This story makes connections, in a bizarre way, between some of our magazine's recent topics. Napoleon #2 followed the powerful and strange story of Marat's assassin Charlotte Corday, including the unforgettable scene in which she was guillotined. Stanley Loomis' Paris in the Terror picks up the story (p.147) from there: "Immediately after the execution Charlotte's body was sent to a nearby hospital, where a committee headed by David [the painter], performed an autopsy. It was discovered, despite rumors and gossip to the contrary, that the deceased had been a virgin. David's committee submitted a grudging report to this effect [one of course wonders why they didn't lie!]. The body was then buried in a common trench in the cemetery behind the Madeleine together with the others who had been put to death on the Place de la Revolution.
There is evidence, however, that her head was never interred. Until recently a skull reported to be that of Charlotte Corday was in possession of the psychoanalyst Marie Bonaparte. The history of this curious object (it is "of a dirty ivory yellow, glistening and smooth, indicating beyond question that it was never buried') is convincing. It is clearly a woman's skull, but there is a section of it in the forehead just above the nose that has caused authorities to call it 'atypical' or partly masculine [and therefore matching Charlotte's description]."
So we have Freud, a Bonaparte, and Charlotte Corday all connected in this odd story. If any reader has further information on the existence of this skull, please share it with the staff!
More Tales and Trivia
Back to Table of Contents -- Napoleon #3
© Copyright 1996 by Emperor's Press.
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