Joseph Antoine Morio

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Joseph Antoine Morio de Marienborn

Joseph Antoine Morio de Marienborn (born January 16, 1771 in Chantelle , France , † December 25, 1811 in Kassel ) was a French officer and temporarily Minister of War of the Kingdom of Westphalia . He was murdered by a farrier in the royal stables of the King of Westphalia.

Coming from a humble background, Morio rose to the rank of general in the republican army of France and then in the grand army of Napoléon. He then held various ministerial offices in the Kingdom of Westphalia, which Napoleon had created for his youngest brother as part of the Rhine Confederation after the Peace of Tilsit .

Life and military career

Joseph Antoine Morio was the son of the farmer Antoine Morio and Françoise Lebel. In 1807 he married Claire Adélaïde le Camus (1789–1874), the sister of Pierre Alexandre le Camus , who, as Count von Fürstenstein and Minister-State Secretary, was an important favorite of the Westphalian King Jérôme Bonaparte .

training

On August 24, 1789, Morio began his military training as a naval student , which he completed by January 1, 1791. He then attended from September 1, 1792 the military school of the artillery in Châlons-en-Champagne , which he left on June 1, 1793 with the rank of élève sous-lieutenant ( ensign ). On August 30, 1793, Morio was promoted to Sous-lieutenant in the 18th light artillery company . In 1793 and 1794 he served in the French Northern Army (Armée du Nord from 1791). On September 22, 1794 he was promoted to Capitaine des corps du genie ( pioneer troop ).

French army

A short time later, Morio was sent to Grenoble to join a unit of the expeditionary forces aiming at the East Indies . However, since the expedition was postponed to a later date, Morio received a post in the Armèe du Côtes de La Rochelle in 1795 , then with the Rhine Army . He then accompanied the to the French ambassador to the Sublime Porte in Constantinople Opel appointed General Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet . During his tenure from March 22, 1796 to April 15, 1797 Morio stayed in Constantinople. After his return to France on October 20, 1797, Morio was given command of the corps du genie , the engineering team , the Armée d'Italie . The operational area of ​​this army at that time extended from Palma Nova on Mallorca to Corfu . The French government commissioner for these islands appointed Morio on October 22, 1798 provisional chief de bataillon . After his return from Corfu on March 4, 1799 Morio was officially confirmed the grade on 25 December of that year and he shortly afterwards, on 29 March 1800, when sous-directeur , ie as deputy head of the fortifications of Peschiera del Garda used . Risen to the rank of Commandant , Morio was commissioned on December 30, 1801 with the construction of fortifications in Legnano . He devoted himself to this task until December 11, 1802, and from January 20, 1803 he supervised the construction of fortifications on an unspecified Elbe island in the service of the army of the Electorate of Hanover . After being appointed commander of the engineering troops of the 1st Corps of the Grande Armée in October 1805 , he applied his fortification building skills in the service of the Grande Armée in 1805 and 1806.

Minister of War of the Kingdom of Westphalia

During the Fourth Coalition War , Morio was unfit for combat on October 9, 1806, the day before the battle near Saalfeld , in the battle for Schleiz with a pistol shot in the leg. It was not until January 1807 that he was able to actively participate in the fighting again as an assistant to Prince Jérôme Bonaparte during his campaign in Silesia. After Jérôme Bonaparte had been crowned King of Westphalia, Morio first rose to Général de brigade on November 18, 1807 . When the previously incumbent Minister of War Joseph Lagrange was withdrawn to France, Morio was temporarily given the Minister of War's portfolio on December 14, 1807 . On February 2, 1808, Morio became Minister of War of the Kingdom of Westphalia.

The Spanish campaign in 1809

By leaving the French army, Morio, along with Jérôme Bonaparte, had drawn the anger of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte . In August 1808, at the behest of the emperor, he was dismissed as minister of war by the king, because the organization of 6,000 men under his responsibility for sending to Spain was too slow. He was replaced by the French Général de division Jean Baptiste Eblé . In February 1809 he was sent to Spain with the Westphalian troops. He is said to have shown himself to the captured Spaniards very humane. After the siege of Girona, Morio fell ill and left the front to recover in Perpignan . By this removal of the troops Morio took again the anger of the Emperor to himself, and when he is in the spring of 1810 in his capacity as first adjutant of King Jérôme of Paris for the marriage by proxy of the Emperor with his second wife, Marie-Louise of Austria , went , he was deeply humiliated by the emperor.

Elevation to Count

However, due to his close relationship with Jérôme, Morio continued to rise. In 1810, he was knighted by the Order of the Westphalian Crown , promoted to Colonel général of the hunting troops of the royal Westphalian Guard and Général de division , gifted with the estate of the Marienborn Abbey, which Jérôme had repealed, and made Count of Marienborn.

assassination

Morio was gunned down from behind on December 24, 1811 at around 2 p.m. in the stables at today's Neue Galerie in Kassel . According to an eyewitness account, the perpetrator was a farrier, for whom the name Gasco is mentioned. He was angry about an unapproved wage increase and planned the murder for several days. After the assassination, Morio lived a further 27 hours consciously before succumbing to his wounds.

According to another source, Morio caused great resentment among the French workers in the royal stables in his capacity as the grand stable master because he had also hired local workers. Since they had proven extremely efficient, the French workers were all the more bitter. A French blacksmith named Lesage from Tarascon asked Morio for a wage increase, which the count rejected. After the enraged Lesage asked for his release, Morio offered to pay for his trip home, but that only upset the farrier. With the pretext that iron was being stolen from the farrier's shop, he obtained Morio's pistols with permission. He waited for days for a favorable opportunity to murder the count. Lesage fired a total of four shots, one at Morio, a second at the head stable master Carl Ludwig Philipp von Gilsa , who was in the stable with Morio at the time of the crime to examine a horse that the king's wife, Katharina , had wanted. A third shot was fired at the equerry Saint-Saveur, who grabbed Lesage, and a fourth shot a door closer trying to block his way. Lesage then fled to the city center, but was caught soon afterwards. When he was questioned, he showed no remorse. He was sentenced to death shortly afterwards. He wanted to bring about his death more quickly by going on a hunger strike; his bride, a Hessin, offered to marry him and share the prison sentence with him. That was rejected by the criminal court of the Fulda department .

Lesage's bullet had injured Morio's spine, so that even well-known doctors called from Göttingen could not do anything for him. Both legs were paralyzed. Morio died on December 25, 1811 around 6 p.m. Lesage was beheaded on January 31, 1812 . At the spot on the Kassel boulevard Bellevue where Lesage had shot Morio, a metal plate reminded of what had happened.

funeral

Morio bequeathed three quarters of his fortune to his wife Claire Adelaide, to whom he had been married for four years at the time of his death and who was three months pregnant. His poor brothers received a quarter. The funeral on December 31, 1811 was attended by the king and the entire royal court, as well as representatives of all authorities in the royal seat of Kassel. Morio was buried in the former Hessian military cemetery. This was located in the city center of Kassel and was bounded by the Luther Church to the northwest, Gießbergstrasse to the north and the Kurhessian infantry barracks to the south and southeast. It was built over; Morio's grave and tomb are not preserved.

Marriages and offspring

He was married twice.

  • His first wife was Marie Anne Petit (* around 1775, † 1805). The couple had a daughter who died shortly after giving birth.
  • On April 21, 1808 he married Claire Adelaide le Camus (1789–1875), a sister of the Westphalian State Secretary Pierre Alexandre le Camus , Count of Fürstenstein. With her he had the son Jérôme Frédéric Joseph (* 1812; †?). After the death of her husband, Claire Adelaide married the Admiral Victor Guy Duperré (1775-1846).

Awards

literature

  • Leopold Freiherr von Hohenhausen: Biography of the General von Ochs . 1st edition. Luckhardt, Kassel 1827, p. 166-206 .
  • Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer . 1st edition. tape 2 . Paris 1851, p. 343-344 .
  • National league: Austrian observer . Bulletin of the National League . 11th edition. Vienna 4, Frankenberggasse 14 January 11, 1812, p. 45 .
  • Carl von Reck: The murder of Count Morio in Kassel in 1811. An eyewitness report by Carl Heinrich Adolph. In: Yearbook of the district of Kassel. 1st edition. Self-published, Kassel 2008, p. 108 .
  • Wolfgang Hermsdorff: fatal shots on the Bellevue on Christmas Eve. Vengeance e. Blacksmiths - murderer beheaded - attempt to rescue the bride; solemn burial d. Generals on d. Military cemetery - descendants at the crime scene . In: Heimatverein Dorothea Viehmann (Kassel). Home letter . tape 35 , 1991, pp. 12-13 .
  • Georges Rougeron: Les Consultations politiques dans le département d'Allier . 1st edition. Impr. A. Pottier, Moulins 1964, p. 275-279 .
  • Danielle and Bernard Quitin: Dictionnaire des colonels de Napoléon. 1st edition. SPM-Lettrage, Paris 1996, ISBN 978-2-901952-17-6 , pp. 633-634 .
  • Jean Tulard : Dictionnaire Napoléon. 2nd Edition. 2nd volume. Libraire Arthème Fayard, Paris 1999, ISBN 978-2-213-60485-5 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ a b Note 1, Quitin, Danielle and Bernard: Dictionnaire des colonels de Napoléon. Paris 1996. p. 634.
  2. ↑ Moniteur westphalien - gazette officielle; Westphälischer Moniteur - official newspaper of the Kingdom of Westphalia . tape 1 , no. 1 , December 29, 1807, p. 9 .
  3. ↑ Moniteur westphalien - gazette officielle; Westphälischer Moniteur - official newspaper of the Kingdom of Westphalia . tape 2 , no. 18 , February 7, 1808, p. 74 .
  4. ^ Leopold Freiherr von Hohenhausen: Biography of General von Ochs . 1st edition. Luckhardt, Kassel 1827, p. 168 .
  5. ^ Leopold Freiherr von Hohenhausen: Biography of General von Ochs . 1st edition. Luckhardt, Kassel 1827, p. 179 .
  6. ^ Leopold Freiherr von Hohenhausen: Biography of General von Ochs . 1st edition. Luckhardt, Kassel 1827, p. 198 .
  7. ↑ Moniteur westphalien - gazette officielle; Westphälischer Moniteur - official newspaper of the Kingdom of Westphalia . tape 4 , no. 53 , April 28, 1808, pp. 214 .
  8. ^ Peter Wilhelm Behrends: Neuhaldenslebische Kreis-Chronik or history of all places of the district Neuhaldensleben, in Magdeburgischen. Second part. Eyraud, Neuhaldensleben, 1826, p. 552
  9. ^ Reck, Carl von: The murder of Count Morio in 1811 in Kassel. An eyewitness report by Carl Heinrich Adolph von Reck. In: District of Kassel. Yearbook. 2008, p. 108.
  10. ↑ a b Wolfgang Hermsdorff: Death shots on the Bellevue on Christmas Eve. Vengeance e. Blacksmiths - murderer beheaded - attempt to rescue the bride; solemn burial d. Generals on d. Military cemetery - descendants at the crime scene . In: Heimatverein Dorothea Viehmann (Kassel). Home letter . tape 35 , 1991, pp. 12-13 .
  11. ↑ Shots at the stable master ( Memento from May 20, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (pdf).
  12. ^ Information from the Kassel cemetery administration dated May 25, 2016 after a written request from Christianschmidt21 .
  13. ↑ Today's military cemetery was only laid out in 1865.
personal data
SURNAME Morio, Joseph Antoine
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morio de Marienborn, Joseph Antoine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Count and Minister of War of the Kingdom of Westphalia
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1771
PLACE OF BIRTH Chantelle , France
DATE OF DEATH December 25, 1811
Place of death kassel
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on July 24, 2016 .