Louis Lucien Bonaparte (4 January 1813 – 3 November 1891) was a French philologist. The third son of

Napoleon's Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

second surviving brother, Lucien Bonaparte, he spent much of his life outside France for political reasons. After a brief political career, he focused on his academic work, which particularly centered on the Basque language and the Celtic languages.

Early life

In 1809, Lucien Bonaparte came under pressure from his brother

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

to divorce his wife,

Alexandrine de Bleschamp Alexandrine Bonaparte, Princess of Canino and Musignano (née Alexandrine de Bleschamp; 23 February 1778 – 12 July 1855) was a French aristocrat. She was first married to the banker Hippolyte Jouberthon, with whom she had one child, Anne, ...

, and return to France from his Italian estates, where he was a virtual prisoner, needing permission to leave his own land. He took ship to sail to the United States, but in 1810, on the way there, he and his wife were captured by the Royal Navy. The British government allowed Lucien and his wife to settle at Ludlow, and later at Thorngrove House, Grimley, Worcestershire, where Louis Lucien Bonaparte was born in 1813. Napoleon believed Lucien had gone to Britain as a traitor.Out of the confusion of tongues: Louis-Lucien Bonaparte (1813-1891)
British Library, accessed 29 January 2021 Following his brother's abdication in April 1814, Louis Lucien's father returned to France and then to Rome, where on 18 August 1814 he was made Prince of Canino, Count of Apollino, and Lord of Nemori by

Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...

. In 1824 he was created Prince of Musignano by

Pope Leo XII Pope Leo XII ( it, Leone XII; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga (; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death ...

.Stroud, Patricia Tyson, ''The Emperor of Nature: Charles-Lucien Bonaparte and his world'', (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000), pp.21; 160. In the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

after Napoleon's return to France from exile in Elba, Lucien rallied to his brother's cause. Napoleon made him a French prince and included his children in the Imperial Family. However, this was not recognized by the restored Bourbon government after Napoleon's second abdication. In 1815, Lucien was proscribed and deprived of his seat in the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

. Louis-Lucien Bonaparte grew up in Italy and was educated at the Jesuit college at Urbino, before studying chemistry and

mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts. Specific studies within mineralogy include the proces ...

Career

A philologist and briefly a politician, Bonaparte spent most of his early life in Italy. He attended the first ''Riunione degli Scienziati Italiani'', a conference of scholars of natural sciences, at

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, and published some early work on scientific subjects in Italy. On 29 June 1840, by his father's death, he inherited various papal titles. His first work on languages, called ''Specimen lexici comparativi'', was published at Florence in 1847. He did not go to France until 1848, when he served two one-year terms in the National Assembly as representative for

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

(1848) and for the

Seine department Seine was the former department of France encompassing Paris and its immediate suburbs. It is the only enclaved department of France at that time. Its prefecture was Paris and its INSEE number was 75. The Seine department was disbanded in 1968 ...

(1849). In 1852, he was appointed as a Senator, but not long after moved to London, where he spent most of the rest of his life. He had a printing press in his home printing 10 volumes in 1857 and five in 1858. In 1866 he was elected member of the Athenaeum Club and at that time presented the Club with 137 of his publications bound in 24 volumes. He worked on the classification of dialects of the Basque language, and his work is still used. He also worked on Cornish and denounced William Pryce for having plagiarized the research of Edward Lhuyd into Cornish and other Celtic languages. File:Bonaparte euskalki mapa.jpg, Carte des sept Provinces Basques File:BonaparteEuskara.png, Carte des sept Provinces Basques

Private life

On 4 October 1833, in Florence, Louis Lucien Bonaparte married Maria Anna Cecchi, the daughter of a Florentine sculptor. In 1850, he separated from his wife and later began to live with Clémence Richard, with whom he had a son,

Louis Clovis Bonaparte Louis may refer to: * Louis (coin) * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also Derived or associated terms * Lewis ( ...

(1859–1894). In 1891, after Maria Anna's death on 17 March 1891, Louis Lucien and Clémence Richard were married in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

. The Bonapartes’ son Louis Clovis became a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

, and on 14 October 1891, at Reigate, he married Laura Elizabeth Scott, the daughter of F. W. Scott of Redhill, another engineer. Louis Lucien Bonaparte died at Fano, Italy. His widow, Clémence Bonaparte, lived on until 1915. He is buried at

St. Mary's Roman Catholic Cemetery St Mary's Catholic Cemetery is located on Harrow Road, Kensal Green in London, England. It has its own Catholic chapel. History Established in 1858, the site was built next door to Kensal Green Cemetery. It is the final resting place for mo ...

Kensal Green Kensal Green is an area in north-west London. It lies mainly in the London Borough of Brent, with a small part to the south within Kensington and Chelsea. Kensal Green is located on the Harrow Road, about miles from Charing Cross. To the w ...

next to his son and second wife. His collection of chemical elements was bequeathed to the

Science Museum, London The Science Museum is a major museum on Exhibition Road in South Kensington, London. It was founded in 1857 and is one of the city's major tourist attractions, attracting 3.3 million visitors annually in 2019. Like other publicly funded ...

where it subsequently was on display during the UNESCO "International Year of the Periodic Table" in 2019. His library was bought by the Newberry Library in Chicago.The Newberry
History.
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References

General references

* Howard Louis Conard, ''Encyclopedia of the History of Missouri'' (New York: 1901), Vol. IV, p. 530 * Out of the confusion of tongues: Louis-Lucien Bonaparte (1813–1891)

External links

Prince Bonaparte's Collection of Elements
at the Science Museum, London {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonaparte, Louis Lucien 1813 births 1891 deaths People from Malvern Hills District

Louis Lucien Bonaparte Louis Lucien Bonaparte (4 January 1813 – 3 November 1891) was a French philologist. The third son of Napoleon's second surviving brother, Lucien Bonaparte, he spent much of his life outside France for political reasons. After a brief politica ...

Party of Order politicians Bonapartists Members of the 1848 Constituent Assembly Members of the National Legislative Assembly of the French Second Republic French Senators of the Second Empire French philologists Dialectologists Basque-language scholars Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Burials at St Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green