POPPIES

The poppy is Poland's National Flower

 

THE SEDUCTION OF MARIE WALEWSKA BY NAPOLEON I and THE POLISH UNDERSTANDING OF MISTRESSES

Marie begged off going to Tallyrand's ball, which would be a second opportunity to meet the great military leader Napoleon I, who the Polish people believed would be the country's salvation.  He was her hero. But she was overwhelmed with shyness. Well, they went.

Excerpt page 65 -66:  It soon became clear that Napoleon was enchanted with Marie, her exquisite grace, wide blue eyes, blond curly hair and youthful fire; he found beguiling the mixture of innocence and melancholy she conveyed.  He stayed unusually late at the ball and it was noticed that he observed her from a distance.  To her dismay she became the center of attention, of much whispering behind the fans, the target of countless monocles and lorgnettes. jealous looks from the women and admiring glances from the men.  The valiant General Bertrad and handsome Louis de Perigord, scion of a great family, paid her particularly assiduous court - a mistake on their part which they duly repented. Years later Napoleon himself recounted the incident in his Memoirs dictated to Montholon on St. Helena.

Anastase, burning with self-importance, escorted Marie home. At noon the next day a carriage drew up in front of the Walewski's house in Bednarska Street.  Out came Marshal Duroc, Chief of the Imperial Household, carrying a gigantic bouquet of flowers and a heavy parchment letter with imperial green seals: he was there to deliver a message to Marie from his master.  The contents of the letter shook the young woman to the core: 'I saw no one but you, I admired only you: I want no one but you; I beg you to reply promptly to calm my ardor and my impatience.'

Marie sent word that there would be no reply. But Napoleon tried again.  This next letter was more romantic. He said, 'I beg you to give a little joy to my poor heart, so ready to adore you. Is it so difficult to send a reply?' (page 67)  But again she did not answer.

Excerpt page 67: Poor Marie.  For a woman of her sensitivity and pride, this abrupt transformation of her legendary hero into an ordinary mortal, inflamed with desire, ashamedly suggesting a lover's meeting, must have been a brutal shock.  How could the great Emperor have misunderstood so completely the noble feelings she held for him? He demanded sacrifices from her country.  Like most of her compatriots she prepared to give him anything - her possessions, money, jewels, even her life if need be - all expect this one thing he so obviously wanted from her.

***

Marie had been married barely three years and was tempted to experience love but it's suggested it was her love for her country, Poland that gradually allowed her to accept that she should meet up with Napoleon.  Some individuals were also encouraging her to go to him, thinking it would do the cause good to have a Polish woman 'installed in the castle." 

Excerpt age 71:  It is hard to believe that distinguished 'high-ranking Poles; would have talked about an 'official favorite' at the castle.  The position of a favorite - a maitresse en titre - was never part of a Polish tradition.  There had never been an equivalent of a Pompadour, a du Barry, or, for that matter, a Potemkin at Warsaw Court.  The king's mistress, if there was one, was regarded as his own private affair with no right to political patronage; she would have lived quietly, pretending to be sharing a house with her husband, and she would have been received in society according to her husband's rank.  Adultery o the part of the woman (standards were different for me) had always been frowned upon.  The beautiful Madame Grabowska (ELizabeth Sobolewska's mother), a long time mistress and eventually the morganatic wife of the last king of Poland, whose children by the king were all brought u at the castle, was -- even after a passage of years --- still officially regarded as the wife of the good General Grabowski, and all the king's children by her bore the name of her husband.  It was the Polish way of doing things, and it is very unlikely that such as argument would ever have been used.  Nevertheless the pressure on Marie continued, and finally she agreed to go.

***

Marie was escorted to the castle but was apparently frightened and crying. So it's said that she and Napoleon only talked that visit. But the next? Marie is said to have possibly been raped. Unwilling, is what she implied.  But then, why would she have stayed with him?

Excerpt page 75: The imperial romance was conducted against the background of a complex political situation.....

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THE MEETING OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE and THE BEAUTIFUL MARIE WALEWSKA : THE WHO IS SHE MOMENT

Excerpts pages 58-59:

Wednesday 7 January was set as the day on which a reception was to be held at the castle by the Emperor to meet Warsaw society; eagerly sought invitations were delivered by uniformed footmen to each name on the list, complied by Talleyrand with the help of Countess Trszkievicz, Prince Joseph Poniatowski's sister.  At Napoleon's request it was a fairly extensive and representative list: not only the nobility and the clergy but writers, poets, and prominent Warsaw merchants were included.

Though Napoleon had been her idol, Marie had a bad case of nerves and even suggested to her husband that they decline their invitation to meet him.  Her husband insisted they go and also to dress well.  She ordered a dress and wore the family diamond and sapphire necklace.  Warsaw was deep with snow as the carriages proceeded to make it to the royal palace where the reception was to take place. It was as if the fate of Poland rested in Napoleon's hands.

Page 61-62  

Suddenly the room stirred.  Two footmen flung open the doors, and Napoleon appeared in the doorway with Talleyrand and Marshal Duroc behind him.  He paused in the doorway for a moment - as if contemplating some inner, far-away vision.  Was he thinking of Paris, where he would have wanted to be in this New Yea?  The vision receded, and he moved forward at a brisk pace.

The Emperor came into the room, as if this was a review field-fast and with a slightly bored expression.  But as he looked around, his face gradually softened, the powerful brow relaxed... as he surveyed us with evident approval. .....

It can be easily believed that, as the chronicler says,"Napoleon's face softened into a smile.' for here in front of him, pink with emotion, stood an enchanting child-woman - blond, white skinned, with an exquisite figure and the most extraordinary beautiful eyes.  There was something infinitely sweet about her - it was not the gaily challenging face of a coquette he knew well or the face of a sophisticated society woman, secure in the knowledge of her charm; melancholy and innocence and goodness and great tenderness, all mingled in her expression and must have appealed to the Emperor.

On rising from her courtesy Marie met the full force of the famous 'infinitely powerful gaze.' No word was exchanged between them. He lingered for an imperceptible  moment, and moved on...

age 63

Marie went home that evening unaware of the impression she had made; her mind was in a turmoil. It did not seem quite real that, after years of worshiping at Napoleon's shrine, admiring his portraits, poring over his writings, dissecting the legends about him, she had actually seen her idol in the flesh.  She had been much too overwhelmed with emotion to take in the details of his face yet, like all those who came into contact with Napoleon...

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AND THEN THERE WAS NAPOLEON : THOUGHT TO BE A HERO BY THE POLES

Excerpt page 40-41 

At this critical stage of his wars Napoleon was thirty-seven years old.  He was no longer the slender, intense, youthful general of the days of Rivoli and Mantua, "burning  eyes in a worn-out uniform," the passionate lover writing ardent letters to Josephine, his unfaithful bride of a few weeks. "Rome had now replaced Sparta," as Victor Hugo was to write years later, the young prodigy of the Italian campaigns had become the Emperor, the law-giver, the new Caesar.  Though he now had most of Europe at his feet, he was still contemplating mew conquests. His powerful imagination - that 'gout de l'iossil' as he called it - roamed all over the world.

Physically, he was at his peak.  His powerful, broad-chested body exuded energy. He was always standing, walking, or riding, but rarely seated, and his capacity for work was prodigious. The pale olive complexion was clear and smooth, the brow wide and high, the blue-grey penetrating and unflinching. He had to watch his weight when in Paris but was always extremely fit on campaign.  Though only five feet seven inches tall - the average height for Frenchman in those days  he emanated dynamic self-assurance.  Massena used to say that 'he seemed at least two feet higher, when he put on his general's hat.'

In 1896 Napoleon's troops arrived in Warsaw Poland to excitement and cheers.

Excerpt: 45-46:

As it happened, Marie had already met with French Troops at Walewice (the estate her husband owned) and had formed an unexpected friendship which was to lead to dramatic developments in her life.

On the march towards Warsaw, when Marshal Davout's troops occupied the town of Lowicz, the nearby castle of Walewice became the headquarters of the Guards Brigade staff.  The Walewskis, who since September had been spending most of their time in Warsaw, much to Marie's satisfaction, had come down a few weeks before to be with Benedict, Marie's brother who was quietly recruiting volunteers in the province for service in Napoleon's army. ....

***

Marie's son was about a year and a half years old ad was fussed over by elderly female relatives but he was not the most sturdy child.

Through introductions, the seventeen year old Marie, was escorted around by a twenty-two year old Charles de Flahaut, who was the son of Talleyrand and Adelaide de Flahaut, lover of Queen Hortense... 

***

Excerpt page 53:

According to the usually reliable memoirs of the Countess von Kielmansegge, when Tallyrand and his son discussed Warsaw society, Charles de Flahaut mentioned the beautiful chatelaine of Walewice. Father and son both agreed that 'there was at least one compensation for the terrible climate of this otherwise dismal country - the number of attractive women about, who in their education ad manner resembled the best of the French. Countess Kielmansegge also noted that Marie and Anastase dined with Talleyrand and Flahaut... a few days after the foreign Minister's arrival, and that Talleyrand appeared to have been much struck with Marie's beauty and also her intelligence....

Excerpt page 54-55:

Torch parades moved across town; bonfires were lit round the castle; hand-made Napoleonic golden eagles adorned houses and shops, ad the two principal theaters, the National and the Francuski, held open performances for the public.

All these preparations were, however, frustrated by Napoleon's unexpected arrival late in the  night of 18 December. (1806) As the main raid to Warsaw was virtually impassable because of accumulated mud and raging floods, he arrived on horseback, to change mounts.  ....

***

The joy of Napoleon coming to the aid of the Poles was soon tempered by the anxiety and tension of battles being fought.  Marie threw herself into tending to the wounded. 

Excerpt page 57:

... Women gathered together to sew hospital linen, turn sheets into bandages, stockpile medicines. Families vied with each other in offering food and hospitality to the wounded.

It was in this hectic half war, half hospital atmosphere that Marie spent the last week of the year...

Excerpt page 58:

One afternoon in December, on their way back from the hospital, Elizabeth (Grabowska - Sobolewski)  stopped the carriage in front of the Zamek.  Workers were putting finishing touches to the gilt work in the great assembly-room on the first floor, where it was hoped Napoleon would attend a reception. 'We walked up to the huge empty ballroom.' Marie recalled in her Memoirs. 'I was stunned by the thought that quite soon I might see him in this very room, in the flesh.  An inexplicable fear seized me, I called for my carriage and went home.'

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LOVE FROM POLAND

 

The Polish people have done so much to help refugees from Ukraine.

So here's to Poland!

ANASTASE COLINNA WALEWSKI, the NOBLE OLD HUSBAND OF MARIA LACZYNSKA

Excerpts: Pages 28-29;

Anastase Colonna Walewski lived less than an hour's drive by carriage from Kiernozia - a pleasant enough journey in the summer on the sandy road. Ornate and massive, with pediment-ed porticoes, spreading balustraded wings and a colonnaded entrance hall, Walewice was an imposing mansion, a mixture of eighteenth century French and American Southern plantation style. It was designed by a Polish architect who had fought in the American War of Independence......

The owner of this splendid domain, then sixty-eight years of age, had been married twice; first at the age of twenty-three, then at thirty.  He had been a widower for ten years..... 

It was rumored in Warsaw that the esteemed Chamberlain had undergone a mysterious rejuvenating cure ' in the hands of a special masseur, while in Paris.  His clothes fitted him to perfection.....

Walewski's tastes, unlike those of most of the Polish aristocracy, were essentially urban.  After the death of Stanislaus Poniatowski, the last king of Poland, whose friendship he had enjoyed for so long, and in view of the tragic political situation in the country, he had deemed it "essential and proper: to retire to his rural seat to cogitate....

Stuck in the country, even with his massive library to keep him occupied the noble Walewski grew bored. Perhaps this is why he decided to marry again and pursue the young neighbor girl who was a beauty.

He threw a ball in Marie's honor at her coming of age.  She was not attracted to the old Anastase Colinna Walewski, but she decided to marry him thinking of the welfare of her family. She was either sixteen and a half or seventeen and a half and married him in either 1803 or 1805. What followed was some time at home followed by a long honeymoon in the warmer weather of Italy, where they included Rome.

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NAPOLEON I

N Laugier, graveur; Charles de Steuben, editeur, baron (1788–1856)

Location : Musée Carnavalet

He was about five foot six, but then men were not as tall as they are now generally.  There was even talk that he's special parts were insignificant.  He was also compartmentalized.  He was a natural leader and he changed history.  Thousands fought with him and for him, believing his military campaigns would benefit their countries or their politics.  Thousands died on the battlefields as soldiers but also as civilians.

Interested in all things Napoleon?  Learned that there is an online website devoted to him and here's the link: NAPOLEON ORG and FOUNDATION OF NAPOLEON

MARIA LACZYNSKA - WALEWSKA : MARRIED POLISH MISTRESS OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE FROM 1806 TO 1810

MARIA LACZYNSKA - WALEWSKA

1786 - 1817

When you hear of legendary lovers, you hear "Napoleon and Josephine."  However, Josephine (Marie Josephe Rose Tascher de la Pagerie) was the history making military leader Napoleon's first wife whom he married in 1796, but divorced.  Possibly this was because she had not become pregnant with him, though she had children in her first marriage. When married, both Napoleon and Josephine had affairs and he had children with mistresses. Her affairs were blamed or tolerated because he was gone so much on his military campaigns. The widowed mother of a son by her first husband, Josephine was the sentimental favorite but discarded wife. Perhaps the idea that she was his true love also comes from the rumor that her name was upon his lips when he died.

While Napoleon considered Maria to be his "Polish wife," he left Josephine behind and sought his next wife, Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, whom he married on March 11, 1810 by proxy: He was not actually there and had a stand in. Marie Louise was nineteen at the time.  This marriage raised Napoleon's status further because Marie Louise was also a great-niece of Marie Antoinette, the Queen. Napoleon, born in 1769, would remain married to this second wife for the rest of his life, till 1821. 

Marie Laczynska - Walewska, our Mistress of the Month, came from a noble Polish background. She was married to a nobleman, Anastase Colonna Walewski, a noble of of Italian and Polish heritage, when she was either sixteen and a half or seventeen and a half. He was about fifty years her senior and was a widower who had grandchildren older than Marie. Her mother was delighted when the teenager who Marie liked went away into the military and this old neighbor came calling. Old Walewska began his pursuit by throwing her a party to celebrate her completion of what was a finishing school for noble young women, a kind of debut. Marie was persuaded to marry him to do right by her family, whose fortunes were of concern after her father died. Although she took to being the lady of a beautiful palace, the marriage left much to desire.

Although the relationship between Maria and Napoleon was well known, even decades later when their son rose to prominence in France himself, and people mentioned how much he looked like his father, he would say how much he looked like Anastase Colonna-Walewska.  Their son was named Alexandre Joseph Colonna- Walewski.

Marie was already the mother of a son, about a year and a half years old, when she took up with Napoleon.  She divorced Anastase Colinna-Walweska in 1812. after having been Naoleon's mistress.  Her relationship with Napoleon was intense but in it she also experienced long periods of time when he was away.  In 1816 she married Phillipe Antoine d'Ornano, and her third son with him, named Rodolphe d'Ornano.

Now, according to the book by Christine Sutherland, which is the primary reference for this month's posts, Marie Laczynska was one of seven children and a beauty.  It feel upon her to rescue her family financially by marrying old Anastase Colinna Walewski.

When she was eight, her father was killed in a ferocious battle in Praga with the Russians that left 12,000 people (including civilians) dead. Of a noble family, her father's death left her mother to send the sons to private schools for good educations and the daughters to what we could call 'finishing schools" so they would be ready to assume the role of an elite wife.  Her mother hoped that the marriage she contracted for her daughter would preserve and replenish the Laczynska estates.

One description of her went like this. ...  (Madame Laczynska) had a very beautiful teenage daughter, Marie, with incredibly large blue eyes, blonde hair which she wore down to her waist, and a particularly sweet expression on her face.  She made me think of an angel or a wood nymph." (Page 23)

Soon after she turned fourteen, Marie was sent to the Convent of Our Lady of the Assumption in Warsaw, to finish her education.  Not far from the Vistula river, a royal palace had been built by King Sigismund III.  She returned home at sixteen in 1803, with high recommendations about her personality and character.  But it was her beauty was most remarked upon in society.  Besides her thick curly hair worn to the waist, her teeth were even and white, her skin very light white, her eyes cornflower blue, her lashes long.

At the time, a marriage that would benefit the whole family was a more important consideration than the wishes of individuals.  Anastase had been the Chamberlan to the last King of Poland and owned a castle called Walewice. He was the biggest landowner in the province. He was too old to fight, and though he had accomplished much in his lifetime, he retired.  So, he arranged a party in her honor upon her return from school.

It took Marie some time to adjust to her marriage but she had a son with Anastase. Living in luxury, and part of elite social circles that believe Napoleon's military leadership would serve Poland, she had every reason to put the hero in her sights. But when it came time to actually meet him, she asked her husband if they could skip the event.  He insisted that they go and that she be well dressed and bejeweled.  At first Anastase's ego was burnished when Napoleon took an interest in his wife, then he had no choice but to let her to to the man...

One of the most interesting aspects of the relationship of Maria and Napoleon for me is that this military leader strategically lead battles that resulted millions of deaths.  According to Wikipedia, Civilian deaths are impossible to accurately estimate.  While military deaths are invariably put at between 2.5 million and 3.5 million, civilian death tolls vary from 750,000 to 3 million. Yet he seems to have been able to also compartmentalize his personal life, enjoying gossip with Marie and entertaining a romantic correspondence. Yet, there were many times when he had to have left their bed to gather the troops and she might have always wondered if he would return alive.

Marie did divorce the old husband she had married so young and did remarry but not to Napoleon.  There is reason to believe that Napaleon was the love of her life but she married a cousin of his.  In 1815 Anastase Walewski died.  Napoleon fled Naples.  Maria went back to Paris with their son.  She married Ornano in early September 1816 and was soon pregnant. In January 1817 she arrived back at Walewice, Poland and there was found to be seriously ill with kidney disease. She had been warned in her previous two pregnancies not to breast feed because of this kidney problem but had anyway.  Now her health was precarious.  She gave birth in Liege in 1817 to Rodolphe Auguste Ornano, her third son.  She died at thirty one, in December of 1817. Still a young woman by today's standards, childbirth took it's toll on women.

Maria Laczynska was well regarded for her modest character, for no matter what riches she was exposed to, she would remain so.  Napoleon told others he loved Marie, all the while searching for his next marriage, which he wanted to be a dynastic one.  While she was pregnant with his child, which pleased Napoleon, while she lived with him in Austria at the Shonbrunn lavish estates, and when it was time to leave Austria, Maria proceeded to France without Napoleon, in order to give birth there.  Napoleon was getting around to divorcing Josephine and Maria's husband was probably not aware that she was pregnant.

According to the book by Christine Sutherland, in her land will Marie said that she wanted her heart to remain in France, where she had traveled to live as Napoleon's mistress, and her body was to be buried in Poland in her family graveyard.  And so an urn with her heart in it remains in the famous Pere Lachaise graveyard in Paris in the Ornano family vaults.  It says "Marie Laczynska, Comtesse d' Ornano.  As the mother of three sons with three different fathers, Marie left her two oldest son's in the care of her brother.

This month I will tell the story based on Sutherland's book and some additional research I've done. I will not detail Napoleon's military failures and successes but the relationship between him and this young Polish beauty.

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