Sébastien Pontault de Beaulieu (1612–1674) was an eminent French engineer, who is considered to be the first military topographer, or rather the inventor of that art, during the reign of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Ve ...

Biography

Pontault went into the army at the age of fifteen, and behaved with so much spirit at the siege of Rochelle, that the king gave him the post of commissary of artillery, even though he was so young. He was afterwards present at most of the battles and siege, which he has described, and did not quit a military life until the loss of an arm and other wounds, with the approach of old age, rendered retirement necessary. cites Pontault died on 10 August 1674. From the death of this able drafts-man, there were few capable military topographers in France until the latter half of the 18th century.

Works

It was Pontault's practice to follow the army, and construct upon the spot plans of the battles and sieges, with historical and perspective accompaniments. Many of his plans are in the * ''Œvre de Belle-Belle'', but his most important work is entitled: * ''Les glorieuses Conquêtes de Louis-le-Grand: ou Recueil, de Plans et Vues des places assiegeés, et de celles ou se_sont douneés des batailles, avec des Discours'' "The glorious victories of Louis the Great, produced from the drawings of the Chevalier de Beaulieu", 2 vols. folio. View of the Island of Pheasants

This work is one of the most magnificent of the kind, covers all the operations of war, from the

battle of Rocroi The Battle of Rocroi, fought on 19 May 1643, was a major engagement of the Thirty Years' War between a French army, led by the 21-year-old Duke of Enghien (later known as the Great Condé) and Spanish forces under General Francisco de Melo on ...

, in 1643, to the taking of Namur, in 1692. Pontault died in 1674; but the work was completed to the above date at the expense of his niece, the widow of the sieur Des Roches. This edition is usually called the ''Grand Beaulieu'', to distinguish it from one on a reduced scale, in oblong quarto, called the ''Petit Beaulieu'', of which there are two series, one in three volumes, with views of the actions in the Netherlands; the other in four, which includes those of France. Pontault's other works include a comprehensive series of etchings—maps, landscapes, and town layouts—of

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

made in the years following the region's

Reapers' War The Reapers' War ( ca, Guerra dels Segadors, , es, Guerra de los Segadores), also known as the Catalan Revolt, was a conflict that affected a large part of the Principality of Catalonia between the years of 1640 and 1659. It had an enduring e ...

(itself a late element of the broader

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history, lasting from 1618 to 1648. Fought primarily in Central Europe, an estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died as a result of battl ...

), from c. 1655-1661.

Notes

References

* ;Attribution *

External links

17th-century French military personnel 1674 deaths 1612 births {{France-mil-bio-stub