Joachim Murat Biography

Dromo's Den

MURAT, Joachim (1767-1815). A celebrated French cavalry leader, King of Naples from 1808 to 1815. He was born March 25, 1767, being the son of a well-to-do innkeeper at La-Bastide-Fortunière, near Cahors, in France. He was intended for the priesthood and commenced the study of theology and canon law at Toulouse, but soon enlisted in a cavalry regiment. Being dismissed for insubordination after two years of service, he returned to his home, and later proceeded to Paris, where he obtained admission into the constitutional guard of Louis XVI. On the outbreak of the Revolution he was made a sublieutenant in a cavalry regiment, and a little later aid-de-camp to General Hué. His gallantry and his extreme republicanism soon won him the rank of colonel. He served with distinction under Bonaparte in Italy and Egypt. He finally rose to be general of division (1799), and having returned with Bonaparte from Egypt to France, he rendered most important assistance on the 18th Brumaire, by dispersing the Council of Five Hundred at Saint-Cloud. Bonaparte now intrusted him with the command of the Consular Guard, and gave him his youngest sister, Caroline, in marriage (Jan. 20, 1800). The same year Murat commanded the cavalry at Marengo, and expelled the Neapolitans from the Papal States. In 1803 he was a member of the Corps Législatif, and in 1804 Governor of Paris. On the establishment of the Empire he was loaded with honors, being made a marshal of the Empire (1804), and Prince and Grand Admiral (1805). He continued to command the cavalry in the armies led by the Emperor, contributed to the triumph of the French at Austerlitz, and to other victories by his enthusiasm and commanding appearance as well as by his military talent. In 1800 the newly erected Grand Duchy of Berg (q.v.) was bestowed upon him. After the battle of Jena, in 1806, he led in the pursuit of the Prussians, and in 1807 he participated in the battles of Eylau and Friedland. In 1808 Napoleon placed him in command of the army in Spain, where in May he suppressed the insurrection in Madrid. Joseph Bonaparte having exchanged the throne of Naples for that of Spain, Murat was made his successor, and on Aug. 1, 1808, was proclaimed King of Naples under the title of Joachim I. He immediately took possession of the Kingdom of Naples, but the Bourbons, through the support of Great Britain, retained Sicily. Murat instituted a number of wise and beneficent reforms, but had to endure the yoke of Napoleon, who left him little but the outward show of royalty. In the Russian campaign of 1812 he commanded the cavalry, but after sharing in the disaster which befell the French army returned to Naples anxious and discontented. He joined the French army again in 1813, and distinguished himself at Dresden, but after the battle of Leipzig withdrew to his own dominions and concluded a treaty with Great Britain and Austria in January, 1814, by which he was guaranteed the possession of his throne on condition of joining the coalition against Napoleon and contributing 30,000 troops to the allied armies. After a pretense of attacking Eugène Beauharnais in Italy, Murat withdrew to Naples and entered into private communication with Napoleon at Elba. On the Emperor's return to France, Murat placed himself at the head of an army of 40,000 men and commenced a war against Austria. He was defeated by the Austrians at Tolentino, May 2-3. Naples was evacuated May 19, and Murat fled to the island of Ischia, and finally found his way to France, while his wife and children took refuge with the British fleet. Napoleon declined to treat with his brother-in-law on any terms and forbade his presence in Paris. Murat then found a refuge near London, and after Waterloo he fled to Corsica. Declining Metternich's offer of an asylum in Austria, he proceeded in a foolhardy manner with a few followers to the coast of Naples and proclaimed himself king and liberator, but was presently taken prisoner, and after trial by a court-martial was shot in a hall of the castle of Pizzo, Oct. 13, 1815.

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XVI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 446-447.