Joseph Fesch
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His Eminence His Most Eminent Highness His Serene Highness Joseph Fesch |
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|---|---|
| Cardinal, Archbishop of Lyon Sovereign Prince Prince of France Peer of France Roman Prince |
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Cardinal Fesch by Charles Meynier
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| See | Lyon |
| Installed | 15 August 1802 |
| Term ended | 13 May 1839 |
| Other posts |
Cardinal-Priest of Santa Maria della Vittoria (1803–1822); in commendam (1822–1839) Cardinal-Priest of San Lorenzo in Lucina Grand Almoner of France (1805 - 1814) |
| Orders | |
| Ordination | 1787 |
| Consecration | 15 August 1802 by Giovanni Battista Caprara |
| Created Cardinal | 17 January 1803 |
| Rank | Cardinal-Priest |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
3 January 1763 Ajaccio, Republic of Genoa |
| Died | 13 May 1839 (aged 76) Rome, Papal States |
| Nationality | French |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Coat of arms |  |
Joseph Fesch, Prince of France (January 3, 1763 – May 13, 1839) was a French cardinal and diplomat, Prince of France and a member of the Imperial House of the First French Empire, Peer of France, Roman Prince, and the uncle of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was also one of the most famous art collectors of his period, remembered for having established the Musée Fesch in Ajaccio, which remains one of the most important Napoleonic collections of art.
Born in Corsica, he was the son of Swiss-born Franz Faesch and Angela Maria Pietrasanta, and belonged on his father's side to the Faesch family, one of the most prominent patrician families of Basel, which had been ennobled in the Holy Roman Empire in 1562. Like other of Napoleon's family members, he rose to great prominence in France following Napoleon's coup d'état of 1799. Fesch became Archbishop of Lyon in 1802, was named a Cardinal in 1803, became French Ambassador to Rome in 1804, became a French senator and count in 1805, became Grand Almoner of France in 1805, obtained the rank of a sovereign prince in 1806, was named a Prince of France in 1807 (a dignity he shared only with Napoleon's siblings, brother-in-law Joachim Murat and adopted son Eugène de Beauharnais), became a Peer of France in 1815 and was named a Prince of the Papal States by the Pope. He was a member of the Imperial House as well as of the order of succession to the French imperial throne in accordance with the French constitution of 1804 (Title III, Article 9, "The Imperial Family").
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