Lucio Caracciolo, Duke of Roccoromana (1771 - 1836) was a Neapolitan aristocrat and general who was a distinguished member of the Courts of both Ferdinand IV and Joachim Murat.
In 1808 he was made colonel of a regiment of Veliti a cavallo in the army of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples. In 1810, a French Colonel Durand seeking to reassign several of the best cavalrymen in the Duke's regiment to a new regiment of Cuirassiers Durand had been ordered to form, the Duke felt himself affronted at having his men stolen and challenged Durand to a duel over the transfer. The two men met on horseback in full uniform and charged each other with sabres twice before Roccaromana's blade cut a wound along his opponent's arm and the affair was ended in the Duke's favour.[1] In 1812, he was appointed by Murat to be his Grand Equerry.[2] He accompanied his king on the Russian Campaign where, during the retreat, he lost all fingers on his left hand through frostbite. Having driven off an attack of cossacks, Roccaromana and his cavalry formed for a time part of Napoleon's escort as the Emperor was taken in a sleigh back to Vilna ahead of the main army.[3] He was present at Battle of Tolentino in 1815, where his only son, Ernesto, then aged twenty-two, was killed before him and Murat's army totally defeated.
With the restoration of the BourbonFerdinand IV he was not punished for his loyalty to Murat's regime, and retained his favoured position at the royal court. He received the Royal Order of Saint George and upon the succession of Ferdinand II to the throne of the Two Sicilies he became Captain of the Royal Guard.[4]
Having become acquainted with him during her Grand Tour in the late 1820s, the Countess of Blessington wrote of the now near sixty year old Duke that, at dinner, he "is full of anecdotes, and recounts them with a peculiar grace and vivacity: a better specimen of an Italian gentlemen could not be found; well-informed, dignified yet lively, and with a profound deference in his manner towards women, that reminds one of the days of chivalry."[5] Adding that, despite his advancing age, the Duke's lively bearing and military manner nevertheless "give him the appearance of being at least twenty years younger. In his youth he was considered the flower of the Neapolitan nobility."[5]
Notes
↑ Maceroni, Memoirs of the Life and Adventures of Colonel Maceroni, Vol. I., 394 - 396.
The Parthenopean Republic or Neapolitan Republic was a short-lived, semi-autonomous republic located within the Kingdom of Naples and supported by the French First Republic. The republic emerged during the French Revolutionary Wars after King Ferdinand IV fled before advancing French troops. The republic existed from 21 January to 13 June 1799, collapsing when Ferdinand returned to restore monarchial authority and forcibly subdued republican activities.
The Kingdom of Naples was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was established by the War of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302), when the island of Sicily revolted and was conquered by the Crown of Aragon, becoming a separate kingdom also called the Kingdom of Sicily. This left the Neapolitan mainland under the possession of Charles of Anjou. Later, two competing lines of the Angevin family competed for the Kingdom of Naples in the late 14th century, which resulted in the death of Joanna I by Charles III of Naples. Charles' daughter Joanna II adopted King Alfonso V of Aragon as heir, who would then unite Naples into his Aragonese dominions in 1442.
Joachim Murat was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the military titles of Marshal of the Empire and Admiral of France. He was the first Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808, and King of Naples as Joachim-Napoleon from 1808 to 1815.
The Battle of Maida, fought on 4 July 1806 was a battle between the British expeditionary force and a French force outside the town of Maida in Calabria, Italy during the Napoleonic Wars. John Stuart led 5,236 Anglo-Sicilian troops to victory over about 5,400 Franco-Italian-Polish troops under the command of French general Jean Reynier, inflicting significant losses while incurring relatively few casualties. Maida is located in the toe of Italy, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Catanzaro.
The Neapolitan War, also known as the Austro-Neapolitan War, was a conflict between the Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples and the Austrian Empire. It started on 15 March 1815, when King Joachim Murat declared war on Austria, and ended on 20 May 1815, with the signing of the Treaty of Casalanza. The war occurred during the Hundred Days between Napoleon's return from exile and before he left Paris to be decisively defeated at the Battle of Waterloo. The war was triggered by a pro-Napoleon uprising in Naples and ended with a decisive Austrian victory at the Battle of Tolentino, after which Bourbon monarch Ferdinand IV was reinstated as King of Naples and Sicily. However, the intervention by Austria caused resentment in Italy, which further spurred on the drive towards Italian unification.
Guglielmo Pepe was an Italian general and patriot. He was brother to Florestano Pepe and cousin to Gabriele Pepe. He was married to Mary Ann Coventry, a Scottish woman who was the widow of John Borthwick Gilchrist, linguist and surgeon to the East India Company.
Joanna II was reigning Queen of Naples from 1414 to her death, when the Capetian House of Anjou became extinct. As a mere formality, she used the title of Queen of Jerusalem, Sicily, and Hungary.
Antoine-Charles-Louis, Comte de Lasalle was a French cavalry general during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Often called "The Hussar General," he first gained fame for his role in the Capitulation of Stettin. Throughout his short career, he became known as a daring adventurer and was credited with many exploits, fighting on every front. He was killed at the Battle of Wagram.
The Battle of Tolentino was fought from 2–3 May 1815 near Tolentino, Kingdom of Naples in what is now Marche, Italy: it was the decisive battle in the Neapolitan War, fought by the Napoleonic King of Naples Joachim Murat to keep the throne after the Congress of Vienna. The battle occurred during the Hundred Days following Napoleon's return from exile and, like the Battle of Waterloo, resulted in a decisive victory for the Seventh Coalition, leading to the restoration of the previous Bourbon king, Ferdinand I.
Prince Francesco Caracciolo was an Italian naval officer and revolutionary.
The Treaty of Florence, which followed the Armistice of Foligno, brought to an end the war between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Naples, one of the Wars of the French Revolution. Forced by the French military presence, Naples ceded some territories in the Tyrrhenian Sea and accepted French garrisons to their ports on the Adriatic Sea. All Neapolitan harbours were closed to British and Ottoman vessels.
Adam Albert, Count von Neipperg was an Austrian general and statesman. He was the son of a diplomat famous for inventing a letter-copying machine, and the grandson of Count Wilhelm Reinhard von Neipperg. His second wife, Empress Marie-Louise, was the widow of Napoleon and a daughter of Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor and founding Emperor of the Austrian Empire.
The Battle of Campo Tenese saw two divisions of the Imperial French Army of Naples led by Jean Reynier attack the left wing of the Royal Neapolitan Army under Roger de Damas. Though the defenders were protected by field fortifications, a French frontal attack combined with a turning movement rapidly overran the position and routed the Neapolitans with heavy losses. The action occurred at Campotenese, a little mountain village in the municipality of Morano Calabro in the north of Calabria. The battle was fought during the War of the Third Coalition, part of the Napoleonic Wars.
Colonel Francis Maceroni, born Francis Macirone (1788–1846), was a soldier, diplomat, revolutionary, balloonist, author and inventor.
Lieutenant-General Sir John Stuart, Count of Maida, GCB was a British Army officer and nobleman who served during the Napoleonic Wars.
The Army of the Two Sicilies, also known as the Royal Army of His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Bourbon Army or the Neapolitan Army, was the land forces of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose armed forces also included a navy. It was in existence from 1734 to 1861. It was the land armed force of the new independent state created by the settlement of the Bourbon dynasty in southern Italy following the events of the War of the Polish Succession.
The Kingdom of Naples was a French client state in southern Italy created in 1806 when the Bourbon Ferdinand IV & III of Naples and Sicily sided with the Third Coalition against Napoleon and was in return ousted from his kingdom by a French invasion. Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon, was installed in his stead: Joseph conferred the title "Prince of Naples" to be hereditary on his children and grandchildren. When Joseph became king of Spain in 1808, Napoleon appointed his brother-in-law Joachim Murat to take his place. Murat was later deposed by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 after striking at Austria in the Neapolitan War, in which he was decisively defeated at the Battle of Tolentino.
The Army of the Kingdom of Naples was the primary land defence and offence force of the Kingdom of Naples. It served alongside Napoleon’s Grande Armée in various campaigns and wars across Europe, until its final demise in the Neapolitan War of 1815. It was in service from 1806 to 1815, reborn from the Army of the Two Sicilies after the annexation of Naples. The Army was more known for the splendour of its uniforms rather than the achievements of its troops.
The Neapolitan Regiment of Honour Guards was a royal bodyguard unit of the Royal Neapolitan Guard, and was in turn part of the wider Neapolitan Army. The regiment was formed following the succession of Joachim Murat, and would continue to act as the official bodyguard under different designations until its eventual disbandment in 1815 following the disastrous Neapolitan War.
Sir George Charles Hoste was a British Army officer who fought in various battles and engagements of the Napoleonic Wars in Italy, Egypt, Belgium, and France between 1805 and 1815. The third son of a clergyman in Norfolk, he was educated at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and commissioned as second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1802. He was promoted first lieutenant in the same year, captain in 1812, brevet-major in 1814, lieutenant-colonel in 1825, brevet-colonel in 1838, and colonel in 1841.
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