This work aims to rethink the historiographic image of Napoleon's attitude to the idea of the Polish Kingdom's creation, which inspired the next generations of Poles after the final partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The author has attempted to verify the existing myth regarding the attitude of the French emperor to the Polish question based on archival and published sources and the most important scholarly works, both past and contemporary. Polish historiography frequently followed Napoleon's legend created in the 19 th century while assessing his activities in the Polish question. This legend, which arose under conditions of foreign rule, was an expression of the revolt of a conquered nation, which sought ways to return to independence, cultivating faith in the effective French support in the struggle for freedom. The next generations of historians either considered the patriotic function of the Napoleonic tradition in Polish society, which their publications were supposed to foster and develop, either rejected it or even fought against it. This article analyses the policy of Napoleon during the so-called first Polish war of 1806-1807, the war with Austria in 1809, but especially the so-called Second Polish War in 1812, when the idea of creating the Kingdom of Poland experienced some progress. New evidence relating, among