CATINAT, NICHOLAS (1637-1712), marshal of France, was born on Sept. I, 1637, in Paris, entered the Gardes Francaises at an early age, and distinguished himself at the siege of Lille in 1667. He served with great credit in the campaigns of 1676-78 in Flanders, was employed against the Vaudois in 1686, and after taking part in the siege of Philipsburg at the opening of the War of the League of Augsburg, he was appointed to command the French troops in the south-eastern theatre of war. In 1690 he conquered Savoy, and in 1691 Nice; the battle of Staffarda, won by him over the duke of Savoy in 1690, and that of Marsaglia in 1693, were amongst the greatest victories of the time. In 1696 Catinat forced the duke to make an alliance with France. He had in 1693 been made a marshal of France. At the beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession, Catinat was placed in charge of operations in Italy, but he was much hampered by the orders of the court and the insufficiency of the forces for their task. He suffered a reverse at Carpi (17o1) and was soon afterwards superseded by Villeroi, to whom he acted as second-in-command during the campaign of Chiari. He died at St. Gratien on Feb. 25, 1712.
See Memoires et Correspondance du Marechal de Catinat, ed. M.B. le Bouyer de St. Gervais (1819) ; E. de Broglie, Catinat, l'homme et la vie, 1637-1712 (1902) .