Claude Louis Hector de Villars | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byHyacinthe Rigaud, 1704 | |
| Secretary of State for War | |
| In office 1 October 1715 – 24 September 1718 | |
| Monarch | Louis XV |
| Preceded by | Daniel Voysin de la Noiraye |
| Succeeded by | Claude le Blanc |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 8 May 1653 |
| Died | 17 June 1734 (aged 81) |
| Spouse | Jeanne Angélique Roque |
| Children | Honoré Armand de Villars |
| Parents |
|
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  France |
| Branch/service | French Army |
| Years of service | 1671–1734 |
| Rank | Marshal General |
| Battles/wars | Franco-Dutch War Nine Years' War
|
.svg) | |
Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Prince of Martigues, Marquis then (1st)Duke of Villars, Viscount of Melun (French pronunciation:[klodlwiɛktɔʁdəvilaʁ], 8 May 1653 – 17 June 1734) was aFrench military commander and an illustrious general ofLouis XIV.[1] He was one of only sixMarshals to have been promotedMarshal General of France. Villars is considered one of the great military commanders produced by his time.[2]
Villars was born atMoulins (in the present-day département ofAllier)[3] in a noble but poor family, his father was the diplomat[3]Pierre de Villars. He entered the French army through the corps of pages in 1671 and distinguished himself at the age of twenty in theSiege of Maastricht in 1673 during theFranco-Dutch War and again at the bloodyBattle of Seneffe. A year later he was promoted on the field to mestre de camp (colonel) of a cavalry regiment.[3]
The next promotion would take time in spite of a long record of service underTurenne,The Great Condé andLuxembourg, and of his aristocratic birth, as he had incurred the enmity of the powerfulLouvois. He was finally mademaréchal de camp in 1687.[citation needed]
In the interval between the Dutch wars and the formation of theLeague 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 ofBavaria, and there became the constant companion ofMaximilian 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 theWar of the Grand Alliance, in 1698, he went toVienna as ambassador.[3]
It was Villars' part in the next war, beginning withFriedlingen (1702) andHochstadt (1703) and ending withDenain (1712), that has made him most famous.[citation needed] For his part in the battle of Friedlingen he received the marshalate, and for thepacification of the insurgentCévennes 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.[3]
In that year he was called to command the main army opposingPrince Eugène of Savoy andMarlborough on the northern frontier.[3] During the famine of the winter he shared the soldiers' rations. When the campaign opened the oldMarshal Boufflers volunteered to serve under him, but they were unable to prevent the Allies from capturingTournai andMons.[4] After theBattle 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".[5]
Two more campaigns passed without a battle and with scarcely any advance on the part of the invaders, but at last Marlboroughmanoeuvred Villars out of the famousNe 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 Eugène atDenain.[3] The French followed up this success by retaking several lost fortresses, culminating in theSiege of Bouchain (1712).
This victory saved France, though the war dragged on for another year, where Villars led theRhine campaign (1713), in which he tookLandau,[citation needed] led the stormers atFreiburg and negotiated theTreaty of Rastatt and theTreaty of Baden[6] with Prince Eugène.[3]
As a result of his contribution, his title was grantedGrandee of Spain status byPhilip V.
Villars, named for Marshal Villars, was built inMoulins, Allier during the reign ofLouis XV. The 18th centuryhistorical monument was used as a cavalry barracks.[7][8][9][10] It was partially destroyed duringWorld War II[7] and was restored by François Voinchet, Architect of Historic Monuments and is now theCentre National du Costume de Scene museum.[11]
Villars played a conspicuous part in the politics of the Regency period as the principal opponent ofCardinal Dubois, and only the memories of Montmorency's rebellion prevented his being madeconstable of France.[citation needed] He took the field for the last time in theWar of the Polish Succession (1734), with the titlemarshal-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 atTurin on 17 June 1734.[3]
On 1 February 1702, he married Jeanne Angélique Roque with whom he had a son:
Villars's memoirs show us afanfaron plein d'honneur, asVoltaire 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 wrotethe Duchess of Orleans in her letters.[12]
The memoirs, part of which was published in 1734 and afterwards several times republished in untrustworthy versions, were for the first time completely edited bythe Marquis of Vogüé in 1884–92.[citation needed]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Villars, Claude Louis Hector de".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 76–77.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for War 1 October 1715 – 24 September 1718 | Succeeded by |
