Giuseppe ("Joseph") Lechi (5 December 1766 – 9 August 1836) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

general A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

in the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

during the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Biography

Born in Aspes and being the first son of Faustino Lechi and his wife Doralice Bielli, the general Giuseppe Lechi was already considered a man of great light and shadows ("dark and gloomy"), reckless and unscrupulous similar to his uncle the Count Galliano Lechi, who was very dear, and a model, to Giuseppe. His grandfather Pietro was a famous Freemason and a follower of the Enlightenment. Born a subject of the

Most Serene Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

, he undertook the military career in the Austrian army up to the rank of captain. On the arrival of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

in Italy, influenced also by his brother Giacomo, Giuseppe organized with his other brothers Teodoro and Angelo and other friends – all of them members of the "Casino dei Buoni Amici" free-masonnic secret society – the Bresciana revolution of 18 March 1797. Giuseppe entered the temporary government of Brescia and organized the Brescian Legion that General Bonaparte sent to fighting in Emilia, Marche and then in Central Italy. It was in

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, in 1798, that happened the famous episode of the discussed donation of

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

's painting "

The Marriage of the Virgin The Marriage of the Virgin is the subject in Christian art depicting the marriage of the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph. The marriage is not mentioned in the canonical Gospels but is covered in several apocryphal sources and in later redactions, n ...

" to Giuseppe Lechi by the City Council. In the spring of 1799 Giuseppe Lechi with his unit was engaged in a military campaign in

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; rm, Vuclina (); lmo, Valtelina or ; german: Veltlin; it, Valtellina) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Toda ...

attempting to curb an anti-French revolt. Forced to retreat by the Austro-Russians, he joined the Italian Legion of General Pietro Teulié in

Dijon Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

. Back in Italy with Napoleon he fought at Marengo (14 June 1800) where he was promoted to the rank of division general on the field itself. After the Peace of Lunéville (9 February 1801) he became commander of division under

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

and one of his friends, followers and advisors. In the same time, Giuseppe entered the new legislative body of the

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. More and more bound up with the "Murat's circle", General Lechi joined the

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of the

Scottish Rite The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry (the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction in the United States often omits the ''and'', while the English Constitution in the United Kingdom omits the ''Scottish''), commonly known as simply the S ...

(becoming in the follow the Great Master of the

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of Naples) and those groups of patriots who supported the ideal of the Italian unification. In 1804, Giuseppe Lechi participated in the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples fighting in the Adriatic regions under general Saint-Cyr. In 1805 he was again in Naples with Murat and

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

, to whom too he would become closely tied by friendship and personal fidelity. In the years 1808 and 1809 Lechi was in Spain at the service of

that has yielded away in the meantime the Kingdom of Naples to Murat; Joseph conquered the city of

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and becomes temporarily the governor there. In 1809 he faced a trial in France (apparently for claims of violence, embezzlement and abuse) but escaped the judgment and was sent back to Naples at the service of his friend, the new king, Joachim Murat. Lechi was also involved in the conspiracies of general Domenico Pino, probably also as a link for Murat himself in the plot. On 31 January 1814, Giuseppe was governor of

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

handing over Livorno to the English Fleet in an attempt made by Murat to bargain a separate peace with Austria. In 1815 "Joseph" Lechi was as always at Murat's side in his last and hopeless stand against the Austrians at the Battle of Tolentino (2–3 May 1815). As a prisoner of war, Lechi refused to swear any fidelity to the new Habsburgic regime and remained jailed in Lubiana till 1818. Freed, Lechi settled down in his family's Villa of Montirone near

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

and married Eleonora, daughter of Joseph Jérôme, Comte Siméon. He then died of cholera in 1836 in Montirone.

Notes

External links

* http://www.storiadimilano.it/Personaggi/Milanesi%20illustri/personaggi_avventurosi.htm
Istituto Storico delle ''Insorgenze'', L'insurrezione di Brescia
* Paolo Martinucci: "PREMESSE STORICHE E CULTURALI DELL’INSORGENZA NEL BERGAMASCO E NEL BRESCIANO", http://www.identitanazionale.it/inso_1002.php {{DEFAULTSORT:Lechi, Giuseppe 1766 births 1836 deaths 18th-century Italian people Deaths from cholera Italian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Italian Freemasons Italian generals Italian military personnel of the Napoleonic Wars People of the Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic)