Who was Charles-Marie Bonaparte?

On 27 March 1746, Carlo Maria Buonaparte also called Charles-Marie Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio Corsica (then a part of the Republic of Genoa) as the youngest of three children. 


Family

His parents were Giuseppe Buonaparte, who had represented Ajaccio at the Council of Corte in 1749 and Maria Saveria Paravicini.  The Corsican Buonapartes were descended from minor Italian nobility of Tuscan origin, who had come to Corsica from Liguria in the 16th. century. 

Carlo studied to be a lawyer at the Pisa University but he left before earning his degree to take charge of family responsibilities. 

Love and marriage

Carlo married Donna Maria Letizia Ramolino. Both were of Corsican nobility and very young at the time of their marriage. Carlo was 17, Letizia was 13! Their marriage was arranged.  
They would have 13 children between 1768 and 1784. Five of them died, eight children survived. 

Among them: Napoleon Bonaparte, who became later Emperor of the French. 



In June 1764, Carlo worked as a secretary and personal assistant to Pasquale Paoli. Paoli sent him to Rome to negotiate with Pope Clement XIII in 1766.  When Carlo returned to Corsica, the Republic of Genoa had offered Corsica to King Louis XV of France as payment for a debt. The French were eager to  obtain the strategically placed island for the protection of their own coasts. 

Carlo Buonaparte embraced the new government and he was appointed Assessor of the Royal Jurisdiction of Ajaccio and the neighbouring districts on 20 September 1769. Shortly after that, he became a Doctor of Law at the University of Pisa on 27 November 1769.

On 13 September 1771, Carlo's nobility was confirmed. He was named representative to the Court of Louis XVI of France at Versailles in 1778.

Buonaparte embarked then in risky business enterprises. He made many claims on land and money through legal means, but his success was limited and he burned through his finances rapidly. He was fond of gambling and this  worsened his monetary difficulties. 

Death

On 24 February 1785 Carlo Maria Buonaparte died due to it was believed to stomach cancer. 



Source pictures: Wikipedia


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