Name of Napoleon's horse. Napoleon's favorite horse

Not long ago, news appeared that the hoof of Napoleon’s favorite horse, which was considered lost for more than 2 centuries, had been found. And this served as an occasion to recall the biography of Marengo himself - the horse on which Napoleon Bonaparte participated in the Battle of Austerlitz. Moreover, the fate of the horse is no less interesting than the fate of its famous owner.

Napoleon Bonaparte first saw Marengo after the end of the Egyptian campaign, in 1799. And although there were at least fifty gray Arabian stallions in the emperor’s stable, it is believed that it was Marengo who was under the saddle of Napoleon in the battles of Marengo (1800), Austerlitz (1805) .), Auerstedt and Jena (1806), as well as Wagram (1809). Bonaparte also invaded Russia, riding on the back of Marengo.

The Battle of Waterloo in 1815 was the last joint battle between Napoleon and Marengo. The horse was wounded and went to the British, and was then transported to England as a trophy. The Arabian stallion was exhibited to the public for a long time, and then, when public interest in Napoleon’s favorite horse faded, officer William Angerstein became Marengo’s new owner.

Napoleon's favorite horse Marengo

Marengo lived a long life, even by modern horse standards, and died in 1831, outliving the famous owner by 10 years.

When the horse died, two front hooves were used to make snuff boxes, one of which became a decoration of St. James's Palace, and the second was considered lost for more than 2 centuries. But recently the missing hoof of Napoleon's beloved horse Marengo turned up in the kitchen cupboard of the house owned by the descendants of William Angerstein in Somerset. The relic was transferred to the ownership of the London Cavalry Museum.

The skeleton of Napoleon's favorite horse Marengo is kept to this day in the National Army Museum (London).

In the photo: the skeleton of Napoleon's favorite horse Marengo in the London Museum

Along with unsurpassed track record holders, great sires and invincible champions in sports, the names of horses that had the honor of being carried by outstanding people are also inscribed in the annals of history. Illuminated by the brilliance of the glory of their masters, they often gain immortality in its rays.

...The skeleton of Napoleon's favorite stallion Marengo is exhibited in the National Army Museum in London, the stuffed Vizier, who accompanied the emperor at the Battle of Eylau and on the campaign to Russia, is kept in the Grande Armée Museum in Paris, and the names of many other horses of Bonaparte are known thanks to the scrupulous records of his equestrian masters and biographers .

It's not easy to be Bonaparte's horse...

Napoleon preferred Arabian stallions for saddle. Most of his horses were gray, but there were bay, red, and others in Napoleon’s stables. There were mares and geldings of various breeds - during his life, the conqueror of Europe managed to change more than one hundred horses. At the same time, according to Philippe Ocher, a researcher on this issue, “it cannot be said that Napoleon loved his horses. He was rather interested in them, preferred to have good horses, but had few feelings for his comrades in arms.”

The future emperor, who played a huge role in reforming the French cavalry, never specifically studied horse riding. Only in 1784–1785, while studying at the Paris Military School, did he take several vaulting lessons from Monsieur d'Auvergne. Napoleon never had time for serious training. He stayed in the saddle more by intuition; today his position would have been criticized even in the most ordinary box office. Contemporary English historian Jill Hamilton describes Napoleon's "signature" posture this way: he was heavily stooped, and his toes in the stirrups were located below the level of his heels. According to Ernst-Otto Odelben, quoted by Hamilton, "Napoleon sat in the saddle like a butcher, and as he galloped he swung forward, backward and sideways depending on the speed of the horse."

Bonaparte's valet Constant Very, known simply as Constant, who followed his master everywhere for fifteen years, recalled: “The Emperor mounted his horse very ungracefully, and I think he would never have felt completely safe on it if he had the order was not delivered only to those horses that were already impeccably trained; but every precaution was taken to avoid the worst, and the horses destined for the emperor had to endure a severe trial before they could achieve the honor of carrying him. They were trained to withstand, without moving, a variety of torments: blows to the head and ears with a whip, drumming and shooting from pistols, waving flags in front of their eyes; Heavy objects were thrown at their feet, sometimes even a sheep or a pig. The horse was required to be able to unexpectedly stop it at full gallop at the moment of its fastest gallop. His Majesty had at his disposal only animals trained to incredible perfection.” His first groom, Antoine Jardin, prepared horses for Napoleon. According to the same Constant, Antoine “coped with his labor-intensive duties with exceptional skill and dexterity.”

It is known for certain that Napoleon repeatedly fell from his horse, and in situations where a professional cavalryman would certainly have stayed in the saddle. And it would be fine if this happened in the chaos of battle, but the emperor managed to “fly” during ordinary horseback rides. And his well-known ambition sometimes only aggravated “emergency situations.” Napoleon's secretary Claude-François de Meneval, in his Memoirs, talks about an incident that occurred early in 1803 in Saint-Cloud. Napoleon wished to drive the carriage himself, drawn by four young horses. Madame Bonaparte and her daughter Hortensia were sitting in the carriage. Napoleon sat on the box and started the horses, but managed to get only as far as the fence that separated the Saint-Cloud park from private property, and then lost control of the hot horses. The four rushed straight at the fence, Napoleon was thrown from his seat onto the gravel path. Fortunately, the first consul escaped with only a slight sprain of his arm and a few scratches; the passengers were not injured. But everything could have ended much worse...

However, Napoleon was distinguished by amazing endurance: quite often he had to travel 20–30 kilometers, and sometimes he did hundred-kilometer marches during the day, changing horses. The emperor treated such “entertainment” as something self-evident, which could not be said about his numerous grooms, servants and adjutants, who ensured Bonaparte’s movements without sleep or rest.

The Emperor's Four-Legged Army

Antoine Gros. "Bonaparte at the Pyramids"

In 1804, simultaneously with the creation of the Empire itself, the Imperial Stables were formed on the basis of the stables of the first consul. Their chief, called the chief horseman of France, from the very beginning until the fall of the Empire was the divisional general Armand-Augustin-Louis de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenti. Coming from a noble Picardy family, de Caulaincourt began serving in the royal cavalry regiment even before the Revolution, and at the age of twenty-three became a squadron commander. He, unlike the emperor, was on friendly terms with horses. The general accompanied Napoleon to Russia and later wrote interesting memoirs, which were eventually translated into Russian and published several times.

As of January 1, 1805, the service of the Imperial Stables, located in Saint-Cloud, Paris, Virofle and Meudon, numbered 533 people. According to the testimony of Constant's valet, “His Majesty valued good grooms, and therefore all necessary measures were taken to ensure that pages received the most thorough training in preparation for the position of groom. To learn how to mount a horse with confidence and grace, they had to practice vaulting exercises that would be suitable for circus performances.”

The Register of the Imperial Stables has preserved for us data on many of Napoleon's horses: here you can find their names, age, gender, color, height, each is assigned a number, and the date of receipt is recorded. Here there is the dapple-gray Arab Sirius, who was under Napoleon at Austerlitz; Styria, in which he crossed the snowy St. Bernard Pass in the Alps and participated in the Battle of Marengo; donated by the Russian Emperor Alexander Tauris, on which Napoleon was at Borodino and entered Moscow; Wagram, who followed Bonaparte to the Elbe...

By the way, the latter is also known under the names Ingenue and My Cousin. This black stallion was presented to Napoleon by the Austrian emperor and, it seems, quickly found a common language with his new owner. When Napoleon appeared in the stable, Wagram began to neigh and beat his hooves, impatiently awaiting a treat. Napoleon gave him a piece of sugar, stroked him and said: “Here you are, My Cousin.” Napoleon's marshals were offended: “My cousin” - this is how the emperor addressed them in letters. The stallion received the nickname Wagram after the famous battle of Wagram on July 6, 1809.

If Napoleon - then to Marengo?

It must be said that Napoleon loved to come up with new nicknames for his horses, which subsequently caused some confusion among historians. For example, it was believed that the ex-emperor was accompanied to St. Helena by his favorite Arabian stallion, Sheikh. However, modern research refutes this version. First of all, in 1815 the horse was already nineteen years old; it was unlikely that he would have endured a journey across the sea six thousand miles long to the island lost in the Atlantic. In any case, Napoleon’s love alone was clearly not enough for this. According to English sources, Napoleon had a horse on St. Helena, which he called Sheik, but in fact this horse was called King George, and he belonged to the daughter of the island's governor, Charles Somerset. King George was short, but the sick and overweight Napoleon could barely climb onto him with the help of his servants. Apparently, in a fit of nostalgia, Napoleon renamed King George, whom he bought from Lord Somerset, Sheikh. In May 1821, Sheikh King George carried Napoleon's body to the burial place...

A similar story is associated with Vizier, a buckwheat gray Arabian stallion given to Napoleon by the Turkish Sultan. The vizier took part in the Battle of Eylau and accompanied the emperor on his campaign against Russia. According to the memoirs of Baron Gourgaud, who lived on the island of St. Helena, the Vizier went into exile with his owner, but most likely this military companion of Napoleon fell in 1826 in France. In addition, Napoleon had two Turkmen (one of them was transferred to the department of internal affairs in 1809, and the second went with Napoleon to Russia in 1812) and two Frengans (one fell in 1814, and the other was with Napoleon on Saint Helena Island).

One of Napoleon’s most famous horses is the light gray (according to those close to him, “the color is similar to Napoleon’s frock coat”) Arabian Marengo. This stallion took part in the battles of Austerlitz (1805), Jena (1806) and Wagram (1809). At the Battle of Waterloo, the Emperor rode it from seven to ten o'clock in the evening. Then the horse, wounded in the leg, was left on the Caillou farm. Marengo was captured by the English officer Angerstein from the Duke of Wellington's retinue and taken to England as a valuable trophy, where he lived at Glissenburg Castle. He died in 1832 at the age of almost thirty-eight (!) years.

The previously mentioned English historian Jill Hamilton dedicated an entire book to Marengo. In his opinion, the story of this stallion is more like a myth, because Marengo appears in all of Napoleon’s most famous campaigns, starting with the second Italian campaign and ending with Waterloo. Are there several different horses hiding under this name?

Bishop and company

“Horses are traitors!” - Hussar Major Canuville, the lover of one of Napoleon’s three sisters, Pauline, could well have exclaimed. Of course, quite unexpectedly, his horse became the cause of the imperial wrath: once during a parade in Paris, the stallions of Napoleon and Canouville collided with their rumps - apparently, the major “lost control.” Napoleon was furious and shouted: “Your horse is too young and his blood is too hot. I’ll send you to cool it down!” Twenty days later the unlucky hussar was already at the front in Spain.

The “instigator” on the imperial side in this story was the gray Arabian stallion Ali, one of Napoleon’s favorites. Before coming under the saddle of the first consul, Ali served the Egyptian ruler Ali Bey. He was captured by a soldier of the 18th Dragoons at the Battle of the Pyramids on July 20, 1798. Then the stallion was again recaptured by the Mamelukes, and after some time he again fell into the hands of the French. Then Ali drove General Mena, who took the stallion to Europe and presented it to Napoleon. On Ali, Napoleon was at the battles of Marengo, Essling and Wagram; he even mentioned the horse in his "Memorial of Saint Helena".

A truly anecdotal story is connected with another of Napoleon’s horses. It happened in Hungary. Bonaparte was preparing to mount the horse, which was being held by the bridle by the first groom, Jardin, when he noticed the approach of a group of people. He asked the servant: “Who is this, bishop?” The servant thought that the emperor was asking him the name of the horse, and answered: “No, sir, this is Soliman.” Now Napoleon, who clearly saw that the city bishop was approaching, did not understand the answer: “And I say that this is the bishop!” – he said irritably. The frightened groom did not dare to argue with the emperor and humbly assured him: “Of course, sir, it’s him.” Afterwards, Napoleon laughed for a long time every time, remembering the horse, which unexpectedly suddenly became a Bishop.

The English purebred Herodotus also visited the imperial stables. The first owner of this very valuable stallion was the German Count von Pless, but in 1806, after the capture of Mecklenburg by Napoleonic troops, the stallion was taken as a trophy to France. In the imperial stables he was given the nickname Nero; under Napoleon's saddle he took part in the bloody battle of Eylau and the campaign against Russia. During a fire in Moscow, a spark hit the horse's eye and he partially lost his sight. The most amazing thing is that the stallion eventually returned to his former owner. During the occupation of France in 1814–1815, Prussian Field Marshal Blücher, a personal friend of Baron von Pless, tried to track down the horse. However, Herodotus was found by chance only in 1818 in Marseille - a little more, and he would have been sent to North Africa...

And there was also the snow-white Bijou, in which General Bonaparte in 1796, as a triumphant, entered Milan after the victory at Lodi; always an imperturbable participant in parades, the gray Quartermaster, presented by the Emperor of Austria; the never-tiring Auvergne stallion Cantal; the dappled bay Kurd, who went with the emperor to the island of Elba; the light gray mare Desiree, named after Napoleon's first love, and many, many others...

In the endless battles under Napoleon, almost two dozen horses were killed! The first time Bonaparte lost his war horse was on December 17, 1793 near Toulon during the attack on Fort Mulgrav - then he was still a battalion commander. The last time this happened was at the Battle of Arcy-sur-Aube on March 20, 1814, and almost cost the emperor his life. The English historian David Chandler describes this episode as follows: “An enemy howitzer shell with a smoking fuse flew into the ground a few feet from the trembling line of troops. Noticing that several soldiers were moving back to escape the expected explosion, the emperor calmly let his horse run over this place.” General Kamon clarifies: “The shell exploded, the horse with its entrails falling out collapsed along with its rider. The Emperor disappeared in a cloud of dust and smoke. However, he rose to his feet without a single scratch and, mounting another horse, rode off to inspect the positions of other battalions.”

In total, between 1805 and 1815, the French army lost more than five hundred thousand horses - killed and maimed in battles, dying from hunger and cold. The campaign against Russia alone cost France fifty thousand horses. The horse breeding of many European countries was devastated by the Napoleonic wars, not to mention combat losses. It is unlikely that horses would erect a monument to Napoleon...

Sergey Nechaev

*Mamelukes are professional warrior-slaves made from captives; in medieval Egypt they formed the ruler’s guard. Napoleon brought from the Egyptian campaign an entire squadron of Mamelukes, who then participated in his conquests. Several of them, including Ali, were Napoleon's personal bodyguards.

According to historian Frederic Masson, “Napoleon was a man who traveled most of his life on the back of a horse.” Indeed, Napoleon spent more than 20 years of his military epic in Europe, Africa and Russia mostly on horseback.

However, having a military profession as an artilleryman, while studying at the Paris Military School, he received a small amount of fairly formal horse riding lessons. Despite his reputation as a poor horseman, the Emperor was renowned for his endurance and was able to gallop for long periods of time, leaving his staff officers and even his escort riders behind.

In order not to cause inconvenience to the crowned rider, Napoleon's horses underwent special training. According to the testimony of the Emperor's first valet, Louis-Constant Very, “His Majesty had at his disposal only animals trained to incredible perfection.”

In total, during the reign of Napoleon, the Imperial stables contained about 6,000 horses that served the Emperor personally and his entourage (100–130 horses at a time), as well as transporting carriages and carts.

Napoleon preferred Arabian horses - one of the most beautiful, graceful, playful and hardy horse breeds.

During military campaigns, the Emperor could use any army horse that came to hand, but his personal stable consisted of 30 horses with the rank of “His Majesty’s Horses” - during the period of the Empire, their staff changed more than three times, and thus more than 100 horses, of which only a few became widely known due to Napoleon's personal affection or participation in famous battles.

One of Napoleon’s favorite horses was the light gray Arabian horse Marengo (according to contemporaries, “the color was similar to Napoleon’s frock coat”).

Portrait of Marengo by Gros, 1801

The six-year-old short stallion, only 145 cm tall, was brought from Egypt in 1799, and served the emperor faithfully for many years. He received his new name in honor of the victory over the Austrian army near the Italian city of Marengo, which occurred on June 14, 1800.

The horse took part in the battles of Austerlitz, Jena and Wagram, and accompanied Napoleon in the Russian campaign. During the years of service he was wounded eight times, but did not lose his excellent courage.

Marengo is depicted in a large number of equestrian portraits of Napoleon.

Napoleon at the Battle of Wagram

Napoleon on Marengo at the Battle of Waterloo

At Waterloo, the horse was already 22 years old, but he walked as quickly as before under the Emperor’s saddle. During the battle, Marengo was wounded in the leg and captured by an English officer from the Duke of Wellington's retinue, who took him to England as a valuable trophy.

In England, Marengo was expected to be highly popular. Artist James Ward has sold countless copies of a lithograph of a romantic image of a horse looking across the sea and mourning its owner. The caption for the painting reads: “Portrait of Marengo, the favorite Arabian horse that Napoleon Bonaparte rode at the Battle of Waterloo. Property of Captain Howard." In the months after the Royal Academy opened a new exhibition of paintings on 26 May 1826, record numbers of spectators visited Somerset House, where Ward's painting was the main exhibit.

Vyatka - the birthplace of elephants

Napoleon's favorite horse was a stallion of the Vyatka breed

Everyone knows about the inglorious end of the 1812 campaign for the French. However, few know that this war did bring some dividends to Napoleon. The most important advantage, according to European scientists, was the export to France of the famous Vyatka stallion Savraski-IV. The Vyatka breed was developed in the 16th century by complex crossing of Goldstein, English and Budennovsky horses. Vyatka horses were famous for their increased endurance, excellent agility and refined grace. The most famous stallion of this breed at the beginning of the 19th century was Savraska-IV (from Savraska-III and Approbation), owned by the famous sugar magnate Pyotr Dvoeglazov. By the beginning of 1812, Savraska IV had won many races, including the 1810 Derby and the Horse Breeders' Association Prize twice. Unfortunately, during the fighting in 1812, Dvoeglazov did not have time to evacuate Savraska to the east, and when the French captured Moscow, the champion went to Napoleon as an invaluable trophy. Bonaparte, as you know, was an expert in horse breeding and a great connoisseur of high-performance horses. He doted on his new pet - he brushed him twice a day, braided his mane, fed him carrots and scarce Cuban sugar. According to French cultural historians, the official sculptor of the Emperor, Francis-Joseph Bosio, sculpted the horse for the famous bronze statue of Napoleon in Rouen from a Vyatka stallion. For several years, Savraska performed triumphantly on the racetracks of Europe. The newspaper “El Figaro” wrote in those years: “Undoubtedly, this stallion of the Vyatka breed is the pearl of the Epsom Hippodrome, a delight for connoisseurs, a ray of sunshine that illuminated Paris from distant Vyatka.” After the end of his racing career, Savraska was used as a sire; his offspring were not inferior to their father in terms of sporting results; the horses of this line were considered elite and cost fabulous money.
The descendants of the famous stallion returned to their historical homeland half a century ago - in 1958, at the International Forum of Horse Breeders in Nancy, the Kirov State Stable acquired the Vyatka breed stallion Antoine de Ville. Despite the high cost (they paid for the purchase with an option to supply 20 tons of beets from the 1959 harvest), Antoine de Ville fully justified the investment in him: already in the starting season he was second in the Kotelnich Derby, and in 1961 he won the Grand Prix of Pizhanka.
And to this day, the famous Vyatka horses delight Kirov residents and city guests, and the luckiest ones can even ride Savraska’s descendants during holidays and mass celebrations.

Vyacheslav Sykchin,
independent historian,
hippologist-local historian