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 The daily shopping list of an exiled emperor and other facts.

9/26/2015

5 Comments

 
 We all know about the French military and political leader Napoléon Bonaparte who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the Revolutionary Wars.

But did you realize when he became the emperor of France he did whatever he he thought necessary to get what he wanted? He made enemies of course. A huge number of stories were bound to appear about him.

Apart from writing a romance novel, he once walked in the footsteps of Moses.

In 1798 he and his cavalry visited the Wells of Moses during the ebb tide of the Red Sea in Syria. After walking across the dry sea bed, his curiosity was satisfied. But when he retraced his footsteps toward Egypt, darkness approached. They began to cross with the tide coming in. With the water rising, Napoleon ordered his men to form a circle around him facing out, like spokes of a wheel. Then each man rode forward until they couldn't touch the bottom, at which point they turned and followed the man closest who continued to ride on solid footing. They all escaped from the Red Sea, drenched but unharmed, nearly washed away like the pharaoh who chased Moses centuries before.

PictureNapoleon Bonaparte - National Art Gallery www.flickr.com
 After Napoleon's later capture and surrender, some claim a soldier with a strong physical resemblance was sent to the island of St. Helena in the emperor’s place. This is highly unlikely. How could the imposter act in the unrealistic way for six years like the deposed French emperor?

He and his retinue of loyal servants and supporters had little else to do apart from eat and drink while marooned on the south Atlantic island.

Napoleon lived like a king until his death and grew fat. Look at this daily shopping list presented to his British captors: 42 eggs, 68lb of bread, 31 bottles of Cape wine, 10 bottles of claret, three bottles of "malt liquor", three bottles of cider and a bottle of champagne. I assume he didn't eat and drink it all himself. And, he must have eaten meat as well.

This made me wonder what my husband and I would eat daily. Using Napoleon's list as a guide, ours would be: 1 egg, two slices of bread (no alcohol). Pheasant! That, of course, is subsidized with fruit, vegetables, cereal, spreads etc. nuts, and fowl or fish.

Do you live like a king? What would your daily shopping list consist of?


5 Comments
Vasantha Vivek link
9/26/2015 02:29:05 am

Great post.

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nabanita link
9/26/2015 03:16:03 am

I hadn't read about this before....Thanks for sharing such interesting anecdotes with us :)

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Nick #thisyearinmusic link
9/26/2015 09:01:14 am

If I ate like a King I'd never be able to get of the throne.

I'd like to think I'd just eat a load of swan and drink the finest booze known to humanity, but in all honesty I'd probably just try and keep healthy and eat a lot of fruit.

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Alana link
9/26/2015 12:51:57 pm

This is fascinating. I wonder how many servents and other staff went into exile with him - he kept them well liquored up, for sure. As for my shopping list, it has a lot more veggies and a lot less alcohol.

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Bethany Lotulelei link
9/26/2015 02:49:08 pm

That is a lot of alcohol for one guy! He must have shared it. I wonder if future generations will find our shopping lists amusing as well. History always lends interest to even the must mundane of items.

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    Francene Stanley
    From England, I use news items in my novels which you can see below, all linked to an Amazon near you.

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