Murana I, Baron Fechtig and the family of Cassis-Faraone of Trieste
A previous entry by Kate McLachlan on the modern descendants of the Weil Stud foundation mare Murana I led me to the family of Cassis-Faraone of Trieste. Murana I was acquired in 1816 by Baron Fechtig for Weil by way of the port of Trieste. Some of Europe’s most illustrious foundation Arabian horses were associated with Fechtig: Tajar, Bairactar, Murana I, Warda, Koeyl, etc. But who was he?
Lets pin down some places first: Weil was the royal stud of the King Wilhem I of Wurttemberg (1781-1854), whose capital was Stuttgart. Trieste, now in Italy, was at the time the main port of the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the Mediterranean sea. The trade of Austro-Hungarian Empire with the Orient, including Egypt and Syria, went through Trieste.
Baron Ferdinand Fechtig Von Fechtenberg, the son of a senior magistrate in Vienna of same name, became a merchant when he married Teresa, daughter of a wealthy merchant from Trieste, Antonio Cassis-Faraone. This marriage marks the beginning of his trading association with the Orient.
Antonio Cassis-Faraone was born in Damascus in 1745, the scion of a Greek-Catholic (ie, Melkite) family of traders. This is the same family as that of Henri Pharaon, who played such an important role in the history of the Arabian horse in the Middle East.
The Commune of Trieste keeps an archive of the documents of the Cassis-Faraone family, a description of which can be found online, in Italian (thank you, Google for the decent instant translation). Here is Google’s translation of the biographical notice about that archive:
Giuseppe and Antonio belonged to the ancient and noble family of the Cassis Faraone, of Christian Melkite confession , originally from the Syrian Hauran plateau. In the 15th century the family moved to Damascus, where its members acquired more and more authority and prestige, so that the people attributed to them the appellation of Pharaon, which means “one who inspires fear”. Giuseppe and Antonio were both born in Damascus; the first in 1721 and the second in 1745. In 1749 the family left Syria and settled in Egypt, where the two brothers met Ali Bey, leading man and politician, who introduced Antonio to the Ministry of Commerce, entrusting him with prestigious assignments, until obtaining in 1769 the Directorate of the Egyptian Customs. Meanwhile, Giuseppe became a customs officer in the port of Damietta.
The economic and political importance of the Cassis Faraone family increased rapidly, until became the major foreign trade contact in Egypt. This fact allowed them to to accumulate incredible riches, but both brothers must also be remembered for their generosity; in fact, Antonio gave money to political and military authorities and in particular supported the Syrian Christians, while Giuseppe, as director and president of the Damietta Customs Revenue Authority, as well as responsible for the good order and regulation of the city (he had been elected to this office from 1772 to 1784 by the will of Maomet Bey) built a church and a Catholic graveyard, while also dealing with the Church of the schismatic Greeks and the Coptic Church . He also committed himself to converting young Catholics, who had become Turks.
Antonio made himself known above all for his great diplomatic skills, which allowed him to establish excellent relations with European traders, making them be recognized by the Habsburg Empire as one of the main interlocutors in its policy of expansion in the East. Antonio Cassis was offered by Carlo Rossetti, a wealthy Milanese entrepreneur, a partnership with the Privileged Company for Trade with Egypt, a company that the latter had established in Trieste with the count Carlo Zinzerdorf, governor of the city. The goal of this company was to establish a direct relationship with the Egyptian market, so such as to shift trade with the Indies from the way of the Cape of Good Hope to the routes of the Red and Mediterranean Seas. Antonio Cassis accepted, acquiring a significant amount of stock of the company, which became the most important in Trieste.
On 2 July 1781 Pope Pius VI awarded him the title of Count Palatine for his devotion to the Apostolic See; two years later, Joseph II raised him to the dignity of Count of the Holy Roman Empire and, in the same year, the Grand Duke of Tuscany Pietro Leopoldo granted him the Knighthood of St. Stephen.
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Egypt became the scene of bloody revolts, which brought the country to a situation of political instability that also swept Antonio Cassis, who was forced to leave Egypt
Giuseppe Cassis, having heard of his brother’s departure from Cairo, went to Abram Bey who, reassuring him of his fate, forced him to accept the positions they were belonged to Antonio. The latter had, meanwhile, taken refuge in Malta from where he sent a letter to the brother begging him to join him. Thus it was that on 15 August 1784 Giuseppe left with all his family. But how were the two brothers’ families composed?Giuseppe had married Maria (Damascus 1756- Livorno 1791), daughter of Francesco Dubane, from whom he had two children: Michele, a native of Mount Lebanon, who married in Livorno in August 1798 Maria Gantuz Cubbe and who died in 1820 in Egypt of the plague, and Cesare Abramo, who was born in Damietta in 1778 and died in Trieste on 27 August 1841. Antonio, on the other hand, had married Varde (Warda) Giorgio Elmansuri, who died in 1779, from which he had had two sons (Michele and Giuseppe) and then Tecla di Moisè Gibarra or Ghebarra, from whom he had another 10 children.
After various destinations Antonio settled permanently in Trieste on 21 July 1786 and became here one of the leading actors of Trieste’s entrepreneurship and of the patrician nobility. He took care of the of products from the East and the export of local products and acquired a considerable amount of land in Trieste, where he became the first owner of today’s Teatro Verdi, but also in the Bassa Friulana and in the Aquileiese, where it took steps to improve the productivity and profitability. In 1790 he bought the villa owned by Ambrogio in Trieste to make it his home. It is today known as Villa Necker. On November 23, 1805, Antonio Cassis died after a brief and sudden illness at the age of 60. Meanwhile Giuseppe Cassis, after leaving Egypt, had settled in Livorno, where he founded a commercial house. When his first wife Maria died, he remarried Rosa Zulieri who will give him 4 more sons. In 1793 he settled with his family in Trieste, where, in 1797 he also transferred his firm from Livorno. Two years later he bought the house n. 860 in Piazza S. Giovanni and he also bought lands in the appurtenances of Cervignano and San Giorgio Di Nogaro. On 10 November 1798 he was ennobled with the Knighthood of the Holy Roman Empire. He died at the age of 90 in Trieste on 2 November 1811.
His son Michele founded a trading house in partnership with Antonio Federico Ginzel Pacifico, which caused him to fail and then emigrated to Vienna and to which Michele instituted a trial. The branch of the family descended from Giuseppe Cassis Faraone later settled in Rome.
Let us see where that takes us. I would like to know the name of Fechtig’s associate in Damascus, and hopefully find a record of the passing of Murana I through the port of Trieste.
Oh, this is so interesting and exciting! I had not made the connection between Cassis-Faraone and Henri Pharaon. But this does make a good place to start digging into von Fechtig’s associates in Damascus. Thank you for finding this!
I am assuming that the Carlo Rossetti who offered Antonio a trading partnership in Egypt was the same man who was consul-general for Austria, Tuscany and Venice, at one time or another, in Egypt, and who had ties to Ali Bey, Murad Bey, and Muhammad Ali Pasha … which makes me wonder whether Murana I came from Syria, or from Egypt, as von Fechtig’s first imports came from Egypt.
And such it is that a “weak” link (a person we know little about) becomes much stronger and more important as we find out more. Kudos on such a great start!
Does anyone have full access to Gudrun’s article on Fechtig in the In the Focus magazine? I can only find the summary.. the rest requires a subscription..
Yes, I too started formulating hypotheses about Murana I coming from Egypt too.. She was imported in 1816. Was he active in Egypt already?
Yes, his first imports of horses, in 1810/11 and 1812, came from Cairo.
Oh, I completely forgot, but there’s quite a bit on von Fechtig in Michael v. Erdelyi’s 1827 book, “Beschreibung der einzelnen Gestu?te des o?sterreichischen Kaiserstaates”, including a whole ten page chapter devoted to his journeys and his stud. Unfortunately, Weil gets only a passing mention, not being Austrian.
However, von Fechtig was definitely active in Egypt; for instance, the horses he imported in 1812 are explicitly said to have been bought in Cairo. These included stallions, Saffir and Tajar (the grey horse who had been the mount of Murad Bey), and two mares Gemil and Troiti (who was said to have belonged to Murad Bey), who went to Count Hunyady’s stud Ürmany. The stallion Mizaar/Merahar, who may have been part of this import, as he covered Gemil, was purchased by Wilhelm of Württemberg.
The import of Murana is dealt with very briefly: “so wie noch von einem dritten Transporte, 1816 in Triest angelangt, 11 bis 12 Stu?ck erkauft wurden, welche in die ko?niglichen Gestu?te nach Weil und Scharnhausen bey Stuttgart vertheilt”. No mention by name of the horses, nor where they came from. Which is frustrating!
Carlo Rossetti (Trieste 1736 – Cairo 1820) arrived in Egypt around 1780, started as a trader, later becoming consul general of Austria and Russia, while maintaining a close relationship with Murad Bey, one of the Mamluk beys who controlled Egypt in the last quarter
of the eighteenth century.
From this source: http://web.mit.edu/akpia/www/articlepallini.pdf
Tajar, the flying horse, once the mount of Murad Bey, like many other horses of Fechtig, came from Cairo, but via Aleppo, Syria.
As far as I know, Fechtig had a collecting Point in Aleppo.
Tajar came with the second Aleppian troop.
Wasn’t it Von Hugel who said that the collecting point was Damascus?
The source is a Hungarian weekly from 1834,what commemorates about Tajár. The whole story seems real,but the only really interesting part of the article was this information for me.
I wouldn’t ignore this information despit the article is not noted by author, because the year was 1834 and Tajár died in 1830… and every other parts of the article match our knowledge. Aleppo…or / and Damascus. Both cities are known as a horse trade center…
Fechtig was a good strategist and he knew the most important focal points of the horse trade.
http://roster.alkhamsa.org/pedigrees/M/Murana_I_(WL)00001.HTML
“Fechtig had a very skillful man working for him in Damascus who handled horse purchases for him there.”
i found this amazing article about the Pharaon family here, it even has pictures of Henri Pharaon here:
http://www.levantineheritage.com/testi88.htm
Edouard, that is a very interesting page! I may be crazy, but is there a relationship between the Cassis and Kassis families? Arabian horses appear to be a thread of gold throughout Middle Eastern history.
..and had good contacts also in Cairo. That time was not an easy task to buy authentic mares… “Baron Fechtig, the enterpreneur, in alliance with a merchant house of Cairo could send both genders to Germany.”
The alliance here is a probably a reference to his inlaws, who at one time had good access to Murad Bey, the de facto ruler of Egypt (the Ottoman Sultan was de jure ruler).
Jeanne, i thought about it, it’s certainly the same name (which means abbott in Arabic). Iskandar Qassis was from Aleppo. These folks were from Damascus.
Beautiful story from Gudrun Waiditschka about Bairactar, Murana 1 and so on. Bairactar has played such an important role in today’s sport horse through his sons. I don’t know how to translate it into English. Maybe someone knows a solution. https://docplayer.org/43280693-Gross-und-gut-ist-von-gudrun-waiditschka.html
Thank you for this
Carlo di Rosetti was also in contact with Waclaw Rzewuski; he supplied him with the source for “Notice sur les chevaux arabes” in the 1816 Fundgruben des Orients Vol. 5.
Awesome discoveries guys 😉
I am absolutely fascinated by this correspondence which I found today for the first time (Dec 7 2020) as I am a direct descendent of Antonio Cassis Faraone, specifically of this daughter Teresa and (Bernard) Ferdinand Fechtig (since his father Ferdinand Fechtig was well known as member of the Austrian Highest Court he used this name) who eventually settled in Hungary. Since during WWII we lost all our documentation, I have been trying to research this part of my family and find that the participants of correspondence know sometimes more, sometimes less than I. We have to continue by all means. I will get my files out also, probably not before Christmas, but surely afterwards. This is going to be glorious!
Come forth when you are ready, Clara! The main interest on this blog is horses, but horses of this caliber were owned by famous people, hence the interest in your ancestors!
Sorry, I came across this thread only today…
With regards to the origin of MURANA I db:
I am pretty sure, she came from Syria as to my knowledge, Fechtig had a middlesman in Aleppo from 1815 onwards and MURANA was in the 1816 transport. With regards to this middlesman, Hörmann wrote: “Only in the year 1815, the Baron started to make use of a veterinarian, who went with the French Army under Napoleon to Egypt, and while the army retreated, he remained. This veterinarian was sent to Aleppo and Damascus, to travel from there further inland where the Arab tribes lived, and to purchase pure Arab stallions and mares. The first transport of this kind arrived in 1816, and included the foundation stock of the presently existing stud [of Baron von Fechtig]. Until the year 1822, said man carried out more purchases and transports.” (source: HÖRMANN, J. (1827): “Über die arabische Pferdezucht des Baron von Fechtig” in Wochenbaltt des landwirtschaflichen Vereins in Bayern, Jhg. XXXVIII, Nr. 31, 29. April 1828 (ff).
I have made my articles about von Fechtig “public” and you can read the whole story:
Part I: https://in-the-focus.com/en/2016/10/kaufmann-und-zuechter-baron-von-fechtig/
Part II: https://in-the-focus.com/en/2017/01/kaufmann-und-zuechter-baron-von-fechtig-ii/
The story is also im my book “Königliche Pferde”.
Maybe I should mention, that MURANA I arrived pregnant by the fleabitten grey TAJAR owned by Hunyady, when she arrived in Weil, where she gave birth to a filly in 1817, who in turn became a broodmare in Weil with the name ZUBIAL (1817). This means, the newly imported horses of Baron Fechtig had a stopover at Hunyady’s farm.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that mt-DNA research proved the relationship between MURANA I db and GAZELLA db (imp. to Poland 1845), another indication that MURANAS origin lies in Syria.
What else – maybe I should mention, that MURANA I had 6 foals (maybe 8, but of two I have only the covering confirmed, not the birth of any foals), of which one died as a foal, three of her daughters joined the broodmare band, although only the line of one (MURANA II) survived the 200 years until today….
Danke, Gudrun! Hörmann’s testimony taken together with the Gazella mtDNA does point to a Syrian origin for Murana. Wonder if we could find out who the veterinarian was from the French records.