Duc de Vendôme

Vendôme, Marshal Louis Joseph, Duc de (1654-1712). Vendôme, great-grandson of Henri IV of France, served in the early wars of Louis XIV, performing well under Luxembourg at Steenkirk in 1695 before going on to command in Catalonia, where he captured Barcelona in 1697. In the War of the Spanish Succession he replaced Villeroi on the Italian front, where he held Eugène of Savoy to a draw at Luzzara in 1702, took Vercelli two years later and blocked Eugène again at Cassano in 1705. He was then sent to the northern front, arriving in the wake of Marlborough's victory at Ramillies. In July 1708 he was beaten at Oudenarde after a hard-fought battle made more difficult by clashes with his joint commander the Duke of Burgundy. Failure to relieve Lille, taken by Marlborough after a costly siege, led to his temporary disgrace.

Re-employed in 1710, he was sent to Spain, where he demolished his allied opponents in detail, first beating Stanhope at Brihuega and the following day defeating Starhemburg at Villaviciosa. Repeated over-indulgence, for which he was notorious, sapped his strength, and he died a month later, leaving his successor Berwick to complete his work. Vendôme was brave, brusque, scruffy, and probably the ablest general of the latter part of Louis's reign.

— Richard Holmes