7 interesting facts about Napoleon Bonaparte

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Cause of death a source of conspiracy theories

Napoleon Bonaparte in exile on the island of St. Helena, as depicted in a painting created circa 1820. | Wikimedia Commons

Napoleon died in exile on the island of St. Elba in 1821 at the age of 51. The official cause of death had been stomach cancer, which was exacerbated by medicine he took that contained mercury.

However, in some historical circles, there have been claims that Napoleon might have been assassinated, with at least one popular article in the 1960s arguing that the cause of death was arsenic poisoning.

Howard Markel of PBS wrote in 2021 that several "medicos have offered up a slew of diagnoses that have literally filled books and journals over the past century."

"Some claim that the alleged murderer (perhaps by accident) was Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, who was Napoleon's boon companion when they were both on the island of St. Helena. A motive was even elaborated in that Napoleon left Montholon 2 million francs in his will," wrote Markel.

"This is a great story, but probably just that — a story — and at the expense of the marquis's historical reputation. Alas, as Napoleon supposedly once said, history is a fable that people have agreed upon."