Napoleon, however, was soon victorious and, with the War of the Third Coalition having been shattered on 5 December at the Battle of Austerlitz , Ferdinand found himself exposed to French wrath. An outraged Napoleon ordered St. Cyr to return to his post at once. On 8 February the French invasion force of forty-thousand men crossed into Naples. On his brother's recommendation, Joseph attached himself to Reynier. Even before any French troops had crossed the border, the Anglo-Russian forces had beaten a prudent retreat, the British withdrawing to Sicily , the Russians to Corfu.
Thus abandoned by his allies, King Ferdinand had also already set sail for Palermo on 23 January. Queen Maria-Carolina lingered a little longer in the capital but, on 11 February, also fled to join her husband. The first obstacle the French encountered was the fortress of Gaeta , its governor, Prince Louis of Hesse-Philippsthal , refusing to surrender his charge.
On 30 March Napoleon issued a decree installing Joseph as King of Naples and Sicily , the decree reading as follows:. Emperor of the French and King of Italy, to all those to whom these presents come, greetings. The interests of our people, the honour of our Crown, and the tranquillity of the Continent of Europe requiring that we should assure, in a stable and definite manner, the lot of the people of Naples and of Sicily, who have fallen into our power by the right of conquest, and who constitute a part of the Grand Empire, we declare that we recognise, as King of Naples and of Sicily, our well-beloved brother, Joseph Napoleon, Grand Elector of France.
This Crown will be hereditary, by order of primogeniture, in his descendants male, legitimate, and natural, etc.
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Joseph's arrival in Naples was warmly greeted with cheers and he was eager to be a monarch well liked by his subjects. Seeking to win the favour of the local elites, he maintained in their posts the vast majority of those who had held office and position under the Bourbons and was anxious to not in any way appear a foreign oppressor. With a provisional government set up in the capital, Joseph then immediately set off, accompanied by General Lamarque , on a tour of his new realm.
The principal object of the tour was to assess the feasibility of an immediate invasion of Sicily and the expulsion of Ferdinand and Maria-Carolina from their refuge in Palermo. But, upon reviewing the situation at the Strait of Messina , Joseph was forced to admit the impossibility of such an enterprise, the Bourbons having carried off all boats and transports from along the coast and concentrated their remaining forces, alongside the British, on the opposite side. Upon returning to Naples , Joseph received a deputation from the French Senate congratulating him upon his accession. The King then set about forming a ministry staffed by many competent and talented men with whom he was determined to pursue a reforming agenda and confer upon Naples all the benefits of the French Revolution , without its excesses.
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Marshal Jourdan was also confirmed as Governor of Naples, an appointment made by Napoleon , and served as Joseph's foremost military adviser. Joseph then embarked on an ambitious programme of reform and regeneration aimed at raising Naples to the level of a modern state in the mould of Napoleonic France. Monastic orders were suppressed, their property nationalised and their funds confiscated to steady the royal finances.
The practice of forcibly recruiting prisoners into the army was also abolished and, to counter the perennial plague of robbers and brigands who infested the mountains and preyed upon travellers, military commissions were established with the power to judge and execute, without appeal, all those brigands arrested with arms in their possession. Although the kingdom was not at that time furnished with a constitution, and thus Joseph's will as monarch reigned supreme, there is yet no instance of him ever adopting a measure of policy without prior discussion of the matter in the Council of State and the passing of a majority vote in favour his course of action by the counsellors.
Joseph ruled Naples for two years before being replaced by his sister's husband, Joachim Murat. Joseph was then made King of Spain in August , soon after the French invasion. Joseph somewhat reluctantly left Naples, where he was popular, and arrived in Spain where he was extremely unpopular. Joseph came under heavy fire from his opponents in Spain, who tried to smear his reputation by calling him Pepe Botella Joe Bottle for his alleged heavy drinking, an accusation echoed by later Spanish historiography, despite the fact that Joseph was abstemious.
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His arrival sparked the legitimate Spanish revolt against French rule, and the beginning of the Peninsular War. Thompson says the Spanish revolt was, "a reaction against new institutions and ideas, a movement for loyalty to the old order: Joseph temporarily retreated with much of the French Army to northern Spain. Feeling himself in an ignominious position, Joseph then proposed his own abdication from the Spanish throne, hoping that Napoleon would sanction his return to the Neapolitan Throne he had formerly occupied.
Napoleon dismissed Joseph's misgivings out of hand, and to back up the raw and ill-trained levies he had initially allocated to Spain, the Emperor sent heavy French reinforcements to assist Joseph in maintaining his position as King of Spain. Despite the easy recapture of Madrid , and nominal control by Joseph's government over many cities and provinces, Joseph's reign over Spain was always tenuous at best, and constantly resisted by pro-Bourbon guerrillas. Joseph and his supporters never established complete control over the country.
King Joseph's Spanish supporters were called josefinos or afrancesados frenchified. Despite such efforts to win popularity, Joseph's foreign birth and support, plus his membership of a Masonic lodge, [18] virtually guaranteed he would never be accepted as legitimate by the bulk of the Spanish people. The king had virtually no influence over the course of the ongoing Peninsular War: Joseph's nominal command of French forces in Spain was mostly illusory, as the French commanders theoretically subordinate to King Joseph insisted on checking with Napoleon before carrying out Joseph's instructions.
King Joseph abdicated and returned to France after the main French forces were defeated by a British-led coalition at the Battle of Vitoria in During the closing campaign of the War of the Sixth Coalition Napoleon left his brother to govern Paris with the title Lieutenant General of the Empire.
As a result he was again in nominal command of the French Army at the Battle of Paris. He was seen by Bonapartists as the rightful Emperor of the French after the death of Napoleon's own son Napoleon II in , although he did little to advance his claim. Joseph lived primarily in the United States where he sold the jewels he had taken from Spain in the period —, [19] initially in New York City and Philadelphia , where his house became the centre of activity for French expatriates , but later moved to an estate, formerly owned by Stephen Sayre , called Point Breeze in Bordentown, New Jersey.
Joseph's home was located near the confluence of Crosswicks Creek and the Delaware River. He considerably expanded Sayre's home and created extensive gardens in the picturesque style. When his first home was destroyed by fire in January he converted his stables into a second grand house. At Point Breeze, Joseph entertained many of the leading intellectuals and politicians of his day. According to legend, during this period he had an encounter with the mythological Jersey Devil. Reputedly some Mexican revolutionaries offered to crown him Emperor of Mexico in , but he declined.
They had three daughters:. He claimed the two surviving daughters as his heirs. He also sired two children with Maria Giulia, the Countess of Atri:.
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