1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:04,840 Speaker 1: Hmm. Napoleon Bonaparte a brilliant general and a passionate lover 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:09,120 Speaker 1: with Josephine. But what were her zigzags and what made 3 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:13,840 Speaker 1: him eventually hate sex? I'm Patty Steele, not tonight, Josephine. 4 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:23,440 Speaker 1: Next on the backstory. The backstory is back Napoleon Bonaparte 5 00:00:23,520 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: top of mind, course with the new Joaquin Phoenix flick. 6 00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: We know he craved onlimited power, which actually eventually brought 7 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:33,880 Speaker 1: him down. But what kind of a guy was he? 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,560 Speaker 1: He began his rise to power at a really young age, 9 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,200 Speaker 1: even before the French Revolution. He had a really clear 10 00:00:40,320 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: vision of what he thought was right for France. In 11 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:46,559 Speaker 1: the aftermath of the revolution itself, he believed that the 12 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: nation had become over sexualized. When he was young, Napoleon 13 00:00:51,880 --> 00:00:54,880 Speaker 1: wasn't what you would call a romantic guy. At eighteen, 14 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 1: he lost his virginity to a prostitute. The next morning 15 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: he wrote about it like it was some sort of 16 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: scientific experiment. He had picked her up on a cold 17 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:07,679 Speaker 1: evening in Paris, and he said, I looked at her. 18 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: She stopped, not with the impudent air common to her class, 19 00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,760 Speaker 1: but with a manner that was quite in harmony. With 20 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: the charm of her appearance. He says he walked in 21 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,240 Speaker 1: a garden with her, and he asked her if there 22 00:01:20,480 --> 00:01:23,960 Speaker 1: wasn't an occupation more suited to her health, to which 23 00:01:23,959 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 1: she replied, no, sir, one must live. Then he asked 24 00:01:27,400 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: her how she lost her virginity, and she said a 25 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:33,560 Speaker 1: soldier spoiled me. He asked if that upset her, and 26 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,800 Speaker 1: she said very much so. After that, he says, he 27 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 1: brought her back to her rooms so she could satisfy 28 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:43,959 Speaker 1: her desire. Interesting that, he says, her desire no mention 29 00:01:44,040 --> 00:01:47,960 Speaker 1: of his own. Around the same time, while in military school, 30 00:01:48,280 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: he wrote an article titled a Dialogue on the Nature 31 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,880 Speaker 1: of Love, and he basically said that sex and love 32 00:01:55,040 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 1: were a distraction and incredibly harmful to society. But all 33 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:02,240 Speaker 1: of that changed a number of years later when he 34 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: met Josephine. Now, at that point he was already fairly 35 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:08,280 Speaker 1: famous as a military leader and had been made a 36 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: general at the age of just twenty four. When he 37 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,799 Speaker 1: married Josephine, he was twenty six. She was thirty two 38 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:18,399 Speaker 1: and the widow of an aristocrat who was beheaded during 39 00:02:18,440 --> 00:02:23,040 Speaker 1: the French Revolution. They had an insanely passionate relationship from 40 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:25,959 Speaker 1: the get go. A lot of their love letters still 41 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: survive and are, let's just say x rated. He would 42 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: tell her not to bathe until he returned from battle, 43 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,280 Speaker 1: and he'd talk about how they'd welcome each other. She 44 00:02:37,440 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: was pretty accomplished on that front, and she returned his 45 00:02:40,480 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 1: erotic letters with her own, although much to his disappointment, 46 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 1: she wrote far fewer letters to him than he did 47 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 1: to her. He was kind of like an anxious kid, 48 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:56,480 Speaker 1: writing her every day, sometimes several times a day. Biographers 49 00:02:56,520 --> 00:03:01,040 Speaker 1: and historians say Josephine did something in bed called zigzags, 50 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:04,480 Speaker 1: but they've been unable to figure out exactly what that was. 51 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:06,920 Speaker 1: I guess kind of like the move where the swirl 52 00:03:06,919 --> 00:03:10,720 Speaker 1: on Seinfeld. But they say in his salty but sexy 53 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:14,560 Speaker 1: letters to her, Napoleon had a pet name for Josephine's 54 00:03:14,560 --> 00:03:19,000 Speaker 1: private parts, referring to that region as the Baron de Keppin. 55 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: Nobody has been able to figure out that one either. 56 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:27,000 Speaker 1: Who was that guy? Problem is, Josephine was sexually voracious, 57 00:03:27,440 --> 00:03:30,359 Speaker 1: and she began cheating on Napoleon within weeks of their 58 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:33,519 Speaker 1: marriage while he was away at war. He found out 59 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:37,160 Speaker 1: and figured he'd fight fire with fire, and he began 60 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: the first of his many as twenty two love affairs 61 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: during his marriage. When he was home, he realized he 62 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:47,400 Speaker 1: could not keep up with her sexual needs. Legend has 63 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: it he told friends he often had to turn her down, 64 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:55,440 Speaker 1: saying not tonight. Josephine. By this time, even though he 65 00:03:55,520 --> 00:03:59,000 Speaker 1: had fought against the monarchy and the revolution, he wanted 66 00:03:59,080 --> 00:04:03,840 Speaker 1: unlimited powers and had crowned himself emperor. Problem is, he 67 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:07,400 Speaker 1: wanted an heir to his throne, and although Josephine had 68 00:04:07,400 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: two children with her first husband, it appeared she was 69 00:04:10,720 --> 00:04:14,160 Speaker 1: unable to have any more. Napoleon didn't appear to be 70 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:17,360 Speaker 1: the problem on that front, since he had those illegitimate 71 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 1: children anywhere from two to eight. Between the lack of 72 00:04:21,279 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 1: a baby and her cheating, Napoleon decided it was time 73 00:04:25,000 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 1: to move on. They separated just four years after their wedding, 74 00:04:28,960 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: but stayed close. He finally had the marriage and nulled 75 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:35,800 Speaker 1: years later so he could remarry and have a legitimate air. 76 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: He did have plenty of illegitimate kids running around, as 77 00:04:39,520 --> 00:04:43,159 Speaker 1: we said, but all of this upset brought him full 78 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,120 Speaker 1: circle to his original stance on sex. He introduced a 79 00:04:47,160 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: new code in France called the Code Napoleon. Part of 80 00:04:50,560 --> 00:04:54,640 Speaker 1: it claimed sex was disruptive to society and men's minds. 81 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,240 Speaker 1: It set strict limits on sex in French society, and 82 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:02,080 Speaker 1: because Napoleon believed women needed to be controlled, Thank you 83 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: very much, Josephine, it actually gave women in France fewer 84 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:10,279 Speaker 1: rights than children had and established complete supremacy of the 85 00:05:10,400 --> 00:05:15,320 Speaker 1: husband over the wife. Eventually, especially because they couldn't have children, 86 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:19,200 Speaker 1: Napoleon had the marriage annulled, and he immediately married a 87 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:24,479 Speaker 1: nineteen year old Austrian duchess, Marie Louise, but she wasn't Josephine. 88 00:05:24,520 --> 00:05:27,560 Speaker 1: His power as emperor seemed to begin to diminish with 89 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:31,640 Speaker 1: Josephine gone. When he lost his throne in eighteen fourteen 90 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:35,400 Speaker 1: and was exiled to Elba, Marie Louise took their son 91 00:05:35,520 --> 00:05:38,240 Speaker 1: and fled to Austria. They never saw each other again. 92 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:43,279 Speaker 1: Napoleon and Josephine's love affair never really ended. When she 93 00:05:43,400 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: died in eighteen fourteen, they say her final words were Bonaparte, Elba, 94 00:05:48,920 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: the King of Rome, and when Napoleon still in exile, 95 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:55,799 Speaker 1: but now on a remote island in the Atlantic called 96 00:05:55,839 --> 00:05:59,920 Speaker 1: Saint Helena, died in eighteen twenty one. His last words 97 00:05:59,880 --> 00:06:16,719 Speaker 1: were said to be France the Army, Head of the Army, Josephine. 98 00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:21,239 Speaker 1: I'm Patty Steele. The Backstory is a production of iHeartMedia 99 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser. Our 100 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: executive producer is Steve Goldstein of Amplified Media. We're out 101 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,080 Speaker 1: with new episodes twice a week. Thanks for listening to 102 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:35,359 Speaker 1: the Backstory, the pieces of history you didn't know you 103 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:36,080 Speaker 1: needed to know.