Marin le Bourgeoys (c. 1550–1634) was a French artist and inventor, known for inventing a flintlock mechanism that was used in firearms for over two centuries.

In 1598, his talents attracted King Henry IV, and he was appointed Valet de Chambre in the Royal Court.

One feature of Marin le Bourgeoys' lock was that it had a half cocked position, from which the weapon could be loaded but would not fire.

This feature proved to be much safer than earlier designs, and was widely implemented as other gunsmiths copied the flintlock musket.

His basic design was copied and soon spread over all of Europe and was standard in firearm use until the 1840s, when it was finally replaced by percussion lock systems.