An archive of primary source material relating to Joachim Murat, Marshal of France and King of Naples
In the interest of ensuring this blog maintains an objective view of its subject, from time to time I intend to post primary accounts that recollect Murat in a negative manner; my goal is to be Murat's biographer, not his hagiographer. And Murat, it must be admitted, was definitely not everyone's cup of tea. Hortense, …
Continue reading “He had the majestic air of actors who are playing kings”
In this excerpt from Louise Murat's memoirs, Louise describes the political factionalism of the Neapolitan court, and its effects on the relationship of the King and Queen, each of whom served as a figurehead for one of the rival factions. Louise also discusses a major political mistake made by Joachim in 1811 which precipitated a …
Continue reading “My Father did not always tread this path with prudence”
In this excerpt from Louise Murat's memoirs, Louise continues to discuss the accumulating circumstances which eventually led to her father's defection from Napoleon, focusing now on the way in which the Emperor undermined King Joachim during his campaign against Sicily in 1810. If there can be said to be a pivotal moment in the deteriorating …
Continue reading “A very cruel blow to the self-esteem of my Father”
In this excerpt from Louise Murat's memoirs, Louise turns away from reminiscing about her daily life growing up as a royal princess in Naples, and embarks on a more serious subject: the fall of Napoleon in 1814, and her father's actions which many--including Napoleon--believed directly contributed to the Emperor's dethronement. Here we see Louise combining, …
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 …
Murat--possessed, it must be said, of considerable vanity--relished standing out in a crowd, and went to great effort to do so, tailoring every feature of his appearance in such a way as to distinguish himself among others. Both his contemporaries and modern historians alike have written extensively on the subject of his eye-catching, custom-made uniforms, …
Continue reading “His very hairstyle… for which he has often been reproached”
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 …
Like his brother-in-law Napoleon, Murat maintained a life-long abhorrence of both corporal and capital punishment. He sought every possible means of avoiding them, and resorted to them only when he felt he had no other choice (such as his response to the Madrid uprising in 1808, or the unleashing of General Manhès to sort out …
Continue reading “Vast conspiracies had been hatched against our family…”
Project Murat 