1831, parish of St James, St Helena, with the entry of the Emperor’s inhumation on 9 May 1821.
The exhumation
Second burial at Les Invalides, Paris
Final burial of the mortal remains of Emperor Napoleon I at the Eglise des Invalides, 2 April 1861 (translation of an article in Le Monde Illustré of 13 April 1861)
-
Bibliography
In Napoleon’s Shadow: The Memoirs of Louis-Joseph Marchand, Valet and Friend of the Emperor 1811–1821, preface by Jean Tulard
Napoleon at St. Helena: The Journals of General Bertrand from January to May of 1821 (English translation by Frances Hume, annotated by Paul Fleuriot de Langle) [out of print]
Digital Books
The Last days of the Emperor (1825) by Franceso Antommarchi: Volume 1 and volume 2,
An Account of the Last Illness, Decease, and Postmortem Appearances of Napoleon Bonaparte, 1822, by Archibald Arnott (the doctor who tended to Napoleon at his death)
Napoleon in exile: St. Helena (1815-1821), 1915, by Norwood Young, Volume 1 and Volume 2
The illness and death of Napoleon Bonaparte by Arnold Chaplin (1913)
Thomas Shortt (principal medical officer in St. Helena). With biographies of some other medical men associated with the case of Napoleon from 1815-1821, (1914) By Chaplin, Arnold (Thomas Hancock Arnold)
Napoleon immortal: the medical history and private life of Napoleon Bonaparte, (1959) by James Kemble (includes a useful bibiography)
History of the captivity of Napoleon at St Helena ; from the letters and journals of the late lieut. Gen. Sir Hudson Lowe, and official documents not before made public by William Forsyth (1853)
The exile of St Helena : the last phase in fact and fiction / translated from the French of Philippe Gonnard (1909)
Works in French
Mémoires du docteur F. Antommarchi, ou Les derniers momens de Napoléon. Tome 1 (Digital book)
De Sainte-Hélène aux Invalides / souvenirs de Santini, gardien du tombeau de l’empereur Napoléon Ier ; [rédigés par J. Chautard] ; [précédés d’une lettre de M. le Cte Emmanuel de Las Cases] (1853)(Digital book)
Napoléon à Sainte-Hélène : ou tableau des vexations et des souffrances sans nombre que Hudson Lowe … : contenant les détails de ses funérailles et son testament ; suivi de l’appel à la Nation anglaise sur le traitement éprouvé par l’Empereur Napoléon / by M. Sentini [sic], 1829 (Digital book)
Bibliography and commentary on Napoleon’s death masks, (in French, last update 25 April 2014) by Chantal Prévot (online article)
Napoléon n’est plus [Napoleon is no more, catalogue of the 2021 exhibition at the Musée de l’Armée with articles in French, and numerous exceptional objects and artworks relating to Napoleon’s death]
Cahiers de Sainte-Hélène. Les 500 derniers jours (1820-1821) [The St Helena notebooks, the last 500 days (1820-1821)], by General Henri Gatien Bertrand, commentaries by François Houdecek (2021)
Napoléon à Sainte Hélène, by Pierre Branda (2021)
Bonaparte n’est plus! [Bonaparte is no more!], (2019), by Thierry Lentz, how the news of Napoleon’s death reached Europe, in French
“Le plus puissant souffle de vie… “. La mort de Napoléon (1821-2021) [proceedings of the Symposium on the Death of Napoleon, 2021]
Napoleon’s Death
Napoleon Bonaparte died at 5.49pm on 5 May 1821, at Longwood on the island of Saint Helena. An autopsy was carried out on 6 May; a preliminary cast for a death mask was taken on 7 May; and on 9 May the Emperor was buried, in the presence of French and English witnesses. Yet since the nineteenth century, mystery and myths have shrouded Napoleon’s death, and the events and people that surrounded it.
Musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau © Fondation Napoléon / Rebecca Young