page_title: Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban
section_title: Biography
hierarchical_section_title: Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban / Biography
caption_attribution_description: Château de Bazoches (Château de Vauban), Bazoches, Bourgogne, FRANCE.
context_page_description: Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, Seigneur de Vauban, later Marquis de Vauban, commonly referred to as Vauban, was a French military engineer, who served under Louis XIV. He is generally considered the greatest engineer of his time, and one of the most important in Western military history.
  His principles for fortifications were widely used for nearly 100 years, while aspects of his offensive tactics remained in use until the mid-twentieth century. He worked on many of France's major ports, as well as projects like the Canal de la Bruche, which remain in use today; his view that all infrastructure had a dual civilian and military function directly inspired the creation of the United States Army Corps of Engineers.
  He founded the Corps royal des ingénieurs militaires, the origin of modern French combat engineering units, 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 a precursor of modern economics. Later destroyed by Royal decree, it contained radical proposals for a more even distribution of the tax burden.
context_section_description: Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban was born 4 May 1633, in Saint-Léger-de-Foucheret, in the Nièvre, now part of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. His parents, Urbain le Prestre (ca 1602-1652) and Edmée de Comignolle (?-ca 1651), were members of the minor nobility, from Vauban in Bazoches. His birthplace was renamed Saint-Léger-Vauban by Napoleon III in 1867. 
  In 1570, his grandfather Jacques acquired Château de Bazoches, when he married Françoise de la Perrière, an illegitimate daughter of the Comte de Bazouches, who died intestate. The 30 year legal battle by the Le Pestre family to retain the property proved financially ruinous, forcing Urbain to become a forestry-worker. He also designed gardens for the local gentry, including the owners of the Château de Ruère, where Vauban spent his early years.
  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 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.'
  His only sister Charlotte (1638-1645?) died young, but he had many relatives; his cousin, Paul le Prestre (ca 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 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 died in Paris on 30 March 1707; buried near his home in Bazoches, his grave was destroyed during the French Revolution. In 1808, Napoléon Bonaparte ordered his heart reburied in Les Invalides, resting place for many of France's most famous soldiers.
caption: Château de Bazoches, acquired by Jacques Le Prestre in 1570, purchased by Vauban in 1675
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