Anthony Boldewijn Gijsbert van Dedem, Baron van den Gelder, was a Dutch soldier and diplomat who would serve Louis Bonaparte, during his brief reign as King of Holland, as ambassador to Naples. Taking up his post in Naples in 1806, when Louis's older brother Joseph was its King, Dedem would continue to serve in this …
Author: Sarah
History lover. Highly caffeinated. Introverted. Devoted to researching/writing about Murat, and translating his letters; someday I would like to publish at least one book about him. Slightly obsessed.
“He wasted his hours…”
Continuing on with Part 6 of excerpts from the memoirs of Neapolitan General Guglielmo Pépé. The atmosphere of uncertainty in Naples pervades through the winter of 1814-15; Pépé is critical of Murat's inactivity during this crucial time, when Naples and the rest of Italy are teeming with revolutionary sentiments. News of Napoleon's escape from Elba …
“Can you conceive all my unhappiness?”
The memoirs of Chateaubriand contain two letters from Murat--then under a sort of house-arrest near Toulon while Napoleon marched off to his final defeat at Waterloo--written to a woman whose name is not provided. Biographer Hubert Cole gives her name in The Betrayers as one Madame de Civrieux, whom he describes as Murat's "close friend and probably …
“One is not a king to obey.”
Hardly any letters from Murat to his wife Caroline still exist; Caroline was in the habit of destroying most of her received correspondence, and Murat rarely kept copies of the letters he sent her. In the eight volumes of his correspondence published by Paul Le Brethon, there is not a single letter from Murat to …
“The only happy hours of my life…”
Continuing on with Part 5 of excerpts from General Pépé's memoirs; here we see Pépé puzzling over whether Murat actually liked him or not. On the other hand, he has no doubt whatsoever as to how Caroline felt about him (an animus probably not improved by his disparaging comment about dancing, one of the royal …
Archive page added!
I finally got around to building the memoir & correspondence archive/index I mentioned back in March; it has been added as a separate page to the top menu. This should make it way easier to go back and find things. Check it out here: https://projectmurat.blog/archive-index/
“I have enough strength of soul to bear anything”
While remaining aboard the merchant vessel which had borne him to the bay of Cannes following his defeat at Tolentino, Murat wrote not only to Napoleon, whose orders he restlessly awaited, but also to his good friend Joseph Fouché. In this letter, he reiterates much of what he has told the Emperor regarding his failed …
Continue reading “I have enough strength of soul to bear anything”
“The King’s anger had entirely passed away”
Part 4 of Murat-related excerpts from General Pépé's memoirs. When we last left off, Pépé and a number of his fellow generals had begun collaborating to push King Joachim to grant Naples a constitution. But the resolve of many of the generals began to waver, the collaboration soon unraveled, and word of the plan made …
Continue reading “The King’s anger had entirely passed away”
“Perhaps you love me still in the depths of your heart.”
While his wife remained in Paris attending Napoleon's new empress well into the summer of 1810, Murat continued organizing his expedition against Sicily, which he hoped to reunite with Naples under one--his--crown. But unbeknownst to Murat, though his brother-in-law had given the expedition his approval--including a small force of French troops, commanded by French generals--Napoleon …
Continue reading “Perhaps you love me still in the depths of your heart.”
“She rushed into the midst of the flames”
Towards the end of the months of festivities and celebrations following Napoleon's marriage to Marie-Louise, yet another ball was held in honor of the Emperor and his new Empress, on 1 July 1810, this time by the Austrian ambassador, the Prince of Schwarzenberg. A fire broke out, caused by a drooping candle setting one of …
