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Joachim-Napoleon
Murat2
Portrait by François Gérard, c. 1808
King of Naples
Reign 1 August 1808 – 19 May 1815
Predecessor Joseph I
Successor Ferdinand IV
Grand Duke of Berg
Reign 15 March 1806 – 1 August 1808
Successor Napoléon I
Lieutenant General of the Realm
of the Kingdom of Spain
Reign 4 May – 20 July 1808
Born Joachim Murat
(1767-03-25)25 March 1767
Labastide-Fortunière, Quercy, Kingdom of France
Died 13 October 1815(1815-10-13) (aged 48)
Pizzo Calabro, Calabria, Kingdom of Naples
Burial
Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
Spouse Princess Caroline Bonaparte
Issue
House Murat
Father Pierre Murat-Jordy
Mother Jeanne Loubières
Religion Roman Catholic
Signature Joachim-Napoleon's signature
Marshal of the Empire
Joachim Murat
Murat
Murat in hussar uniform, by François Gérard, 1801, at the time when Murat was the commander of the Consular Guard
Allegiance
  • Royal Standard of the King of France Kingdom of France
  • Flag of France (1790-1794) Kingdom of the French
  • Flag of France First French Republic
  • Flag of France First French Empire
Service/branch Army
Years of service 1787–1813
Rank Marshal of the Empire
Battles/wars <templatestyles src="Tree list/styles.css" />

Joachim Murat (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɔaʃɛ̃ myʁa]; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the military titles of Marshal of the Empire and Admiral of France; he was also the 1st Prince Murat,[1] Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808[2] and King of Naples as Joachim-Napoleon[3] (Italian: Gioacchino Napoleone) from 1808 to 1815.[4][5] He was the brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Early life[]

Murat was born on 25 March 1767 in La Bastide-Fortunière[6] (later renamed Labastide-Murat after him), in Guyenne (present-day French department of Lot) to Pierre Murat-Jordy (d. 27 July 1799), an affluent yeoman[7] innkeeper, postmaster[8] and Roman Catholic churchwarden, and his wife Jeanne Loubières (1722 – 11 March 1806), daughter of Pierre Loubières and of his wife Jeanne Viellescazes. Pierre Murat-Jordy was the son of Guillaume Murat (1692–1754) and his wife Marguerite Herbeil (d. 1755), paternal grandson of Pierre Murat (b. 1634) and his wife Catherine Badourès (d. 1697), and maternal grandson of Bertrand Herbeil and his wife Anne Roques.[9]

Murat's parents intended that he pursue a vocation in the church, and he was taught by the parish priest, after which he won a place at the College of Saint-Michel at Cahors when he was ten years old. He then entered the seminary of the Lazarists at Toulouse, but when a regiment of cavalry passed through the city in 1787, he ran away and enlisted on 23 February 1787 in the Chasseurs des Ardennes, which the following year became known as the Chasseurs de Champagne, or the 12th Chasseurs. In 1789, an affair forced him to resign, and he returned to his family, becoming a clerk to a haberdasher at Saint-Ceré.[8]

French Revolutionary Wars[]

Joachim Murat (1792)

Joachim Murat as a sous-lieutenant of the 12th Chasseur-à-cheval

By 1790, Murat had joined the National Guard, and the Canton of Montaucon sent him as its representative to the celebration of the first anniversary of Bastille Day (la Fête nationale). He was subsequently reinstated in his former regiment. Because part of the 12th Chasseurs had been sent to Montmédy to protect the royal family on its flight to Varennes, the regiment had to defend its honour and loyalty to the Republic; Murat and the regiment's adjutant made a speech to the assembly at Toul to that effect.[8] In 1792, Murat joined the Constitutional Guard, but left it that same year. His departure was attributed to various causes, including his constant quarreling and dueling, although he claimed he left to avoid punishment for being absent without leave.[8]

An ardent Republican, Murat wrote to his brother in 1791 stating he was preoccupied with revolutionary affairs and would sooner die than cease to be a patriot. Upon his departure from the Constitutional Guard, he reported to the Committee of Surveillance of the Constitutional Assembly that the Guard was guilty of treason and that his lieutenant colonel, a man named Descours, had encouraged him to serve in the émigré army of Louis Joseph, Prince of Condé, then stationed in Koblenz.[8] This garnered for him the support of the Republicans, for Murat rejoined his former regiment and was promoted to corporal in April that year, and later to sergeant in May.[8] By 19 November 1792, Murat was 25 years old and elated at his latest promotion. As a sous-lieutenant, he thought, his family must recognise that he had no great propensity for the priesthood, and he was hoping to prove that he had not been wrong in wishing to be a soldier. Two of the ministers had accused him of being an aristocrat, confusing him with the noble family of Murat d'Auvergne, an accusation that continued to haunt him for the next several years.[10]

13 Vendémiaire[]

In the autumn of 1795, two years after King Louis XVI of France had been guillotined, royalists and counter-revolutionaries organised an armed uprising. On 3 October, General Napoleon Bonaparte, who was stationed in Paris, was named commander of the French National Convention's defending forces. Bonaparte tasked Murat, who had offered himself voluntarily, with the gathering of artillery from a suburb outside the control of the government's forces. Murat managed to take the cannons of the Camp des Sablons and transport them to the centre of Paris while avoiding the rioters.[11] The use of these cannons – the famous "whiff of grapeshot" – on 5 October allowed Bonaparte to save the members of the National Convention.[12] Napoleon’s report later mentioned Murat not at all. But Napoleon did not forget him as Murat was made a marshal, the "First Horseman of Europe", Grand Duke of Berg and King of Naples.[13]

Italian and Egyptian campaigns[]

Antoine-Jean Gros - Bataille d'Aboukir, 25 juillet 1799 - Google Art Project

General Murat at the battle of Abukir, where 11,000 Ottoman soldiers drowned in the Nile

In 1796, with the situation in the capital and government apparently stabilised and the war going poorly (See also: French Revolutionary Wars), Napoleon lobbied to join the armies attempting to secure the revolution against the invading monarchist forces. Murat then went with Bonaparte to northern Italy, initially as his aide-de-camp, and was later named commander of the cavalry during the many campaigns against the Austrians and their allies. These forces were waging war on France and seeking to restore a monarchy in revolutionary France. His valour and his daring cavalry charges later earned him the rank of général in these important campaigns, the battles of which became famous as Bonaparte constantly used speed of maneuver to fend off and eventually defeat individually superior opposing armies closing in on the French forces from several directions. Thus, Murat's skills in no small part helped establish Bonaparte's legendary fame and enhance his popularity with the French people.

Murat commanded the cavalry of the French Egyptian expedition of 1798, again under Bonaparte. The expedition's strategic goal was to threaten Britain's rich holdings in India. (Some had been taken from France during the Seven Years' War). However, the overall effort ended prematurely because of lack of logistical support with the defeat of the French fleet due to British sea power (See: Battle of the Nile). After the sea battle, Napoleon led his troops on land toward Europe (via Palestine and thence Ottoman Turkey), but was recalled by the Directory (at least in part) as it feared an invasion by Britain. Abbé Sieyès also saw Bonaparte as an ally against a resurgent Jacobin movement, and so the expeditionary army was turned over to a subordinate.

The remaining non-military expedition staff officers, including Murat, and Bonaparte returned to France, eluding various British fleets in five frigates. A short while later, Murat played an important, even pivotal, role in Bonaparte's "coup within a coup" of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799), when Napoleon first assumed national power. Along with two others (including Director Abbé Sieyès), Napoleon Bonaparte set aside the five-man directory government, establishing the three-man French Consulate government.

Murat married Caroline Bonaparte in a civil ceremony on 20 January 1800 at Mortefontaine and religiously on 4 January 1802 in Paris, thus becoming a son-in-law of Letizia Ramolino as well as brother-in-law to Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon I of France, Lucien Bonaparte, Elisa Bonaparte, Louis Bonaparte, Pauline Bonaparte and Jérôme Bonaparte.

Napoleonic wars[]

Chartier-Murat at Jena

Murat leads a charge at the Battle of Jena, 14 October 1806.

Napoleon made Murat a Marshal of France on 18 May 1804, and also granted him the title of "First Horseman of Europe". He was created Prince of the Empire in 1805, appointed Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves on 15 March 1806 and held this title until 1 August 1808, when he was named King of Naples and Sicily. He was in charge of the French Army in Madrid when the popular 2nd May uprising that started the Peninsular War happened.

Murat was equally useful in Napoleon's invasion of Russia (1812) and in the Battle of Leipzig (1813). However, after France's defeat at Leipzig, Murat reached an agreement with the Austrian Empire in order to save his own throne.

During the Hundred Days, he realized that the European powers, meeting as the Congress of Vienna, had the intention to remove him and return the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily to their pre-Napoleonic rulers. Murat deserted his new allies and, after issuing a proclamation to the Italian patriots in Rimini, moved north to fight against the Austrians in the Neapolitan War to strengthen his rule in Italy by military means. He was defeated by Frederick Bianchi, a general of Francis I of Austria, in the Battle of Tolentino (2–3 May 1815).

Death[]

File:Death of Murat.jpg

Murat met a fearless death, taking the shots standing and unblindfolded.

He fled to Corsica after Napoleon's fall. Joined by around a thousand followers, he hoped to regain control of Naples by fomenting an insurrection in Calabria. Arriving at the Calabrian port of Pizzo, Murat attempted to rally support in the town square, but things went very wrong. The crowd was hostile and he was attacked by an old woman blaming him for the loss of her son. Calabria had been badly hit by Murat's repression of local piracy and brigandage during his reign. Forces of the king, Ferdinand IV of Naples, arrested him, and he was put on trial for treason. He was eventually sentenced to death by firing squad at the Castello di Pizzo, Calabria.

When the fatal moment arrived, Murat walked with a firm step to the place of execution, as calm, as unmoved, as if he had been going to an ordinary review. He would not accept a chair, nor suffer his eyes to be bound. "I have braved death (said he) too often to fear it." He stood upright, proudly and undauntedly, with his countenance towards the soldiers; and when all was ready, he kissed a cameo on which the head of his wife was engraved, and gave the word — thus,

«Soldats! Faites votre devoir! Droit au cœur mais épargnez le visage. Feu!»

"Soldiers! Do your duty! Straight to the heart but spare the face. Fire!"[14]

Murat is memorialised by a grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery, though it is claimed that he is not actually buried there but that his body was lost or destroyed after his execution.[citation needed] Others say he was buried in a church in Pizzo, making the removal of his body possible later on.

Gallery[]

Coats of arms[]

Titles and styles[]

  • 1 August 1808 – 19 May 1815: His Majesty By the Grace of God and the Constitution of the State, King of Naples.

Children[]

Murat and Caroline had four children:

  • Achille Charles Louis Napoléon Murat, Hereditary Prince of Berg, Prince of Naples, 2nd Prince Murat (Paris, 21 January 1801 - Jefferson County, Florida, 15 April 1847), m. Tallahassee, Florida, 12 July 1826 Catherine Daingerfield Willis (near Fredericksburg, Virginia, 17 August 1803 - Tallahassee, Florida, 7 August 1867), daughter of Colonel Byrd C. Willis (29 August 1781 - 1846) and wife Mary Lewis, and great-grandniece of George Washington, without issue.
  • Princess Marie Letizia Josephine Annonciade Murat (Paris, 26 April 1802 - Bologna, 12 March 1859), m. Venice, 27 October 1823 Guido Taddeo Marchese Pepoli, Conte di Castiglione (Bologna, 7 September 1789 - Bologna, 2 March 1852), and had issue.
  • Lucien Charles Joseph Napoléon Murat, 2nd Sovereign Prince of Pontecorvo, 3rd Prince Murat (Milan, 16 May 1803 - Paris, 10 April 1878), m. Bordentown, New Jersey, 18 August 1831 Caroline Georgina Fraser (Charleston, South Carolina, 13 April 1810 - Paris, 10 February 1879), daughter of Thomas Fraser and wife Anne Lauton, and had issue; he was an associate of his first cousin Napoleon III of France. Ancestor of actor.
  • Princess Louise Julie Caroline Murat (Paris, 21 March 1805 - Ravenna, 1 December 1889), m. Trieste, 25 October 1825 Giulio Conte Rasponi (Ravenna, 19 February 1787 - Florence, 19 July 1876) and had issue.

Relatives[]

File:Murat grave.JPG

Marshal Murat's grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery

He had a brother named Pierre Murat (La Bastide-Fortunière, 27 November 1748 – La Bastide-Fortunière, 8 October 1792), who married at La Bastide-Fortunière on 26 February 1783 Louise d'Astorg (La Bastide-Fortunière, 23 October 1762 – 31 May 1832), daughter of Aymeric d'Astorg, born in 1721, and wife Marie Alanyou, paternal granddaughter of Antoine d'Astorg, born 18 November 1676, and wife Marie de Mary (4 May 1686 – 7 October 1727) and maternal granddaughter of Jean Alanyou and wife Louise de Valon. His other brother named André Murat (1760 – 1841) was titled 1st Count Murat in 1810.

Pierre and Louise were the parents of Marie Louise, Pierre Adrien (d.1805), Marie Radegonde (d.1800), Thomas Joachim and Marie Antoinette Murat, whom Emperor Napoleon I arranged to marry Charles, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen; Karl III and Marie were the parents of Charles Anthony, Prince of Hohenzollern from whom descended Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Queen of Portugal; her brother Carol I of Romania and Carol I nephew Albert I of Belgium.

Another descendant of note is his great-great-great-grandson, the American actor René Auberjonois.

In popular culture[]

In the 1941 Errol Flynn movie They Died With Their Boots On, a fictional account of the life of George Armstrong Custer, Murat is credited with being Custer's role model.

Murat is included as a minor character in Tolstoy's War and Peace, introduced in the prelude to the battle of Borodino.

Footnotes[]

  1. Atteridge 1911, Chapter VII.
  2. Atteridge 1911, Chapter IX.
  3. Zamoyski 2018.
  4. Emsley 2014, pp. 59.
  5. Atteridge 1911, Chapter XIII.
  6. Chavanon 1905.
  7. Fisher 1903, p. 174.
  8. 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 Phipps 1926, pp. 146–147.
  9. Atteridge 1911, Chapter I.
  10. Phipps 1926, pp. 148–149.
  11. Kircheisen 2010, p. 44.
  12. Connelly 2006, pp. 19–21.
  13. Connelly 2006, p. 21.
  14. Murat, Caroline (1910). My Memoirs. London. pp. 23. 

References[]

  • Bonar, Hugh S. (Jr.), Joachim Murat : lieutenant of the Emperor, Consortium on Revolutionary Europe 1750-1850 (University of Florida), Articles relatifs totalement ou partiellement à la période 1795-1815, Proceedings 1989.
  • Chavanon, Jules and Georges Saint-Yves, Joachim Murat (1767–1815), Libraire Hachette, 1905.
  • Connelly, Owen, Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns, Scholarly Resources Imprint, 1987.
  • Phipps, Ramsey Weston. Armies of the First French Republic. London: Greenwood Publishers, 1926, vol. 1.

Further reading[]

  • Potocka-Wąsowiczowa, Anna z Tyszkiewiczów. Wspomnienia naocznego świadka. Warszawa: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1965.

External links[]

Joachim Murat
House of Murat
Born: 25 March 1767 Died: 13 October 1815
Regnal titles
New title Grand Duke of Berg
15 Mar 1806 – 1 Aug 1808
Succeeded by
Louis I
Preceded by
Joseph I
King of Naples
1 Aug 1808 – 19 May 1815
Succeeded by
Ferdinand IV
French nobility
of the First French Empire
New title Prince Murat Succeeded by
Achille Murat
All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Joachim Murat and the edit history here.
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