Marengo was the famous war mount of Napoleon I of France

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

. Named after the Battle of Marengo, through which he carried his rider safely, Marengo was imported to France from Egypt in 1799 as a 6-year-old. The gray Arabian

Arabian horse

The Arabian or Arab horse is a breed of horse that originated on the Arabian Peninsula. With a distinctive head shape and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most easily recognizable horse breeds in the world. It is also one of the oldest breeds, with archaeological evidence of horses...

 was probably bred at the famous El Naseri Stud. Although small (only 14.1 hands.) he was a reliable, steady, and courageous mount.

Marengo was wounded eight times in his career, and carried the Emperor in the Battle of Austerlitz

Battle of Austerlitz

The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...

, Battle of Jena-Auerstedt

Battle of Jena-Auerstedt

The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...

, Battle of Wagram

Battle of Wagram

The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...

, and Battle of Waterloo

Battle of Waterloo

The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...

. He also was frequently used in the 80 mile gallops from Valladolid to Burgos, which he often completed in 5 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

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. However, the stallion was captured in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo by William Henry Francis Petre, 11th Baron Petre

William Henry Francis Petre, 11th Baron Petre

William Henry Francis, 11th Baron Petre was the first Baron Petre to take his seat in the House of Lords after the passing of the Catholic Relief Act 1829.-Family :...

.

Petre brought the horse back to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 and sold him on to Lieutenant-Colonel Angerstein of the Grenadier Guards

Grenadier Guards

The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...

. Marengo stood at stud (unsuccessfully) at New Barnes, near Ely

Ely, Cambridgeshire

Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England, 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about by road from London. It is built on a Lower Greensand island, which at a maximum elevation of is the highest land in the Fens...

, at the age of 27. He eventually died at the old age of 38, and his skeleton (minus a hoof) was preserved and later passed to the Royal United Services Institute

Royal United Services Institute

The Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies , officially still known by its old name, the Royal United Services Institution, is a British defence and security think tank. It was founded in 1831 by The Duke of Wellington.RUSI describes itself asIt won Prospect Magazine's...

 and is now on display at the National Army Museum

National Army Museum

The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, England adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the "Chelsea Pensioners". The National Army Museum is open to the public every day of the year from 10.00am to 5.30pm,...

 in Chelsea, London. The hoof was given to the officers of the Brigade of Guards

Brigade of Guards

The Brigade of Guards is a historical elite unit of the British Army, which has existed sporadically since the 17th century....

 by Angerstein as a snuff box.

Popular culture

During a sequence in the 1959 British film The 39 Steps

The 39 Steps (1959 film)

The 39 Steps is a 1959 British thriller film directed by Ralph Thomas, starring Kenneth More and Taina Elg. It is a remake of the 1935 Alfred Hitchcock film, based on the novel The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan....

a character called "Mr Memory" appears in a live stage variety show and is called upon to name Napoleon's horse at Waterloo: Marengo.

The 1967 English version of the Speed Racer

Speed Racer

Speed Racer is an English adaptation name of the Japanese manga and anime, which centered on automobile racing. Mach GoGoGo was originally serialized in print form in Shueisha's 1958 Shōnen Book, and was released in tankōbon book form by Sun Wide Comics, re-released in Japan by Fusosha...

episode "Race for Revenge", a mysterious car named Marengo is featured. As the mystery becomes unveiled, Speed Racer discusses his memory of French history and how Marengo was the name of Napoleon's horse. Pops Racer, Speed's father, enters the room and finishes the story of Marengo and that the horse's name was connected to a previous racing auto driven by a man named Flash Marker who had been killed driving it. In telling the brief story of Marengo, a rendition of Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era...

's painting, Napoleon Crossing the Alps

Napoleon Crossing the Alps

Napoleon Crossing the Alps is the title given to the five versions of an oil on canvas equestrian portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte painted by the French artist Jacques-Louis David between 1801 and 1805...

, was drawn in the episode. However, when Trans-Lux

Trans-Lux

Trans-Lux is a world leader in designing, selling, renting, installing and maintaining multi-color, real-time data and LED large-screen electronic information displays, but is primarily known as a major supplier of national stock ticker display devices for stock exchanges...

 Corporation released the English version, Marengo's name was mis-translated from French to Japanese to English into the name Melange.

Marengo is played by Stephen Fry

Stephen Fry

Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...

 in BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4

BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...

's 2011 Warhorses of Letters, "the world's first epistolary equine love story", a comic exchange of letters between Napoleon's horse and Copenhagen (played by Daniel Rigby

Daniel Rigby

Daniel Rigby is an English television and stage actor.He attended Cheadle Hulme School and studied performing arts at Stockport College. He became one of the youngest students from the college to be accepted by the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art...

), owned by the Duke of Wellington

Duke of Wellington

The Dukedom of Wellington, derived from Wellington in Somerset, is a hereditary title in the senior rank of the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first holder of the title was Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , the noted Irish-born career British Army officer and statesman, and...

.

External links

• The Myth of Napoleon's Horse Jill, Duchess of Hamilton
• The skeleton of Marengo