Beschreibung:

NAPOLEON I, Emperor of France and JOSEPHINE (1763-1814), Empress of France. Notarial document signed ("Bonaparte" and "Tascher Bonaparte"), Paris, 13 Floreal An 6 [2 May 1798]. An insertion initialled in autograph ("B" and "m.j.r.t."), also signed by notaries Deberain and Ragideau. 2 pages, 4to, 25-centime hand stamp of "Rep[ublique] Fra[naise]," notarial annotations and signatures, three minor marginal repairs, otherwise in fine condition. JOSEPHINE AND NAPOLOEON, TWO MONTHS AFTER THEIR MARRIAGE A important document, jointly signed, by which Josephine, described as "Marie Josephe Rose Tascher Epouse du C e n Napolione [ sic ] Bonaparte president de la legation francoise au congrs de Rastadt," renounces any rights connected with her deceased first husband, Alexandre Beauharnais, "comme lui etant plus onereuse que profitable," in view of the charges upon his estate. Alexandre de Beauharnais, Josephine's husband, had been guillotined on 23 June 1794 on accusations of treason resulting from his military inaction during the campaigns that summer. The widow Josephine, who had been the mistress of Directors Gohier, Tallien and Barras, first met the 25-year-old Bonaparte when she requested the return of her husband's sword, in 1795. The young officer fell deeply in love with her and they were married by a civil ceremony on 9 March. The inconclusive Congress of Rastadt, referred to here, began in December 1797, with the intention of rearranging German internal boundaries after the French annexation of the Rhine provinces; it was interrupted, however, by the outbreak of war. Josephine was crowned Empress in 1804; she and Napoleon divorced five years later.