Joachim Murat

Joachim Murat
King of the Two Sicilies,
Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves
Murat2.jpg
Reign August 1, 1808 – May 3, 1815
Titles Prince Murat
Born March 25, 1767
Birthplace La Bastide
Died October 13, 1815 (aged 48)
Place of death Calabria
Buried Père Lachaise Cemetery
Predecessor Joseph Bonaparte
Successor Ferdinand IV
Consort Caroline Bonaparte
Offspring Prince Achille Murat
Princess Marie Letizia Murat
Prince Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat
Princess Louise Julie Caroline Murat
Royal House House of Murat
Father Pierre Murat-Jordy
Mother Jeanne Loubières

Joachim-Napoléon Murat (born Joachim Murat) (Italian: Gioacchino Napoleone Murat) (March 25, 1767 – October 13, 1815), 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves, Marshal of France, was King of the Two Sicilies from 1808 to 1815. He received his titles in part by being the brother-in-law of Napoleon Bonaparte, through marriage to Napoleon's youngest sister, Caroline Bonaparte.

Contents

Ancestry

His father was the son of Guillaume Murat (1692 – 1754) and wife Marguerite Herbeil (– 1755), paternal grandson of Pierre Murat, born in 1634, and wife Catherine Badourès, died in 1697, and maternal grandson of Bertrand Herbeil and wife Anne Roques.

Early life

Joachim Murat was born March 25, 1767, in La Bastide, Gascony, France (later renamed Labastide-Murat), to Pierre Murat-Jordy July 27, 1799), an innkeeper, and his wife Jeanne Loubières (La Bastide Fortunière, 1722 – La Bastide Fortunière, March 11, 1806), daughter of Pierre Loubières and wife Jeanne Viellescazes.

Murat enlisted in the cavalry at the age of 20. In 1791, he joined the king's Constitutional Guard, but left it soon for the regular army. In 1792 he became an officer. He was a staunch supporter of the notorious revolutionary Jacobin Jean-Paul Marat, and thus believed in a philosophy championing a strong centralized government in the form of a republic.

13 Vendémiaire

Further information: 13 Vendémiaire

In the autumn of 1795, three years after the French King was deposed, royalist and counter-revolutionaries organized an armed uprising. On October 3, Général Napoleon Bonaparte, who was stationed in Paris, was named commander of the French National Convention's defending forces. This constitutional convention, after a long period of emergency rule, was striving to establish a more stable and permanent government in the uncertain period after the Reign of Terror. Napoleon tasked Murat 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. The use of these cannon on October 4 allowed Napoleon to save the members of the National Convention.[1] For this success Joachim Murat was made chef de brigade (colonel) and thereafter remained one of Napoleon's best officers.

Italian and Egyptian campaigns

Murat portrait, by Baron Gérard

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 Napoleon 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 Napoleon's legendary fame and enhance his popularity with the French people.

Murat commanded the cavalry of the French Egyptian expedition of 1798, again under Napoleon. 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 due to 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 Napoleon 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 Napoleon 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 set aside the five-man directory government, establishing the three-man French Consulate government.

Murat married Caroline Bonaparte in a civil ceremony on January 20, 1800 at Mortefontaine (Plailly?) and religiously on January 4, 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

Further information: Napoleonic wars

His brother-in-law made him a Marshal of France on May 18, 1804. Napoleon 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 March 15, 1806 and held this title till August 1, 1808. He was named King of Naples and Sicily on August 1, 1808.

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.

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

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 Kingdom of Naples and Sicily to its 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 (May 2 - May 3, 1815).

He fled to Corsica after Napoleon's fall. During an attempt to regain Naples through an insurrection in Calabria, he was arrested by the forces of his rival, Ferdinand IV of Naples, and was eventually executed 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 carnelian on which the head of his wife was engraved, and gave the word — thus, "Save my face — aim for the chest — fire!"

Murat is memorialized by a grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery though it is claimed he is not actually buried there but that his body was lost or destroyed after his execution. Others say he was buried in a church in Pizzo making it possible his body was later moved.

Children

He and Caroline had four children:

Relatives

Marshal Murat's grave in Père Lachaise Cemetery

He had a brother named Pierre Murat (La Bastide-Fortunière, November 27, 1748 – La Bastide-Fortunière, October 8, 1792), who married at La Bastide-Fortunière on February 26, 1783 Louise d'Astorg (La Bastide-Fortunière, October 23, 1762 – May 31, 1832), daughter of Aymeric d'Astorg, born in 1721, and wife Marie Alanyou, paternal granddaughter of Antoine d'Astorg, born in November 18, 1676, and wife Marie de Mary (May 4, 1686 – October 7, 1727) and maternal granddaughter of Jean Alanyou and wife Louise de Valon. Pierra and Louise were the parents of Marie, Pierre, Adrien, Radegonde, Thomas Joachim and Marie Antoinette Murat, whom Emperor Napoleon I arranged to marry Karl III, 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.

Citations

  1. ↑ Connelly, pp. 20-21.

References

External links

Joachim Murat
House of Murat
Born: 25 March 1767 Died: 13 October 1815
Regnal titles
New title Grand Duke of Berg
1806–1808		 Vacant
Title next held by
Napoleon Louis Bonaparte
Preceded by
Joseph I		 King of Naples
1808–1815		 Succeeded by
Ferdinand IV
French nobility
New title Prince Murat Succeeded by
Achille, Prince Murat
Marshals of France during the Napoleonic Wars
Augereau • Bernadotte • Berthier • Bessières • Brune • Davout • Grouchy • Jourdan • Kellermann • Lannes • Lefebvre • MacDonald • Marmont • Masséna • Moncey • Mortier • Murat • Ney • Oudinot • Pérignon • Poniatowski • Saint-Cyr • Sérurier • Soult • Suchet • Victor
 Napoleonic Marshal baton.svg
Persondata
NAME Murat, Joachim
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Murat, Joachim-Napoléon
SHORT DESCRIPTION Monarch of Naples
DATE OF BIRTH March 25, 1767
PLACE OF BIRTH La Bastide-Fortunière
DATE OF DEATH October 13, 1815
PLACE OF DEATH Calabria