Joachim Murat
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Joachim Murat

Joachim Murat
Portrait by François Gérard
King of Naples
Reign1 August 1808 - 19 May 1815
PredecessorJoseph I
SuccessorFerdinand IV of Naples
Grand Duke of Berg
SuccessorLouis I
Regent of Spain
BornJoachim Murat
(1767-03-25)25 March 1767
La Bastide-Fortunière, Lot, France
Pizzo Calabro, Calabria, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Père Lachaise Cemetery;
Castello di Pizzo, Naples
SpouseCaroline Bonaparte
Full name
French: Joachim-Napoléon Murat
Italian: Gioacchino-Napoleone Murat
FatherPierre Murat-Jordy
MotherJeanne Loubières
ReligionRoman Catholic
SignatureJoachim Murat's signature

Joachim-Napoléon Murat (French pronunciation: ​[?oa nap?le my?a]; born Joachim Murat; Italian: Gioacchino Napoleone Murat; German: Joachim-Napoleon Murat; 25 March 1767 - 13 October 1815) was a Marshal of the Empire and Admiral during the reign of Napoleon. He was also the 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808, and King of Naples from 1808 to 1815. Murat received his titles in part by being Napoleon's brother-in-law through marriage to his younger sister, Caroline Bonaparte, as well as personal merit. He was noted as a daring, brave, and charismatic cavalry officer as well as a flamboyant dresser, for which he was known as "the Dandy King".

Early life

Murat was born on 25 March 1767 in La Bastide-Fortunière[1] (renamed Labastide-Murat after its renowned citizen), in Guyenne (present-day Lot department of France) to Pierre Murat-Jordy (d. 27 July 1799), an affluent yeoman[2]innkeeper, postmaster[3] and Roman Catholic churchwarden, and his wife Jeanne Loubières (1722 - 11 March 1806), daughter of Pierre Loubières and of his wife Jeanne Viellescazes. Pierre Murat-Jordy was the son of Guillaume Murat (1692-1754) and his wife Marguerite Herbeil (d. 1755), paternal grandson of Pierre Murat (b. 1634) and his wife Catherine Badourès (d. 1697), and maternal grandson of Bertrand Herbeil and his wife Anne Roques.


French Revolutionary Wars



13 Vendémiaire

In the autumn of 1795, three years after King Louis XVI of France was deposed, royalists and counter-revolutionaries organised an armed uprising. On 3 October, General Napoleon Bonaparte, who was stationed in Paris, was named commander of the French National Convention's defending forces. This constitutional convention, after a long period of emergency rule, was striving to establish a more stable and permanent government in the uncertain period following the Reign of Terror. Bonaparte tasked Murat with the gathering of artillery from a suburb outside the control of the government's forces. Murat managed to take the cannons of the Camp des Sablons and transport them to the centre of Paris while avoiding the rioters. The use of these cannons - the famous "whiff of grapeshot" - on 5 October allowed Bonaparte to save the members of the National Convention.[10] For this success, Murat was made chef de brigade (colonel) and thereafter remained one of Napoleon's best officers.

Italian and Egyptian campaigns

Marriage certificate of Murat and Caroline Bonaparte, Archives nationales

In 1796, with the situation in the capital and government apparently stabilised and the war going poorly (See also: French Revolutionary Wars), Bonaparte lobbied to join the armies attempting to secure the revolution against the invading monarchist forces. Murat then went with Bonaparte to northern Italy, initially as his aide-de-camp, and was later named commander of the cavalry during the many campaigns against the Austrians and their allies. These forces were waging war on France and seeking to restore the Bourbon monarchy. Murat's valour and daring cavalry charges later earned him the rank of general in these important campaigns, the battles of which became famous as Bonaparte constantly used speed of maneuver to fend off and eventually defeat individually superior opposing armies closing in on the French forces from several directions. Thus, Murat's skills in no small part helped establish Bonaparte's legendary fame and enhance his popularity with the French people.

Murat commanded the cavalry of the French Egyptian expedition of 1798, again under Bonaparte. In 1799, some remaining staff officers, including Murat, and Bonaparte returned to France, eluding various British fleets in five frigates. A short while later, Murat played an important, even pivotal, role in Bonaparte's "coup within a coup" of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799), when he first assumed political power. Along with two others (including Director Abbé Sieyès), Bonaparte set aside the five-man directory government, establishing the three-man French Consulate.


Napoleonic Wars

Murat as King of Naples

Napoleon made Murat a Marshal of the Empire on 18 May 1804, and also granted him the title of "First Horseman of Europe". He was made Prince of the Empire and Admiral of the Empire in 1805, despite having very little knowledge about naval warfare. After several territorial concessions made by Prussia, the Grand Duchy of Berg was set up, he was appointed Grand Duke of Berg and Duke of Cleves on 15 March 1806, and held this title until 1 August 1808, when he was named King of Naples. However, his transition would not be an easy one, seeing as Joseph Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother and previous king, took many of the able-bodied soldiers and administrators with him. Murat was in charge of the French Army in Madrid when the popular Dos de Mayo Uprising that started the Peninsular War broke out.

Murat proved to be equally useful in the Russian campaign of 1812, where he distinguished himself as the best cavalry commander of the Grande Armee at battles such as Smolensk and Borodino, and expertly helped in commanding the retreat. He continued to serve Napoleon during the German Campaign of 1813. However, following Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Leipzig, Murat reached a secret agreement with the Allies in order to save his own throne, raising 30,000 troops and switching sides to the Coalition; Napoleon was so shocked he refused to believe his best and most trusted cavalry commander would turn on him, blaming it on his sister Caroline, who was Queen of Naples.

During the Hundred Days, he soon realized that the European powers, meeting at the Congress of Vienna, intended to remove him and return the Kingdom of Naples to its pre-Napoleonic rulers. Murat deserted his new allies before the War of the Seventh Coalition and, after issuing a proclamation to Italian patriots in Rimini, moved north to fight against the Austrians in the Neapolitan War in order to strengthen his rule in Italy by military means. However, he was defeated by Austrian general Frederick Bianchi at the Battle of Tolentino (2-3 May 1815).


Murat fled to Corsica after Napoleon's fall. He attempted to rejoin Napoleon and take up his post as commander of the Cavalry again, but doubting his loyalty Napoleon refused. So, with his around a thousand followers, he hoped to regain control of Naples by fomenting an insurrection in Calabria, a decision he would later regret when his former allies, whom he had deserted, campaigned for his arrest in Calabria. Arriving at the port of Pizzo with 200 men, Murat attempted to rally support in the town square, but his plan turned awry. The crowd was hostile and he was attacked by an old woman blaming him for the loss of her son.

Soon he was captured by forces of King Ferdinand IV of Naples. He was imprisoned in the Castello di Pizzo, a massive structure initially built as a fortress to fight off pirates, in the harbor of Pizzo, from where he wrote several letters, especially to his family. He was tried for treason and sentenced to death by firing squad.

On 13 October, King Ferdinand, under the advice of the British ambassador to Naples, William à Court, issued a decree by which "the condemned shall be granted not more than half an hour for the reception of religious aid."


« Soldats! Faites votre devoir ! Droit au coeur mais épargnez le visage. Feu ! »

"Soldiers! Do your duty! Straight to the heart but spare the face. Fire!"[11]

Coats of arms


Caroline Bonaparte and her children

Murat and Caroline had four children:


Murat had a brother named Pierre (La Bastide-Fortunière, 27 November 1748 - La Bastide-Fortunière, 8 October 1792), who married at La Bastide-Fortunière on 26 February 1783 Louise d'Astorg (La Bastide-Fortunière, 23 October 1762 - 31 May 1832), daughter of Aymeric d'Astorg, born in 1721, and wife Marie Alanyou, paternal granddaughter of Antoine d'Astorg, born 18 November 1676, and wife Marie de Mary (4 May 1686 - 7 October 1727) and maternal granddaughter of Jean Alanyou and wife Louise de Valon.

His other brother André (1760-1841) was made 1st Count Murat in 1810.




  1. ^ Chavanon, Jules and Georges Saint-Yves, Joachim Murat (1767-1815), (Libraire Hachette, 1905), 4.
  2. ^ Fisher, Herbert A. L., Studies in Napoleonic Statesmanship Germany (Chap. IX The Foundation of the Grand-Duchy of Berg), p. 174, Ardent Media, 1968.
  3. ^ Ramsay Weston Phipps (1926). The Armies of the First French Republic: And the Rise of the Marshals of Napoleon I. 1. Oxford University Press, H. Milford. pp. 146-147.
  4. ^ Phipps, p. 146
  5. ^ Phipps, p. 146.
  6. ^ Phipps, p. 147.
  7. ^ Phipps, p. 147.
  8. ^ Phipps, p. 147.
  9. ^ Phipps, pp. 148-49.
  10. ^ Connelly, pp. 20-21.
  11. ^ Murat, Caroline (1910). My Memoirs. London. p. 23.


  • Bonar, Hugh S. (Jr.), Joachim Murat : lieutenant of the Emperor, Consortium on Revolutionary Europe 1750-1850 (University of Florida), Articles relatifs totalement ou partiellement à la période 1795-1815, Proceedings 1989.
  • Chavanon, Jules and Georges Saint-Yves, Joachim Murat (1767-1815), Libraire Hachette, 1905.
  • Connelly, Owen, Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns, Scholarly Resources Imprint, 1987.
  • Fisher, Herbert A. L., Studies in Napoleonic Statesmanship Germany, Ardent Media, 1968.
  • Phipps, Ramsey Weston. Armies of the First French Republic. London: Greenwood Publishers, 1926, vol. 1.

Further reading

  • Potocka-W?sowiczowa, Anna z Tyszkiewiczów. Wspomnienia naocznego ?wiadka. Warszawa: Pa?stwowy Instytut Wydawniczy, 1965.

External links

Joachim Murat
House of Murat
Born: 25 March 1767 Died: 13 October 1815
Regnal titles
New title Grand Duke of Berg
15 Mar 1806 - 1 Aug 1808
Succeeded by
Louis I
Preceded by
Joseph I
King of Naples
1 Aug 1808 - 19 May 1815
Succeeded by
Ferdinand IV
French nobility
of the First French Empire
New title Prince Murat Succeeded by
Achille Murat




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