Sébastien Le Prestre, Marquis of Vauban

Sébastien Le Prestre, Marquis of Vauban (May 1633 – 30 March 1707) was a French Royal Army officer who served under Louis XIV. One of the most important military engineers in European history, his defensive principles remained in use for nearly 100 years after his death, while aspects of his offensive tactics were employed into the 20th century.

Viewing civilian infrastructure as closely connected to military effectiveness, Vauban upgraded many of France's major ports, as well as new projects like the Canal de la Bruche, which is still in use today. He founded the Corps royal des ingénieurs militaires, whose curriculum was based on his own principles of 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. His application of rational and scientific methods to solving engineering and social issues anticipated an approach common in the Age of Enlightenment.

Perhaps the most enduring aspect of Vauban's legacy was his view of France as a geographical entity. His advocacy of giving up territory for a more coherent and defensible border was unusual for the period; the boundaries of the French state he proposed in the north and east have changed very little since.

Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban was born May 1633 in Saint-Léger-de-Foucheret, renamed Saint-Léger-Vauban in 1867, in what is now the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. His parents, Urbain Le Prestre (c. 1602–1652) and Edmée de Cormignolle (died c. 1651), were members of the minor nobility from Vauban in Bazoches.

In 1570, his grandfather, Jacques Le Prestre, acquired Château de Bazoches when he married Françoise de la Perrière, an illegitimate daughter of the Comte de Bazoches, who died intestate. The 30-year legal battle by the Le Prestre 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.

Vauban had only one sibling, a sister Charlotte (1638–1645?) who died young, but his cousin, Paul le Prestre (c. 1630 – 1703), was an army officer who later 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.

Like many contemporaries, Vauban's family was deeply affected by the Huguenot rebellions of the 1620s, the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659), and 1648 to 1653 Fronde. His maternal grandfather was a Catholic who married a Protestant from La Rochelle, and served Huguenot leader Admiral Coligny, while two of his uncles died in the war with Spain.