Vauban, Sébastien le Prestre, Maréchal de (1633–1707). French military engineer, architect, and urban designer. He has been credited with the design of over 120 fortresses, and protected France's borders with a series of powerful strongholds, notably those of Lille (1668–74), Maubeuge (1678–81), and Neuf-Brisach (1696–1708). Responsible for planning several new towns, including Sarrelouis (1681–3), Longwy (from 1679), and Neuf-Brisach (1689–99), using regular geometrical layouts, he also designed several monumental gateways including the Baroque Porte de Paris, Lille (1668–70), complete with trophies, and the massively severe Porte de Mons, Maubeuge (1681). He was the author of Mémoire pour servir à l'instruction dans la conduite des sièges (drawn up 1669, published in 1740 with a memorandum on the defence of fortresses, apparently by another hand) (1667–72), Traité de l'attaque des places (1737), De de la défense des places (published with the Traité de l'attaque, 1828–9), Véritable manière de bien fortifier (1702), Plusieurs maximes bonnes, etc. (a treatise on building), and a proposal for a fairer system of taxation in France (Projet d'une dix^me royale, 1707), which was instantly suppressed. He designed the aqueduct of Maintenon (1684–5) that supplied Versailles with water.

Bibliography

Blomfield (1938);
Halévy (1925);
Lazard (1934);
Michel (1879);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
Parent & and Verroust (1971);
Rébelliau (1962);
Rochas d'Aiglun (ed.) (1910);
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Jane Turner (1996);
Toudouze (1954);
Vauban (1910)