The Treaty of Fontainebleau was an agreement established in Fontainebleau,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, on 11 April 1814 between

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 ...

and representatives of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

. The treaty was signed in Paris on 11 April by the

plenipotentiaries A ''plenipotentiary'' (from the Latin ''plenus'' "full" and ''potens'' "powerful") is a diplomat who has full powers—authorization to sign a treaty or convention on behalf of his or her sovereign. When used as a noun more generally, the word ' ...

of both sides and ratified by Napoleon on 13 April. With this treaty, the allies ended Napoleon's rule as emperor of the French and sent him into exile on

Elba Elba ( it, isola d'Elba, ; la, Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano Nationa ...

Prelude

In the

War of the Sixth Coalition In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...

(1812–1814), a coalition of

, Sweden, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and a number of German states drove Napoleon out of Germany in 1813. In 1814, while the United Kingdom,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

invaded France across the Pyrenees; Russia, Austria and their allies invaded France across the Rhine and, after the Battle of Paris, entered into negotiations with members of the French government for the abdication of Napoleon. On 31 March, the Coalition issued a declaration to the French nation: On 1 April, Russian Emperor Alexander I addressed the French

Sénat conservateur The (from French: "Conservative Senate") was an advisory body established in France during the Consulate following the French Revolution. It was established in 1799 under the Constitution of the Year VIII following the Napoleon Bonaparte-le ...

in person and laid out similar terms as were in the previous day's declaration. As a gesture of good will, he announced that 150,000 French prisoners of war who had been held by the Russians since the French invasion of Russia, two years earlier, would be released immediately. The next day, the Senate agreed to the Coalition's terms and passed a resolution deposing Napoleon. They also passed a decree dated 5 April, justifying their actions, and ending:

...the senate declares and decrees as follows :—1. Napoleon Buonaparte is cast down from the throne, and the right of succession in his family is abolished. 2. The French people and army are absolved from their oath of fidelity to him. 3. The present decree shall be transmitted to the departments and armies, and proclaimed immediately in all the quarters of the capital.

On 3 April 1814, word reached Napoleon, who was at the Palace of Fontainebleau, that the French Senate had dethroned him. As the Coalition forces had made public their position that their quarrel was with Napoleon and not the French people, he called their bluff and abdicated in favour of his son, with the Empress Marie-Louise as regent. Three plenipotentiaries took this conditional abdication to the Coalition sovereigns: While the plenipotentiaries were travelling to deliver their message, Napoleon heard that Auguste Marmont had placed his corps in a hopeless position and that their surrender was inevitable. The Coalition sovereigns were in no mood to compromise and rejected Napoleon's offer. Emperor Alexander stated: With the rejection of his conditional abdication and no military option left to him, Napoleon bowed to the inevitable: Over the next few days, with Napoleon's reign over France now at an end, the formal treaty was negotiated and signed by the plenipotentiaries in Paris on 11 April and ratified by Napoleon on 13 April.

Terms

The agreement contained a total of 21 articles. By the most significant terms of the accord, Napoleon was stripped of his powers as ruler of the French Empire, but both Napoleon and Marie-Louise were permitted to preserve their respective titles as emperor and empress. Moreover, all of Napoleon's successors and family members were prohibited from attaining power in France. The treaty also established the island of

as a separate principality to be ruled by Napoleon. Elba's sovereignty and flag were guaranteed recognition by foreign powers in the accord, but only France was allowed to assimilate the island. In another tenet of the agreement, the Duchy of Parma, the Duchy of Placentia and the Duchy of Guastalla were ceded to Empress Marie-Louise. Moreover, a direct male descendant of Empress Marie-Louise would be known as the ''Prince of Parma, Placentia, and Guastalla''. In other parts of the treaty, Empress Josephine's annual income was reduced to 1,000,000

francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' (King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centu ...

and Napoleon had to surrender all of his estates in France to the French crown, and submit all crown jewels to France. He was permitted to take with him 400 men to serve as his personal guard. The signatories were Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza, Marshal MacDonald, Duke of Tarentum, Marshal Ney, Duke of Elchingen,

Prince Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ; german: Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein (15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternic ...

Count Nesselrode Karl Robert Reichsgraf von Nesselrode-Ehreshoven, also known as Charles de Nesselrode ( Russian: Карл Васильевич Нессельроде, ''Karl Vasilyevich Nesselrode''; 14 December 1780 – 23 March 1862) was a Russian German diplo ...

, and Baron Hardenberg.

British opposition

The British position was that the French nation was in a state of rebellion and that Napoleon was a usurper. Castlereagh explained that he would not sign on behalf of the king of the United Kingdom because to do so would recognise the legitimacy of Napoleon as emperor of the French and that to exile him to an island over which he had sovereignty, only a short distance from France and Italy, both of which had strong Jacobin factions, could easily lead to further conflict.

Theft of document

In 2005, two Americans, former history professor John William Rooney (then aged 74) and Marshall Lawrence Pierce (then aged 44), were charged by a French court for stealing a copy of the Treaty of Fontainebleau from the French National Archives between 1974 and 1988. The theft came to light in 1996, when a curator of the French National Archives discovered that Pierce had put the document up for sale at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

. Rooney and Pierce pleaded guilty in the United States and were fined ($1,000 for Rooney and $10,000 for Pierce). However, they were not extradited to France to stand trial there. The copy of the treaty and a number of other documents (including letters from King Louis XVIII of France) that were checked out from the French National Archives by Rooney and Pierce were returned to France by the United States in 2002.JS Online: Former professor may be doomed to repeat history: Man was already convicted in U.S. for taking historic treaty, now France wants to try him too (Author: Megan Twohey; Date: 18 January 2006)
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Notes

References

* John Stevens Cabot Abbott. ''The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte'', Kessinger Publishing, 2005, , . * Archibald Alison. ''History of Europe from the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815'', Edition: 10, W. Blackwood, 1860. *

Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne (July 9, 1769 – February 7, 1834) was a French diplomat, born in Sens. He is known primarily for his close relationship with Napoleon Bonaparte, of whom he wrote in detail in his celebrated memoirs. Biogra ...

. ''Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte'' R. Bentley, 1836. *

Alphonse de Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...