Carlo Buonaparte
| Carlo Buonaparte | |
|---|---|
| Noble Patrician of Tuscany | |
Carlo Buonaparte
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| Spouse(s) | Maria Letizia Ramolino |
| Issue | |
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Full name
Carlo Maria Buonaparte
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| Noble family | Buonaparte |
| Father | Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte |
| Mother | Maria Saveria Paravicini |
| Born | 27 March 1746 Ajaccio, Corsica, Republic of Genoa |
| Died | 24 February 1785 (aged 38) Montpellier, France |
Nobile Carlo Maria Buonaparte or Carlo Maria di Buonaparte (27 March 1746 – 24 February 1785) was an Italian lawyer and politician who briefly served as a personal assistant of the revolutionary leader Pasquale Paoli and eventually rose to become Corsica's representative to the court of Louis XVI. After his death, his son Napoleon became Emperor of the French, and several of his other children received royal titles from their brother.
He was born in Ajaccio, Corsica as the youngest of three children. The Corsican Buonapartes were descended from minor Italian nobility of Tuscan origin, who had come to Corsica from Liguria in the 16th century. His father, Nobile Giuseppe Buonaparte, had represented Ajaccio at the Council of Corte in 1749. Carlo initially followed in his father's footsteps and studied to be a lawyer at Pisa University, but following a substantial inheritance from the death of his father, he left before earning his degree in order to marry Donna Maria Letizia Ramolino. Both were of Corsican nobility, and very young at the time of their marriage (Carlo was seventeen and Letizia was thirteen). Their marriage is often seen as one of economic convenience. Buonaparte's new wife brought with her a dowry of thirty-one acres, including a mill and bakery which yielded an annual income of roughly £10,000.
For a period after his marriage at Ajaccio on 2/7 June 1764, he worked as a secretary and personal assistant to Pasquale Paoli. He had a son, Napoleone, who died in infancy in 1765 as did a daughter. Paoli sent him to Rome to negotiate with Pope Clement XIII in 1766. He had apparently enjoyed his time in Rome up until being forced for reasons unknown back to Corsica in 1768 - though he had possibly enjoyed an affair with a married woman during his stay which led to his departure. At the time of his return, the Republic of Genoa had offered Corsica to Louis XV as payment for a debt. The French were eager to obtain the strategically placed island for the protection of their own coasts, and Genoa equally keen to relinquish control given their inability to resist growing independence movements. Buonaparte was noted for a fervent speech against the French "invasion". Political upheaval followed as France gained ownership of Corsica, and many of Paoli's supporters had to flee to the mountains. Buonaparte and his family, now boasting newborn Giuseppe, who was the first child to survive infancy, were included. The family eventually returned to the town, where Buonaparte's wife gave birth to third son, another Napoleone, within Ajaccio Cathedral.
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