A handwritten letter from Napoleon Bonaparte, in which he denies ordering the kidnapping of Pope Pius VII in 1809, was sold at auction on Sunday near Paris for €26,360 ($30,000), surpassing its estimated price of €12,000-€15,000, according to the auction house Osenat.
The letter, signed “Napole,” went under the hammer in Fontainebleau, a town south of Paris with significant historical relevance. Fontainebleau was where Pope Pius VII was imprisoned after his initial capture in Savona, Italy, making the location highly symbolic.
“This event—Pope Pius VII’s kidnapping—was one of the defining moments of Napoleon’s rule, both politically and religiously,” said Jean-Christophe Chataignier, an expert in the Napoleonic era at Osenat. “Napoleon understood that this letter would be made public and was addressed to authorities everywhere.”
In 1809, French forces forcibly removed Pope Pius VII from his private quarters at the Quirinal Palace in Rome, where he would remain imprisoned by Napoleon for five years. The pope had resisted Napoleon’s attempts to control the Catholic Church in France, sparking tensions that led to his abduction.
In the letter, addressed to French nobleman and ally Jean-Jacques-Regis de Cambaceres, Napoleon expresses his apparent disapproval of the pope’s detention. “It was without my orders and against my will that the pope was taken out of Rome; it is again without my orders and against my will that he is being brought into France,” Napoleon wrote.
He further explained, “I was only informed of this 10 or 12 days after it had already been carried out. Once I learn the pope is being held at a fixed location, and my intentions can be carried out, I will consider what actions I must take.”
Napoleon memorabilia continues to be in high demand, with collectors showing a strong interest in historical items linked to the French emperor. Recently, two pistols Napoleon once intended to use to commit suicide sold for €1.7 million in France. Additionally, one of his signature bicorne hats fetched a record €1.9 million in November 2023.
A sword belonging to Napoleon, custom-made for the emperor’s personal use, will be auctioned in Paris next month, with an estimated value of €700,000 to €1 million.
