Napoléon Ier

Napoléon I^er

First codicil of the first Will of Napoléon I.

Autograph manuscript signed "Nap.", addressed to General Bertrand, Grand Marshal of the Palace.

[Saint Helena], [3?] August 1[819].

2 pages on an 8vo bifolio (182 x 110 mm). Ink on laid paper, watermark "1814". Later date transcription in pencil of a few words on the back of the second leaf. Red morocco dust jacket, large gilt border, gilt imperial arms in the center of the sides, smooth spine, doublure and endpapers in pink moiré.

A document of exceptional importance: the only known testimony of the very first will of Napoléon I written on Saint Helena in early August 1819.

This codicil only concerns the possessions on Saint Helena that he wished to bequeath to his companions in exile. 

"My dear Bertrand, I am sending you a codicil written in my hand so that after my death, you may be able to redistribute all that is associated with St Helena. You will dispose of it all in the following way: you will give one half of the diamond necklace to Ma^de Bertrand and the other half to Ma^de Montholon. You will give 50,000 [francs] to Montholon, 50,000 to Marchand, 20,000 to St-Denis, 20,000 to Noverraz, 20,000 to Pierron, 10,000 to Archambault and 10,000 to Gentilini and finally 120,000 to yourself, which makes 300,000 that I have here. You will keep my silverware, my arms, my porcelain, my books with my coat of arms brought here for my son and anything else you may think will be useful to him one day. I am giving you my manuscripts. Only have them printed once you have consulted the books that I was able to find here.

This evening I will give you a letter for Laffitte and my instructions for the use of a sum of 6,000,000. Keep this in mind so that you can return it to me should it suit me."

Napoléon arrived on Saint Helena in October 1815, and from April 1816, was under the strict surveillance of Hudson Lowe, governor of the island. The latter proved to be a harsh jailor and the former Emperor’s suspicions towards him kept deepening. He felt more and more threatened and feared for his life. To these torments were added a steadily shaky state of health. His personal physician, Doctor O’Meara immediately informed Hudson Lowe who paid no heed. At the beginning of the summer of 1818, his health further worsened just as Dr. O’Meara was forced to leave the island. The Emperor then refused the services of his replacement, Dr. Verling.

It was within this context of mistrust that Napoléon, plagued by his sickness and by worry, urgently wrote the first will that he gave to General Bertrand on August 19 in a sealed envelope with other documents. General Bertrand specified that it was "a packet sealed with two seals with the arms of the Emperor on which was written: ‘This is my Will, written in my hand, signed: Napoléon’" and "in the evening, a sealed packet with three seals with his arms on which was written: ‘Packet that Bertrand will hold at my disposal or which he will open after my death’. Without a signature".

This codicil only refers to the sharing of the money and objects held in Saint Helena that he intended to bequeath to his companions in exile. Primacy was given to Bertrand, the sole executer of his will. The Emperor’s faithful servants were not forgotten: Louis-Joseph Marchand (valet de chambre), Louis-Étienne Saint-Denis, called the Mameluke Ali (librarian), Jean Abram Noverraz, (second huntsman), Jean Baptiste Alexandre Pierron (kitchen servant), Achille Archambault (stableman) and Angelo Gentilini (footman).

The turbulent history of this legendary will was just beginning. On April 11, 1821, sensing his end was near, Napoléon once again tackled his last will that he began to dictate to Montholon on April 13, thereby nullifying the provisions made in 1819. Two days later on April 15, he copied this second will in his own hand under the dictation of Montholon (preserved at the National Archives, AE/I/13/21a). Several codicils succeeded until April 29. The paper used in 1821 is an English paper with watermarks "1818" and "1819" while that used in 1819 is watermarked "1814".

Napoléon had, in the meantime, charged Marchand with retrieving the first will from Bertrand so he could burn it. On December 12, 1820, the Emperor wrote to General Bertrand that he had "received the two sealed packages that I had left with you on August 19, 1819, when he [Hudson Lowe] threatened to assassinate me". The codicil on the other hand was still in Bertrand’s possession and was carefully preserved by his descendants.

A few weeks before his death, the Emperor expressed his moral intentions and appointed Montholon, Bertrand and Marchand as his executors. The diamond necklace, to be divided in 1819 between Mme Bertrand and Mme de Montholon, would be given back in totality to Montholon. Moreover, the amounts were amplified and the Comte de Montholon would be much more privileged than General Bertrand.

As the will had not been registered in England as required by law, Montholon would take care of this task upon his return to France. It took six years of proceedings to come to a compromise and it was only in 1854 that Napoléon III set up a commission to ensure the will was fully executed.

This very precious document is the one and only testimony of the exiled Emperor’s earliest wishes.

[We attach:] A quill from the Bertrand succession and which may have belonged to Napoléon.