Florent-Jean de Vallière (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

Jean-Jacques Keller

Jean-Jacques Keller and his brother Jean-Balthazar Keller were Swiss gunfounders from Zürich, in the service of France....

. He thus developed the de Vallière system, 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

Canon de 24 de Vallière

The Canon de 24 de Vallière was a type of cannon designed by the French officer Florent-Jean de Vallière , Director-General of the Battalions and Schools of the Artillery....

), 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

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

, a method developed at that time by Jean Maritz

Jean Maritz

Jean Maritz , also Johan Maritz, was a Swiss inventor, born in Burgdorf, Canton of Bern, who moved to France, becoming "Commissaire des Fontes" at Strasbourg , and invented the vertical drilling machine, as well as the horizontal drilling machine for cannons in the 18th century...

, 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.

Muzzle

Starting with the front part, the gun had a sight design at its extremity, followed by the name of the gun (here Uranie). Then the Latin phrase "Ultima Ratio Regum," initially introduced by Louis XIV and rather descriptive of the role of the gun: "The Last Argument of Kings". Under that appeared the name "Louis Charles de Bourbon, comte d'Eu, duc d'Aumale

Louis-Charles, Count of Eu

Louis Charles de Bourbon, Count of Eu was a grandson of Louis XIV of France and his Maîtresse-en-titre Françoise-Athénaïs de Montespan. He was a member of the legitimised house of Bourbon du Maine...

", 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 were trunnions used to position the gun in place and elevate or depress it. On top of the trunnion

Trunnion

A trunnion is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting and/or pivoting point. In a cannon, the trunnions are two projections cast just forward of the centre of mass of the cannon and fixed to a two-wheeled movable gun carriage...

s were dolphin-shaped ornaments used in lifting the gun.

Barrel

The back part occasionally included 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

Nec pluribus impar

Nec pluribus impar is a Latin motto adopted by Louis XIV of France from 1658. It was often inscribed together with the symbol of the "Sun King": a head within rays of sunlight.-Meaning:...

," meaning that the King is "No unequal match for many," i.e. "None his equal." This was followed by the royal crest of the Bourbon dynasty. The location and date of manufacture were inscribed (in the example "Strasbourg, 1745") at the bottom of the gun, and finally the name and title of the founder (in the example "Fondu par Jean Maritz

Jean Maritz

Jean Maritz , also Johan Maritz, was a Swiss inventor, born in Burgdorf, Canton of Bern, who moved to France, becoming "Commissaire des Fontes" at Strasbourg , and invented the vertical drilling machine, as well as the horizontal drilling machine for cannons in the 18th century...

, Commissaire des Fontes"). The breech was 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

Cascabel (artillery)

A cascabel is a subassembly of a muzzle loading cannon - a place to attach arresting ropes to deal with the recoil of firing the cannon.Generally comprising the knob and the neck , with particular models also featuring a filet . By some definitions, the cascabel additionally includes the base of...

 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

War of the Austrian Succession

The War of the Austrian Succession  – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...

 (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

Howitzer

A howitzer is a type of artillery piece characterized by a relatively short barrel and the use of comparatively small propellant charges to propel projectiles at relatively high trajectories, with a steep angle of descent...

 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

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan 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

Siege of Yorktown

The Siege of Yorktown, Battle of Yorktown, or Surrender of Yorktown in 1781 was a decisive victory by a combined assault of American forces led by General George Washington and French forces led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis...

. George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 wrote about the guns in a letter to General Heath

Heath

-Habitats:* Heath or heathland, low-growing woody vegetation, mostly consisting of heathers and related species* Heaths in the British National Vegetation Classification system...

 on 2 May, 1777:

Obsolescence

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.