"The Empress Josephine: Her Contribution to Napolean" by M. James Van de Hey
 

Date of Award

7-1955

Degree Type

Master's Essay - Restricted

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

History

First Advisor

R.N Hamilton

Abstract

In speaking of Josephine at St. Helena, Napoleon exclaimed: "She was the best woman in France." Napoleon's love for Josephine made him indulgent toward her faults and mistakes. History, however, cannot be indulgent; it must tell everything, both good and bad, without partiality. And in the telling, Napoleon's charming "little Creole" presents a portrait very different from that given by the Emperor. From planter's daughter to Empress, from the West Indies to France is a long journey for anyone to travel. But this was the course followed in the lifetime of Marie-Joseph-Rose Tascher de la Pagerie. To understand the magnitude of that course one must necessarily go back to beginnings. The Tascher family as members of the provincial nobility of the Orleanais district in France claimed the ability to trace its ancestry back to the twelfth century. The additional name, de la Pagerie, was assumed after the estate of la Pagerie in Blois. Having achieved very little in the line of finances and titles, Gaspard- Joseph Tascher sought to increase his fortunes in the West Indies in 1726. This was accomplished to some extent by his marriage to Mlle de la Chevalerie who, though not of the nobility, brought him a considerable fortune. Of the five children who blessed their union we will concern ourselves with two: the elder son Joseph-Gaspard, and the eldest daughter, Marie-Euphemie-Desiree.

Comments

A term paper for History 235, Marquette University, Approved M.A. B. Plan Essay, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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