Marshal General of France
Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Prince of Martigues, Marquis
then (1st)
Duke of Villars, Viscount of Melun
(
French pronunciation:
[klod
lwi
?kt??
d?
vila?]
, 8 May 1653 ? 17 June 1734) was a French military commander and an illustrious general of
Louis XIV of France
.
[1]
He was one of only six
Marshals
to have been promoted
Marshal General of France
.
Early career
[
edit
]
Villars was born at
Moulins
(in the present-day departement of
Allier
)
[2]
in a noble but poor family, his father was the diplomat
[2]
Pierre de Villars
. He entered the French army through the corps of pages in 1671 and distinguished himself at the age of twenty in the
Siege of Maastricht
in 1673 during the
Franco-Dutch War
and again at the bloody
Battle of Seneffe
. A year later he was promoted on the field to mestre de camp (
colonel
) of a cavalry regiment.
[2]
The next promotion would take time in spite of a long record of service under
Turenne
,
The Great Conde
and
Luxembourg
, and of his aristocratic birth, as he had incurred the enmity of the powerful
Louvois
. He was finally made
marechal de camp
in 1687.
[
citation needed
]
In the interval between the Dutch wars and the formation of the
League of Augsburg
, Villars, who combined with his military gifts the tact and subtlety of a diplomat, was employed in an unofficial mission to the court of
Bavaria
, and there became the constant companion of
Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria
.
[
citation needed
]
He returned to France in 1690 and was given a command in the cavalry of the army in Flanders, but towards the end of the
War of the Grand Alliance
, in 1698, he went to
Vienna
as ambassador.
[2]
War of the Spanish Succession
[
edit
]
Villars winning his most important victory at the
Battle of Denain
It was Villars' part in the next war, beginning with
Friedlingen
(1702) and
Hochstadt
(1703) and ending with
Denain
(1712), that has made him most famous.
[
citation needed
]
For his part in the battle of Friedlingen he received the marshalate, and for the
pacification of the insurgent
Cevennes
he received the Saint-Esprit order and the title of duke. Friedlingen and Hochstadt were barren victories, and the campaigns of which they formed were characterised by lost opportunities. Villars' career culminated from 1709 onwards when France, close to total defeat, managed to survive.
[2]
In that year he was called to command the main army opposing
Prince Eugene of Savoy
and
Marlborough
on the northern frontier.
[2]
During the famine of the winter he shared the soldiers' rations. When the campaign opened the old
Marshal Boufflers
volunteered to serve under him, but they were unable to prevent the Allies from capturing
Tournai
and
Mons
.
[3]
After the
Battle of Malplaquet
in September 1709, in which Villars was gravely wounded (by a musketball to the knee), he was able to tell the king: "If God grants us the grace to lose such a battle again, Your Majesty can count on all of his enemies being destroyed".
[4]
Two more campaigns passed without a battle and with scarcely any advance on the part of the invaders, but at last Marlborough
manoeuvred
Villars out of the famous
Ne plus ultra
lines, and the power of the defence seemed to be broken. But Louis made a last effort, the English contingent and its leader were withdrawn from the enemy's camp, and Villars, though still recovering from his Malplaquet wounds, outmanoeuvred and decisively defeated Eugene at
Denain
.
[2]
The French followed up this success by retaking several lost fortresses, culminating in the
Siege of Bouchain (1712)
.
This victory saved France, though the war dragged on for another year, where Villars led the
Rhine campaign (1713)
, in which he took
Landau
,
[
citation needed
]
led the stormers at
Freiburg
and negotiated the
Treaty of Rastatt
and the
Treaty of Baden
[5]
with Prince Eugene.
[2]
As a result of his contribution, his title was granted
Grandee of Spain
status by
Philip V
.
Villars
residence
[
edit
]
Villars,
named for Marshal Villars, was built in
Moulins, Allier
during the reign of
Louis XV
. The 18th century
historical monument
was used as a cavalry barracks.
[6]
[7]
[8]
[9]
It was partially destroyed during
World War II
[6]
and was restored by Francois Voinchet, Architect of Historic Monuments and is now the
Centre National du Costume de Scene
museum.
[10]
Regency
[
edit
]
Coat of Arms of duc de Villars in Vaux-le-Vicomte castle
Villars played a conspicuous part in the politics of the Regency period as the principal opponent of
Cardinal Dubois
, and only the memories of Montmorency's rebellion prevented his being made
constable of France
.
[
citation needed
]
He took the field for the last time in the
War of the Polish Succession
(1734), with the title
marshal-general of the king's armies
, that Turenne had held before him. But he was over eighty years old at this point, and after opening the campaign energetically he died at
Turin
on 17 June 1734.
[2]
Marriage and issue
[
edit
]
On 1 February 1702, he married Jeanne Angelique Roque with whom he had a son:
- Honore Armand de Villars, 2nd Duke of Villars
(4 October 1702 - May 1770) married
Amable Gabrielle de Noailles
and had a daughter.
Legacy
[
edit
]
Villars's memoirs show us a
fanfaron plein d'honneur
, as
Voltaire
calls him. He was indeed boastful, and also covetous of honours and wealth. But he was also described as an honourable man of high courage, moral and physical, and certainly a very skilled soldier. He was famous for his love for young men as wrote
the Duchess of Orleans
in her letters.
[11]
The memoirs, part of which was published in 1734 and afterwards several times republished in untrustworthy versions, were for the first time completely edited by
the Marquis of Vogue
in 1884?92.
[
citation needed
]
References
[
edit
]
- Sturgill, Claude C.,
Marshal Villars and the War of the Spanish Succession
, [Lexington]: University of Kentucky Press, [1965].
- ^
Lynn. A John.
The French Wars 1667?1714: The Sun King at War
. Osprey Publishing (2002) p. 62
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
public domain
:
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911). "
Villars, Claude Louis Hector de
".
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 76?77.
- ^
MacDowall, Simon (2020).
Malplaquet 1709: Marlborough's Bloodiest Battle
. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 39.
ISBN
9781472841216
.
- ^
Anquetil, Louis-Pierre
(1819).
Histoire de France depuis les Gaulois jusqu'a la mort de Louis XVI
. Chez Janet et Cotelle. p. 241.
- ^
For a vivid description of Claude Louis Hector de Villars' stay during the Baden peace conference see:
Das Diarium des Badener Friedens 1714 von Caspar Joseph Dorer. Mit Einleitung und Kommentar herausgegeben von Barbara Schmid
(= Beitrage zur Aargauer Geschichte. 18). Baden: Hier und Jetzt, 2014,
ISBN
978-3-03919-327-1
.
- ^
a
b
"Historique"
. Centre National du Costume de Scene. Archived from
the original
on 17 December 2013
. Retrieved
16 December
2013
.
- ^
"Centre National du Costume de Scene"
. Saatchi Gallery. Archived from
the original
on 17 December 2013
. Retrieved
16 December
2013
.
- ^
Philip Jodidio (2004).
Architecture D'aujourd'hui
. Taschen. p. 533.
ISBN
978-3-8228-2935-6
.
- ^
"Centre National du Costume de Scene (French, translated in part using translate.google.com)"
. Ville de Moulins. Archived from
the original
on 8 July 2015
. Retrieved
16 December
2013
.
- ^
"Le Centre National du Costume de Scene de Moulins: une realisation exemplaire"
. La Tribune de l'Art
. Retrieved
16 December
2013
.
- ^
Didier Godard,
Le Gout de Monsieur. L'homosexualite masculine au XVIIe siecle
, Montblanc, ed. H & O, 2002, p. 171
External links
[
edit
]
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has original text related to this article:
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