An archive of primary source material relating to Joachim Murat, Marshal of France and King of Naples
Caroline Murat, Queen of Naples, returned home to her kingdom on the 3rd of August, 1810, after having been in Paris since December of the previous year. She was delighted to finally see her children again after such a long absence, but her reunion with her husband would take slightly longer; Joachim was leading what …
Continue reading “You must calm a little your head, which gets hot so easily”
In this excerpt from Louise Murat's memoirs, Louise reminisces about the idyllic moments when her parents, in between the endless stresses of ruling a kingdom, found relief by spending time with their children. She also recounts the antics of her older brothers, Achille and Lucien, whose rowdiness occasionally necessitated her father's intervention. *** Aside from …
Continuing my tradition of completely random Murat content, I'm pausing in between the ongoing excerpts from Louise's memoirs to post a letter from Murat to his mother, from 16 May 1801. His first child, Achille, was born five months earlier; Murat, who was sent by Napoleon to take over command of the army in Italy …
Living in exile in Trieste during the years immediately after her husband's execution, Caroline Murat was frequently hounded to repay debts owed (or claimed to be owed) by Joachim. Not wanting his name to be tarnished any further, Caroline did her best to pay those whose claims she considered credible, while simultaneously scraping to pay …
A continuation of my translation of excerpts from Louise Murat's Souvenirs d'enfance d'une fille de Joachim Murat, the first installment of which can be found here. In this excerpt, from pages 18-21, Louise gives her children (to whom the Souvenirs are written as a series of letters) a detailed description of Joachim and Caroline Murat. …
I was lucky enough to be able to find a copy of this available from a seller on Amazon. Murat's youngest daughter, Louise, wrote it for her children, not only to describe her childhood memories of her beloved father, but also to justify and explain his actions in 1814-1815, and defend his reputation. One of …
Continue reading “He was our friend, I would almost say our playmate…”
The final portion of Murat's letters to his eldest daughter Letitia, spanning from August 1813 to April 1814.
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.
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.
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 …
Project Murat 