The first half of the 17th century in France was a period of intense internal and external conflict. A series of
Huguenot rebellions broke out in the 1620s, while French support for the Protestant
Dutch Republic in its
rebellion against Catholic Spain led to the
1635–1659 Franco-Spanish War. Montal began his military career in 1638 as a captain in the regiment of the
duc d'Enghien, later the Grand Condé, the leading French general of the period. He took part in the 1639 capture of the Spanish border fortress of
Salses-le-Château, but the French were forced to retreat in 1640 after Condé's army disintegrated. He then joined
Turenne during his
Rhineland campaign of 1644–1646, fighting at the battles of
Freiburg and
Nördlingen. The end of the
Thirty Years War in 1648 led to a struggle for political control between powerful nobles including Condé, Turenne and his brother the
Duc de Bouillon, and a Court party headed by
Anne of Austria, mother of the 8 year old
Louis XIV, and
Cardinal Mazarin. This triggered a civil war known as the
Fronde, although the defection of Turenne in 1651 and the
Battle of the Faubourg St Antoine in July 1652 ended it as a serious threat to the French state. Montal was one of the few who followed Condé into an alliance with Spain in September 1652; possessed of enormous wealth, Condé effectively ruled large parts of
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté as an independent state, with his capital at
Sainte-Menehould. Montal was appointed garrison commander when the town was fortified in 1652, one of the junior engineers being a 19 year old
Vauban. Neighbours from the same district in Nievre, this began a relationship that lasted many years, although Vauban changed sides in early 1653 when captured by Royalists besieging the town. Montal surrendered in November 1653, allegedly in return for a payment of 50,000
pistoles. Given free passage to Spanish territory, he was made governor of
Rocroi and later fought in the 1656
Battle of Valenciennes, a crushing defeat inflicted by Condé on a French army led by Turenne. The 1659
Treaty of the Pyrenees that ended the war with Spain was delayed until Mazarin agreed to allow Montal and Condé to return home unpunished. Neither of them was trusted with a military command until the 1667-1668
War of Devolution; Montal served with Condé when he over-ran
Franche-Comté in 1668, although it was returned to Spain in the
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. However, the treaty allowed France to retain strategic areas along their border with the
Spanish Netherlands, including
Charleroi whose fortifications were upgraded by Vauban. Now fully rehabilitated, Montal was appointed Governor, a position he retained until 1678; during the
Franco-Dutch War in June 1673, he took part in the assault on the key Dutch town of
Maastricht. Later the same year he repulsed an attempt by
William of Orange to take Charleroi and was wounded at
Seneffe in 1674. During the winter of 1676/1677, he supported a tight French blockade of the Spanish-held towns of
Valenciennes and
Cambrai by seizing any grain being transported from
Namur and preventing reinforcements reaching either garrison. Active campaigning in Flanders largely ended after the two towns surrendered in spring 1677 but de Montal was involved in the last action of the war, the
Battle of Saint-Denis in August 1678. In return for his service, he was appointed Governor of the newly acquired towns of
Dinant and
Maubeuge, when Charleroi was returned to Spain in the 1678
Treaty of Nijmegen. The 1683–1684
War of the Reunions was short but relatively brutal, since
Louvois, French Minister of War, sought to pressure the local populace into suing for peace by destroying crops and buildings. As Governor of Maubeuge, de Montal was ordered to burn 20 villages around Charleroi in retaliation for Spanish raids into France. ; Montal served with him throughout his career, including during the 1650–1653
Fronde des nobles Louis XIV once reportedly remarked sieges should ideally be conducted by Vauban and defended by de Montal, but could only happen once, since they would kill each other. His confidence in their abilities was demonstrated in 1687 when Vauban was ordered to construct a new fortress called Mont-Royal, with Montal as Governor. Located on the
Moselle, near
Traben-Trarbach in modern Germany, Mont-Royal provided a vital stepping-off point for French offensives into the
Rhineland. Built 200 metres above the Moselle, its main walls 30 metres high, three kilometres long and with space for 12,000 troops, it was enormously expensive but demolished when France withdrew after the 1697
Treaty of Ryswick. Despite his age, de Montal held a number of commands in Flanders during the 1688–1697
Nine Years War and was instrumental in rallying the French infantry when they were taken by surprise at
Steenkerque in 1692. Although he was promoted to
Lieutenant-General in 1676, he never became a
Marshall of France; it is suggested this was due to his defence of Sainte-Menehould in 1653, a siege conducted by Louis XIV himself. The title was largely ceremonial but de Montal complained about his exclusion from the list of promotions in 1693 and Louis appointed him commander of French forces in
Maritime Flanders, based at
Dunkirk. By this stage of the war, Maritime Flanders was a quiet sector and one of his last actions was the capture of
Diksmuide in 1695. He died at Dunkirk on 19 September 1696 and was buried at Saint-Brisson in the family vault, destroyed in the
French Revolution. ==References==