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It is considered that the expression “make the cousin” was born precisely derived from the recochineo with which Joaquín Murat, sent by Napoleon to take Spain, was imposing his will point by point to the Infante don Antonio Pascual de Bourbon, the man in charge of presiding over the Supreme Board in the absence of King Carlos IV and his son Fernando VII. He did it through letters headed with the formal formulas “sir, cousin” or “my cousin”, which was the treatment used by the royal house for the greats of Spain, but which, said in the mouth of Murat, sounded like a whistle.
king of naples
Joaquin Murat, advance guard of the French, was not a man much given to respecting the decadent royal houses of Europe. The young historian tells Jonathan Jacobo Bar Shuali in his excellent work ‘The Napoleonic Army: the grande armée of Napoleon and his allies’ (Nowtilus) that this son of an innkeeper from Labastide-Fortunière, in southern France, was destined for an ecclesiastical career, but ended up enlisted as a horseman in 1787 because of “his strong character.”
Five years later, the Frenchman was already an officer and was fighting hand in hand with Napoleon. In 1798, he was promoted to major general and was present at all the great battles of the great little Corsican. In the Italian campaign of 1800, he helped win the Battle of Marengo and also played a leading role in the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 and at Jena the following year. In 1807, he made himself immortal in history by launching the largest cavalry charge ever seen during the Battle of Eylau, leading between 10,000 and 12,000 cavalry against the Russians.
However, it was his wedding to Caroline Bonaparte, sister of the Corsican, the one who changed his life. Both were lovers of the arts and social life, they liked luxury and rub shoulders with the great … His military career and the influence of his brother-in-law took him in a few years to marshal (1804), duke (1806) Y king of naples (1808). Before reaching this throne, he led the invasion of 50,000 troops to Spain, which was at that time fractured between the supporters of Carlos IV and those of his son. Ferdinand VII. Murat convinced the king and queen that he was on their side and, in exchange for revoking the abdication in favor of his son, the marshal took Manuel Godoy, imprisoned by Fernando VII, out of his prison in Villaviciosa de Odón to guard him in his barracks of Chamartin. In this way, he took control of both sides without firing a gram of gunpowder. the infant anthonyfrom the Fernandino side, transferred a tortuous version of these events to his nephew:
«The vermin [por María Luisa] It is written that it is a pleasure with Murat and that he has obtained the release of the choricero prince; but your father’s pachorro has been the one who has most warmly requested his release and that they not cut off his head […]. Your father, who can’t handle his rheumatism anymore, says that his pain is the thorns you’ve stuck in his heart. Where did he get those beautiful words from? He will have taught them the vermin »
“He was always dressed in great luxury”
To avoid further dynastic complications, Murat shepherded the royal family to Bayonne, where his brother-in-law would be in charge of putting order. As governor of Madrid, Murat suffered the Uprising of May 2, 1808 when he tried to evacuate the last Bourbon members in Spain to France, a popular revolt that he suppressed with the order to shoot the crowd that gathered in front of the Royal Palace and then he assaulted with blood and fire. His was the order of the numerous executions without any kind of trial, as well as the artistic plundering of the Crown’s heritage, which included paintings and sculptures, jewelery and even watches from the royal collection that ended up in the hands of his wife Carolina and Josefina herself.
Murat took the opportunity to nominate himself as King of Spain, but Napoleon preferred to hand over the position to his brother Joseph Bonaparte, naming Murat King of Naples with the name of Joachim I Napoleon. The prize was less, but it allowed the humble rider the miracle of turning his blood blue.
During the campaign to conquer Russia, the horseman “led two cavalry corps and always dressed – in the words of Bar Shuali – the hussar in all kinds of combinations and styles: mamluks”. Caucasian explorers admired his style, riding a chair made of cheetah skin, always obsessed with his dandy image. Napoleon’s valetLouis Constant Wairy, wrote the way in which he won the appreciation of the rude Lithuanians:
«He was always dressed in great luxury, and when his horse carried him to the forefront of his columns, and the wind ruffled his abundant hair; when he gave those saber blows that mowed down men, then it is explained to me that he particularly liked those warrior tribes whose external qualities are the only ones that can be appreciated. It has been said that the King of Naples, brandishing only his own great saber, drove back a whole horde of those barbarians.”
However, after the Russian campaign, Murat distanced himself from the Emperor of the French. fearing an uncontrollable riot, Murat returned to Naples without warning anyone, abandoning the supreme command that Napoleon had given him and began to maneuver to survive his brother-in-law. In the following years, betrayals and reconciliations followed one another, without Murat managing to get out of the dangerous game board alive. Parallel to the definitive fall of the Corsican, the french rider he was imprisoned in the castle of Pizzo, where a summary commission judged him and sentenced him to death.
On the day of his execution, he dressed in his Marshal of France uniform and did not consent to being blindfolded, saying: “J’ai bravé la mort trop souvent pour la craindre” (“I have defied death too many times to have him fear”). In addition, he asked his executioners: “Sauvez ma face, visez à mon coeur… Feu!” (“Respect my face, aim at my heart… Fire!”).
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism