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74-615: Sébastien Le Prestre, seigneur de Vauban, later styling himself as the marquis de Vauban (baptised 15 May 1633 – 30 March 1707), commonly referred to as Vauban ( French: [vobɑ̃] ), was a French military engineer and Marshal of France who worked under Louis XIV . He is generally considered the greatest engineer of his time, and one of the most important in European military history. His principles for fortifications were widely used for nearly 100 years, while aspects of his offensive tactics remained in use until

148-524: A lieutenant-general ; in 1710, he was appointed Governor of Béthune for life, while he inherited Vauban's titles and the bulk of his lands. Vauban's family was impacted by the domestic conflict and foreign wars, including the Huguenot rebellions of the 1620s, the 1635–1659 Franco-Spanish War , and 1648 to 1653 Fronde ; his Catholic grandfather married a Protestant from La Rochelle , and served Huguenot leader Admiral Coligny , while two of his uncles died in

222-511: A brilliant circle of literary men, including Molière , Racine , Boileau , La Fontaine , Nicole , Bourdaloue , and Bossuet . About this time, convoluted negotiations between the Poles were carried on with a view to the royal elections in Poland , at first by Condé's son, Henri Jules de Bourbon , and afterwards by Condé himself. These were finally closed later in 1674 by the veto of King Louis XIV and

296-805: A change in tactics, Marlborough arguing winning one battle was more beneficial than taking 12 fortresses. The armies of the War of the Spanish Succession averaged around 35,000, and siege warfare superseded by a greater emphasis on mobility. In 1703, Vauban was promoted Maréchal de France , marking the end of his military career, although the Ceinture de fer proved its worth after the French defeat at Ramillies in 1706. Under pressure from superior forces on multiple fronts, France's northern border remained largely intact despite repeated efforts to break it. Capturing Lille cost

370-451: A corporation such as religious order, a monastery, a parish. In English, seigneur is used in historical scholarship to discuss the French seigneurial system. It is also frequently calqued as " lord ", the analogous term in the English feudal system. The term grand seigneur has survived in English and French. Today this usually means an elegant, urbane gentleman . Some even use it in

444-561: A disproportionately high number of successful engineers due to the social and educational characteristics of French Protestantism. After the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, a significant number of these engineers joined the English and Dutch armies to fight in Ireland, Flanders and Spain. Many of his publications, including Traité de l'attaque des places and Traité des mines , were written at

518-570: A dramatic escape from the same prison two years earlier. Turenne and his brother, the Duke of Bouillon , were among those who had escaped arrest; they now demanded the prisoners' freedom, leading to a short-lived alliance between the Fronde des nobles and the Fronde des parlements. Shortly after their release in February 1651, the diverging interests of the two rebellious parties led to a shift of alliances, with

592-704: A more coherent and defensible border was unusual for the period; the boundaries of the French state he proposed in the north and east have changed very little in the three centuries since. Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban was born in May 1633, in Saint-Léger-de-Foucheret, renamed Saint-Léger-Vauban by Napoleon III in 1867, in the Yonne , now part of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté . His parents, Urbain Le Prestre ( c. 1602–1652) and Edmée de Cormignolle (died c. 1651), were members of

666-498: A precursor of modern economics. Later destroyed by royal decree , it contained radical proposals for a more even distribution of the tax burden. His application of rational and scientific methods to problem-solving, whether engineering or social, anticipated an approach common in the Age of Enlightenment . Perhaps the most enduring aspect of Vauban's legacy was his view of France as a geographical entity. His advocacy of giving up territory for

740-537: A result, French military engineering became ultra-conservative, while many 'new' works used his designs, or professed to do so, such as those built by Louis de Cortmontaigne at Metz in 1728–1733. This persisted into the late 19th century; Fort de Queuleu , built in 1867 near Metz, is recognisably a Vauban-style design. Some French engineers continued to be innovators, notably the Marquis de Montalembert , who published La Fortification perpendiculaire in 1776. A rejection of

814-422: A seigneur is a seigneurie or lordship , the rights that the seigneur was entitled to is called seigneuriage , and the jurisdiction exercised over the fief was seigneur justicier . The bearers of these titles, rights, and jurisdiction were generally but not exclusively male. A female seigneur was generally known as a seigneuresse or lady. The seigneur could be a noble or a roturier (commoner) as well as

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888-702: A short-lived infant son. He also had a long-term relationship with Marie-Antoinette de Puy-Montbrun, daughter of an exiled Huguenot officer, usually referred to as 'Mademoiselle de Villefranche.' Vauban died in Paris on 30 March 1707; buried near his home in Bazoches , his grave was destroyed during the French Revolution . In 1808, Napoleon I ordered his heart reburied in Les Invalides , resting place for many of France's most famous soldiers. While his modern fame rests on

962-530: A stricter sense to refer to a man whose manners and way of life reflect his noble ancestry and great wealth. In addition, Le Grand Seigneur had long been the name given by the French to the Ottoman sultan . Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ is the French equivalent of the English Our Lord Jesus Christ . The English word seignorage is also derived from seigneur . The title is still used in

1036-598: The Battle of Rocroi against Spain in 1643. He became a powerful and influential figure in France, which made him a threat to Anne of Austria , regent for the young Louis XIV , and her prime minister Mazarin . During the Fronde revolt, Condé initially supported the crown but was later imprisoned on Mazarin's orders. After his release, he launched an open rebellion and fought the royal forces until his defeat by Turenne , after which he defected to Spain. He commanded Spanish forces during

1110-460: The Battle of Seneffe , against William III of Orange . This battle, fought on 11 August, was one of the hardest of the century, and Condé, who displayed the reckless bravery of his youth, had three horses killed under him. His last campaign was that of 1675 on the Rhine, where the army had been deprived of its general by the death of Turenne; and where, by his careful and methodical strategy, he repelled

1184-654: The Battle of the Dunes in June 1658 led to the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659. Bending his knee to the rising Sun King , Condé was pardoned and restored to his previous titles, but his power as an independent prince was broken. Condé became a loyal supporter of Louis XIV , living quietly at the Château de Chantilly , an estate inherited from his uncle, Henri II de Montmorency . Here he assembled

1258-675: The Channel Islands , self-governing territories in the English Channel which swear fealty to the British Crown as the successor to the Duke of Normandy . In particular, it refers to the Seigneur of Sark , the hereditary ruler of Sark , a jurisdiction of the Bailiwick of Guernsey . The Seigneur of Saint Ouen and the Seigneur of Samarès are titles in the Bailiwick of Jersey . According to

1332-712: The Fronde rebellion, Condé was recalled to Court by Anne of Austria . He quickly subdued the Parlement of Paris , and the Parliamentary Fronde ended with the March 1649 Peace of Rueil . The resulting uncertain balance of power between crown and nobility inspired Condé to himself rebel, starting the far more serious Fronde des nobles . In January 1650, he was arrested, along with Conti and Longueville; imprisoned at Vincennes , and when asked if he needed reading material, he allegedly replied 'The Memoirs of M de Beaufort,' who had made

1406-635: The Spanish Netherlands and allied with the Spanish. In early 1653, when Vauban worked on the defences of Sainte-Menehould , one of Condé's principal possessions, he was captured by a Royalist patrol and switched sides, serving in the force led by Louis Nicolas de Clerville that took Sainte-Menehould in November 1653. Clerville, later appointed Commissaire général des fortifications , employed him on siege operations and building fortifications. In 1655, Vauban

1480-477: The Spanish Netherlands , of which only Seneffe was unrelated to a siege. Their importance was heightened by Louis XIV, who viewed them as low-risk opportunities for demonstrating his military skill and increasing his prestige; he was present at 20 of those conducted by Vauban. The 'siege parallel' had been in development since the mid-16th century but Vauban brought the idea to practical fulfilment at Maastricht in 1673. Three parallel trenches were dug in front of

1554-533: The Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659 but soon received military commands again. Condé conquered the Franche-Comté during the War of Devolution and led the French armies in the Franco-Dutch War together with Turenne. His last campaign was in 1675, taking command after Turenne had been killed, repelling an invasion of an imperial army. Conde is regarded as an excellent tactician, a fine strategist, and one of

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1628-408: The 1690s, betting on the length of a siege became a popular craze. As few states could afford large standing armies, defenders needed time to mobilise; to provide this, fortresses were designed to absorb the attackers' energies, similar to the use of crumple zones in modern cars. The French defence of Namur in 1695 showed "how one could effectively win a campaign, by losing a fortress, but exhausting

1702-672: The 1697 siege of Ath is often considered his offensive masterpiece. He was rewarded with money, and made Comte de Vauban, a member of the Order of the Holy Spirit and Order of Saint Louis , and an Honorary Member of the French Academy of Sciences . The numbers needed to conduct a siege, and prevent interference from opponents meant armies of the Nine Years' War often exceeded 100,000 men, sizes unsustainable for pre-industrial societies. It prompted

1776-463: The 17th through the 20th centuries. While often overlooked, Vauban worked on many civilian infrastructure projects, including rebuilding the ports of Brest , Dunkerque and Toulon . Since his fortifications were designed for mutual support, roads and waterways were an essential part of their design, such as the Canal de la Bruche , a 20-kilometre (12 mi) canal built in 1682 to transport materials for

1850-515: The Allies 12,000 casualties and most of the 1708 campaigning season; the lack of progress between 1706 and 1712 enabled Louis to reach an acceptable deal at Utrecht in 1713, as opposed to the humiliating terms presented in 1707. With more leisure time, Vauban developed a broader view of his role. His fortifications were designed for mutual support, so they required connecting roads, bridges and canals; garrisons needed to be fed, so he prepared maps showing

1924-627: The Catalan revolt known as the Reapers' War . By 1648, this had become an increasingly bitter, multi-sided conflict between the Spanish, the Catalan nobility supported by France, and the Catalan peasantry. As Mazarin had intended, Condé could achieve little; however, a Spanish revival in the Low Countries led to his recall and victory at Lens in August 1648. When the aristocracy took up arms against new taxes in

1998-833: The Feudal Dues Law of 1980 of Guernsey, the style of Dame or Seigneur is legally authorized for use by Seigneurs and Dames of Fiefs of the Crown Dependency of Guernsey. Guernsey or the Bailiwick of Guernsey is one of the Channel Islands that is a Crown Dependency . Guernsey still has feudal law and legal fiefs in existence today. Each fief has a Seigneur and/or Dame that owns the fief. The Guernsey fiefs and seigneurs have long existed before baronies and are part of Normandy . While nobility has been outlawed in France and Germany, noble fiefs still exist by law in Guernsey. The owners of

2072-499: The Franco-Dutch War, his personal life was marred by his unhappy marriage and estrangement from his wife, Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé , a niece of Richelieu . Condé died in 1686 at the age of 65. His descendants include the present-day pretenders to the thrones of France and Italy, and the kings of Spain and Belgium. Born in Paris as the son of Henri II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé and Charlotte Marguerite de Montmorency , he

2146-708: The French army to an unexpected and decisive victory over the Spanish, established him as a great general and popular hero in France. Together with the Marshal de Turenne he led the French to a favorable peace in the Thirty Years' War . During the Fronde , he was courted by both sides, initially supporting Mazarin; he later became a leader of the princely opposition. After the defeat of the Fronde, he entered Spanish service and led their armies against France, notably at Arras , Valenciennes , and Dunkirk . He returned to France only after

2220-455: The French army was assigned to garrison duty. Vauban's reputation meant his designs remained in use long after developments in artillery made them obsolete, for example the Dutch fort of Bourtange , built in 1742. The Corps des ingénieurs militaires was based on his teachings; between 1699 and 1743, only 631 new candidates were accepted, the vast majority relatives of existing or former members. As

2294-461: The Grand Battery of 200 guns at Namur in 1695, Vauban preferred a more gradual approach. Both had their supporters; Vauban argued his was less costly in terms of casualties, but it took more time, an important consideration in an age when far more soldiers died from disease than in combat. It was accepted even the strongest fortifications would fall, given time; the process was so well understood by

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2368-460: The Royal Academy at Paris. At seventeen, in the absence of his father, he governed Burgundy . His father betrothed him to Claire-Clémence de Maillé-Brézé , niece of Cardinal Richelieu , before he joined the army in 1640. Despite being in love with Marthe du Vigean, daughter of the king's gentleman of the bedchamber , François Poussard, he was compelled by his father to marry his fiancée , who

2442-633: The addition of casemated shoulders and flanks. The principles of Vauban's 'second system' were set out in the 1683 work Le Directeur-Général des fortifications, and used at Landau and Mont-Royal, near Traben-Trarbach ; both were advanced positions, intended as stepping-off points for French offensives into the Rhineland . Located 200 metres (660 ft) above the Moselle , Mont-Royal had main walls 30 metres (98 ft) high, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) long and space for 12,000 troops; this enormously expensive work

2516-537: The age of sixty-five and was buried at Vallery , the traditional resting place of the Princes of Condé. Bourdaloue attended him at his death-bed, and Bossuet pronounced his elegy . Although his youthful marriage to Claire Clémence de Maillé had brought him a dowry of 600,000 livres and many lands, Condé's lifelong resentment of his forced marriage to a social inferior persisted. In his last letter to Louis, he asked that his estranged wife never be released from her exile to

2590-459: The assistance of Turenne , who was hard pressed, and took command of the whole army. The Battle of Freiburg was desperately fought, but after Rocroi, numerous fortresses opened their gates to the Duke. Enghien spent the next winter, as every winter during the war, amid the gaieties of Paris. The summer campaign of 1645 opened with the defeat of Turenne by Franz von Mercy at Mergentheim , but this

2664-430: The besiegers." As with the siege parallel, the strength of Vauban's defensive designs was his ability to synthesise and adapt the work of others to create a more powerful whole. His first works used the 'star-shape' or bastion fort design, also known as the trace Italienne , based on the designs of Antoine de Ville (1596–1656) and Blaise Pagan (1603–1665). His subsequent 'systems' strengthened their internal works with

2738-463: The comparative form of senex ("old, elderly"). It is a doublet of the English words senior , sir , sire , seignior, sieur , and monsieur and shares the same provenance as the Italian signore , Portuguese senhor , and Spanish señor , which—like mister —referred to feudal lords before becoming general words of respectful address towards men. The noble title and land title of

2812-517: The countryside. She survived until 1694. Louis married Claire Clémence de Maillé , daughter of Urbain de Maillé, Marquis of Brézé and Nicole du Plessis de Richelieu, at the Palais Royal in Paris, in February 1641, in the presence of King Louis XIII of France , Anne of Austria , and Gaston of France . Their children were: That he was capable of waging a methodical war of positions may be assumed from his campaigns against Turenne and Montecucculi,

2886-628: The creation of the US Corps of Engineers in 1824. Until 1866, West Point's curriculum was modelled on that of the French Ecole Polytechnique and designed to produce officers with skills in engineering and mathematics. To ensure a steady supply of skilled engineers, in 1690 Vauban established the Corps royal des ingénieurs militaires ; until his death, candidates had to pass an examination administered by Vauban himself. Young French Huguenots made up

2960-702: The crown and Parlements against Condé's party of the high nobility. The royal forces under Turenne defeated Condé at the Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine in July 1652, ending the Fronde as a serious military threat. Condé only escaped when the Duchess of Montpensier persuaded the Parisians to open the gates; in September, he and a few loyalists defected to Spain. Despite victory over Turenne at Valenciennes in 1656, defeat at

3034-478: The decisive victory. After a campaign of uninterrupted success, Enghien returned to Paris in triumph, and tried to forget his enforced and hateful marriage with a series of affairs (after Richelieu's death in 1642, he would unsuccessfully seek annulment of his marriage in hopes of marrying Mlle du Vigean, until she joined the order of the Carmelites in 1647). In 1644 he was sent with reinforcements into Germany to

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3108-483: The defenders, and allow better co-ordination among the assault force; he was supported by Louis, and the attack proved successful. Vauban made several innovations in the use of siege artillery, including ricochet firing , and concentrating on specific parts of the fortifications, rather than targeting multiple targets. His Dutch rival Menno van Coehoorn employed a similar approach. While the 'Van Coehoorn method' sought to overwhelm defences with massive firepower, such as

3182-507: The election of John Sobieski . The Prince's retirement, which was only broken by the Polish question and by his personal intercession on behalf of Fouquet in 1664, ended in 1668. During the 1666 to 1667 War of Devolution , Condé proposed to the Marquis de Louvois , the Minister of War, a plan for seizing Franche-Comté , the execution of which was entrusted to him and successfully carried out. He

3256-466: The end of his career to provide a training curriculum for his successors. Vauban's offensive tactics remained relevant for centuries; his principles were clearly identifiable in those used by the Việt Minh at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. His defensive fortifications dated far more quickly, partly due to the enormous investment required; Vauban himself estimated that in 1678, 1694 and 1705, between 40 and 45% of

3330-656: The fiefs actually convene each year at the Court of Chief Pleas under the supervision of His Majesty's Government. There are approximately 24 private fiefs in Guernsey that are registered directly with the Crown. Some Fief Seigneurs own more than one Fief or have several Fiefs within their Fief territory. Louis, Grand Cond%C3%A9 Louis II de Bourbon, Prince of Condé (8 September 1621 – 11 December 1686), known as le Grand Condé ( French for 'the Great Condé';),

3404-479: The final phase of the Franco-Spanish War . Following the Treaty of the Pyrenees in 1659, Condé was pardoned by Louis XIV and returned to France. He became a loyal supporter of the king, living a quiet life at the Château de Chantilly and associating with literary figures such as Molière and Racine . Despite his renewed contributions to France's military success in the War of Devolution against Spain and

3478-578: The fortification of Strasbourg . As early as 1684, Vauban published design tables for retaining walls with heights between 3 and 25 metres. Three years later, Vauban, in his role as newly appointed Commissary General of all French fortifications, sent his engineers in the Corps du Génie Militaire his Profil général pour les murs de soutènement in which he presented his retaining wall profiles that were later adopted by engineering offers such as Bélidor (1729), Poncelet (1840) and Wheeler (1870). He also provided advice on

3552-456: The fortifications he built, Vauban's greatest innovations were in offensive operations, an approach he summarised as 'More powder, less blood.' Initially reliant on existing concepts, he later adapted these on lines set out in his memorandum of March 1672, Mémoire pour servir à l'instruction dans la conduite des sièges . In this period, sieges became the dominant form of warfare; during the 1672–1678 Franco-Dutch War , three battles were fought in

3626-481: The greatest generals opposing him. But it was in his eagerness for battle, his quick decision in action, and the stern will which sent his regiments to face the heaviest losses, that Condé earned the right to be compared to the great generals of his time. Upon the Grand Condé ’s death, Louis XIV pronounced that he had lost "the greatest man in my kingdom." In 1643 his success at the Battle of Rocroi , in which he led

3700-1017: The invasion of the Imperial army of Raimondo Montecuccoli . After this campaign, prematurely worn out by toils and excesses, and tortured by gout , Condé returned to the Château de Chantilly, where he spent his last eleven years in quiet retirement. At the end of his life, Condé sought the companionship of Bourdaloue , Pierre Nicole , and Bossuet , and devoted himself to religious exercises. In 1685, his only surviving grandson, Louis de Bourbon , married Louise Françoise , eldest surviving daughter of Louis and his mistress Madame de Montespan . In mid-1686, Louise Françoise, later known as 'Madame la Duchesse', contracted smallpox while at Fontainebleau ; Condé helped nurse her back to health, and prevented Louis from seeing her for his own safety. Although Louise Françoise survived, Condé became ill, allegedly from worry over her health. He died at Fontainebleau on 11 November 1686 at

3774-618: The lake and gardens at Blenheim Palace . In 1650, Vauban joined the household of his local magnate, the Prince de Condé , where he met de Montal ; a close neighbour from Nièvre , the two were colleagues for many years, and often worked together. During the 1650–1653 Fronde des nobles , Condé was arrested by the Regency Council, led by Louis XIV 's mother Anne of Austria and Cardinal Mazarin . After being released in 1652, he and his supporters, among them Vauban and de Montal, went into exile in

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3848-456: The local gentry, including the owners of the Château de Ruère, where Vauban spent his early years. His only sister, Charlotte (1638–1645?), died young, but he had many relatives; his cousin, Paul le Prestre (c. 1630 – 1703), was an army officer who supervised construction of Les Invalides . Three of Paul's sons served in the army, two of whom were killed in action in 1676 and 1677. The third, Antoine (1654–1731), became Vauban's assistant and later

3922-424: The location of forges, forests and farms. Since these had to be paid for, he developed an interest in tax policy, and in 1707 published La Dîme royale , documenting the economic misery of the lower classes. His solution was a flat 10% tax on all agricultural and industrial output, and eliminating the exemptions which meant most of the nobility and clergy paid nothing. Although confiscated and destroyed by royal decree,

3996-573: The mid-twentieth century. He viewed civilian infrastructure as closely connected to military effectiveness and worked on many of France's major ports, as well as projects like the Canal de la Bruche , which remains in use today. He founded the Corps royal des ingénieurs militaires , whose curriculum was based on his publications on engineering design, strategy and training. His economic tract, La Dîme royale , used statistics in support of his arguments, making it

4070-462: The minor nobility, from Vauban in Bazoches . In 1570, his grandfather Jacques Le Prestre acquired Château de Bazoches , when he married Françoise de la Perrière, an illegitimate daughter of the Comte de Bazoches, who died intestate . The 30-year legal battle by the Le Prestre family to retain the property proved financially ruinous, forcing Urbain to become a forestry worker. He also designed gardens for

4144-418: The principles advocated by Vauban and his successors; his ideas became the prevailing orthodoxy in much of Europe but were dismissed in France. Seigneur The English seigneur is borrowed from the French seigneur , which descends from Middle French seigneur , from Old French seignor (oblique form of sire ), from Latin seniōrem , the accusative singular of senior ("elder"),

4218-531: The repair and enlargement of the Canal du Midi in 1686. His holistic approach to urban planning, which integrated city defences with layout and infrastructure, is most obvious at Neuf-Brisach. His legacy is recognised in the Vauban district in Freiburg , named after a French army base on the same location, which developed as a model for sustainable neighbourhoods post-1998. Vauban's 'scientific approach' and focus on large infrastructure projects strongly influenced American military and civil engineering and inspired

4292-523: The use of statistics to support his arguments "... establishes him as a founder of modern economics, and precursor of the Enlightenment 's socially concerned intellectuals." In the course of his career, Vauban supervised or designed the building of more than 300 separate fortifications, and by his own estimate, supervised more than 40 sieges from 1653 to 1697. In 1660, Vauban married Jeanne d'Aunay d'Epiry (ca 1640–1705); they had two daughters, Charlotte (1661–1709) and Jeanne Françoise (1678–1713), as well as

4366-399: The walls, the earth thus excavated being used to create embankments screening the attackers from defensive fire, while bringing them as close to the assault point as possible (see diagram). Artillery was moved into the trenches, allowing them to target the base of the walls at close range, with the defenders unable to depress their own guns enough to counter this; once a breach had been made, it

4440-457: The war with Spain. In 1643, at the age of ten, Vauban was sent to the Carmelite college in Semur-en-Auxois , where he was taught the basics of mathematics, science and geometry. His father's work was also relevant; the design of neo-classical gardens and fortifications were closely linked, since they both concerned managing space. It was common to combine these skills; John Armstrong (1674–1742), Marlborough 's chief military engineer, laid out

4514-522: The young Louis XIV , and her prime minister, Mazarin . Condé's vast domains included Burgundy and Berry , while the Prince de Conti , his brother, held Champagne , and his brother-in-law, Longueville , controlled Normandy . In 1641, Louis XIII had granted him Clermont-en-Argonne , ceded to France by the Duchy of Lorraine ; in 1648, this was converted to an appanage , effectively making it independent of royal authority. To remove Condé from Paris, Mazarin arranged for him to lead anti-Habsburg forces in

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4588-433: Was a French military commander. A tactician and strategist, he is regarded as one of France's greatest generals, particularly celebrated for his triumphs in the Thirty Years' War and his campaigns during the Franco-Dutch War . A member of a senior cadet branch of the House of Bourbon , Condé demonstrated exceptional military prowess from a young age and distinguished himself during the Thirty Years' War, in particular at

4662-422: Was appointed Ingénieur du Roi or Royal Engineer, and by the time the war with Spain ended in 1659, he was known as a talented engineer of energy and courage. Under the terms of the Treaty of the Pyrenees , Spain ceded much of French Flanders , and Vauban was put in charge of fortifying newly acquired towns such as Dunkirk . This pattern of French territorial gains, followed by fortification of new strongpoints,

4736-408: Was based on a memorandum from Vauban to Louvois , Minister of War, setting out a proposed line of fortresses known as the Ceinture de fer , or iron belt (see Map). He was made Maréchal de camp in 1676, and succeeded Clerville as Commissaire general des fortifications in 1677. During the Nine Years' War, he supervised the capture of Namur in 1692, the major French achievement of the war, while

4810-416: Was demolished when the French withdrew after the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick , and only the foundations remain today. Fort-Louis was another new construction, built on an island in the middle of the Rhine ; this allowed Vauban to combine his defensive principles with town planning, although like Mont-Royal, little of it remains. The French retreat from the Rhine after 1697 required new fortresses; Neuf-Brisach

4884-478: Was followed in the 1667–1668 War of Devolution , 1672–1678 Franco-Dutch War and 1683–1684 War of the Reunions . The first fortification Vauban designed was the 1673 siege of Maastricht , although he was subordinate to Louis, who ranked as the senior officer present, and thus took credit for its capture. Vauban was rewarded with a large sum of money, which he used to purchase the Château de Bazouches from his cousin in 1675. Post-1673, French strategy in Flanders

4958-446: Was hard to defend. In December 1672, he wrote to Louvois : "I am not for the greater number of places, we already have too many, and please God we had half of that, but all in good condition!" Many of the fortifications designed by Vauban are still standing; in 2008, twelve groups of Vauban fortifications were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List for their exceptional engineering and influence on military fortifications from

5032-401: Was immediately endowed with the title of Duke of Enghien . His father was a first cousin-once-removed of Henry IV , the King of France, and his mother was an heiress of one of France's leading ducal families. His father saw to it that he received a thorough education, studying history , law , and mathematics during six years at the Jesuits ' school at Bourges . After that, he entered

5106-447: Was now completely re-established in the favour of King Louis XIV, and with Turenne, was appointed the principal French commander in the celebrated campaign of 1672 against the Dutch. At the forcing of the Rhine passage at the Battle of Tolhuis (12 June), he received a severe wound, after which he commanded in Alsace against the Imperials. In 1673, he was again engaged in the Low Countries, and in 1674, he fought his last great battle,

5180-402: Was present with the Cardinal during the plot of Cinq Mars and afterwards fought in the Siege of Perpignan (1642) . In 1643, Enghien was appointed to command against the Spanish in northern France. He was opposed by Francisco de Melo , and the tercios of the Spanish army who were held to be the toughest soldiers in Europe. At the Battle of Rocroi , Enghien himself conceived and directed

5254-613: Was retrieved in the victory of Nördlingen , in which Mercy was killed, and Enghien himself received several serious wounds. The capture of Philippsburg was the most important of his other achievements during this campaign. In 1646 Enghien served under Gaston, Duke of Orléans in Flanders , and when, after the capture of Mardyck , Orléans returned to Paris, Enghien, left in command, captured Dunkirk (11 October). When he succeeded in 1646 as 'Prince of Condé,' his combination of military ability, noble status, and enormous wealth inspired considerable apprehension in Anne of Austria , regent for

5328-498: Was the most significant, designed on Vauban's 'third system', and completed after his death by Louis de Cormontaigne . Using ideas from Fort-Louis, this incorporated a regular square grid street pattern inside an octagonal fortification; tenement blocks were built inside each curtain wall, strengthening the defensive walls and shielding more expensive houses from cannon fire. To create a more coherent border, Vauban advocated destroying poor fortifications, and relinquishing territory that

5402-429: Was then stormed. This approach was used in offensive operations well into the 20th century. However, Vauban adapted his approach to the situation, and did not use the siege parallel again until Valenciennes in 1677. Always willing to challenge accepted norms, at Valenciennes, he proposed assaulting the breach during the day, rather than at night as was normal practice. He argued this would reduce casualties by surprising

5476-456: Was thirteen. Although she bore her husband three children, Enghien later claimed she committed adultery with different men in order to justify locking her away at Châteauroux , but the charge was widely disbelieved. Saint-Simon , while admitting that she was homely and dull, praised her virtue, piety, and gentleness in the face of relentless abuse. Enghien took part with distinction in the siege of Arras . He also won Richelieu's favor when he

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