The de Vallière cannons were drilled after being founded in one piece, according to the method developed by
Jean Maritz.
( 1667-1759) was a French artillery officer of the 18th century. He was lieutenant-general of the King's Armies. In 1726, de Vallière became Director-General of the Battalions and Schools of the Artillery.
Through the Royal Ordonnance of October 7, 1732, de Vallière endeavoured to reorganize and standardize the King's artillery. He significantly improved the method used for founding cannons, superseding the technique developed by
Jean-Jacques Keller. He thus developed the de Vallière system,
[A Dictionary of Military History and the Art of War By André Corvisier, p.837 ] which set the standard for French artillery until the advent of the
Gribeauval system.
De Vallière system
Whereas numerous formats and designs had been in place in the French army, De Vallière standardized the French sizes in artillery pieces, by allowing only for the production of 24 (
Canon de 24), 12, 8 and 4 pound guns, mortars of 12 and 8 French inches, and stone-throwing mortars of 15 French inches.
The French pound weighting 1.097 English pounds, the French guns fired slightly heavier balls (13.164 pounds) than their English equivalent 12-pounder. The French inch was 2.707 cm, slightly longer than the English inch of 2.52 cm.
The de Vallière system used core drilling of the bore of cannons founded in one piece of
bronze, a method developed at that time by
Jean Maritz, which allowed for much higher precision of the bore shape and surface, and therefore higher shooting efficiency.
The de Valliere guns were also highly decorative and contained numerous designs and inscriptions.
Front part
Front part of the de Valliere 24-pdr gun Uranie.
Starting with the front part, the gun had a sight design at its extremity. The followed the name of the gun (here
Uranie). Then , a Latin phrase "Ultima Ratio Regum", initially introduced by
Louis XIV, and rather descriptive of the role of the gun: "The Last Argument of the King". Under that appears the name "
Louis Charles de Bourbon, comte d'Eu, duc d'Aumale", the
Grand Maître de l'artillerie de France (Grand Master of the Artillery of France), followed by a royal emblem. In the middle of the cannon are trunnions, used to position the gun in place and elevate or depress it. On top of the trunions are dolphin-shaped ornaments, which are used in lifting the gun.
Back part
Back part of the de Valliere 24-pdr gun Uranie.
The back part consists in, sometimes, an inscription showing the weight of the cannon ball (for example a "4" for a 4-pounder), followed by a Latin inscription "
Nec pluribus impar", meaning that the King is "No unequal match for many" i.e. "None his equal". This is followed by the royal crest of the
Bourbon dynasty. At the bottom of the gun, the location and date of manufacture are inscribed (in the example "Strasbourg, 1745"), and finally the name and title of the founder (in the example "Fondu par
Jean Maritz, Commissaire des Fontes"). The breech is decorated with an animal face showing the rating of the gun (in the example the lion head for a 24-pounder).
Breech design
The guns had
cascabel designs which allowed to easily recognize their rating: a 4-pounder would have a "Face in a sunburst", an 8-pounder a "Monkey head", a 12-pounder a "Rooster head", a 16-pounder a "Medusa head", and a 24-pounder a "Bacchus head" or a "Lion head".
Operational activity
The de Valliere guns proved rather good in siege warfare, but were less satisfactory in a war of movement.
This was especially visible during the
War of the Austrian Succession (1747-1748), and during the
Seven Years War (1756-1763) were mobility was a key factor and lighter guns were clearly in need. The lack of
howitzer was another issue.
Numerous de valliere guns were used in the
American War of Independence, especially the smaller 4-pdr field guns. The guns were shipped from
France, and the field carriages provided for in the US. These guns played an important role in such battles as the
Battle of Saratoga, and the
Siege of Yorktown.
George Washington wrote about the guns in a letter to General
Heath on 2 May, 1777:
Obsolescence
French Classical Cannon, 17th-18th century.
Florent-Jean de Vallière had a son, Joseph Florent de Vallière (1717-1776), who became Commander of the Battalions and Schools of the Artillery in 1747, who persisted in implementing his father's system. From 1763,
Gribeauval, as Inspector General of the French Artillery, and second in rank to de Vallière, started efforts to introduce the more modern system that would give France one of the strongest artilleries for the following century.
