Josephine
MARIE ROSE (zhō-zafēn'), Empress of the French; born in the island of Martinique, June 23, 1763.
Her father, Tascher de la Pagerie, was captain of the port at St. Pierre. When about 15 years of age she went to France, and in 1779 married Viscount Alexandre Beauharnais. A daughter of this marriage, Hortense, Queen of Holland, was the mother of Emperor Napoleon III.
Joséphine's husband was executed during the Reign of Terror, she herself just escaping. On March 9, 1796, she was married to Napoleon Bonaparte. accompanied him in his Italian campaign. At Malmaison, and afterward at the Luxembourg and the Tuileries, she attracted round her the most brilliant society of France, and contributed not a little to the establishment of her husband's power. But her marriage with Napoleon proving unfruitful, it was dissolved by law, Dec. 16, 1809. She died in Malmaison, near Paris, May 29, 1814.