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Welcome to Noble Blood, a production

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of iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild

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from Aaron Manky listener discretion

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advised. With

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the end of the Napoleonic Wars,

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the gunpowder and smoke clearing

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from the battlefields of Central Europe,

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there came the rebirth of a tradition,

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the Grand Tour. It

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was something of an institution, the idea

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that wealthy and aristocratic young

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men would spend a year or so traveling

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the cultural centers of the continent

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to learn about art and music,

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and in the summer of eighteen fourteen,

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a young English colonel named

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Montgomery Maxwell was eager

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to see the world. The destinations

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for a young British boy were fairly well

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established Vienna, Venice,

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Florence, but like many

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boys on their Grand tours in

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a eighteen fourteen, Maxwell

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had added a slightly unusual

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stop to his itinerary, a

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small rocky island a

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day's sail from the western coast

1:11

of Italy in the Mediterranean, called

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Elba. Maxwell wasn't

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coming to Elba for the pleasant Mediterranean

1:19

climate or to investigate

1:21

the moderately successful tin mining

1:23

industry on the island. No, he

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was there for a single tourist

1:28

attraction Napoleon Bonaparte.

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A few months prior, after Coalition

1:34

forces invaded Paris, Napoleon

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had been forced to surrender and abdicate

1:39

as Emperor of France, Prussia,

1:42

Austria, Russia, and the United Kingdom

1:44

had all gotten together to come up with

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the solution of what to do with this

1:49

strange Corsican upstart who

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had brought Europe to its knees. The

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answer they came up with was Elba,

1:56

exiled to an island that Napoleon

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would be allowed to rule still

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as an emperor, albeit an

2:03

emperor of a much much smaller

2:06

land mass. Montgomery

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Maxwell sailed to Elba in

2:10

the hopes of getting to encounter, as

2:12

he put it, quote, the man who

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had been the idol of my imagination for

2:17

years. As it turns out,

2:19

it wasn't too difficult for

2:21

any Englishman who arrived to Porto Ferrao,

2:24

the largest city and capital of

2:26

Elba. It seemed like all you needed

2:29

to do was hang out long enough, and

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eventually the man who had crowned himself

2:33

at Notre Dame a decade prior would

2:36

just amble by and lo

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and behold he did. Although

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as soon as Maxwell saw Napoleon

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out on a stroll with some of his men. He

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couldn't help but be disappointed.

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The idol of his imagination,

2:51

he wrote, quote stood before

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me with a round, ungraceful

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figure, and with a most unpoetically

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perturbaned stomach. The countenance

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in which I expected to behold a unison

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of the demon and the soldier, appeared

3:07

soft and mild. In the extreme.

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There was nothing striking in it. End

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quote, Could it be the

3:14

man who had terrified Europe? The

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big bad of the British imagination

3:20

was, in the end just a

3:22

man. Maxwell was disappointed.

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He approached Napoleon here

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on Elba. Napoleon wasn't some distant

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gilded figure hidden behind imperial

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trappings, And he introduced himself.

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And in that moment, as the two men

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began to speak, Maxwell

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understood the Emperor's power.

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He wrote, quote, I now

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became enraptured with his lively,

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bewitching air, with his astonishing

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memory, his information, and

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the fertility with which he kept up

3:55

an easy and agreeable conversation.

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No wonder French soldiers adore,

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for he instantly proved to us all

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how well he knew how to tickle

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the human heart. Napoleon

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was shockingly personable and funny.

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When one of Maxwell's friends mentioned

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that he was from Kent, right on the

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southeast coast of England, a thin

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strip of water away from France, Napoleon

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replied, we're neighbors. Napoleon

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had become an expert in playing

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the role that people wanted him to play

4:27

on Elba, something of a genial

4:30

mascot. Though he happily

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talked about his former military victories,

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he renounced war. He was retired,

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he said, and it seemed as

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though he were perfectly content about

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all of it. He would pour you a glass

4:44

of wine, ask you about your family,

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and then happily chuckle about the fact

4:49

that the old Napoleon was dead and

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what a run he had had. If

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there was one uncanny skill

4:56

that Napoleon had, it was the ability

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to subsume himself into whatever

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narrative was the most effective at

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any given moment, like a good

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monarch or pop star or celebrity.

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He knew that his greatest power was

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in his symbolism, in what others

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could project upon him. And

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here on Elba, Napoleon

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had become the amiable retiree.

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Except that wasn't how Napoleon

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wanted the story of Napoleon to

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end, though he told taurists

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and visiting emissaries that he was more than

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content to spend his days puttering

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around his little island. Less

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than ten months after arriving on Elba,

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Napoleon decided that his retirement

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was over. With a tiny

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fleet and a ragtag group

5:44

of loyal soldiers, Napoleon

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sailed from Elba to the French coast,

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where he marched to Paris, and, without

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firing a single bullet, reclaimed

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the throne he had less than a year

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earlier been forced to abandon.

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The Elban exile is a strange

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interlude in Napoleon's story, dwarfed

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by the drama of what would come next,

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his final defeat at Waterloo

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and then his permanent, much more

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restrictive exile on Saint

6:14

Helena. But those strange

6:17

ten months on Elba fascinate

6:19

me. The period during which

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Napoleon was forced to stop

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and take stock of both himself

6:26

and his narrative. And of

6:28

course, Napoleon realized that

6:31

the story of Napoleon required

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a coda, a dramatic comeback,

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a heroic gambit. As

6:39

Montgomery Maxwell had seen, Napoleon

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the man was merely human, but

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Napoleon wasn't interested in

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being a man. He self mythologized

6:50

in real time, and he wanted

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to become a legend, no

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matter the cost. I'm Dana

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Schwartz, and this is noble

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blood. I'm

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no scholar of military history,

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but you don't really need to be in order

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to understand that Napoleon's failed

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invasion of Russia was, in

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short a disaster. As

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he retreated, his numbers dwindled.

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In just three weeks, sixty

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thousand of Napoleon's men died

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from cold, disease, hunger, and thirst,

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and so the stage was set for

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a new coalition of European

7:29

powers Prussia, Austria,

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Sweden, Russia, Great Britain, Spain,

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and Portugal to come together to

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rid the continent of the Bonaparte

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problem. Facing an army

7:41

twice his size, Napoleon lost

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at the Battle of Leipzig in October of

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eighteen thirteen. A

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few months later, the coalition forces

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invaded France. Napoleon,

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still racing towards Paris, attempted

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to gather enough support to fight, but

7:58

citizens were already waving white

8:00

handkerchiefs of surrender out of their

8:02

windows. They were simply done

8:04

with fighting. Too many boys

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had died, and Paris had no interest

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in sustained warfare in its streets.

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Napoleon made it as far as Fontainebleau,

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a chateau about seventy kilometers

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south of Paris, where he got

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word that the city had fallen. The

8:23

provisional government, backed by the Foreign

8:26

Coalition, deposed Napoleon

8:28

as emperor, and in his place

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they decided on the next leader

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of France. The revolution

8:35

had toppled the monarchy and beheaded

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King Louis the sixteenth, but France

8:40

somehow needed to figure out a way to

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wipe out the Napoleonic era to

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go back to the country they had been before

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the Corsican general had painted

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the nation with his imperial symbols.

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The coalition would ultimately determine

8:54

that France would revert back to its seventeen

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ninety two borders, and so

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why not return as well to

9:02

its eighteenth century systems

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of belief. The provisional government

9:07

decided to reinstate a

9:09

king to invite back to France

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the brother of the beheaded king, who

9:14

had been living in exile since the French

9:16

Revolution, so that he could rule,

9:18

albeit as a constitutional, not

9:21

absolute monarch. He would

9:23

take the title Louis the

9:25

eighteenth. A

9:28

few decades prior, the French Revolution

9:30

had toppled the monarchy and beheaded

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King Louis the sixteenth, and the

9:35

republic that had replaced the monarchy had

9:37

hardly been stable. Now France

9:40

somehow needed to figure out a way to

9:42

wipe out the Napoleonic era to

9:44

go back to the country they had been before

9:46

the Corsican general had painted

9:49

over the nation with his imperial

9:51

symbols. The coalition determined

9:54

eventually that France would revert

9:56

back to its seventeen ninety two borders,

9:59

and so why not return

10:01

as well to its eighteenth century

10:04

monarchy. The provisional

10:06

government decided that, for a sense

10:08

of national unity and cohesion,

10:11

that they would reinstate a king,

10:14

and so they invited back to France the

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brother of the beheaded Louis the sixteenth,

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who had been living in exile since

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the French Revolution, so that he

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could rule, albeit as a constitutional

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not absolute monarch, under

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the title Louis the eighteenth.

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In the early morning hours of April thirteenth,

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eighteen fourteen, still at Fontainebleau,

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Napoleon pulled a poison lozenge

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from the silk sachet he had kept

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around his neck since the Moscow campaign.

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He swallowed it. A valet

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had heard a commotion in the other room and

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called a doctor, who hastened to Napoleon's

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side. Fortunately, the poison,

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a combination of opium belladonna

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and white helbor, had degraded

10:59

in the two years since Napoleon had had

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it, and after being induced to vomit

11:04

by eating ashes from the fireplace, Napoleon

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was left with nothing more serious than

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a sharp pain in his stomach to contend

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with. He had survived his

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suicide attempt, which meant that

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now he would have to face the ignimity

11:18

of his defeat. The

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question remained, what was

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the world going to do with Napoleon.

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In the spring of eighteen fourteen,

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the coalition of European powers

11:31

gathered together to try to figure

11:33

it out. The terms would be generous.

11:36

After all, Napoleon famously inspired

11:38

loyalty among his soldiers and his followers.

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There was no need to make him a martyr or

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induce a civil war in France. Besides,

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he was a former emperor.

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As Mark Brode writes in his book

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The Invisible Emperor, quote

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Europe's sovereigns still thought of

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themselves as a band of equals, cousins,

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as he liked to call them, bound despite

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intern seen conflicts by blood,

12:04

history and protocol, they

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alone understood the heavy task

12:09

of ruling, and they alone understood

12:12

that a defeated emperor must

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be treated with the deferent due to his

12:16

title, even if in this

12:18

case the ruler in question had

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invented that title for himself

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end quote. It was

12:25

Tsar Alexander of Russia who

12:28

decided on Elba, a tiny

12:30

island with no real economic value,

12:33

even though it was only a quick sail over

12:35

from Italy. The fact that it was

12:37

an island surrounded on all sides

12:40

with water provided a comforting

12:42

mental barrier to Napoleon's

12:44

confinement. Plus, he would be close

12:46

enough for them to keep an eye on. And

12:49

even though the rest of the European powers

12:51

might have had their own thoughts and opinions

12:53

on how to deal with the Napoleon

12:56

problem, they also understood

12:58

that time was of the essence. The

13:00

longer that Napoleon stayed in France,

13:02

the longer his followers might have to rally

13:05

support around him. They needed

13:07

him gone, and so the treaty of

13:09

Fontainebleau set the terms. He

13:11

would be Emperor of Elba, its

13:13

own principality and receive a

13:15

pension from the French government of two

13:18

million francs, and permitted four

13:20

hundred veterans from his old guard, one

13:22

corvette worship and a tiny fleet

13:25

in order to protect himself and the

13:27

island from assassins or barbary

13:29

pirates. Napoleon would

13:31

be going from a household staff of three

13:34

thousand people to forty.

13:37

Reluctantly, Napoleon signed the

13:39

terms of his exile, and after

13:41

a final salute to the men at Fontainebleau,

13:44

he allowed himself to be escorted by

13:46

coalition representatives toward

13:49

his forced retirement. The

13:53

representative from the United Kingdom

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joining the escort was an English

13:58

colonel named Neil Campbell. Campbell

14:01

had, to put it mildly, a

14:03

rough go getting there. He

14:06

had been fighting as part of the Coalition forces

14:08

invading France. An Englishman

14:10

fighting alongside Russian soldiers,

14:13

Campbell knew French, and so he shouted

14:15

out to a group of enemies surrender,

14:18

speaking in French, but the Russians

14:20

that he was fighting alongside got confused

14:23

and assumed he was on the opposing

14:25

side, and a Russian soldier

14:27

lanced him through the back. Fortunately

14:30

for Campbell, he also knew a little bit

14:32

of Russian, just enough to say

14:35

anglisky polkovnik English

14:37

colonel. Otherwise the Russians

14:39

probably would have killed him. He

14:42

received medical treatment in time, but

14:44

then, truly adding insult

14:46

to injury, while he was recovering

14:49

from his wounds, his luggage

14:51

was stolen. Still. When

14:53

Campbell coalesced and made it to Paris,

14:56

the British Foreign Minister Castlereagh

14:58

assigned him a unique task

15:01

quote to attend the

15:03

late chief of the French government

15:05

end quote on his way to Elba.

15:08

I like Castlereagh's phrasing there

15:10

revealing that no one was quite sure yet

15:12

exactly what Napoleon's new

15:15

official title was. Campbell

15:17

was also told to remain on Elba

15:20

until further notice. Quote

15:22

if Napoleon should consider the presence

15:25

of a British officer can be of use

15:27

in protecting the island and his person

15:30

against insult or attack. But

15:33

Campbell's presence wasn't just altruistic.

15:36

He was also delicately instructed

15:38

to quote use discretion

15:41

as the mode of communicating with His Majesty's

15:43

government meaning that there

15:45

was some spying going on as

15:47

well. But the vagueness

15:50

of the diplomatic language meant

15:52

that no one seemed quite to understand

15:55

what exactly Campbell was supposed

15:57

to be doing on Elba, including

15:59

cam Was he there to protect

16:02

Napoleon, to flatter him with

16:04

a sense of importance by granting his

16:06

little island the diplomatic recognition

16:08

of the United Kingdom. Was Campbell

16:11

just there to spy or

16:13

was he meant to be Napoleon's jailer.

16:17

All of that uncertainty would come later.

16:20

In the early spring of eighteen fourteen,

16:22

Campbell knew exactly what his job

16:24

was gets Napoleon to Elba.

16:28

The problem was Napoleon was perfectly

16:30

content to take his sweet time.

16:33

He was probably biding his time,

16:36

hoping that the volatile political

16:38

landscape might swerve in his favor

16:40

if he waited long enough. But eventually

16:43

enough was enough, and Campbell and

16:46

representatives from Austria, Russia

16:48

and Prussia all joined Napoleon

16:50

down from Fontainebleau to the French

16:53

coast. The south of France

16:55

was more Catholic and old fashioned

16:58

than Paris and more royalist.

17:01

Napoleon's tariffs had hit Port

17:03

cities, especially hard, which

17:05

meant that as they all rode through

17:08

the small towns, Napoleon

17:10

saw himself hanged in effigy and

17:13

swinging from a tree.

17:15

Angry French citizens climbed

17:17

onto his carriage to try to physically

17:20

attack him. After Avignon,

17:22

Napoleon chose to borrow a

17:24

tattered jacket from one of the Austrian

17:27

soldiers and a greatcoat from

17:29

one of the Russians. He also wore

17:31

a hat with a bourgon white

17:33

rosette to complete the ruse.

17:36

He rode ahead of the entourage pretending

17:38

to be a courier. The

17:40

disguise was so convincing, apparently,

17:43

that when Napoleon stopped at an inn,

17:46

the innkeeper asked if he had come

17:48

across the scoundrel Bonaparte

17:50

on the ride down. Napoleon

17:52

shook his head, and the innkeeper continued,

17:55

I hope he drowns on the way to Elba.

17:58

Napoleon left the inn without

18:00

eating. Finally,

18:02

the group made it down to the coast unharmed.

18:05

There in the harbor was the small French

18:08

ship, the Inconstant, that

18:11

Napoleon was supposed to take to Elba.

18:13

The Inconstant would also remain with

18:16

him there as his defensive navy.

18:19

The ship was admittedly run

18:21

down and worse for wear, and Napoleon

18:24

declared that it would be beneath his dignity

18:26

to sail on it. Instead, he said

18:28

he wanted to sail on the British ship

18:31

the Undaunted, that was going to

18:33

escort the Inconstant to Elba.

18:36

Campbell said that was fine, and

18:39

then likely still stalling for time,

18:42

Napoleon made another demand as

18:44

an emperor, he would only board the ship

18:46

if he got a twenty one gun salute.

18:49

Campbell called his bluff and gave

18:51

him the twenty one gun salute, and

18:54

so Napoleon had no other choice

18:56

but to step off French soil

18:59

for what was posed to be the last

19:01

time ever a

19:03

master of messaging. Before Napoleon

19:06

arrived on Elba, he had the island's

19:08

biggest city plastered with his official

19:10

greeting, claiming that he had decided

19:12

to come to Elba for his sojourn because

19:15

of its kind people and mild climate.

19:18

Before he disembarked, Napoleon

19:20

had a new flag designed for his island,

19:23

white with a red stripe and three

19:25

golden bees. Bees had

19:27

been his emblem when he had been Emperor

19:29

of France and ever

19:32

the overachiever. Even before

19:34

Napoleon had officially disembarked,

19:37

he snuck onto the island on a

19:39

small rowboat to scope it out.

19:42

When he did finally make his official

19:45

landing, Napoleon was presented

19:47

with a key to the city. In the crowd,

19:49

he recognized a face a soldier

19:51

who had once fought for him, and Napoleon

19:54

called him out. That famous Bonaparte

19:56

charm and memory at work. The

19:59

new Emperor of Elba was given

20:02

temporary rooms on the top

20:04

floor of the city's town hall,

20:06

which was a former bakery that

20:08

was still known as the Biscoturia.

20:11

Napoleon wasted no time in trying

20:13

to whip the island into imperial

20:15

shape, waking up early to scope

20:18

out sites for not only his permanent

20:20

residence but also a country

20:22

house. As Campbell wrote,

20:25

quote, I have never seen a man

20:27

in any situation of life with

20:29

so much personal activity and

20:32

restless perseverance. He

20:34

appears to take so much pleasure

20:36

in perpetual movement and in

20:38

seeing those who accompany him sink

20:40

under fatigue, as has been the case

20:43

on several occasions. I do not

20:45

think it is possible for him to sit down

20:47

to study on any pursuits

20:49

of retirement, as proclaimed by

20:52

him to be his intention, so long

20:54

as his state of health permits corporeal

20:57

exercise. Napoleon

20:59

was not going to be the type of retiree

21:02

to take up painting or tai

21:05

chi. His days were long

21:07

and grueling, and he had no shortage

21:09

of ideas for improvements that he wanted

21:12

to make on Elba, from widening

21:14

streets to planting trees, to resuming

21:16

taxes and reorganizing the tin

21:18

mines, and his addiction to

21:21

conquest continued. Napoleon

21:23

had Elba conquer an island

21:26

even smaller than Elba, which was

21:28

basically just an uninhabited rock

21:31

called Pianosa, seemingly

21:33

just because, as Talleyrand

21:36

once famously equipped, what a

21:38

pity, the man wasn't lazy, and

21:42

work began quickly on the palace Napoleon

21:45

wanted, overlooking Porto Ferrao

21:48

with rooms for Napoleon and optimistically

21:51

also rooms for his wife, Mary

21:53

Louise, whom Napoleon still

21:56

hoped would join him in exile. One

21:59

evening, Elbin were shocked and delighted

22:01

to see Mary Louise and the

22:04

son she shared with Napoleon coming

22:06

onto the beach secretly by rowboat

22:09

their empress. People could

22:11

not stop talking about her mysterious

22:13

arrival. Who had been the man rowing

22:16

her, was at her step son, Prince Eugene,

22:18

and who had been the other lady on the boat?

22:21

What had she been wearing? Was she wearing dazzling

22:23

jewels? A local mayor attempted

22:26

to pay respects, and when people

22:28

heard that Napoleon and his wife were

22:30

spending time in the little hermitage

22:33

he used as his country retreat, the

22:35

people hiked up to try to get

22:37

a glimpse of their empress, Except

22:40

there was one problem. It was

22:43

a woman and the son she shared

22:45

with Napoleon who had arrived on the island,

22:48

But it wasn't his wife. It

22:50

was Napoleon's Polish mistress,

22:52

Marie Walashka, and their son

22:54

Alexander. Once Napoleon

22:57

got word that people thought that she was

22:59

the Empress, Napoleon sent

23:01

Marie away after only two

23:03

evenings. Back when he

23:06

was Emperor of France, Napoleon

23:08

had divorced his much more famous

23:10

first wife, Josephine, though

23:12

he still loved her, because she hadn't

23:15

provided him a male heir, and

23:17

so to that end he had married

23:19

the eighteen year old Marie Louise,

23:22

daughter of the Austrian Emperor Francis.

23:25

Francis had reluctantly married

23:27

his daughter to a non blood

23:29

royal because he had been the Emperor

23:32

of France. Now four

23:34

years later, his daughter was locked

23:37

in a political alliance that was completely

23:39

useless. When Napoleon surrendered

23:42

back at Fontainebleau, Marie Louise

23:45

had gone with their infant son back

23:47

to Vienna to be with her family for

23:49

safekeeping, and though she wrote loving

23:51

letters to her exiled husband during

23:54

those first few weeks, Marie

23:56

Louise almost certainly never

23:58

received the sweet lets Napoleon

24:00

was sending back. Though

24:03

Marie Louise's feelings for Napoleon,

24:05

a man only two years younger than her

24:08

father, were fairly negative

24:10

when the marriage was first arranged,

24:13

whether out of wifely duty or genuine

24:15

affection, it seemed that something

24:18

like love had grown over the years,

24:20

and though her Austrian family had

24:23

made it very clear that they had

24:25

no intention of sending her to Elba

24:27

to be with her groom, there was a

24:29

part of Marie Louise that thought

24:31

she really should. When Marie

24:33

Louise made plans to travel to

24:36

a spa town in the south of France for

24:38

a vacation, where ostensibly

24:40

it might be easy to take a boat

24:42

ride to Elba. The Austrian

24:45

Foreign Minister sent along as

24:47

her escort a general named

24:49

Adam von Kniperg, who was

24:51

given a simple task to

24:53

quote turn the Duchess away from

24:56

all ideas of a journey to Elba, a

24:58

journey which would greatly upset the

25:00

paternal feelings of his Majesty,

25:03

who cherishes the most tender wishes

25:05

for the well being of his well loved

25:08

daughter. He must not fail, therefore,

25:10

to try, by any means whatsoever,

25:13

to dissuade her from such a project.

25:16

It was no accident that von

25:19

Kniberg was incredibly handsome,

25:21

and though he can't be certain what his methods

25:24

of persuasion were, in the end,

25:26

Marie Louise did not travel to

25:28

Elba, and later, after Napoleon's

25:31

death, he would become her lover, and

25:34

so the rooms on Elba that had

25:36

initially been designed for the empress

25:39

gradually began to be talked

25:41

about as the rooms for Napoleon's

25:44

sister, who did come. Josephine,

25:47

Napoleon believed was the wife

25:49

who would have joined him on Elba, and

25:52

he was devastated that spring when

25:54

he got word that Josephine died

25:56

back in France before her fifty

25:58

first birthday. She had been

26:00

ill, but the more tabloid

26:03

version of her demise was that she

26:05

had taken a scandalous walk with

26:07

Czar Alexander the First and had

26:09

worn just a thin muslin wrap

26:12

that didn't protect her from the cold. Napoleon's

26:15

final letter to Josephine, which

26:18

he had sent a few months earlier, had

26:20

ended with the lines quote

26:23

goodbye, my friend. Let me know

26:25

you're well. They say you're fattening

26:27

up like a good Norman farm wife.

26:30

Napoleon. The

26:35

Treaty of Paris, actually signed

26:37

the day after Josephine's death, officially

26:40

ended the war and restored Paris

26:43

to its seventeen ninety two borders.

26:46

Napoleon was settled on Elba,

26:48

with a garrison of guards and the

26:50

feeble but passable ship the Inconstant

26:53

for his protection. Technically,

26:55

Campbell's job should have been

26:58

done. Napoleon had early

27:00

treated him like a friend or diplomat.

27:03

Now that Napoleon was settled into his

27:05

Mannor home with his sister and mother and

27:08

guards, he didn't really see a need

27:10

to hang out with Campbell, and

27:12

so Campbell was stuck on Elbaw

27:15

like a vestigial limb unsure

27:17

exactly what it was that he was supposed

27:19

to be doing. With no other British

27:22

diplomats posted nearby, no

27:24

friends, no one to talk to, and

27:26

the Foreign Office seemed to be

27:28

ghosting him. He sent letters

27:31

requesting a formal extension to his

27:33

stay with no reply. Eventually,

27:36

the Foreign Minister sent a note telling

27:39

Campbell to basically keep on

27:41

keeping on and also stop bothering

27:44

him. He informed Campbell that

27:46

he the Foreign Minister, was going to the Peace

27:48

conference in Vienna, but don't bother

27:50

to update your address book, keep sending

27:52

your dispatches to London unless

27:55

something really important comes up. To

27:57

Campbell, it didn't really seem like anything

27:59

important to at all was happening, though.

28:01

Napoleon was busy with seemingly

28:04

endless half finished ideas for

28:06

improvements on Elba and new

28:08

properties he wanted to develop for himself.

28:11

He was living in what Campbell called

28:13

quote perfect bourgeois simplicity,

28:16

spending his evenings playing dominoes

28:19

or cards with his family and playing

28:21

piano before bed. In

28:23

a scene that strikes me as almost

28:25

adorably domestic. Napoleon

28:28

was playing cards with his mother when she called

28:30

him out. Napoleon, you're cheating,

28:32

she said, mother, You're rich,

28:35

he retorted. But peaceful

28:38

as that scene is, the political

28:40

situation back in France was

28:43

a little less stable than the European

28:45

powers probably wanted. The

28:48

new King Louis the eighteenth wasn't

28:51

making a dazzling first

28:53

impression. He traveled through

28:55

London on his way back to Paris, and

28:57

here's the Lord Byron cameo. Lord

29:00

Byron commented on the scene, writing

29:02

quote at this present, writing, Louis

29:05

the Goudi is wheeling in triumph

29:07

into Piccadilly. In all the pomp

29:09

and rabblement of royalty and

29:13

the new king. Louis made perhaps

29:16

one very early pr

29:18

error when he signed the document

29:20

agreeing to the Constitution and

29:23

by cameral legislature, he dated

29:25

it the nineteenth year of

29:27

his reign. The implication was,

29:30

of course, that he had been king that

29:32

entire time, albeit in exile.

29:35

Complicated as Napoleon was

29:37

as a figure, there was a

29:40

significant amount of civic pride

29:42

that he had inspired among the French people.

29:45

His military victories, his conquests.

29:48

The pomp and symbolism Napoleon

29:50

wielded so well had had an

29:52

effect, and effectively

29:54

erasing all of that had the effect

29:57

of embarrassment and a bit of shame,

30:00

especially considering that the restored

30:02

Bourbon dynasty had obviously

30:04

been installed by foreign troops.

30:08

There was a growing sense of dissatisfaction,

30:11

especially among veterans who had fought

30:13

for Napoleon. As broad

30:16

points out, there was an irony that

30:18

soldiers, the men who would have sacrificed

30:20

the most for Napoleon and his endless

30:22

wars, remained the most loyal

30:25

to him. Napoleon got

30:27

the sense that a comeback might

30:29

be possible. He was also hearing

30:32

rumors that the European powers were

30:34

planning on sending him further afield

30:36

to a more distant exile on Saint

30:39

Helena off the coast of Africa, which

30:41

would make any escape impossible.

30:44

And with the end of the War of eighteen

30:46

twelve, Europeans would no

30:48

longer need to have ships around America,

30:51

which meant that more ships would be patrolling

30:53

the Mediterranean. All of that

30:56

meant Napoleon understood that if he

30:58

wanted to pull off an escape, he

31:00

would need to do it quickly. The

31:02

English officer Campbell, feeling

31:04

as though he were the one in exile,

31:07

began to spend more and more time

31:09

off the island proper and on the Tuscan

31:12

coast. He justified his

31:14

sojourns with the nineteenth century

31:16

equivalent of someone saying they're

31:19

taking a mental health day, writing

31:21

that it would quote believe my mind,

31:24

and prove a very acceptable release

31:26

from the sultry confinement of Elba.

31:29

Of course, it didn't hurt that Campbell

31:31

had also met an Italian noble woman

31:33

named Contessa Miniacci, whose

31:36

origins and background were mysterious

31:39

enough that she's invited speculation

31:41

that she was secretly a spy, either

31:44

on Napoleon's behalf or someone else's.

31:47

If she was, she was incredibly subtle

31:49

about it, but she and Campbell

31:51

did become lovers. Campbell

31:54

wrote to his superiors about the

31:56

possibility of Napoleon absconding,

31:59

but he hedged his bets quote,

32:02

I think he is capable of crossing

32:04

over to Piombino with his troops, or

32:07

of any other eccentricity. But

32:09

if his residence in Elba and his income

32:11

are secured to him, I think you will pass

32:14

the rest of his life there in relative

32:16

tranquility. Unfortunately,

32:18

Napoleon's income was not secure.

32:21

Napoleon wasn't receiving the stipend

32:23

that he was promised in the Treaty of Fontainebleau,

32:26

which was supposed to be paid by the French

32:28

Bourbons. Apparently they decided

32:31

funding the man they saw as their enemy

32:33

was an expense they could put on the back

32:36

burner, And though later in

32:38

his writings Napoleon would assure the

32:40

reader that taxes and the elbin mining

32:42

industry would have paid for his expenses,

32:45

the reality was funds were insecure

32:48

and rapidly diminishing. When

32:51

his ship, the Inconstant, needed repairs,

32:54

Napoleon took the opportunity to

32:56

use that as cover to outfit

32:58

it for his invasion of France.

33:01

After nine months and twenty one

33:03

days, Napoleon was done with

33:06

retirement and he was going to

33:08

reconquer the nation he loved.

33:14

On February twenty sixth, eighteen

33:17

fifteen, a small fleet comprised

33:19

of the Inconstant, four transports

33:21

and two Feluccas set sail for

33:24

the south of France. There were a

33:26

few reasons Napoleon chose to land

33:28

directly in France first,

33:30

and perhaps most importantly, it

33:32

would cause confusion and delay

33:35

because the European powers assumed that

33:37

any escape attempt Napoleon might

33:39

make would be through Italy. His

33:41

brother in law was King of Naples, and

33:43

it seemed logical that Napoleon

33:45

would take the short boat ride rendezvous

33:48

with him to bolster his troops, and

33:50

then march on land through Italy

33:52

back to France, adding troops

33:54

along the way. But France

33:57

was also a symbolic landing point

33:59

for Napoleon. Napoleon wouldn't

34:01

be invading with his army.

34:04

This was to be a glorious homecoming.

34:08

Later, Campbell would be blamed

34:10

for allowing Napoleon to escape,

34:12

especially considering before and during

34:15

the actual departure he was

34:17

off in Tuscany, but he justified

34:20

himself later in his writing with every

34:23

possible rationale. Quote, no

34:25

part of Napoleon's plan for quitting

34:27

Elba could have increased my general suspicions,

34:30

even if I had been there from the sixteenth

34:33

to the twenty sixth, nor

34:35

could have authorized me to report to

34:37

the British government any fact

34:39

which could be considered as certain proof.

34:42

He adds, quote, there's no criminality

34:44

in the act previous to his embarkation

34:47

of the troops and actual departure. Campbell

34:50

finishes with the conclusion that it's actually

34:52

a good thing that he and his ship weren't

34:55

in the harbor at the time, because

34:57

then Napoleon could have captured his ship

34:59

and and added it to his invading fleet.

35:03

From Napoleon's landing on the southern

35:05

coast of France, it was an

35:07

almost comically easy and

35:10

heroic march up to Paris.

35:13

Later, Napoleon would say that

35:15

the march was the happiest time

35:17

in his life. To me, it

35:19

reads as a perfect moment of

35:21

Napoleon's self mythologizing

35:24

manifesting in real time. Napoleon

35:27

was a master of his own story, and

35:30

what could make a man like that happier

35:32

than living through its dramatic climax,

35:36

a come from behind victory in

35:38

which he escapes exile from under

35:40

the noses of the European powers in

35:43

order to reclaim his nation. The

35:45

most dramatic and famous

35:48

incident on Napoleon's march came

35:50

outside Laffry, where a troop

35:53

of eight hundred French infantrymen,

35:55

who had sworn an oath to protect the Bourbon

35:57

government, stood brandishing their

35:59

weapons and blocking Napoleon's

36:01

way. Napoleon didn't

36:04

attack. Instead, he

36:06

ordered his musicians to play

36:08

the patriotic song Marcias,

36:11

and he walked in front of the enemy

36:13

soldiers alone. He thrust

36:15

open his jacket an open target

36:18

and shouted, soldiers, I'm

36:20

your emperor. Do you not recognize

36:22

me? With his chest exposed,

36:24

he called, if any of you will shoot

36:27

his emperor, here, I am

36:30

Among the eight hundred infantrymen,

36:33

someone shouted fire, but no

36:35

one did, and then someone

36:37

shouted something else, long

36:40

live the Emperor. The shout

36:42

became joyful cheers as

36:44

the men embraced their exiled

36:47

leader. Rather than stopping

36:49

Napoleon's invasion, the royal

36:52

infantrymen joined him.

36:55

Word reached Paris of Napoleon's

36:57

incoming invasion, but the

37:00

mood was strangely unbothered and

37:02

relaxed. No one actually

37:04

considered that Napoleon might succeed

37:06

in reclaiming the government, and

37:09

it was partly how strange and

37:11

how shocking the whole thing was that

37:14

gave Napoleon the advantage. The

37:16

audacity of Napoleon's escape

37:19

stupefied his opponents into numb

37:21

surrender. Before Napoleon

37:24

even made it to Paris, King

37:26

Louis the eighteenth had fled, and

37:28

when Napoleon reclaimed his palace,

37:31

the carpets that the Bourbon king had installed

37:34

were pealed back to reveal that Napoleon's

37:36

symbols, the Imperial Bees,

37:39

were still there beneath. Napoleon's

37:42

escape from Elba had happened so quickly

37:45

after his exile began that

37:47

the Congress of Vienna, where

37:49

world leaders were meeting to try to figure

37:51

out what to do in the power vacuum

37:54

of post Napoleonic Europe, was

37:56

still meeting when Napoleon landed

37:58

back in France. Early Napoleon

38:00

recognized that all of those leaders

38:03

in one geographical location would

38:05

allow them to plan their countermove

38:07

against him far more efficiently than

38:09

they otherwise could have via exchanging

38:12

letters. But the advantages to

38:14

Napoleon acting quickly had outweighed

38:16

that. A week before Napoleon

38:19

reached Paris, the Congress of Vienna

38:21

officially declared that he was an outlaw,

38:24

breaking the terms of his surrender in exile,

38:26

and Austria, Prussia, Russia, and the

38:29

UK all committed men to bring

38:31

him down again, this

38:33

time for good. Despite

38:35

her loving letters at the start

38:38

of Napoleon's exile, when

38:40

his wife Marie Louise got word of his

38:42

reclamation, she said that you would

38:44

rather join a convent than join her

38:46

husband. They would never see each

38:48

other again. Napoleon's

38:51

second act, cinematic as it

38:53

was, was also brief. One

38:55

hundred days audacity

38:58

would allow him to grab power,

39:00

but it wasn't enough to hold it, and

39:03

when the European forces finally

39:05

defeated Napoleon at Waterloo,

39:07

this time they wouldn't be making the same

39:09

mistake twice. Napoleon

39:12

was exiled to Saint Helena, far

39:14

too remote and under far too much

39:16

guard to even entertain the

39:19

notion of anything but full

39:21

retirement. Napoleon

39:23

died there, likely of stomach cancer,

39:25

not too long after. If

39:28

you're wondering what happened to poor Campbell,

39:31

the lone English officer who, in the

39:33

minds of the British public, had one

39:35

job. After Napoleon's flotilla

39:38

sailed off, he scrambled trying

39:40

to figure out where Napoleon was off to,

39:43

which he incorrectly assumed would be

39:45

Italy. All of Campbell's

39:47

efforts came too late. He

39:49

did not stop Napoleon, and

39:51

once again adding insult

39:53

to injury. As Campbell was

39:55

traveling along the Lagreen coast,

39:58

he was accosted by high wayman

40:00

and had all of his possessions robbed.

40:04

It was a fitting and terrible bookend

40:07

to his miserable Alba assignment.

40:17

That's the story of Napoleon's exile

40:20

to Elba. But keep listening after

40:22

a brief sponsor break to hear

40:24

a little bit about two different

40:27

outlaws who became entangled with

40:29

Napoleon's history.

40:43

An American professor of history named

40:46

John William Rooney was working in

40:48

the French National Archive when

40:50

he decided to take home a

40:52

very unique souvenir. Rooney

40:55

walked out of the archives with a

40:57

woven paper treaty more than

40:59

one one hundred and fifty years old,

41:02

sealed with a red wax and tied

41:04

with a green cord. Rooney had

41:06

stolen the last remaining French

41:08

copy of the Treaty of Fontainebleau,

41:11

the document with which Napoleon accepted

41:13

the surrender of his role as Emperor

41:16

of France and his new life as

41:18

Emperor of Elba. It

41:20

wasn't until nineteen ninety six

41:22

that a National Archive employee

41:25

was looking through a Sotheby's catalog

41:27

when he noticed something peculiar, a

41:30

long missing treaty up for auction. With

41:33

the investigation under way, it was

41:35

discovered that dozens of other

41:37

important French documents were missing, including

41:40

thirty letters, conveniently with the

41:42

National Archives stamp sliced

41:45

off. Most of the letters

41:47

were concerning Louis the eighteenth and the

41:49

Restoration Government, which were

41:51

found by the FBI in a search

41:53

of Rooney's home in two thousand and

41:55

one. The documents

41:58

and the Treaty of Fontainebleaue were return

42:00

to France, but with no extradition

42:02

agreement, the punishment was light.

42:05

Rooney, seventy one years old, was

42:07

charged with customs violations

42:10

and find one thousand dollars. His

42:12

friend Marshall Pierce, a novelist,

42:14

had been the one to actually put the documents

42:17

up for sale on Sotheby's, and he was

42:19

fined ten thousand dollars. Though

42:21

France attempted to prosecute Rooney

42:24

in two thousand and five, the statute

42:26

of limitations on the robbery had expired

42:28

and America was not going to extradite

42:31

a citizen. As far as I can

42:33

tell, Rooney if he is still

42:35

alive, never returned to France

42:37

to stand trial. Rooney

42:39

maintained that he bought the items and did

42:41

not know they were stolen, though in an

42:44

interview he said, if you were

42:46

to stand in front of the Pyramids of

42:48

Egypt, you might pick up

42:50

a chip too. I have

42:52

to say there is something about the

42:54

bald audacity with which Rooney

42:56

and Pierce attempted to pull off

42:58

their robbery that frankly

43:00

Napoleonic. During Napoleon's

43:03

conquests of Egypt and Italy,

43:06

he stole countless works of

43:08

art, sculptures by Michelangelo,

43:11

the Venus de Medici, sculpture paintings

43:13

by Vasari, Varone, Sei Giojo and

43:15

Moore. Some were returned to Italy

43:17

after Napoleon fell from power, but

43:20

some are still in the Louver. An

43:22

audacious act of international

43:24

thievery of items related to

43:26

Napoleon might even be considered

43:29

an homage.

43:45

Noble Blood is a production of iHeart

43:47

Radio and Grimm and Mild

43:49

from Aaron Manky. Noble Blood

43:51

is hosted by me Danish Forts,

43:54

with additional writing and researching

43:57

by Hannah Johnston, Hannah Zwick,

43:59

Court, Zany Sender, Julia Milani,

44:02

and Armand Cassam The show

44:04

is edited and produced by Noemi

44:06

Griffin and rima Il Kaali,

44:09

with supervising producer Josh

44:11

Thain and executive producers

44:14

Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt

44:16

Frederick. For more podcasts

44:18

from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio

44:21

app, Apple Podcasts, or

44:23

wherever you listen to your favorite shows.