Letter signed "Napo".
4to. ½ p. on bifolium.
€ 3.500,00
To the Archchancellor Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, asking him to draft a birth certificate for his niece Louise Julie Caroline, the youngest daughter of Joachim Murat, King of Naples, and Napoleon's youngest sister Caroline in accordance with the statute of the imperial family: "Nous désirons qu'assisté du Secrétaire de l'État de la famille Impériale vous fassiez dresser un acte constatant la naissance de la Princesse Louise Julie Caroline, quatrième enfant de notre Soeur la Reine de Naples. Vous vous conformerez, pour ce qui concerne la désignation des témoins, à ce qui est prescrit par l'article 19".
Louise Julie Caroline (1805-89) was born before the decree of the statute of the Imperial family on 30 March 1806, which explains the necessity for a new birth certificate and the delay.
The letter was written during the Congress of Erfurt, a meeting between Napoleon and Alexander I of Russia that lasted from 27 September to 14 October in the then-French city and was supposed to reaffirm the French-Russian alliance that had been forged in the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807. Napoleon was eager to impress his imperial guest and spared no expenses, hosting lavish receptions, hunting parties, and theatre performances. On the occasion of the Congress, Napoleon received Goethe on 2 October 1808, and Niccolò Paganini performed for the two emperors.
In the hand of Napoleon's private secretary Claude-François Méneval. Traces of folds and very slight browning. Old accession number 480 in ink.
