LOUIS FRANCIS, Duke of, a peer and marshal of France, and a general of distinguished reputation, was the son of Francis count of Boufflers. He was born on the 10th January 1644, and having early entered into the army, was raised in 1669 to the rank of colonel of dragoons. In the conquest of Lorraine he served under Marshal Crequi. In the war against Holland he served under Turenne, frequently distinguishing himself by his skill and bravery; and when that celebrated captain was killed by a cannon-shot in 1675, he commanded the rear-guard during the retreat of the French army. After performing various military services in Germany, in Flanders, and on the frontiers of Spain, he gradually rose in rank as well as in reputation. In 1690 he was created general of the army of the Moselle, and contributed materially to the victory of Fleurus. In the following year he acted as lieutenant-general under the king in person; and whilst investing Mons, he was wounded in an attack on that place. He conducted the bombardment of Liege, although it was defended by an enemy superior in numbers, and afterwards forced the allied generals to abandon Luxembourg. He was intrusted with the command against King William at the siege of Namur; and for this and other important services he was raised, in 1693, to the rank of marshal of France. In 1694 he was appointed governor of French Flanders. and of the town of Lisle. By a skilful manoeuvre he threw himself into Namur in 1695, and held out with unexampled obstinacy against the army of the allies under King William, sustaining four assaults, and only surrendering the place after four months of open trenches and the loss of 20,000 men to the besiegers. Having agreed to a capitulation, he was arrested as prisoner of war, because the French had not performed the stipulated terms on which the garrison had surrendered; and when he represented that the garrison should have been retained rather than himself, he was answered that he was estimated as worth more than 10,000 men. In the conferences which were held with the Earl of Portland, and terminated in the peace of Ryswick, he had a principal share.

During the following war, when Lisle was again threatened with a siege by the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, Boufflers was appointed to the command, and made an obstinate resistance of four months. His magnanimity was not less remarkable than his military conduct; for when a partizan represented to him that it would not be difficult to kill Prince Eugene, he was told by the marshal, that he might expect a great reward for taking him prisoner, but the severest punishment if anything were attempted against his life. He was rewarded and honoured by the king for his defence of Lisle, as if he had been victorious. It was indeed a species of triumph. His generous enemy, appreciating his merits, allowed him to dictate his own terms of capitulation: "je signerai," said Prince Eugene, "tout ce que vous voudrez;" and he was as good as his word. "Après quatre mois de tranchée ouverte," adds the prince in his Mémoires, "Boufflers m'envoya, le 8 décembre 1708, tous les articles qu'il voulait que je signasse; ce que je fis sans restriction."

When the affairs of France were threatened with the most urgent danger, Boufflers, though a senior officer to Villars, made an offer to serve under that general, and was with him at the battle of Malplaquet. Here he again displayed his military skill by conducting the retreat, so that he lost neither cannon nor prisoners. He died at Fontainebleau in the year 1711, at the age of sixty-eight, and left the character of a true patriot, as well as of a great commander. Madame de Maintenon said of him, that "his heart was the last part that died."