In May of 1812, prior to setting off on his cataclysmic invasion of Russia, Napoleon arranged for a conference in Dresden, to be attended by most of the crowned heads of Europe then under his dominion. His intention was to put on such a show of power that Tsar Alexander, to whom Napoleon had sent …
“The good Cossacks were playing with him…”
Despite finding themselves facing off against him in one war after another over the years, the Cossacks gained a great admiration for Murat. His dashing courage on the battlefield, combined with his garish uniforms and towering plumage, which made him an easily distinguishable target in any encounter, left them captivated. During the 1812 campaign, they …
Forty letters to Letitia–Part Four (XXXI-XL)
The final portion of Murat's letters to his eldest daughter Letitia, spanning from August 1813 to April 1814.
Forty letters to Letitia–Part Three (XXI-XXX)
A continuation of Murat's letters to his eldest daughter Letitia; the letters featured in this part span from August of 1812 through the beginning of the 1813 campaign.
Forty letters to Letitia–Part Two (XI-XX)
A continuation of Murat's letters to his eldest daughter Letitia; the letters featured in this part span from late 1810 through the early months of the 1812 campaign against Russia.
Forty letters to Letitia–Part One (I-X)
Letitia Murat, the eldest daughter of Joachim and Caroline, was born in Paris on 26 April 1802. If Joachim could be said to have a favorite child--and he obsessively doted on and spoiled them all--it would have been Letitia. Certainly she was his favorite correspondent. He wrote to her regularly during his absences, delighting in …
“The arts awaken the imagination, elevate the soul…”
Murat departed from Naples at the beginning of May 1812, to take command of the massive cavalry force assembled by Napoleon for the campaign against Russia. Traveling through Posen on his way to join the Emperor in Danzig, he took the time to write an extraordinary letter to his ten-year-old daughter Letitia. The letter--one of …
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A day in the life of the Murats–24 March 1810
Shortly after Napoleon had resolved to marry the Austrian archduchess Marie-Louise in the wake of his divorce from Josephine, he dispatched his youngest sister, Caroline Murat, the Queen of Naples, to meet his bride-to-be in Munich. Caroline's journey began early in March 1810. She was to accompany Marie-Louise to Soissons, where the archduchess was (in …
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“I am sad, when I should be happy…”
I've neglected this blog for far longer than I meant to. Time to get back in the swing of things, with a translated letter from Murat to his daughter Letitia, written during the Russian campaign, on August 11, 1812. From Quarante lettres de Joachim Murat à sa fille Laetitia. I've rendered it in the same …
“Your son who loves you like his own true mother”
(Source: http://www.autographes-manuscripta.com/murat-autographe/) Letter from Joachim Murat to Maria-Letizia Bonaparte (mother of Napoleon; commonly referred to by the Emperor as "Madame Mère), Naples, 29 Feb 1812. At the time that Murat wrote this, his wife Caroline was in Paris, working once more as a go-between to salvage the increasingly fractured relationship between Murat and Napoleon. The …
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