French military commander during the War of the Grand Alliance and War of the Spanish Succession, Marshal of France. Vendôme was one of the most remarkable soldiers in the history of the French army. He had, besides the skill and the fertile imagination of the true army leader, the brilliant courage of a soldier. The real secret of his continuous success, however, was his extraordinary influence over his men.
He was the son of Louis de Bourbon, and the illegitimate great-grandson of Henry IV of France and his mistress, Gabrielle d’Estrées. His mother was Laura Mancini, the elder sister of Olympia Mancini, the mother of Prince Eugene of Savoy, his future opponent. Orphaned at the age of fifteen, he inherited a vast fortune from his father.
Entering the army at the age of eighteen, he soon distinguished himself by his vigour and personal courage in the Dutch wars, and by 1688 he had risen to the rank of lieutenant-general. In the Nine Years’ War he rendered conspicuous service under the duc de Luxembourg at the Battle of Steenkerke and under Nicolas Catinat at Marsaglia. In 1695, he was placed in command of the army operating in Catalonia where he took Barcelona in 1697.
Soon afterwards, he was made a maréchal. In 1702, after the first unsuccessful campaign of Catinat and Villeroi, he was placed in command of the Franco-Spanish army in Italy. During three campaigns in that country he proved himself a worthy antagonist to Prince Eugène of Savoy, whom he at last defeated in 1705 at Cassano.
He married Marie Anne de Bourbon (1678–1718) on 21 May 1710. Probably due to his homosexual tendencies, he never had children. Vendôme had been a lover of Marie Anne’s own brother-in-law, the Prince of Conti, husband of her oldest sister, Marie Thérèse de Bourbon.
He died suddenly at Vinaròs, Spain on 11 June 1712.
Link to Wikipedia biography