Empress Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur, Empress of Haiti (8 May 1758 – 8 August 1858) was the
Empress
The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...
of
Haiti
Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...
(1804–1806) as the wife of
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Haitian Creole: ''Jan-Jak Desalin''; ; 20 September 1758 – 17 October 1806) was the first Haitian Emperor, leader of the Haitian Revolution, and the first ruler of an independent First Empire of Haiti, Haiti under th ...
.
Background
She was born in
Léogâne
Léogâne (; ) is one of the coastal communes in Haiti. It is located in the eponymous Léogâne Arrondissement, which is part of the Ouest Department. The port town is located about west of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince. Léogâne has ...
to a poor but free family as the daughter of
Guillaume Bonheur and
Marie-Sainte Lobelot. She was educated by her aunt
Élise Lobelot, who was the governess of a religious order. She married Pierre Lunic, master-cartwright to the Brothers of Saint-Jean de Dieu. She became a widow in 1795.
The siege of Jacmel
During the siege of
Jacmel in 1800, she made herself a name for her work for the wounded and starving. She managed to convince Dessalines, who was one of the parties besieging the city, to allow some roads to the city to be opened, so that the wounded in the city could receive help. She led a procession of women and children with food, clothes and medicine back to the city, and then arranged for the food to be cooked on the streets.
Life with Dessalines
On 2 April 1800, she married
Jean-Jacques Dessalines
Jean-Jacques Dessalines (Haitian Creole: ''Jan-Jak Desalin''; ; 20 September 1758 – 17 October 1806) was the first Haitian Emperor, leader of the Haitian Revolution, and the first ruler of an independent First Empire of Haiti, Haiti under th ...
, with whom she had a long-time relationship. They had seven children:
*Princess Marie Françoise Célimène Dessalines (Saint-Marc, 2 October 1789 – 1859). Legitimated by the subsequent marriage of her parents. She never married, but had a daughter with Captain Bernard Chancy.
*Albert Dessalines (died young before 1804). Legitimated by the subsequent marriage of her parents.
*Prince Jacques Bien Aimé Dessalines (Saint-Marc, 2 April 1793 – aft. 1832). Legitimated by the subsequent marriage of his parents. He never married, but had one daughter by Adélaïde Appolon.
*Princess Célestine Dessalines (Saint-Marc, 2 April 1793 – 10 August 1867), twin with her brother Jacques. Legitimated by the subsequent marriage of her parents. Married at Cap-Henry, 10 April 1817, to Pierre Daux. No issue.
*Princess Jeanne Sophie Dessalines (20 January 1799 – 10 August 1867). Legitimated by the subsequent marriage of her parents. Married to N. Cazenave. No issue.
*Louis Dessalines (died young before 1804). Legitimated by the subsequent marriage of her parents.
*Princess Serine Dessalines.
Marie-Claire was described as kind, merciful and natural, with an elegant and cordial manner. She adopted the numerous children produced by Dessalines' adulterous affairs.
She was a contrast to her husband in her tolerance and support and by showing indiscriminate kindness to people of all colors. She was a great opponent of Dessalines' policy toward the white French people of Haiti; she saw to the needs of the
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...
ers, and she did not hesitate, despite her husband's anger, to save many of them from battle wounds suffered during the revolution war. She is reported to have fallen to her knees before him to beg him to spare their lives and is said to have hidden one of them, Descourtilz, under her own bed to save him. She was made Empress of Haiti in 1804 upon the creation of the monarchy of Haiti, and crowned with her husband at the Church of
Champ de Mars
Champ, CHAMP or The Champ may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Champ (cartoon character), an animated dog introduced in 1960
* The Champ, played on radio and created by Jake Edwards (radio personality), Jake Edwards
* Champ ...
on 8 October 1804. She kept the status for two years.
Later life
After the deposition and death of her Dessalines in 1806, she denied the offer from
Henry Christophe to move in with his family. As a widow, she was styled Princess Dowager on 17 October 1806.
As the property of her late husband was confiscated, she lived in poverty in
Saint-Marc
Saint-Marc (; ) is a List of communes of Haiti, commune in western Haiti in Artibonite (department), Artibonite departement. Its geographic coordinates are . At the 2015 Census the commune had 266,642 inhabitants. It is one of the biggest cities ...
until August 1843, when she was granted a pension 1,200
gourdes.
In 1849, when
Faustin I of Haiti became Emperor, he idealized the late Dessalines and enlarged Marie-Claire's pension as a sign of his admiration. Marie-Claire, who felt no sympathy for this attitude, refused the money. She moved in with her granddaughter, and lived in poverty until her death in 1858 in
Gonaïves
Gonaïves (; also Les Gonaïves; , ) is a commune in northern Haiti, and the capital of the Artibonite department of Haiti. The population was 356,324 at the 2015 census.
History
The city of Gonaïves was founded around 1422 by a group of T ...
.
Legacy
In her honour, the Fondation Marie-Claire Heureuse Félicité Bonheur Dessalines, also known as the Fondasyon Félicité (FF), was established by Dr
Bayyinah Bello in 1999 to undertake humanitarian, social and educational work in Haiti. Soon after the
2010 Haiti earthquake
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic Moment magnitude scale, magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake that struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest (departm ...
, the non-profit organization Friends of Fondation Félicité was set up to support FF in helping the Haitian people to rebuild their country.
["Birmingham charity continues to help Haiti one year on"]
, BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
Birmingham, 12 January 2011.
See also
*
Adélina Lévêque
*
Marie-Louise Coidavid
References
External links
* http://www.jasminenarcisse.com/memoire/02_independance/03_clairheureuse.html
{{DEFAULTSORT:Felicite, Marie-Claire Heureuse
1758 births
1858 deaths
People of the Haitian Revolution
Empresses consort of Haiti
First ladies and gentlemen of Haiti
Women in the Haitian Revolution
Dessalines family