International Napoleonics Wargaming Club (iNWC)

200th Anniversary of the Kingdom of Westphalia and Jerome Bonaparte Exhibit

(Submitted by Wolfgang St. Johanser)

An artists study of the portraits of Jerome ca. 1809/10. He looks almost like a boy on this picture. He was indeed a very young men as he became a king. There was a need to show that he could rule and the Heroic Deeds were meant to do so.

Painting ca. 1810 - Another heroic deed. Jerome personally rescues a guard officer out of the river Mulde.

Painting ca. 1806 - Yet another Heroic deed. In 1805 Jerome was sent on an official mission to free all French and Italian citizens from the slave traders of Algiers. The French government paid 450.000 Francs to free 231 slaves.

Even an opera was made with the title : "Les Captifs dÀlgier" was composed to glorify the King for freeing the slaves.

The Coat of Arms was meant to further Napoleon's goal of control over the German states and cities by reorganizing them into massive states as was the case with Westphalia. Westphalia was created from over 20 different states (secular and ecclesiastical) and cities, also sometimes parts of states, like Prussia and Hannover. Some of them are represented on the Coat of Arms.

Another official Painting of Jerome meant to glorify him.

Jerome's Ceremonial Helmet & Breastplate

Jerome's "Guarde du Corps" uniform.

An unfinished painting ca. 1808/09: Westphalian officers with their right hands outstretched swear their oath of allegiance onto the King and the Westphalian flag, which is carried by General Rewbell (seen in the center of the picture, to the right of the bishop). The officers are from the (Foot) Guard Chasseurs, (Foot) Grenadier Guard, the Guard du Corps, and the Chevaulegers. General Rewbell did betrayed his King in 1809. After the defeat of the Austrians, Rewbell was sent in July/August 1809 on a mission to stop the Duke of Brunswick-Oels (better known as the Black Duke) who marched with about 2,000 men through Westphalian territory to reach the German coast, where English war ships were waiting for him. At Ölper, today a suburb of Brunswick (Braunschweig), he had the chance to stop the Duke with his much stronger force (about 5,000 men), but he was terribly beaten. It is said that during the later stages of the battle, he was found sitting in a ditch, surrounded by his own fleeing troops, his face covered with his hands, and was considering if he should join the Duke's forces. After the battle he deserted and in September he reached the U.S.A. In 1817 he returned to France where he made a military career under the Bourbon King Louis XVIII.