View source for Claude Louis Hector de Villars, 1st Duke of Villars

{{short description|Marshal General of France}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix   = [[Marshal General of France|Marshal General]]
|name               = Claude Louis Hector de Villars
|honorific-suffix   = [[Grandee|GE]]
|image              = Rigaud - Claude Louis Hector de Villars - Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte.jpg
|caption            = Portrait by [[Hyacinthe Rigaud]], 1704
|office             = [[Minister of Defence (France)|Secretary of State for War]]
|term_start         = 1 October 1715
|term_end           = 24 September 1718
|predecessor        = [[Daniel Voysin de la Noiraye]]
|successor          = [[Claude le Blanc]]
|monarch            = [[Louis XV]]
|birth_date         = 8 May 1653
|birth_place        = [[Moulins, Allier|Moulins]], [[Kingdom of France]]
|death_date         = 17 June 1734 (aged 81)
|death_place        = [[Turin]], [[Kingdom of Sardinia]]
|father             = [[Pierre de Villars]]
|mother             = Marie Gigault 
|spouse             = Jeanne Angélique Roque
|children           = [[Honoré Armand de Villars]]
|nationality        = [[French people|French]]
| allegiance    = {{flagcountry|Kingdom of France}}
| branch        =[[French Army]]
| serviceyears  =1671–1734
| rank          =[[Marshal General of France|Marshal General]]
| battles       =[[Franco-Dutch War]]
* [[Siege of Maastricht (1673)|Siege of Maastricht]]
* [[Battle of Seneffe]]
[[Nine Years' War]]<br>[[War of the Camisards]]<br>[[War of the Spanish Succession]]
* [[Battle of Friedlingen]]
* [[First Battle of Höchstädt]]
* [[Battle of Malplaquet]]{{WIA}}
* [[Battle of Denain]]
* [[Rhine campaign (1713)|Rhine campaign]]
[[War of the Polish Succession]]
| battles_label =
| awards        =
| relations     =
| laterwork     =
| module        = [[File:Blason Claude Louis Hector de Villars (1653-1734).svg|100px|center]]
| signature     = Signatur Claude-Louis-Hector de Villars.PNG
}}

'''Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Prince of Martigues, Marquis''' then (1st) '''Duke of Villars, Viscount of Melun''' ({{IPA|fr|klod lwi ɛktɔʁ də vilaʁ}}, 8 May 1653 – 17 June 1734) was a [[French people|French]] military commander and an illustrious general of [[Louis XIV]].<ref>Lynn. A John. ''The French Wars 1667–1714: The Sun King at War''. Osprey Publishing (2002) p. 62</ref> He was one of only six [[Marshal of France|Marshals]] to have been promoted [[Marshal General of France]]. Villars is considered one of the great military commanders produced by his time.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bodart |first=Gaston |author-link=Gaston Bodart |date=1908 |publisher=C. W. Stern |language=de |title=Militär-historisches Kriegs-Lexikon (1618–1905) |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_A0kNAAAAYAAJ/page/788 |access-date=11 September 2023 |page=788}}</ref>

==Early career==
Villars was born at [[Moulins, Allier|Moulins]] (in the present-day département of [[Allier]])<ref name="Ency 1911" /> in a noble but poor family, his father was the diplomat<ref name="Ency 1911" /> [[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 (1673)|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.<ref name="Ency 1911">{{EB1911|wstitle=Villars, Claude Louis Hector de |inline=1|volume=28|pages=76–77}}</ref>

The next promotion would take time in spite of a long record of service under [[Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, Viscount of Turenne|Turenne]], [[Louis II de Bourbon, Prince de Condé|The Great Condé]] and [[François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg|Luxembourg]], and of his aristocratic birth, as he had incurred the enmity of the powerful [[François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois|Louvois]]. He was finally made ''[[maréchal de camp]]'' in 1687.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}

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|date=December 2013}}

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.<ref name="Ency 1911" />

==War of the Spanish Succession==
{{Main|War of the Spanish Succession}}
[[Image:Villars a Denain1.jpg|thumb|''[[The Battle of Denain]]'' by [[Jean Alaux]], 1839. Villars winning his most important victory at the [[Battle of Denain]] in 1712]]

It was Villars' part in the next war, beginning with [[battle of Friedlingen|Friedlingen]] (1702) and [[Battle of Hochstadt|Hochstadt]] (1703) and ending with [[Battle of Denain|Denain]] (1712), that has made him most famous.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}} For his part in the battle of Friedlingen he received the marshalate, and for the [[War of the Camisards|pacification of the insurgent]] [[Cévennes]] 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.<ref name="Ency 1911" />

In that year he was called to command the main army opposing [[Prince Eugene of Savoy|Prince Eugène of Savoy]] and [[John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough|Marlborough]] on the northern frontier.<ref name="Ency 1911" /> During the famine of the winter he shared the soldiers' rations. When the campaign opened the old [[Louis François Boufflers|Marshal Boufflers]] volunteered to serve under him, but they were unable to prevent the Allies from capturing [[Siege of Tournai (1709)|Tournai]] and [[Siege of Mons (1709)|Mons]].<ref>{{cite book |last=MacDowall |first=Simon |author-link= |date=2020 |title=Malplaquet 1709: Marlborough's Bloodiest Battle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NFPsDwAAQBAJ |location= |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=39 |isbn=9781472841216}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Anquetil |first=Louis-Pierre|author-link=Louis-Pierre Anquetil |year= 1819 |title=Histoire de France depuis les Gaulois jusqu'à la mort de Louis XVI |publisher=Chez Janet et Cotelle |page=241}}</ref>

Two more campaigns passed without a battle and with scarcely any advance on the part of the invaders, but at last Marlborough [[Siege of Bouchain|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 Eugène at [[Battle of Denain|Denain]].<ref name="Ency 1911" /> 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|date=December 2013}} led the stormers at [[Freiburg]] and negotiated the [[Treaty of Rastatt]] and the [[Treaty of Baden (1714)|Treaty of Baden]]<ref>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'' (= Beiträge zur Aargauer Geschichte. 18). Baden: Hier und Jetzt, 2014, {{ISBN|978-3-03919-327-1}}.</ref> with Prince Eugène.<ref name="Ency 1911"/>

As a result of his contribution, his title was granted [[Grandee|Grandee of Spain]] status by [[Philip V of Spain|Philip V]].

==''Villars'' residence==
''Villars,'' named for Marshal Villars, was built in [[Moulins, Allier]] during the reign of [[Louis XV of France|Louis XV]]. The 18th century [[Historical Monument|historical monument]] was used as a cavalry barracks.<ref name="CNCS History" /><ref name="Saatchi">{{cite web | url=http://www.saatchigallery.com/museums/museum-profile.php/Centre+National+Du+Costume+De+Scene/970.html | title=Centre National du Costume de Scene | publisher=Saatchi Gallery | access-date=16 December 2013 | archive-date=17 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217030334/http://www.saatchigallery.com/museums/museum-profile.php/Centre+National+Du+Costume+De+Scene/970.html | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="Jodidio p. 533">{{cite book|author=Philip Jodidio|title=Architecture D'aujourd'hui|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kl9Shbs2S9cC&pg=PT533|year=2004|publisher=Taschen|isbn=978-3-8228-2935-6|page=533}}</ref><ref name="Ville de Moulin">{{cite web | url=http://www.ville-moulins.fr/Centre-National-du-Costume-de,20.html | title=Centre National du Costume de Scene (French, translated in part using translate.google.com) | publisher=Ville de Moulins | access-date=16 December 2013 | archive-date=8 July 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708030709/http://www.ville-moulins.fr/Centre-National-du-Costume-de,20.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> It was partially destroyed during [[World War II]]<ref name="CNCS History">{{cite web | url=http://www.cncs.fr/le-CNCS/decouvrir-le-cncs/historique | title=Historique | publisher=Centre National du Costume de Scene | access-date=16 December 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217050702/http://www.cncs.fr/le-CNCS/decouvrir-le-cncs/historique | archive-date=17 December 2013 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and was restored by François Voinchet, Architect of Historic Monuments and is now the [[Centre National du Costume de Scene]] museum.<ref name="La Tribune de l'Art">{{cite web | url=http://www.latribunedelart.com/le-centre-national-du-costume-de-scene-de-moulins-une-realisation-exemplaire | title=Le Centre National du Costume de Scène de Moulins: une réalisation exemplaire | date=18 December 2009 | publisher=La Tribune de l'Art | access-date=16 December 2013}}</ref>

==Regency==
[[File:armoiries Villars Vaux.jpg|thumb|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 [[Guillaume Dubois|Cardinal Dubois]], and only the memories of Montmorency's rebellion prevented his being made [[constable of France]].{{citation needed|date=December 2013}} 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.<ref name="Ency 1911" />

==Marriage and issue==

On 1 February 1702, he married Jeanne Angélique Roque with whom he had a son:

# [[Honoré Armand de Villars|Honoré Armand de Villars, 2nd Duke of Villars]] (4 October 1702 - May 1770) married [[Amable Gabrielle de Noailles]] and had a daughter.

==Legacy==
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 [[Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess Palatine|the Duchess of Orleans]] in her letters.<ref>Didier Godard, ''Le Goût de Monsieur. L'homosexualité masculine au XVIIe siècle'', Montblanc, ed. H & O, 2002, p. 171</ref>

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 [[Melchior de Vogüé|the Marquis of Vogüé]] in 1884–92.{{citation needed|date=December 2013}}

==References==
* Sturgill, Claude C., ''Marshal Villars and the War of the Spanish Succession'', [Lexington]: University of Kentucky Press, [1965].
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons|Claude Louis Hector de Villars|Claude Louis Hector de Villars}}
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Wikisource|1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Villars, Claude Louis Hector de}}
* [http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/FRENCH_ARMY.htm The French Army 1600–1900]

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{{s-off}}
{{succession box | title=[[Minister of Defence (France)|Secretary of State for War]]|
 before= [[Daniel Voysin de la Noiraye]] | years=1 October 1715 – 24 September 1718| after=[[Claude le Blanc]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Académie française Seat 18}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Villars, Claude-Louis-Hector De}}
[[Category:1653 births]]
[[Category:1734 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Moulins, Allier]]
[[Category:People of the Regency of Philippe d'Orléans]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the Franco-Dutch War]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the Nine Years' War]]
[[Category:French army commanders in the War of the Spanish Succession]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the War of the Polish Succession]]
[[Category:Marshals General of France]]
[[Category:Members of the Académie Française]]
[[Category:Princes of Martigues]]
[[Category:Dukes of Villars]]
[[Category:Marquesses of Villars]]
[[Category:Viscounts of Melun]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for war (France)]]
[[Category:Governors of Provence]]
[[Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain]]
[[Category:Peers created by Louis XIV]]