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EARLY MODERN SIEGE WARFARE
THE SIEGE

OF NAMUR

During French King Louis XIV’s reign (1643–1715), sieges were THE SIEGE OF NAMUR
the most characteristic operations in European warfare. The
Siege of Namur in 1692 is a famous example of this formalized
combat, which was led by military engineers who designed the
fortifications and also conducted the sieges.

Namur in Flanders was a strongpoint Despite heavy fire, the French trenches
of the Grand Alliance (comprising the were able to be dug close enough for
British, Dutch, Austrians, and Spanish), troops to batter a breach in the walls
opponents of the French during the with their siege guns. Once the
Nine Years’ War. The fortified town breach was opened, the defenders
stood on a plain on the north bank negotiated the surrender of the town.
of the Sambre River; the citadel—an
elaborate complex of fortifications— THE FIGHT FOR THE CITADEL
was set on rocky heights behind the The siege was not over, however, for
town, on the south bank of the river. the garrison withdrew to the citadel,
In May 1692, King Louis came to where the fighting resumed in earnest.
witness his army’s siege of Namur, Under the surrender terms the French
led by his master engineer, the Marquis agreed not to attack the citadel from
de Vauban. The fortress’s defense was the side nearest the town, where the
organized by Vauban’s rival, Dutch defenses were weakest. Instead they
engineer Menno van Coehoorn. had to overcome an elaborate series of
Vauban followed his standard outworks fronting the main citadel.
procedures: beginning on May 25, Coehoorn directed the defense of
two lines of earthworks were dug the strongest of these, Fort William, in
encircling Namur. These were both person. While Vauban dug his saps and
to blockade the town and protect the parallels, French mortars bombarded
French, who were encamped between the defenders with explosive shells
the lines, against attack from an launched over the walls. On June 22,
Alliance relief army. Then, within this after a French infantry assault,
encirclement, men dug lines of zigzag Coehoorn surrendered the fort and
trenches, or saps, toward the weakest was taken prisoner. The main citadel,
point of the fortification. At intervals a however, remained unbreached.
transverse trench, or parallel, was dug The French, meanwhile, had run
and positions created for gun batteries. into supply difficulties: without
The cannon were then moved forward sufficient fodder, their many thousands
to the parallel, thus steadily advancing of horses began to starve. Persistent
toward the fortress. The initial aim of wet weather had also turned the
the French batteries was to clear the ground to a quagmire and carts trying
fortifications of artillery. Vauban used to bring heavy ammunition up to the
ricochet fire, sending cannon balls batteries foundered. It was a profound
bouncing into the defenses, to force relief to Vauban and his king when the
defenders to abandon their positions. citadel’s defenses were breached with
The town’s low-lying fortifications, sudden ease—possibly through an act
fronted by a ditch and a glacis (a slope of betrayal from within the garrison,
at the fortification’s base), offered a which somehow left a section of the
minimal target while giving defenders fortifications undefended. The garrison
a clear field of fire: the French troops formally capitulated on June 30
in their trenches were bombarded and was granted the honors of war,
by explosive shells lobbed by high- marching out with drums beating
trajectory mortars and howitzers. and banners flying.