Villeroi, Francois de Neuville, Duc de (1644–1730)

French soldier who fought for Louis XIV in his wars of expansion in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He was not a gifted military commander, and was comprehensively defeated by the duke of Marlborough at the battle of Ramillies in 1706, during the War of the Spanish Succession.

Villeroi was a friend and favourite of Louis XIV, with whom he was brought up. In 1693, he was appointed a Marshal of France, but showed great incompetence in the Netherlands, 1695–96, and in 1701 was defeated and taken prisoner by Prince Eugène of Savoy in Italy. In his latter years he was governor of Lyons.