Napoleons Famous Horse “Marengo”

 

A painting by Jacques Louis David of Napoleon and Marengo

Marengo was born in 1793 and was the favorite mount of Napoleon. He was named after the Battle of Marengo. Napoleons horse was imported to France from Egypt following the Battle of Abukir in 1799 as a six-year-old. The light grey Arabian was only 14.1 hands high, probably bred at the famous El Naseri Stud. He was a reliable horse, steady, and courageous mount. Marengo was wounded eight times in his career, and carried the Emperor in the Battle of Austerlitz, Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Battle of Wagram, and the Battle of Waterloo. He also was frequently used in the 80-mile gallops from Valladolid to Burgos, which he often completed in five hours. As one of 52 horses in Napoleon's personal stud, Marengo fled with these horses when it was raided by Russians in 1812, surviving the retreat from Moscow; however, the stallion was captured in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo by William Petre, 11th Baron Petre, after Napoleon fled the battlefield in a carriage.

Petre brought the horse back to England and was paraded before the crowds where after he was sold to Lieutenant-Colonel Angerstein of the Grenadier Guards. Marengo stood at stud (unsuccessfully) at New Barnes, near Ely, and lived out his days as a star attraction at various parades and exhibitions. at the age of 27. He eventually died at the old age of 38 and in 1831 his skeleton (minus two hooves) was preserved and later passed to the Royal United Services Institute and is now on display at the National Army Museum in Chelsea, London.

One of the remaining hooves was given to the officers of the Brigade of Guards by John Julius Angerstein as a snuff box. The fourth hoof was mounted as a silver inkwell and retained by the family; it is still owned by the family but is now on loan to the Household Cavalry Museum. The Duke of Wellington was asked to disinter his own horse, Copenhagen, to be exhibited alongside Marengo, but refused to do so. Coincidentally, one of Copenhagen's hooves was also later used as an ornament.

Napoleon’s Arabian Stallion, Le Vizir

In July 2016 taxidermists finished working on restoring a stuffed horse - the last one ridden by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Le Vizir was a gift to Napoleon, given to him in 1802 by Selim III, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, a former adversary. The stallion was  rigorously trained  at the imperial stables, as were many of the 130 horses that Napoleon rode during his 14-year campaigns, some of whom included the famous Marengo (pictured in Jacques-Louis David’s painting, Napoleon Crossing the Alps) and Mourad Bey. Though he was often painted on horseback, charging courageously into battle, in reality, Napoleon was not a very accomplished rider. Born on the island of Corsica, he didn’t sit a horse regularly until the start of his military career, when he continued to prefer small, docile horses for his mounts.

Taxidermists at work

Le Vizir fit the bill, and became a quick favorite of the emperor’s, who branded him with a crown and his imperial “N”. Napoleon rode the stallion in the Battle of Jena in Prussia, the Battle of Eylau in Russia, and on campaign in Poland before he accompanied the emperor on his year-long exile in Elba in 1814.

Napoleon's brand

By the time Napoleon swept back to power -- for the 100 days Campaign-- in France the following year after escaping from Elba. Le Vizir was spared the indignity of carrying Napoleon to his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815. By then, the ageing stallion had been put out to pasture.

Napoleon died in 1821, but le Vizir outlived his owner by five years, passing away at the ripe old age of 33 in 1826. His remains were preserved by taxidermists in the same year by order of Léon de Chanlaire, a stable officer who sent le Vizir’s hide on to England for protection when anti-Napoleon sympathies in France reached their zenith. The stallion was displayed at the Manchester Museum in 1843, but later returned to France, where he went in and out of favor with the rise and fall of Napoleon III. Eventually, Le Vizir wound up in storage at the Louvre, where he remained for nearly 30 years before he was rediscovered and moved to Paris’s Musée de l’Armée.

 

Le Vizir Restored