He entered the French army through the corps of pages in 1671 and distinguished himself at the age of twenty in the Siege of Maastricht in 1673 during the Franco-Dutch War and again at the bloody Battle of Seneffe.

[2] The next promotion would take time in spite of a long record of service under Turenne, The Great Condé and Luxembourg, and of his aristocratic birth, as he had incurred the enmity of the powerful Louvois.

[4] Two more campaigns passed without a battle and with scarcely any advance on the part of the invaders, but at last Marlborough manoeuvred Villars out of the famous Ne plus ultra lines, and the power of the defence seemed to be broken.

But Louis made a last effort, the English contingent and its leader were withdrawn from the enemy's camp, and Villars, though still recovering from his Malplaquet wounds, outmanoeuvred and decisively defeated Eugène at Denain.

[6][7][8][9] It was partially destroyed during World War II[6] and was restored by François Voinchet, Architect of Historic Monuments and is now the Centre National du Costume de Scene museum.

[10] Villars played a conspicuous part in the politics of the Regency period as the principal opponent of Cardinal Dubois, and only the memories of Montmorency's rebellion prevented his being made constable of France.