Napoleon dies in exile - May 05, 1821 - HISTORY.com Napoleon dies in exile Publisher A+E Networks Napoleon Bonaparte , the former French ruler who once ruled an empire that stretched across Europe, dies as a British prisoner on the remote island of Saint Helena in the southern Atlantic Ocean. The Corsica-born Napoleon, one of the greatest military strategists in history, rapidly rose in the ranks of the French Revolutionary Army during the late 1790s. By 1799, France was at war with most of Europe, and Napoleon returned home from his Egyptian campaign to take over the reigns of the French government and save his nation from collapse. After becoming first consul in February 1800, he reorganized his armies and defeated Austria. In 1802, he established the Napoleonic Code, a new system of French law, and in 1804 was crowned emperor of France in Notre Dame Cathedral. By 1807, Napoleon controlled an empire that stretched from the River Elbe in the north, down through Italy in the south, and from the Pyrenees to the Dalmatian coast.

Beginning in 1812, Napoleon began to encounter the first significant defeats of his military career, suffering through a disastrous invasion of Russia, losing Spain to the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula War, and enduring total defeat against an allied force by 1814. Exiled to the island of Elba, he escaped to France in early 1815 and raised a new Grand Army that enjoyed temporary success before its crushing defeat at Waterloo against an allied force under Wellington on June 18, 1815. Napoleon was subsequently exiled to the island of Saint Helena off the coast of Africa. Six years later, he died, most likely of stomach cancer, and in 1840 his body was returned to Paris, where it was interred in the Hotel des Invalides. Related Videos Saint Helena Island Info: All about St Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean • Napoleon Bonaparte August 1769 to 5 th May 1821), also known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19 th century, being Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814.

He was exiled to St Helena in 1815, arriving in October {1} , and died here in May 1821. So much we all know (hopefully) - you can read more below . But did you also know that: He was born in the town of Ajaccio on the island of Corsica, one year after the island was transferred to France by the Republic of Genoa. So if he’d been born a year earlier he would have been Genoan, not French. (Maybe that would have saved the world a lot of trouble, but made St Helena a lot less famous.) He was initially named Napoleone di Buonaparte, but later adopted the more French-sounding Napoleon Bonaparte. It’s possible that he had Jewish origins; or Greek. Both communities were well established on Corsica at the time of his birth {2} . He spoke with a marked Corsican accent and never learned to spell properly, being teased by other students for his accent. An examiner observed that Napoleon was good at mathematics and was “fairly well acquainted with history and geography”, and then suggested he should become a sailor.

He considered joining the British Royal Navy (which also might have saved the world a lot of trouble, etc.) but instead trained to become an artillery officer. During his time on St Helena there was a plan to rescue him with a primitive submarine . (Given the state of submarine technology at the time this could be described as anywhere between brave and insane.) At the height of his power, Napoleon owned 39 palaces, some he never once visited. His tomb was left nameless because his representatives and the British government couldn’t agree on what should be written on it. People are still arguing over the cause of Napoleon’s death. At the time it was attributed to stomach cancer but it has since been argued that he died of arsenic poisoning; some say deliberate - others say from chemicals in the wallpaper released by mould growing on it. Napoleon’s cure for piles was to apply leeches to his bottom. He was not short, as is often thought. He was actually 1.7 metres tall, average height for the period. The short-man suggestion came from British propaganda during the Napoleonic Wars. Insisting on ‘equality before the law’ in civil and criminal actions, Napoleon drew up legislation to protect citizens from arbitrary arrest.

He also instituted an educational system based on merit, not the privileges of birth. On 29 th May 1816 Napoleon received a letter from his mother, asking if she could come and live with him on St Helena. We assume he replied in the negative. Unlike most European leaders of his time, Napoleon welcomed Jews, abolishing ghettos and saying “I will never accept any proposals that will obligate the Jewish people to leave France, because to me the Jews are the same as any other citizen in our country. It takes weakness to chase them out of the country, but it takes strength to assimilate them.” However, during his exile on St Helena he is said to have remarked to General Gourgaud: “The Jews are a nasty people, cowardly and cruel.” {3} Also unlike most European leaders of his time, Napoleon did not approve of torture as a way to extract information, saying “The barbarous custom of having men beaten who are suspected of having important secrets to reveal must be abolished. It has always been recognized that this way of interrogating men, by putting them to torture, produces nothing worthwhile.

The poor wretches say anything that comes into their mind and what they think the interrogator wishes to hear.” Napoleon also tried his hand at being an author . How much of that did you know? You can read more about Napoleon’s residence on St Helena on our Longwood House page. Learn more about St Helena’s arguably most famous resident on the Wikipedia . Napoleon on St Helena Oh, Boney’s away from his wars and his fightings, He is gone to a land where naught can delight him. And there he may sit down and tell the scenes he’s seen, oh, While alone he does mourn on the Isle of Saint Helena. Old English ballad, ‘Boney on the Isle of Saint Helena’ French illustration: ‘Island of St Helena, place of exile of Napoleon Bonaparte’ A potted history of Napoleon on St Helena: Sunday 15 th May 1821 Funeral at Sane Valley at 3 pm Napoleon was brought to the island in October 1815 {1} . His first comment, on sighting St Helena was “it will not be a pleasant abode”.

In his first two months here he lived in a pavilion on the Briars estate, just up the valley from Jamestown , and moved to Longwood House on 10 th December 1815. It appears Napoleon took a little while to adjust to his new circumstances. ‘A History of the Island of St Helena”, by T. H.

Brooke, Esq., published in 1824 {6} {7} reports that: Upon an island of 45Km in circumference, which did not feed a population of hardly four thousand souls, and four hundred leagues distant from the nearest continent, it could not be expected that, upon so short a notice for the reception of its new visitants, they could obtain the kind of accommodation to which they had been accustomed; and, in a place where fresh beef was so precious as to have occasioned restrictions upon its consumption, it may well be conceived that sensations of no ordinary nature were excited at a demand from the maître-d’hotel of the Ex-Emperor, a few days after his arrival, for four bullocks, in order to make a dish of brains: of this demand, however, Buonaparte himself knew nothing, until Sir George Cockburn explained the objections to its being complied with, and the refusal is understood to have been received with perfect good humour.

However, later documents tell a different story: Fifty bottles of wine, four ducks, and a roasting pig: the feast of food and drink provided to French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile on Saint Helena was revealed Wednesday in a document auctioned in Britain. The list details the inhabitants of Napoleon’s household on the island, Longwood, including loyal aide General Henri Gatien Bertrand and his family, and numerous staff including ‘32 Chinese’. Each day, the entourage were delivered 23 kilos of beef and veal, 23 kilos of mutton or pork, 31 kilos of bread, 42 eggs and 15 bottles of milk, two turkeys, two geese, 12 pigeons and nine fowl, in addition to the pig and ducks. And to accompany the vast quantities of wine, also on the list were malt liquor, rum and cognac. Signed by Denzil Ibbetson {8} , a British officer and artist who served on St Helena, the inventory is dated October 13 th {9} Napoleon, dictating his memoirs The Emperor was closely guarded, despite the apparent inaccessibility of St Helena.

It was a requirement of Governor Lowe that every visitor to Longwood House should be issued with a pass, signed by himself. One day while out riding, Napoleon escaped from his escort and headed off in the direction of Powell’s Valley , causing Governor Lowe to realise that the valley was unguarded and might have provided an avenue for a rescue attempt. It was promptly fortified. The Times published articles insinuating the British government was trying to hasten his death, and he often complained of the living conditions in letters to Governor Hudson Lowe . (Although Governor Lowe was partly responsible for the ending of slavery on St Helena , his treatment of Napoleon is regarded by historians as poor, imposing inter alia a rule that no gifts could be delivered to Napoleon if they mentioned his imperial status.) Napoleon had only a few distractions to occupy his time. He did some gardening: Count Balmain, Russian Commissioner, wrote on 20 th January 1820: I saw General Bonaparte this morning. He was amusing himself in one of his private flower gardens. His morning dress at present consists of a white gown, and straw hat with a very wide brim. In the afternoon he appears out in a cocked hat, green coat, and white breeches and stockings.

He walks a good part of the afternoon in Longwood garden, accompanied by either Counts Montholon or Bertrand, and often pays a visit to the Bertrands in the evenings. Yesterday afternoon he walked around in the new garden and buildings. Reading and dictation of his memoirs occupied more of his time. Napoleon’s permitted limits He also engaged in horseback riding, but found the close guard maintained by his captors annoying. A perimiter was designated, within which he could ride unaccompanied. The area is shown on the map. It looks extensive but it must be remembered that much of the enclosed area comprised steep valleys and other inhospitable terrain, severly restricting his practicable range. He undertook a few trips during his stay, including to Sandy Bay in January 1816 and to Mount Pleasant in October 1820.

Governor Lowe was not only suspicious of Napoleon himself, he also suspected (in some cases, with grounds {10} ) the British Personnel who attended the Emperor, as this report confirms: There has been no occurrence here of any interest to our friends at home, for some time; all has been as vapid and monotonous as the harbour duty on a home station, only, with far greater privations. But, at length, a buz has been created - Mr. Stokoe, the surgeon of the Flagship, whom Bonaparte accepted as his medical attendant, after the return home of Mr O’Meara has incurred the displeasure of the governor, and he returns to England in the Trincomalee {11} . The facts are, I understand - When Mr. Stokoe consented to succeed Mr.

O’Meara, and before he had made any visit to Bonaparte, he made it the ‘sine qua non’ of his accepting the situation, with Sir Hudson Lowe, that he should not be required to detail any familiar conversations into which he may be drawn, or any circumstances which he might overhear, at Longwood; but pledging himself, as a British officer, that, if any thing should come to his knowledge in which his allegiance to his king and country would be compromised by his secrecy, he would then instantly give information to the governor. This was passed on until a few days since, when Bonaparte was suddenly seized with serious illness, in the middle of the night. Mr. Stokoe, as soon as the necessary forms were gone through, visited him, and found that he had had a slight apoplectic fit. After a few hours he appeared free from the attack, but it had left a considerable degree of indisposition. Mr Stokoe made official reports of the circumstances to Sir Hudson Lowe and the Admiral (Plampin), and gave copies of them to Bonaparte. Whether it was this latter circumstance, or whether Mr.

Stokoe had represented Bonaparte as being in a worse state of health than suited the predisposed notions of Sir Hudson, is not known; but he was instantly forbid to go to Longwood - was threatened to be tried by a court-martial, - or as an act of mitigation of his offence, he was told he might invalid home. Of course, he preferred the latter, as the least incommodious to him, and he sails tomorrow in the Trincomalee {11} . The reports were drawn up, of course, with conscientious accuracy, and were such as the case demanded.- I understand Bonaparte is really in serious state of health. His dwelling is sealed against all visitors. The Portsmouth Telegraph, quoting a letter dated St Helena, Jan. 29, 1819. Unflattering cartoon from c.1815 Napoleon’s last expedition As remarked above, Napoleon did not spend all of his time at Longwood House. He rode around the nearby countryside, and made a few house calls to people he thought sympathetic.

The last of these took place on 4 th October 1820, when he went for breakfast at Mount Pleasant {12} , home of Sir William Webber Doveton . They sipped champagne on the lawn, and Napoleon and his companions, Count Bertrand and Count Montholon, invited Sir William and his family to share the meal they had brought with them. Sir William reported it all to Governor Hudson Lowe : the food and drink they had consumed; Napoleon’s jokes about Sir William’s alcohol intake (which did not go down too well); and Napoleon’s physical appearance - described by Sir William as “as fat as a Chinese pig.” Whether due to ill health or too much Champagne, Napoleon apparently struggled to ride back on his horse, and was glad to be offered a carriage at Hutts gate. It is also recorded that, throughout the visit, both Napoleon and Sir William, but unlike their respective family and companions, kept their hats on! This visit was remarkable as Napoleon very rarely paid visits or took any meal with strangers, and it was the last time he ventured beyond the grounds of Longwood House . This was not, it seems, Napoleon’s first visit to Sir William.

According the Governor Lowe ’s records for 3 rd January 1816: As we were on the point of sitting down to dinner [at Plantation House ], we were, to our great surprise, informed that the Emperor, in company with the Admiral, had just passed very near the gate of Plantation House; and one of the guests (Mr. Doveton of Sandy Bay) observed that Napoleon had, in the morning, honoured him with a visit, and spent three quarters of an hour at his house. (More on John Tyrrell’s blog .) The Napoleon codes In 2001 a ‘Code Book’ came to light, illustrating how Napoleon’s guards communicated his activities to the Governor in The Castle. In the system, devised for Governor Hudson Lowe , messages were sent with code-numbers, using flags, possibly relayed via High Knoll Fort. ‘General Bonaparte’ was code 767. If he went missing his number would be hoisted up with a dark blue flag signifying ‘missing’, repeated at all the signal stations around the Island until cancelled. It is not known if this code was ever used. Other codes mark more routine events, e.g.

“General Bonaparte is out, but within the cordon of sentries”. One code was definitely used. On 4 th May 1821 Lt. W Crokat signalled 767/2 to the Governor - “Napoleon is unwell”. The rest, as they say,… Napoleon’s Death “Mort de Napoléon Ier à Sainte-Hélène, le 5 Mai 1821”. 1828 by Carl von Steuben (1788-1856) In February 1821, Napoleon’s health began to deteriorate rapidly, and on 3 rd May two physicians attended on him but could only recommend palliatives. He died two days later, on 5 th May 1821 at 17:49h, his last words being, “La France, l’armée, tête d’armée, Joséphine” (“France, the army, head of the army, Joséphine”).

In his will Napoleon asked to be buried on the banks of the Seine, but the British Governor, Hudson Lowe, said he should be buried on St Helena, in the Valley of the Willows (now Sane Valley) . During his time on St Helena the island was strongly garrisoned by regular British regimental troops and by the local St Helena Regiment, with naval shipping circling the island. Many defensive forts were built. Napoleon’s entry in the Register of Deaths th Century illustrations of Napoleon’s funeral French Napoleon St Helena medal from 1821 “To the companions of his glory, his last thought” Bicentenary events To read more about the events held to mark the Bicentenary of Napoleon’s time on St Helena, please see our Napoleonic Bicentenary page . To mark the 150 anniversary of his death in 1971, commemorative postage stamps were issued: Napoleon the author A single manuscript page from a love story written by Napoleon Bonaparte sold at auction in France yesterday for the equivalent of £17,000.

It was the first page of the final draft of Napoleon’s 1795 short novel Clisson and Eugenie - the story was not published in his lifetime. The page up for sale was long believed to be part of a text that Napoleon wrote about a historical figure named Clissot, but then Peter Hicks, a historian at the Fondation Napoleon, realised it was actually the beginning of his novel. The long-standing confusion was caused in part by Napoleon’s sloppy handwriting, Mr Hicks said. St Helena Independent , 7 The secret plot to rescue Napoleon…by submarine! A submarine of the period that was probably the inspiration for Johnson’s plans Tom Johnson was one of those extraordinary characters that history throws up in times of crisis. Born in 1772 to Irish parents, he made the most of the opportunities that presented themselves and was earning his own living as a smuggler by the age of 12. At least twice, he made remarkable escapes from prison. When the Napoleonic Wars broke out, his well-deserved reputation for extreme daring saw him hired, despite his by then extensive criminal record, to pilot a pair of covert British naval expeditions.

But Johnson also has a stranger claim to fame, one that has gone unmentioned in all but the most obscure of histories. In 1820, he claimed, he was offered the sum of £40,000 {13} to rescue the emperor Napoleon from bleak exile on the island of St Helena. This escape was to be effected in an incredible way: down a sheer cliff, using a bosun’s chair, to a pair of primitive submarines waiting off shore. And Johnson had to design the submarines himself, since his plot was hatched decades before the invention of the first practical underwater craft. More plots here . Read More Go to: Sources • Article: “I have enow sleep, I go then finish the night into to cause with you” Sources By Suzannah Hills, The Daily Mail , 6 th June 2012 {9} Rare letter written in English by the French emperor Napoleon reveals his struggle to master the language A rare letter written by the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte while in exile after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo has revealed his struggle to master the English language.

It is one of only three letters written by the emperor in March 1816 while he was held by English captors on the island of Saint Helena in the Atlantic Ocean. In broken English, he wrote: “Count Las Case. It is two o’clock after midnight, I have enow sleep, I go then finish the night into to cause with you.” Keen student: Napoleon, depicted in a portrait painting (left), and the TV programme Clash of the Generals (right), attempted to learn English while in exile following the battle of Waterloo The emperor is attempting to convey that he has had enough sleep and wishes to chat - but instead muddles the word with the French phrase ‘causer’, which has the same meaning. The letter has gone on show in Paris and is expected to sell for 80,000 euros when it goes up for sale this weekend {14} . Napoleon was determined to learn the language of his captors and underwent daily lessons with his aide, Emmanuel, the Comte de las Cases, so he could understand what was being said around him. The emperor was an enthusiastic student and often wrote to his teacher in English when he couldn’t sleep to practice.

But this letter shows the emperor was a long way off mastering the language - and it is said his spoken English was even worse. Broken English: In the rare letter, Napoleon reveals his difficulty in mastering the language The emperor continues: “He shall land above seven day, a ship from Europe that we shall give account from anything who this shall have been even to day of first January thousand eight hundred sixteen. You shall have for this ocurens a letter from Lady Las Case that shall you learn what himself could carry well if she had conceive the your occurens. But I tire myself and you shall have of the ado at conceive my.” Collectable: The rare letter by Napoleon, played here by Vladislav Strzhelchik in the 1969 film War and Peace, is expected to fetch up to £65,000 at auction More stories on our page Read articles about St Helena . Credits: Denzil Ibbetson {8} {b} Attributed to John Kerr, ‘Series of views in the Island of Saint Helena’, dedicated by permission to Lady Lowe, London, Colnaghi & Co.

{c} ‘Burial of Napoleon Bonaparte at St Helena’, attributed to James Pattison Cockburn (1779-1847). Footnotes: {1} To read more about the events marking the Bicentenary of Napoleon’s arrival on St Helena check out our Napoleonic Bicentenary page for details. {2} Some of his opponents even claimed he had African ancestry, though there seems to have been no foundation for this claim. It is sad that in the early 19 th Century being African was considered a bad thing… {3} Historian Benjamin Ivry writes : “That must be put into context, especially any statement from Saint Helena. There Napoleon is also quoted as making the same type of comments about the Spanish. Like any person who speaks a lot and dictates a lot, many different kinds of things can be found in what he says. There is a difference between Napoleon’s private comments and public acts. To do good for a community, it is not necessary to love them. The vital thing for a national leader is to realize what is needed at the moment and pursue a policy.

Whatever Napoleon’s feelings at the moment might have been, he did so.” {4} But we can’t verify it {5} This is usually used to explain why something was tried here, but failed. However, if you look at the island’s history you will soon realise that things not working on St Helena pre-dates Napoleon by around 200 years! {6} A revised and updated version of ‘A History of the Island of St Helena”, by T. H. Brooke, Esq., published in 1808. {7} The full book is available from Google™ Books {8} Ibbetson was one of a handful of British Army officers who were on St Helena for the full six-year period of Napoleon’s exile. He arrived in 1815 with Napoleon aboard the Northumberland, and left in 1823, two years after the Emperor’s death. He was a talented amateur artist. {9} Reproduced for educational non-commercial use only; all copyrights are acknowledged {10} See Saul Solomon on our Important People page . {11} Take Me Anywhere But Here! PLEASE NOTE: We actively encourage others to quote from this site.

Please see our Link To Us page for more. Got a question about St Helena? We’ve already answered many common questions on our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ page , including: but if your question isn’t covered please contact us . Saint Helena Island Info: All about St Helena, in the South Atlantic Ocean • Napoleon Bonaparte • Copyright © Moonbeams Limited, v1484382936 • Site Index • Direct URL: PS: St. Helena, Saint Helena or St Helena - it’s the same unique place! This site is provided by the Moonbeams Shop , selling cards, gifts & souvenirs in Jamestown , St Helena. St. Helena, ‘Cursed Rock’ of Napoleon’s Exile - The New York Times The New York Times Travel |St. Helena, ‘Cursed Rock’ of Napoleon’s Exile Search St. Helena, ‘Cursed Rock’ of Napoleon’s Exile ANTHONY MANCINI Continue reading the main story Photo Jamestown, the capital of rugged and remote St. Helena island, a British protectorate in the South Atlantic, where Napoleon arrived in 1815 to serve out his exile.

He died there in 1821 at age 51. Credit Kent Kobersteen/National Geographic Society—Corbis I STOOD on the aft deck of the 128-passenger Royal Mail Ship St. Helena in the gloom of a predawn morning last fall, my eyes riveted to an island that seemed to rise from the scalloped sea, a ruined cathedral of volcanic rock shrouded in mist. It was a steep natural fortress augmented by man-made battlements, bristling with rusty cannons that commanded the far reaches of the surrounding ocean. As the sun rose, its palette morphed from black to slate to tawny. After a five-day sail and one day in the port of Cape Town because of engine trouble, we had reached our destination, St. Helena island. This basalt outcropping of land in the South Atlantic, surrounded by thousands of miles of water and not much else, was where, after years of searching the haunted houses of history and literature for Napoleon ’s ghost, I would finally find him. It was on this remote island that the deposed emperor was exiled and died. Napoleon arrived in St.

Helena, a British protectorate, nearly 200 years ago aboard the puddle-filled planks of the HMS Northumberland, after having been captured by the allied powers. British authorities wrote Napoleon that he would be confined there to prevent him “from disturbing the repose of Europe.” His enemies had chosen well. Then as now, the island of St. Helena (the Saints, as the Islanders immodestly call themselves, pronounce it Sint huh-LEE-nuh) is one of the most inaccessible and forbidding-looking places on Earth, reachable only by the mail ship, which travels there once a month from Cape Town, or by private yacht (though in 2015, an airport is scheduled to open). The island, with a population of roughly 3,500, occupies 47 square miles and sits some 1,200 miles from the coast of Angola and 1,800 miles from Brazil. The nearest land is Ascension Island, 703 miles north, which is also a British territory serving as an R.A.F. and United States air base. The moonscape appearance as we approached by sea belied the surprisingly green hills and valleys of the interior.

It is a land of contrasts and contradictions, the black rocks of Sandy Bay in the south clashing with the green meadows of nearby Mount Pleasant; the tropic sun of Deadwood Plain tempered by the shady arbors of Geranium Valley. Continue reading the main story Still, not many tourists make the journey, which on the mail ship offers few frills: two lounges, sunbathing decks, a formal dining room and swimming pool not much bigger than a kiddie pool. At the final destination, there are no sandy beaches, five-star hotels, renowned chefs or nightclubs filled with celebrities. There are also no A.T.M.’s, businesses that accept credit cards, or cellphone towers. And the island, long a dependency of Britain , lacks a vital local economy. Its main economic driver is the British bureaucracy. So most of the people who sailed with me, apart from a few adventurers and many Saints returning for a visit or permanently, had a special reason to visit. I was traveling with my wife, Maria, to continue research into the life of Napoleon Bonaparte for a novel.

I had visited many other places connected with his history, including his birthplace, Ajaccio, Corsica, and his resting place, Les Invalides in Paris. The trip to St. Helena would bring me into intimate contact with his last years, allowing me to walk the same worn floorboards as he did, follow the paths he traveled and more easily summon his spirit. Advertisement Continue reading the main story We anchored off the coast, in Jamestown Bay, and were ferried in tenders from the boat to the wharf steps. We entered Jamestown, which becomes an anthill of activity when the ship docks. The stone archway leading to the main square dates from 1832 and is embossed with the coat of arms of the British East India Company, which ruled the island for a time, and an image of the wirebird , an indigenous and endangered species. The Georgian and Regency buildings would transport you to the 19th century were it not for the cars that clogged the cobbled streets.

We stayed at the Consulate Hotel , an 18th-century building in the heart of town, fronted by trellised verandas, filled with antiques and Napoleonic relics, and ably run by Hazel Wilmot, who broods over her guests like a peahen. The hotel, restaurant and bar serve as popular meeting places for locals who trade gossip over mugs of South African beer. It is also one of only three Wi-Fi hot spots in town. Napoleon’s trail was easy to pick up. The angle is heavily played, forming the biggest pitch in all the tourism brochures for the island. To follow his path, we relied on one expert and also hired local drivers, who spring into action when the ship arrives. One, Colin Corker, ferried us around in a Charabanc, a 1929 open-air Chevy bus, along the hairpins and steep ascents of many of the island’s 68 miles of single-lane roads. The three main Napoleonic sites — the Briars, Longwood and Napoleon’s Tomb — stand under the fluttering tricolor flag.

Queen Victoria transferred Longwood Old House, the surrounding gardens and the land around the Tomb in Geranium Valley to French rule in 1858. Napoleon’s first home on the island was the Briars, where he spent a few brief weeks while his permanent residence at Longwood was being refurbished. It was deeded to France in 1959 by Dame Mabel Brooks, an Australian descendant of the Balcombe family. Betsy Balcombe was a teenager who delighted the emperor with her pranks and unceremonious attitude during his short stay at the pavilion on the estate of William Balcombe, purveyor of the East India Company. The pavilion lies in a shady spot surrounded by gardens where one could easily imagine Napoleon’s enchantment. The small one-room house has been restored to its original neo-Classical style, with imperial green walls and period furniture. Photo Napoleon, by Edmond Mennechet, left, and Napoleon’s death mask at Longwood House, where he lived in exile.

He was buried on the island, but his body was later returned to Paris and buried at Les Invalides Credit Stefano Bianchetti/Corbis, Kent Kobersteen/National Geographic Society — Corbis We made a stop at the Doveton House in Mount Pleasant, where Napoleon shared his Champagne and food with the family of William Doveton, a member of the town council (whose daughter the emperor called “the prettiest girl on the island”). There we imitated Napoleon and his retinue by lunching on the lawn overlooking Sandy Bay. A short ride from the Briars brings visitors to Longwood House where, in his own words, the great ruler wore his “crown of thorns” and ultimately died on May 5, 1821, at age 51. Today the place looks nice, newly painted and restored, surrounded by trees and shrubbery. The interiors are fresh and clean after an international fund-raising effort by the French Consul. But when Napoleon and his retinue arrived, they found it a great disappointment. It lay on an arid and damp plateau 1,800 feet above sea level, open to the buffeting trade winds and often blanketed with mist.

The Emperor’s Grand Marshal Count Bertrand described the place as “a few dark rooms with low ceilings,” a far cry from the palaces of the Élysée and Tuileries of Napoleon’s glory days. Contemporary accounts paint the domicile, which Napoleon shared with his courtiers, their families, several servants, his doctor and the British orderly officer assigned to observe him, as a damp and cheerless place crawling with mold and festooned with cobwebs that his servants camouflaged by hanging fabric and paper on the walls and ceilings. And, of course, there were the rats and other pests scurrying under the floorboards. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy Here it is easier to imagine Napoleon’s last days. A visitor can stand on the latticed front porch and gaze past the jagged rocks of Flagstaff Hill and the Barn peak at the limitless ocean, imagining the emperor doing the same as he scans the horizon for passing ships and bemoans his exile on “questa piedra maladetta — this cursed rock.” There are about 30 small rooms and a courtyard at the house.

We entered the anteroom, which is large and bright and contains the original billiard table over which Napoleon used to spread his maps as he dictated his memoirs and relived his missteps at Waterloo. One can also see the holes that Napoleon had cut into the window shutters so that he could use a telescope to watch unobserved activity in the garden or his detested overseer approaching the house. The drawing room contains no original items but it has a replica of the camp bed where Napoleon died, placed close to the wall between two windows. (The original is in Les Invalides.) Because Napoleon was an insomniac, he had his servants place one camp bed in his bedroom and another in the adjoining study as he would move around in the night like a somnambulist, dictating, reading, snacking and catnapping. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Past the main salon lies a small dining room where Napoleon and his threadbare court attended formal dinners served on fine Sèvres porcelain by butlers in livery, as elegant silverware glittered in the candlelight. These trappings lent the proceedings a comic opera quality.

More poignant still are the portraits of the empresses Josephine and Maria Louisa on the walls, and on the fireplace mantel the bust of the so-called King of Rome, Napoleon’s legitimate son. After the second abdication Napoleon was not allowed to see his family again, a loss he sorely felt. Our driver later took us down the road to Napoleon’s first tomb, in Geranium Valley, overlooking a ravine known as the Devil’s Punch Bowl. It is a lovely flowered place in a windless hollow shaded by towering Norfolk pines where Napoleon liked to go to picnic. Geranium Valley was his second choice as a burial site, and visitors still go there to view the rectangular fenced grave site under the trees. The willows that once grew there have been stripped away as souvenirs. In 1840, 19 years after Napoleon’s death, when the political climate in France had changed, the coffin was unearthed and the well-preserved corpse sent back to France. His remains lie where he wanted them to, not far from the banks of the Seine. During his meteoric rise and reign, Napoleon basked in triumph and achievement.

Visiting the scenes of his slow demise helped to humanize him for me. It was here that the marble statue became a man. As we set off for our voyage back to Cape Town, we saw something that Napoleon never saw — the ghostly crags of St. Helena receding into the horizon. A version of this article appears in print on April 1, 2012, on Page TR4 of the New York edition with the headline: St. Helena, ‘Cursed Rock’ of Napoleon’s Exile. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe 10 World Leaders Who Died Under Mysterious Circumstances - Listverse 10 World Leaders Who Died Under Mysterious Circumstances Larry Jimenez August 2, 2014 When a prominent political or religious figure suddenly dies, conspiracy theories inevitably pop up. And yet the following stories may be more than just paranoid speculation. Each of these men may have fallen victim to a secret murder. 10Arius (d. A.D. 336) Arius, the Presbyter of Alexandria, believed that Christ was a lesser, separate being from God the Father.

For this reason, he and his Christian followers were bitterly opposed as heretics by those who believed in the Trinity. This issue divided the fourth-century Church, and the pendulum swung as the Roman emperor Constantine alternately favored one faction over the other. In 324, the Council of Nicea condemned Arius, and Constantine banished him. The emperor soon got fed up with the continuing debate, however. He reinstated Arius, ordering Constantinople’s Patriarch Alexander to receive him at communion. Unable to disobey the imperial command, yet unwilling that the host should be desecrated by the heretic, Alexander asked his orthodox followers to pray that Arius die before he set foot in the church. Arius had an audience with the emperor at the palace then joined the procession of his followers to Alexander’s church. Suddenly, according to chronicler Socrates Scholasticus, Arius was seized by bowel cramps and sought the nearest toilet. There, his innards—spleen, liver, and intestines— erupted in a bloody mess , killing him. The orthodox called it a miracle of answered prayer; the Arians called it murder.

By all accounts, 80-year-old Arius had been in good health when in conference with Constantine. It is entirely possible that poison was administered to him through the food and drink served there. The above account of his death in a toilet, written nearly a century after the fact, may be Catholic embellishment to further embarrass Arius and stain his memory. But his sudden and unexpected death ensured that suspicion will always hound the Trinitarians about their role in the tragedy. 9King William II Rufus (d. 1100) William II was the second surviving son of William the Conqueror. Vain and ill-tempered, he ruled England badly. On August 2, 1100, William joined a hunting party that included his younger brother Henry in New Forest. The party split off into two groups, leaving William with a companion named Walter Tirel. He gave Tirel two of his six arrows, commenting, “It is only right that the sharpest arrows goes to the man who knows how to inflict the deadliest shots.” A short while later, one of those arrows was buried in his chest . Apparently, Tirel had aimed at a stag but missed, hitting the king instead and killing him.

Such hunting accidents were common. William himself had lost his elder brother and a cousin to wayward arrows. Tirel fled the scene, presumably fearing the consequences of being blamed for William’s death. But William may not have been a victim of a simple accident. Could Tirel have been part of a plot to assassinate the king? William’s younger brother Henry, who succeeded him, certainly had a strong motive. And he galloped off in a hurry to secure the crown at Winchester, even as the servants were still carting away his brother’s body. Moreover, he became particularly generous to Tirel’s family . Was this to reward him for carrying out the murder? More recently, another theory was put forward that Tirel worked with a French agent, Raoul d’Equesnes, who wanted William dead to prevent his projected invasion of France. If so, the plot worked, for King Henry called off the invasion as soon as he gained the throne. 8King Charles XII (d. 1718) Called the “Lion of the North” by his admirer Voltaire, Charles XII led his country of Sweden into disastrous conflicts that cost her dearly in men, money, and territory.

Charles became unpopular with many Swedes for such needless sacrifices. In December 1718, Charles was leading yet another invasion, this time of Danish-held Norway. During the siege of the hilltop fortress of Fridrikshald, the king went to the front line to supervise the building of a trench. It was a dangerous spot well within range of Danish muskets. Charles exposed himself above the breastworks, and a bullet struck his head. Though there were many troops around Charles, no one witnessed the exact instant of his death. Questions arose. Did the bullet come from enemy fire, or was the king shot deliberately by one of his own men? Based on the orientation of the trench and where Charles was standing, a bullet coming from the left would indicate a shot from the fort; one from the right would point to a Swedish soldier as the triggerman. Charles skull contained two holes, one on each side, leading to unresolved debate over which was the entry wound and which was the exit. Documents show that some of the king’s companions behaved oddly just before he was killed. Prince Frederick, for one, exhibited extreme nervousness that only subsided after he heard Charles was dead.

Frederick’s secretary, Andre Sicre, actually confessed to the murder while in feverish delirium, though he retracted the confession once he recovered. The king’s surgeon had a dream in which the dead king, when asked if the shot came from the fortress, replied, “No—One came creeping.” The strangest twist to this mystery was the discovery in 1924 of a curiously formed bullet made from a button in a gravel pit in Oxnevalla. Tradition says it was the very bullet that killed Charles, picked up by a soldier returning from Fridrikshald. Folklore said that Charles was impervious to ordinary bullets. It was theorized that the superstitious assassin made a bullet from Charles’s own coat button to penetrate the king’s supernatural shield. The theory seems ridiculous and farfetched but for one thing. Blood traces on the bullet matched DNA on Charles’s bloodstained gloves. 7Napoleon Bonaparte (d. 1821) Traditional history says Napoleon died on May 5, 1821 from stomach cancer. The disease had earlier killed his father Carlo. But evidence purports to show traces of arsenic poisoning in Napoleon’s hair.

The poisoning theory was popularized by Swedish physician Dr. Sten Forshufvud, who alleged an act of premeditated murder by one of Napoleon’s companions. Other theorists point out that the ingestion of arsenic was not necessarily murder. Arsenic was a common ingredient in many household products in the 19th century. A particular culprit has been singled out: a wallpaper color called Scheele’s green that was used in Napoleon’s home in St. Helena. The dye releases arsenic when it gets damp. It may well be that the emperor took in the arsenic from the environment. The theory has several flaws. Hair samples from Napoleon showed no more arsenic than those taken from his son and his wife Josephine . The man showed none of the characteristic symptoms of arsenic poisoning (in fact, Napoleon died obese, while chronic arsenic poisoning causes extreme weight loss). The cancer theory, however, is also unproven. Autopsy reports indicate that the cancer was not yet in an advanced stage, so he can only have died of complications (gastrointestinal hemorrhage rather than direct cancer). Absolute proof of cancer can only come from direct examination of body tissues, and Napoleon’s descendants refuse any access to his remains.

So, we should expect this debate to rage on in the foreseeable future. 6Warren G. Harding (d. 1923) The 29th president of the United States lived an unhealthy lifestyle that favored alcohol, cigars, and late-night poker games. He was the perfect candidate for a heart attack. In July 1923, Harding took a long, grueling trip across the country, with stops in Vancouver, Alaska, and Washington State. The president was clearly weak and tired and had to cancel his speeches in Portland and San Francisco. He died on August 2, 1923, officially due to “ some brain evolvement , probably an apoplexy.” History records it as heart attack. Yet the four physicians attending to him during his last week could not agree on the exact cause of death. The autopsy that could have settled all questions was never performed— on the orders of the First Lady , Florence Harding. These suspicious circumstances suggested that something was being covered up. Accounts of the president’s final moments contradict one another. Harding seemed to be recovering from an attack of indigestion and pneumonia on the evening of August 2 and was in the company of Mrs. Harding in his hotel room.

According to this version of events, Florence left to go to her suite, and a nurse came in and saw Harding’s face twitch. She raised the alarm, but Harding was dead. Another version put Dr. Charles Sawyer, a homeopathic doctor trusted by the Hardings, on the scene, ministering to the doomed president. If the president was killed, the strongest suspect would be the First Lady, who had the motive, means, and opportunity to carry out the assassination. Harding was a notorious philanderer and may have even sired a daughter by his lover Nan Britton. This was motive enough, but there was also Harding’s affair with a married woman named Carrie Phillips. Her husband had threatened the pair with exposure, and some suggest Florence killed Warren to stave off public humiliation. She could easily have administered poison when she was alone with her husband. Just over a year after the president’s death, Dr. Sawyer died in much the same way , after a visit from none other than Florence Harding. The possibility is thus raised: Did Florence commit the murder with help from Dr. Sawyer, and was he in turn killed to assure his silence? Florence died two months later, taking the secret with her to the grave.

5King Ananda Mahidol (d. 1946) At about 9:20 on the morning of June 9, 1946, the sound of a gunshot shattered the quiet of the Grand Palace in Bangkok. A page rushed into the royal bedchamber and found the 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol lying face-up on the bed, a bullet wound in his forehead and a Colt .45 by his left hand. Hours later, his younger brother Bhumibol was proclaimed king. Initial reports said the death was an unfortunate accident. Ananda loved firearms and had always kept one close. But in the following days, the possibility of suicide arose. The man had been depressed about his breakup with his Swiss girlfriend. He’d had intestinal problems and often quarreled with his mother. But the gun was found in the king’s left hand, while he was actually right-handed. By the end of the month, a commission of inquiry concluded that Ananda’s death was “definitely murder.” But who shot him?

Louis Mountbatten, Earl of Burma, wrote to King George VI that “ King Bhumibol shot his brother to obtain the crown.” Bhumibol was the last person to see Ananda alive. He testified to going into his brother’s room at 9:00 and leaving when he saw Ananda was still asleep. But no other evidence implicated Bhumibol. Another possibility was that Bhumibol killed his brother by accident, perhaps as they were playing around with the gun. The government eventually arrested three suspects: Ananda’s secretary and two servants, including the page who found the body. A fourth suspect was Premier Pridi Phanomyong, who evaded arrest by fleeing. Though evidence against them was sorely lacking, the three prisoners were executed by firing squad in 1955. 4Jan Masaryk (d. 1948) Czech Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk was found dead in the courtyard of Prague’s Cernin Palace on the morning of March 10, 1948. The body lay directly beneath the window of his flat, so it was concluded that the 61-year-old Masaryk had committed suicide by jumping to his death.

Masaryk had been the only liberal remaining in the government when the Communists took over in February 1948. He had been despondent in the days prior to his death, brooding about the situation of his country. His secretary, Antonin Sum, believed that Masaryk had sacrificed himself to protest Communist terror. Yet Masaryk left no suicide note that gave his motive. Only certified Communists were allowed to approach the body before it lay in state. Even the request of Masaryk’s personal physician to attend the post-mortem was turned down. A crowd of hundreds of thousands thronged Masaryk’s funeral, many thinking him a victim of assassination ordered by Stalin. Masaryk, a heavyset man, would have landed much closer to the building had he jumped. The body lay more than 2 meters (6.5 ft) away, indicating he was flung out by unknown assailants. Masaryk also landed on his feet, as if he were attempting to save himself from the fall. Traces of plaster under his fingernails suggest that he had clutched at the wall to escape being thrown out.

The police doctor who wrote out the death certificate was himself found dead a few weeks later, also an apparent suicide. Russian authorities still refuse to provide the materials to help identify the killers. The Jan Masaryk case remains a mystery to this day. 3Emperor Haile Selassie (d. 1975) Emperor Haile Selassie (meaning “Might of the Trinity”) of Ethiopia was a larger-than-life figure who traced his ancestry to the fabled biblical King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. He was called the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Elect of God . He tried to bring his backward country into the 20th century, but he ruled as an autocrat. Unemployment, famine, and political ineptitude provoked an army mutiny against Selassie in 1974. Declaring the emperor deposed, military officers imprisoned him in a small apartment in his palace. On August 27, 1975, the Marxist military government announced that a servant had found the 83-year-old Selassie dead in his bed. The cause was presumed to be respiratory failure due to complications from a prostate operation.

But many, including Selassie’s personal physician, didn’t buy this official version and claimed the emperor had been assassinated. Crown Prince Afsa Wossen, claiming his father had been in excellent health, demanded an autopsy . But Ethiopian custom decreed that the body must be buried within 24 hours, and it seemed the world had seen the last of the Lion of Judah. The remains were discovered only in 1992, buried under a concrete slab beneath a lavatory on the palace grounds. Selassie was finally given a decent burial in 2000, after an investigation into his mysterious death. Even then, many refused to believe Selassie was really dead, particularly the Rastafarians who claim that Selassie was the immortal Son of God. The bones, they argue, were too small to be those of the Emperor. Ethiopia’s High Court is satisfied that the bones are Selassie’s—and that his successor, the brutal dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam, strangled Selassie in his bed with his own hands. 2Pope John Paul I (d.

1978) The gentle, smiling Archbishop Albino Luciani, an outsider to the Roman Curia, was elected Pope in August 1978. As John Paul I, he immediately showed his humility and refreshing simplicity by refusing to wear the papal tiara or be carried aloft on the papal chair. It was thus a grievous shock when he died on September 28 after a mere 33 days in office , apparently from heart attack. Conflicting testimony about his death soon raised questions of a Vatican cover-up, possibly murder. At first, it was reported that the body was discovered by the Pope’s secretary, John Magee, around 5:30 AM. It turned out that it was a nun, Sister Vincenza, who found the Pope in calm repose on his bed with some reading material in his hands. Such a posture did not suggest death by heart attack. No autopsy was ever performed on the body. The Pope, it is theorized, actually died from a dose of digitalis administered in the medicine he was taking for low blood pressure. The Pope’s missing slippers and eyeglasses were presumably removed because they were stained by vomit when the poison took effect.

Later, officials explained that the items had been taken away previously by John Paul’s sister. It has been speculated that John Paul, who was already disliked by Vatican bureaucrats, was ready to clean up the scandal-tainted Vatican Bank of its reputed organized crime ties. So some find it suspicious that the bank’s president, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, was seen hanging about the papal residence at an unusually early hour on the morning of the Pope’s death. Marcinkus deflected this by saying he was a habitual early riser. Suspicion also focused on the Pope’s secretary, who may have rearranged the Pope’s body to make it look as if he died peacefully. To counter the poisoning theory, it is claimed that the Pope died of pulmonary embolism. He had been suffering from violent coughs and pain the night before. But embolism could not have killed fast enough to explain John Paul’s serene posture on the bed. With no proper autopsy, the case of John Paul I remains open. 1Muhammad Zia Ul-Haq (d.

1988) On August 17, 1988, Muhammad Zia Ul-Haq of Pakistan was returning to Islamabad on a Lockheed C-130 Hercules after watching a demonstration of an American battle tank in the desert. Ten minutes into the flight, the plane nose-dived and crashed to the ground. All aboard died, including US Ambassador Arnold Raphel and most of Pakistan’s top military brass. American investigators concluded that the plane had suffered a mechanical malfunction. Their Pakistani counterparts, however, became suspicious when they discovered snapped cables and problems with the elevator boosters that hinted at sabotage. Zia’s son Ijazul Haq accused Vice-General Aslam Beg of conspiring to kill his father. He claimed that Beg removed some of the plane’s wreckage to hide evidence of an air-to-air missile attack. Beg had refused orders to board the doomed plane. His motive might have been to prevent his impending replacement as vice-chief. Beg wasn’t the only one with a motive. There was no shortage of suspects who wanted Zia dead. There were the Indians, Pakistan’s traditional enemy. Or the Russians, irked by Zia’s jihad on the Soviets in Afghanistan.

The Bhutto family, out to avenge Zia’s ouster and the execution of Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto? Pakistani secularists, resisting Zia’s implementation of Sharia law? Shiite Iranians alarmed at Zia’s Sunni Islamic republic? The most intriguing suspect of all is the Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence agency. Mossad may have ordered the hit on Zia to prevent him from developing a nuclear bomb, which he could share with other Muslim nations and enemies of Israel. Indeed, Zia had ominously called his project the “Islamic Bomb.” But there is no solid evidence against any of these suspects. Zia’s murder, if murder it was, might forever remain unsolved. Larry’s main interests are history and chess. He is also a big fan of Agatha Christie. More Great Lists

Question: Which leader died in St Helena?
Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte