An archive of primary source material relating to Joachim Murat, Marshal of France and King of Naples
Continuing on, after a long pause, with my translations of Murat's final letters to Napoleon in 1813 leading up to his defection at the beginning of 1814. I'm including two letters in this post because the first one is too short to merit its own; but the second more than makes up for it, at …
Continue reading “I have fully acquitted my debt towards the Empire and towards Your Majesty”
A letter from Caroline Murat to Joseph Fouché. Fouché had tried to save Murat’s life in 1815 by working behind the scenes to get him passports from Metternich to provide him safe passage to join his family in Trieste, after Murat had fled to Corsica from France (where he was being hunted during the “White Terror” …
I came upon a gem today--a book of published correspondence from the 1812 campaign, specifically a compilation of letters intercepted by the Russians, both from and to soldiers in the Grande Armée. You can find the book on HathiTrust here (it might not be viewable outside the US, but it's probably elsewhere online as well). …
Continue reading “A long absence is very painful for one with a sensitive soul”
The final part of my translation of the introductory manuscript on Murat by his lifelong friend & former finance minister, Jean-Michel Agar, the Count of Mosbourg. In this last portion of what was to be the beginning of Mosbourg's planned biography of Murat, Mosbourg explains his desire to dispel the myths surrounding Murat and to …
Continue reading “The sole object of my efforts is to obtain justice”
Part 3 of my translation of the introductory manuscript on Murat by his friend & former finance minister, Jean-Michel Agar, the Count of Mosbourg. In this part, Mosbourg refutes past slanders against Murat, defending both his character and his accomplishments as a ruler. Translated from Murat: Lieutenant de l’Empereur en Espagne, 1808, published by Murat’s grandnephew, …
Continue reading “The softest and most compassionate of men”
In February of 1810, Caroline Murat was in Paris, shortly to depart to meet her soon-to-be sister-in-law Marie-Louise of Austria, and bring her back to France for her upcoming wedding to Napoleon. Meanwhile, Murat remained in Naples, unhappily preparing for his impending return to Paris, to attend that same wedding (which he’d advised against, imploring …
Part 2 of my translation of the introductory manuscript on Murat by his friend & former finance minister, Jean-Michel Agar, the Count of Mosbourg. In this part, Mosbourg discusses the relationship between Murat and Napoleon, and how it came to be disrupted--and permanently altered--by malicious rumors spread by Murat's enemies. Translated from Murat: Lieutenant de l’Empereur …
Part 1 of my translation of the introductory manuscript on Murat by his friend & former finance minister, Jean-Michel Agar, the Count of Mosbourg. (For background info on Mosbourg's plan to write about Murat, see my previous post.) In his introductory pages, Mosbourg discusses the character of the Murat he personally knew and observed, before …
Ten days after writing to Napoleon on the situation in Italy and imploring him to unify the country and grant its independence, Murat wrote to the Emperor once more. In the interim, he had not received a reply from Napoleon, who was ignoring his brother-in-law's correspondence (again), believing that Murat was deliberately exaggerating the situation …
Continuing with the series of letters in Louis Murat's memoirs leading up to her father's defection from Napoleon. We left off in July 1813, with Murat writing to Napoleon prior to departing to join him for the 1813 campaign, his pride still wounded from Napoleon's treatment of him following his return from Russia. Sensing that …
Continue reading “This first spark of revolt might become a general inferno”
Project Murat 