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The Old Fox's Library · Episode 9
Napoleon Wasn't Short
Napoleon's recorded height was 5 foot 2, but in old French inches, which were longer than English ones. The Old Fox explains how a measuring muddle, an affectionate nickname and James Gillray's cartoons made an average-sized man into history's most famous shorty.
- After Napoleon's death on Saint Helena in 1821 his height was recorded as 5 pieds 2 pouces in old French measure, about 1.686 metres; an English measurement gave about 1.70 metres, or 5 ft 7 in (Fondation Napoléon, 'La taille de Napoléon').
- The average Frenchman of the time was about 1.60 metres tall, so Napoleon was not short for his day; in paintings he often appears beside tall Guard grenadiers and officers in plumed hats (Fondation Napoléon, 'Was Napoleon small?').
- His soldiers' affectionate nickname for him, 'le petit caporal' (the little corporal), is usually dated to the Battle of Lodi in 1796.
- James Gillray's 1803 prints 'The King of Brobdingnag, and Gulliver' and 'Maniac-ravings, or Little Boney in a strong fit' helped fix the image of a tiny, furious Napoleon in the British imagination (National Portrait Gallery; The Public Domain Review, 'Little Boney').
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What the fox said
Pull up a chair. Tonight's page: was Napoleon really short?
Napoleon Bonaparte. General, Emperor of the French, and, so everyone says, a very little man.
After his death on Saint Helena, in 1821, his doctor recorded his height as 5 feet 2 inches.
But those were French feet and French inches. And a French inch was longer than an English one.
Convert it properly, and he stood around 5 foot 6 or 5 foot 7. About 1.69 metres.
That's about average for a Frenchman of his day. Perhaps even a little above.
So why the myth? His soldiers nicknamed him the little corporal. Le petit caporal. A term of affection, not a tape measure.
He was often seen beside tall guardsmen, and officers in towering plumed hats. That hardly helped.
And then came the British cartoonists.
In 1803, James Gillray drew him as a tiny Gulliver, standing on the palm of King George the Third.
Little Boney, stamping and fuming, became a favourite joke in British prints. And the joke outlived the man.
One to keep: when someone calls a short, bossy person a Napoleon, they're repeating a 200-year-old cartoon.
Close the book. Keep your nose to the wind.
Sources
- After Napoleon's death on Saint Helena in 1821 his height was recorded as 5 pieds 2 pouces in old French measure, about 1.686 metres; an English measurement gave about 1.70 metres, or 5 ft 7 in (Fondation Napoléon, 'La taille de Napoléon').
- The average Frenchman of the time was about 1.60 metres tall, so Napoleon was not short for his day; in paintings he often appears beside tall Guard grenadiers and officers in plumed hats (Fondation Napoléon, 'Was Napoleon small?').
- His soldiers' affectionate nickname for him, 'le petit caporal' (the little corporal), is usually dated to the Battle of Lodi in 1796.
- James Gillray's 1803 prints 'The King of Brobdingnag, and Gulliver' and 'Maniac-ravings, or Little Boney in a strong fit' helped fix the image of a tiny, furious Napoleon in the British imagination (National Portrait Gallery; The Public Domain Review, 'Little Boney').
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