Napoleon’s Boots to be Sold in Paris for 80,000 Euros

French leader Napoleon Bonaparte has left this world hundreds of years back but his heroic deeds are still talk of the town. Now again when a pair of boots used by him during his final exile in St. Helena is up for sell next month in Paris, the stories of his courage and strength have started surfacing again. 

The size 40 boots which is roughly size seven in British measure were actually given to a sculptor who was working on an equestrian statue of Napoleon Bonaparte, initiated by General Henri Gatien Bertrand, who had once followed the French leader into exile on the far-flung South Atlantic island after his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

The boots used by Napoleon are expected to sell at price between 50,000 and 80,000 euros, when they are up for sell at the Drouot Auction room on November 29. The French leader Napoleon had a large collection of footwear, which he used to buy from a Paris shoemaker named Jacques in Montmartre.

Though British propagandists have often circulated caricatures of him as an authoritarian midget. But he was actually above the average height of his time at 1.69 metres (five foot two inches).

The boots, which are soon going to be sold in the auction, were gifted by the son of the sculptor Carlo Marochetti to a French politician named Paul Le Roux, who was also a minister under the Second Empire of Napoleon III, Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew.

The family has kept the valuable boot since then, according to the auctioneers Binoche & Giquello. After the death of his beloved leader in 1821, General Bertrand returned to France. Many French people still believe that Napoleon was poisoned by British jailers in the custody, which finally led to his death.

The circumstances under which he died are still controversial. There is still speculation that he was poisoned. There is also evidence from an autopsy, which was done immediately after his death that suggests that he had ulcers, which affected both his liver and intestines.

After the defeat of Napoleon in the Battle of Waterloo, he was sent to the remote island of Saint Helena by British forces. He reached St Helena on 15th October 1815, traveling ten weeks at sea onboard the ship, HMS Northumberland. It is here on this island he died six years later at the age of 51 on 5th May 1821.