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NAPOLEON I. (1769-1821). Military leader and Emperor of France. DS. (“accorde Napole”). 1p. 4to. Fontainebleau, November 3, 1807. Written along the side of a request sent by the minister of war, GENERAL HENRI CLARKE, DUC DE FELTRE (1765-1818), who has also signed (“Clarke”). Our document, in French, grants permission for a soldier in Italy to leave before the conclusion of fighting on the continent in order to attend to neglected family business.

In the decade between 1805 and 1815, Napoleon waged war throughout Europe. In 1806, he concentrated his efforts on Prussia whose army was no match for the French and who soon joined Russia as its ally. In February 1807, the Russians fought Napoleon’s Grande Armée to a draw at Eylau only to be defeated with the Prussians at Friedland in June, a battle that broke the back of the Fourth Coalition. In July, the Treaties of Tilsit ended the War of the Fourth Coalition, ceded considerable central European territory to Napoleon and bound France and Russia together in an alliance against Great Britain.

Settling the war on the Eastern front allowed Napoleon to turn his attention to his peninsular interests, which occupied his attention at Fontainebleau during the period he signed our document. On October 13, 1807, he authorized the reinforcement of his embargo against British trade and on October 27, he signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau “whereby France and Spain agreed to cooperate in the conquest of Portugal and the overthrow of the House of Braganza,” (Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars, Chandler). In November, when the prince regent of Portugal refused to join Napoleon’s blockade of the British, he sent the Spanish army to invade, driving the Portuguese royal family into exile for the next 13 years. Napoleon also forced the Spanish royal family to abdicate and placed his brother on the throne. However, the Spanish people defied French rule and, together with the British, defeated Napoleon’s army on the Iberian Peninsula in 1814.

Our document was drafted on October 29, 1807 but signed by Napoleon five days later. Trimmed with some ink staining not affecting the signature; in very good condition. Framed.

Item #17057

Price: $1,900