Another excerpt from Dedem de Gelder, backtracking to the 1812 campaign. After Napoleon's abandonment of the Grande Armée (the command of which he had left to Murat), the political ramifications of the disastrous campaign are already being felt; the Prince of Schwarzenberg confirms to Dedem that Austria, Napoleon's reluctant ally since his marriage to Marie-Louise, …
“The allies… paid him the blackest ingratitude”
Going back to the memoirs of General Dedem de Gelder this week. In this excerpt, Dedem discusses Murat's defection from Napoleon in 1814. It is a surprisingly sympathetic take from a man who is far from being an admirer of Murat, and who is deeply critical of his conduct at other points in his memoirs. …
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Archive Page Updated
I've made a much-needed update to the Archive Page, which has now roughly doubled in length. Also changed the look of the site around a bit just to freshen things up; I hope you all like it! I'll try to have a new post up later this week.
“It was feared that he had gone mad”
Continuing with excerpts from the memoirs of Madame Cavaignac. This part delves more into the events of 1811, which was possibly Murat's most difficult year on the throne of Naples, marking the lowest points not only in his relationship with Napoleon, but also with his wife Caroline. Madame Cavaignac, no fan of Caroline as illustrated …
“I was petrified to see this visage…”
Some more excerpts from the memoirs of Madame Cavaignac, with her views on the personalities of Joachim and Caroline Murat, and their quarrels and mutual infidelities in Naples. While her portrait of Murat is fairly balanced (and in my opinion, pretty astute, especially with her observations regarding his fear of Napoleon), Mme Cavaignac was clearly …
“A silent and continuous war”
Marie Julie Olivier de Corancez Cavaignac was the wife of Jean-Baptiste Cavaignac, who, as an elected deputy of the Department of the Lot during the Revolution, was instrumental in Murat's re-entry into the army after an earlier dismissal. During Murat's reign in Naples, Cavaignac served in his ministry, where he was shown great favor by …
“He gets mad at everything.”
Part 7 of my translation of Albert Vandal's Le Roi et la Reine de Naples. Still in Paris in the aftermath of Napoleon's wedding to Marie-Louise, Caroline Murat continues to serve as an intermediary between her husband and the Emperor. New conflicts arise between the two men as Napoleon struggles to get his finances in …
“In order to ruin him… in the Emperor’s mind”
Following up on my previous post, I've been looking further into the alleged Fouché/Talleyrand plot to designate Murat as Napoleon's successor. Primary sources on the episode appear to be few and far in between from what I've found so far; while Pasquier's memoirs mention a letter supposedly intercepted by Eugène de Beauharnais (of which no …
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“This unexpected accord”
I've been trying to dig more into the relationship between Murat and Fouché lately, which has led me back to an episode I've always found particularly interesting: the alleged plot between Fouché and Talleyrand, while Napoleon was in Spain in late 1808, to have Murat succeed Napoleon in the event that the Emperor died before …
“Come replace me here”
As delighted as Murat initially was to be back in the field in 1812 after having been made to sit out during the 1809 campaign, it was not long before the rigors of the invasion of Russia, and his anxiety over the state of affairs in Naples, combined to set his mind towards returning home. …
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