MURAT, JoAcniNt (1707-1815). A celebrated French eavalry leader, King of Naples from 1808 to 1813. Ile was born Alareh 25, 1767, being the son of a well-to-do innkeeper at Ladlastide-Fortunierc. neat• Ca hors, in France. ile was intended for the priesthood and com menc•ed the study of theology and canon law at Toulouse. but soon enlisted in a cavalry regiment. Being dismissed for insubordination after Iwo years of service, he returned to his home, and later proceeded to Paris. where ho obtained admission into the constitutional guard of Louis XVI. through the good ollices of a friendly Deputy. M. Cavignae. On the out break of the Revolution he was made a sub lieutenant in a cavalry regiment, and a little inter aide-de-camp to General Hui. His gal lantry and his extreme Republieanism soon won him the rank of colonel. 1Te sttailied himself closely to Bonaparte in 1795-90, and later served under him in Italy and in Egypt. signalizing himself in many battles. He finally rose to be gem ra I of division (1799). and having returned with Bonaparte from Egypt to France, he ren dered most important assistance out the 18th of Brumaire. by dispersing the Council of Five Hundred at Saint Cloud. Bonaparte now• in trusted him with the command of the Consular ilnard, and gave hint his youngest. sister, Caro line. in marriage (January 20, 1800). The same year commanded the cavalry at :Marengo, and expelled the Neapolitans from the Papal States. In 1803 he was a member of the Corps L('gi.slotif, and in 18111 Governor of Paris. On the establishment of the Empire he Was loaded with honors. being made a marshal of the Em pire (18011. and a prince and Grand Admiral 181151. Ile e'ontiuicd to command the cavalry in the armies led by- the Emperor. contributed to the triumph of the French at. Austerlitz, and to oilier victories. In 1806 the newly erected Grand Ducln• of Berg (41.v.) was bestowed upon him. A It er the battle of Jena, in 180G. he led in the pursuit of the Prussians, and in 1807 he partici pated in the battles of Eylau and Friedland. In 1808 Napoleon placed him in eomnstnd 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 August 1, 1808, Was proclaimed King of Naples nnder the title of Joachim I. Napoleon• lie immediately took possession of the Kingdom of Naples. but the Bourbons, through the support of Great Britain. retained Sicily. Murat institut ed 11 number of Wise and beneficent reforms. but had to endure the yoke of Napoleon, who left him little lint the outward show of royalty. In the Russian campaign of 1813 he commanded the cavalry, but afle•r sharing in the disaster which befell the Freue•h army returned to Naples anxions and di.c?mteniol. IIe• joined the French triny again in 1813. and distinguished himself at Dres den. but afte•r the battle of Leipzig withdrew to his oNvit dmmimloms and concluded a treaty with Great Britain and Austria in January. NU. he was guaranteed the pos.e,sion of his throne on condition of joining the coalition nisi Napoleon and contributing 30.000 troops to the allied armies. After a pretense of at tacking EugMle Beauharnais in Italy, Murat withdrew to Naples and entered into private communivations with Napoleon at Elba. On the Emperor's return to France, Murat placed him self at the head of an army of 40,000 men and commeneed a war against Austria. lle was de feated by the Austrians at Tolentino, May 2d-3d. Naples was evacuated May 111th, 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 found a refuge near London, and after Waterloo lie 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, hut was presently taken prisoner, and after trial by a court martial, was shot in a hall of the Castle of Pizzo, October 13, 1815.
Consult Helfert. Joachim Murat, seine letz.ten Kampf(' and sein Ende (Vienna, 1578) ; Gallois, Histoire do Joachim Murat (Paris, 1838) ; Guardione, Gioachimo Murat in Italia (Palermo, 1899). See NAPOLEON I.