# NAPOLEON **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 8, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon/44650 "2000-12-08T17:21:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon/44650/1 "2000-12-08T17:21:20Z")
I heard that Charles X poisoned Napoleon when he was on St. Helena’s Island. Is this true? ---
**Author:** ![Akatsukami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea666f/32.png) [@Akatsukami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Akatsukami)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2000, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon/44650/2 "2000-12-08T18:15:23Z")
Nope. Charles X (then comte d’Artois) wasn’t anywhere near St. Helena at the time, and he could prove it. Actually, the original cause of death assigned to Napoleon Bonaparte was a perforated gastric ulcer, possibly as a consequence of stomach cancer. Although all sorts of weird rumors and conspiracy theories went flying about (with people lining up for or against them largely depending on whether they were Bonapartists or Legitimists), the official story was accepted until samples of Napoleon’s hair were, in the 1960s, found to contain significant amounts of arsenic. This seemed to tip the balance towards the poisoning theories. Added to this was that there was no test for arsenic poisoning at the time of Napoleon’s death, so that arsenic was favored by poisoners _manque_ (arsenic trioxide, or white arsenic, was so commonly used as an undetectable poison (in the popular imagination, at least) that it was known as “inheritance powder”). However, the Napoleon-was-poisoned camp couldn’t quite prove their case. Forsenic analysts pointed out that the amount of arsenic found wasn’t _quite_ consistent with either acute or chronic arsenic poisoning (some radical “Napoleon was God and the Bourbons were devils” types have proposed that Bourbon agents were slipping Napoleon arsenic as early as 1810, which in what passes for their minds explains (away) every mistake that Napoleon made in his last decade). Arsenic was regarded as something of a wonder compound at the time, and a lot of contemporary medicines contained arsenic (before we laugh too much, we should note how many people believe the claims of the healing powers of herbs today). The shellfish around St. Helena are particularly philo-arsenious (a normal meal of them can cause arsenic levels in the blood to rise to 20 or 30 times normal). Quite a few of Napoleon’s retainers were _also_ chronically ill with what may have been Gosio’s disease (briefly, molds consuming arsenic-containing pigments exhale the poison as arsine gas), and, as Napoleon grew sicker, he spent more time indoors, possibly surrounded by arsine-producing mold (Gosio’s disease wasn’t recognized at the time). Finally, Napoleon _did_ have a perforated ulcer (although the diagnosis of stomach cancer appears, on review, to have been incorrect); if the various ways of unintentional, sub-lethal arsenic poisoning would not have done in a healthy man, they might have killed one who was certainly suffering from other medical problems. Was Napoleon poisoned? Not proven, quite possibly not provable. Was the comte d’Artois the mastermind behind what evil plot may have existed. Not likely. ---
**Author:** ![casdave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@casdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/casdave)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2000, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon/44650/3 "2000-12-09T00:18:51Z")
An analysis of the wallpaper of Napoleon 's St Helena residence discoveres that the colouring, which had been described as being a rich red but samples were in fact geen, determined that the major colouring agent was a compound of arsenic. Turns out that the green pattern was an oxide of arsenic and the personal accounts were correct. Theory is that Napoleon ws poisoned by environmental arsenic which would include wallpater. ---
**Author:** ![don\_willard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon/44650/4 "2000-12-11T15:33:08Z")
On the recent Napoleon special they had on a PBS outlet, the narrator said that when the Allies sent Napoleon to Elba, they conferred the title of Emperor of Elba on him, and he got busy organizing the peasants and his staff. However, what authority did the Allies have to confer the imperium on anybody? And who can create an emperor? The Holy Roman emperors were elected and the Senate and the Roman People created Augustus et. al. (as in S.P.Q.R.) Napoleon made himself emperor, and Napoleon III had it conferred on him by some body or other of whatever was in charge of France at the time. But what about this Emperor of Elba business? And just for fun, what is “ABLE WAS I ERE I SAW ELBA” in French? And when Napoleon crowned himself, wasn’t the pope offended? And him right there at the time! They didn’t explain this on the show. Did the Empress Marie-? retain her imperial title when she fled to Austria? ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2000, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/napoleon/44650/5 "2000-12-11T16:25:52Z")
The title ‘Emperor of Elba’ was conferred on him by Article II of the Treaty of Fontainbleau. The full text of the treaty is given at [http://www.napoleonicwars.com/life/treaty.shtml](http://www.napoleonicwars.com/life/treaty.shtml) As we’ve discussed before on earlier threads, anyone can adopt whatever title they wish - the difficult bit is to get everyone else to recognise it. As it was the Allies who were dictating the terms of the treaty, this latter requirement was easily fulfilled. The advantage of the title was that it sidestepped the problem of what status to accord to him and the Empress Marie.