Murat: Celebrated Crimes

In Short

This narrative follows the final weeks of Joachim Murat, the former King of Naples and brother-in-law to Napoleon, as he attempts to reclaim his throne in the aftermath of Waterloo. Stripped of his crown and wandering as a fugitive, Murat’s journey through the Mediterranean is marked by betrayal, failed military ambition, and a tragic, doomed landing in Pizzo. The book remains a poignant study of a man grappling with his own historical shadow, serving as a bleak, gripping record of the end of the Napoleonic era’s most colorful and volatile figures.

The Story

The story opens in June 1815, as the Battle of Waterloo seals the fate of the French Empire. Murat, once a towering figure on the European stage, moves through Provence disguised as a beggar, abandoned by the Emperor and seeking a path toward a uncertain future. He is haunted by his lost glory, lamenting that he cannot die on the field of battle for the man he served. He secures passage to Corsica, aided by a small circle of loyalists, though his efforts are plagued by the treachery of those who fear being associated with a fallen king.

Upon reaching Corsica, Murat finds himself celebrated by the local populace, who still hail him as "King of Naples." Emboldened by this fleeting popularity and ignoring warnings that his time has passed, he gathers a small fleet and a handful of supporters for a final, reckless invasion of the Calabrian coast. His hubris is matched only by the desertion of his own commanders, who abandon him at sea, leaving him with only a few dozen men as he attempts to land at Pizzo.

The landing is an immediate catastrophe. Murat, dressed in his royal uniform and clutching a banner, hopes to inspire a popular uprising in the town square. Instead, he is met with indifference and eventually hostility. When his supporters flee or are killed, he is captured by local forces and cast into the town’s common jail. During his final days, he faces a makeshift military tribunal that he refuses to recognize, maintaining his royal dignity while mourning the loss of his young aide, Campana, who dies in the initial skirmish.

The climax arrives with his execution. Refusing to plead for his life, Murat faces a firing squad with the same discipline he once commanded on the battlefield. Even when the soldiers, overcome by hesitation, intentionally miss him on the first volley, he calmly instructs them to aim for his heart to end his suffering. He is killed, and the narrative concludes with a gruesome finality: his body is desecrated, his head is removed and later kept in a cupboard by his enemy, King Ferdinand, while his betrayers and executioners are rewarded with titles and promotions.

How It Unfolds

The beggar on the road Murat, dressed in rags, meets an old comrade, Marshal Brune, near the Gorge of Ollioulles. They share a somber farewell as they realize their respective paths lead only to death.

Searching for a sanctuary Guided by his nephew, a naval captain, Murat navigates a series of dangerous hiding spots along the coast. He repeatedly attempts to board a brig that promises safety, but the shifting tides and the cowardice of boatmen force him into increasingly precarious positions.

The storm at sea Determined to reach Corsica, Murat forces his small party into a storm-tossed boat. He faces the tempest with the same stoicism he brought to the battlefield, dismissing the sailors’ warnings as he clings to his dream of restoration.

The call to arms Once in Corsica, Murat is fêted by the people of Ajaccio and Viscovato. Encouraged by this adoration, he misinterprets the crowd's sentiment as a mandate for a military campaign and organizes a small expeditionary force.

The betrayal at Pizzo Murat lands at Pizzo, expecting a warm reception, but finds only silence and resistance. His fleet abandons him, and he is quickly captured by local men who prioritize their own standing with the ruling power over loyalty to the former king.

The final judgment Held in a common prison, Murat is subjected to a summary trial by his former subordinates. He refuses to participate in the proceedings, demanding the dignity due his rank as a king and a soldier.

The execution Murat faces a firing squad in the prison courtyard, maintaining his composure until the end. His death is followed by the grim disposal of his remains and the chilling discovery of his fate by those who sought to erase his influence.

The People

Joachim Murat is the central, tragic anchor of the narrative. Once a king, he is now a man defined by the dichotomy of his past grandeur and his present anonymity. He remains trapped by his own identity, unable to act as a private citizen because he cannot unlearn the habits of command. His refusal to bargain for his life or acknowledge his judges is his final act of self-assertion.

Marshal Brune acts as the mirror to Murat’s decline, a fellow traveler in ruin who accepts his fate with a weary resignation that Murat initially resists. His presence underscores the total collapse of the Napoleonic hierarchy.

M. Marouin, the provincial lawyer, provides the moral contrast to the opportunists. He offers refuge to a king with no power to reward him, driven solely by a sense of duty and integrity. His eventual fate is left in the shadow of the larger tragedy, representing the common man caught in the wake of great, crumbling machines.

The various betrayers—the captains who abandon the fleet and the local leaders in Pizzo—serve as the agents of a cold, new reality. They possess no loyalty beyond their own preservation, and their elevation at the end of the narrative emphasizes the triumph of bureaucratic vengeance over the romantic, if doomed, figure of the soldier-king.

In Its Own Voice

"Fighting now and I not there! Oh, I feel I could have been of use to him on this battlefield."

Murat expresses his profound, lingering sense of purpose and his inability to reconcile his identity as a soldier with his current state of exile.

"I could, not officially recognise the judges you have named without tearing too many pages of history."

Murat explains his refusal to stand trial before a tribunal of his own former inferiors, choosing death over the humiliation of a compromised legal process.

"He was dressed in a general's coat, white breeches and riding-boots, a belt carrying two pistols, a gold-embroidered hat with a cockade fastened in with a clasp made of fourteen brilliants, and lastly he carried under his arm the banner round which he hoped to rally his partisans."

This description of Murat arriving at Pizzo highlights the tragic dissonance between his regal, outdated presentation and the harsh, indifferent reality of his arrival.

What It's Really About

The book explores the hollow nature of power and the inevitability of change. It asks whether a man can ever truly discard the role that defines his existence, or if he is destined to act out his former station until he is destroyed by it. Murat is not just a victim of bad luck; he is a prisoner of his own myth. The narrative argues that once the political tide shifts, the charisma and command that once built empires become liabilities. It is a study in the transition from an era of individual, heroic action to one of rigid, institutional coldness, where even kings are treated as public nuisances to be cleared away.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy historical character studies and the melancholy atmosphere of the Napoleonic decline will find this account compelling. It reads with the urgency of a thriller, yet it is heavy with the weight of biographical tragedy. The prose is clean and direct, painting a sharp portrait of a man who dies as he lived: with a theatrical, almost reckless sense of dignity.

You should be prepared for the stark, sometimes brutal honesty of 19th-century accounts regarding power and death. The book does not shy away from the gruesome reality of Murat’s final moments, nor does it attempt to romanticize the betrayal he faced. It captures a specific, vanished world where personal honor was the currency of survival, and where, as Murat discovers, that currency can suddenly become worthless. If you are interested in the human psychology of an exile—the way he clings to the past while staring into the abyss of the future—this will stay with you long after the final page. It is a brief but profound encounter with a man who, having lost his world, ultimately realizes that the only thing left to defend is the image he leaves behind for history.