Civil marriage
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A civil marriage is a marriage performed, recorded, and recognized by a government official. Such a marriage may be performed by a religious body and recognized by the state, or it may be entirely sec
Edmund Leighton, The Wedding Register
A couple waiting to get married in the town of Alghero on the island of Sardinia, Italy
People leaving the town hall of Høje-Taastrup, Denmark following a civil marriage
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte, later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was Emperor of the French from 18 May 1804 until his first abdication in 1814, with a brief restoration during the Hundred Days in 1815.
Civil marriage
…made independent from religious marriage which was no more recognised by the French state. In 1802, with the Organic Articles of the Concordat of 1801, Napoleon, advised by Portalis, in order to reconciliate civil and religious marriage in a state-controlled way, stated that religious ceremonies could be performed…
Napoleon's father, Carlo Buonaparte, fought for Corsican independence under Pasquale Paoli. After their defeat, he eventually became the island's representative to Louis XVI's court.
Bonaparte, aged 23, as lieutenant-colonel of a battalion of Corsican Republican volunteers. Portrait made in 1835 by Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux.
Bonaparte at the Siege of Toulon, 1793, by Édouard Detaille