MILITARY MANUAL
MONTGOMMERY, Louis de, Seigneur de Corbouson.
La Milice Francoise, reduite a l’ancien ordre et discipline militaire des legions, telle & comme la souloyent observer les anciens François, à l’imitation des Romains, & des Macedoniens … derniere edition, revueue & augmentee des exercices d’Holande, ensemble de l’ordre de la cavalerie, & enrichie de figures.
Paris, François Rousselet, 1610.
8vo, pp. [12], 199, [1 (blank)]; pp. 94-96 erratically paginated; with 11 copper-engraved illustrations printed in-text, woodcut initials and headpieces; an occasional spot or paperflaw, but an excellent copy; in contemporary vellum, sewn two-up on two tawed thongs laced in, tawed ties to fore-edge; a little worn, one tie lacking.
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La Milice Francoise, reduite a l’ancien ordre et discipline militaire des legions, telle & comme la souloyent observer les anciens François, à l’imitation des Romains, & des Macedoniens … derniere edition, revueue & augmentee des exercices d’Holande, ensemble de l’ordre de la cavalerie, & enrichie de figures.
Scarce second edition of this influential work on military logistics, with copper-engraved illustrations of cannons, grenades, and various military formations.
Dedicated to Henri IV in the year of his assassination, Montgommery here proposes a reorganisation of French military structures according to Roman and Macedonian models. His rank-by-rank assessment of the French army accordingly places great emphasis upon the ‘organization, training, and deployment of the infantry – a relatively new wing of the army’ (Van Orden, p. 213). The present edition supplies several illustrations comparing French and German formations to the Roman legion and the Macedonian phalanx, and references to classical military prowess likewise abound in his dedication to Henry IV, who is deemed more extraordinary than Caesar and more formidable than Alexander.
Montgommery devotes significant attention to the use of fifes and drums in directing troops, suggesting that each company employ two drummers, one of whom acts as a tambour colonnel who should ‘know several languages, be cunning but not quarrelsome or talkative, and be faithful above all … The lead drummer functioned as a sort of noncommissioned officer or aide-de-camp, operating independently from the rest of the company – he had to be adept at spying and reconnaissance and an able envoy’ (Van Orden, p. 207).
The work is notable also for its instructions on producing grenades and other ordnance, and their uses in both offensive and defensive operations, drawing the praise of the Scottish military tactician Sir James Turner in his 1683 Pallas armata.
Library Hub finds two copies in the UK (BL and All Souls Oxford), and OCLC only three in the US (Brown, Folger, and Yale).
Brunet III, col. 1866 (‘Ouvrage curieux et plein de recherches’); Cockle 612. See Van Orden, Music, Discipline, and Arms in Early Modern France (2005).
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