Louis-Francois Duc de Boufflers

10 January 1644 - 22 August 1711

Boufflers' background and early career

Boufflers was born as chevalier de Boufflers on 10 January 1644. He entered service as a cadet in the regiment Gardes Françaises in 1662¹. In the campaign of Gigeri (1663) he became a sub-lieutenant and aide-major. In 1667 he fought in Flanders and distinguished himself in the sieges of Douai, Tournai and Lille. In 1669 he became commander of the regiment Dragons du Roi. When his older brother died on 21 June 1672 Boufflers became Marquis de Boufflers, Lieutenant Général de l'ile de France and grand bailli de Beauvais. He next fought in the 1672 war against the United Provinces. There and in the battle of Enzheim (1674) he seems to have served well for he was made a brigadier in 1675. Two more campaigns in Germany made him a Maréchal de Camp in 1677.

Further Career of Boufflers

Boufflers now started to make a serious career in the administration as well as the military. He got the general command of troops in the Guyenne in 1686 and the gouvernement général des Trois Evêches in 1687. In 1688 he was admitted to the order du Saint Esprit. On 20 April 1690 he became commander of the Moselle army. In 1692 he became commander of the regiment Gardes Françaises and soon after, on 27 March 1693 he became Maréchal de France. At the end of that year he married Catherine Charlotte de Gramont, daughter of the duke de Gramont. He became governor of Lille and French Flanders in 1694. After the siege of Namur Boufflers became a duke in September 1695.

Boufflers during the war of the Ligue of Augsburg

As said above Boufflers got an independent command in 1690 when he commanded the 'Moselle' army. In 1692 Boufflers was present at the first siege of Namur, where he was responsible for one of the attacks. He was also present at the battle of Steenkerken where his detachment managed to reach the battlefield in time. In 1693 Boufflers got the honor of commanding one of the Flanders armies which would be joined by Louis XIV in person. This happened on 2 June 1693 and the army then marched to the vicinity of Namur. Here they found the King of England entrenched near the abbey of Parc and Louis XIV changed his design. As a consequence Boufflers got to command an army of 30 battalions and 60 squadrons that was sent to Philipsburg under the crown prince. However, not much was achieved there. In 1694 Boufflers was destined to command the smaller of the two armies in Flanders while De Luxembourg commanded the largest. These armies were however joined in August.

In 1695 Boufflers had feared for Namur, and taken care to provide it with the means to withstand a siege. When King William executed this design in July Boufflers rushed to get into the city. He succeeded in entering the city by the last open gate, entering it with seven dragoon regiments and some engineers. This brought the total garrison to over 15,000 men. Conducted by Coehoorn the siege did not go well for Boufflers and the city capitulated on 4 August, 24 days after the trenches had been opened. The citadel held out longer, but Boufflers was forced to hand this over too, and exited it on 5 September. Afterwards there was hefty criticism of Boufflers' conduct as well of the conduct of the engineers which had repaired the fortifications after the 1692 siege². After exiting the citadel a famous incident occurred in which Boufflers was arrested by the Dutch. The grounds were that the French were violating treaties by refusing to exchange the garrisons of Deinze and Dixmuiden. Boufflers was therefore first conducted back to Namur, and then to Huy. Here he received his appointment as Duke de Boufflers, and soon the exchange of the garrisons was also achieved. At his arrival back in Versailles on 21 September Boufflers got applauded from all sides.

In 1696 Boufflers again got the smaller Flanders army to command, but nothing much happened that year. In 1697 Boufflers got the honor to open negotiations while in the field. In July he held five small conferences with Portland near Halle. These were continued in August and on 11 September the last was held. These negotiations finally led to the peace of Rijswijk that same year.

Boufflers between the wars

In 1698 Boufflers got the honorable task of commanding the camp at Compiègne under the Duke of Burgundy. It was to be a spectacle to impress Europe and to acquaint this young prince with the army. Because the king had pressed everyone to do his best all indeed exerted themselves, and none more so then Boufflers. He spent an outrageous amount of money on making a good impression by the order and beauty of his troops and by lavishing fantastic dinners on all visitors. The camp also performed a mock siege and battle and the king was very satisfied with the affair. It cost Boufflers a lot of money, but surely didn't hurt his credit with the king.

Boufflers during the Spanish Succession war

During the Spanish Succession war Boufflers started out as commander of the northern army in 1701. After having had independent commands for some years and not having made any serious mistakes this appointment was quite understandable. It may also have counted that the north was not yet at war and Boufflers evidently possessed a lot of credit with the king. In this 'first' campaign Boufflers aptly performed the removal of the Dutch forces from the barrier towns and did not have to fight.

Hostilities were opened in 1702 with Boufflers first fighting Athlone and Saarbrücken in the Kaiserswerth campaign. After Kaiserswerth had been lost Boufflers had to face Marlborough. In maneuvers near Peer, Eindhoven and Helchteren he did not succeed in preventing the loss of Venlo, Roermond and Stevensweert. After that he did not succeed in preventing the loss of Liège. In 1703 he did get Villeroy to command over him. He next fought the battle of Ekeren and though the French propaganda advertized it as a victory Boufflers' subsequent removal from active commannd told a diferent tale.

It was only after other generals had proved themselves not to be any more capable to stop the allied advance that Boufflers got a second chance. This came about by chance when Lille was to be besieged in 1708. Boufflers was governor of the place and had previous experience in commanding a city under siege. This way he got his second chance and profited from it by performing a long and stead fast defense of the city.

After the siege of Lille had brought about his rehabilitation, Boufflers offered to serve as a volunteer under Villars in 1709. In the battle of Malplaquet he took over command after Villars had been wounded. He succeeded in retreating from the battlefield without losing any guns or prisoners. Boufflers died at Fontainebleau on 22 August 1711.

Generalship of Boufflers

Judging by the fact that his armies didn't suffer any major disasters Boufflers can be ranked among the capable generals. He did however lack initiative and daring. In the Kaiserswerth campaign he attacked Athlone and Tilly with a substantial majority but he was just a bit to slow both times. He therefore failed to achieve his strategic objectives. The same can be said about the Eindhoven affair where he did not dare enough at the crucial moment.

Career

Service record

Sources

This biography is mainly based on the writings of Saint Simon and the biography in Catalogue historique des Généreaux Français.

Notes