Turenne was one of the great captains whose campaigns Napoleon recommended all soldiers to "read and re-read." His fame as a general was the highest in Europe at a period when wai was studied more critically than ever before, for his military character epitomized the art of war of his time (Prince de Ligne) Strategic caution and logistic accuracy, combined with brilliant dash in small combats and constancy under all circumstances of success or failure may perhaps be considered the salient points of Turenne's genius for war. Great battles he avoided. "Few sieges and many combats" was his own maxim. And, unlike his great rival Conde, who was as brilliant in his first battle as in his last, Turenne improved day by day. Napoleon said of him that his genius grew bolder as it grew older, and a modern author, the duc d'Aumale (Histoire des princes de la maison de Conde), takes the same view when he says : "Pour le connaitre it faut le suivre jusqual Sulzbach. Chez lui chaque jour marque un progres." In his personal character Turenne was little more than a simple and honourable soldier, endowed with much tact, but in the world of politics and intellect almost helpless in the hands of a skilful intriguer or casuist. His morals, if not beyond reproach, were at least more austere than those prevalent in the age in which he lived. He was essentially a commander of regular armies. His life was spent with the troops; he knew how to win their affection; he tempered a severe discipline with rare generosity, and his men loved him as a comrade no less than they admired him as a commander. Thus, though Conde's genius was far more versatile, it is Turenne whose career best represents the art of war in the 17th century. For the small, costly, and highly trained regular armies, and the dynastic warfare of the age of Louis XIV., Turenne was the ideal army leader.
The most notable of the numerous portraits of Turenne are those of P. de Champagne at Versailles, and of Senin (dated 1670) in the Jones collection at South Kensington, London. Of the older memoirs of Turenne the most important are those of "Du Buisson," La Vie du vicomte de Turenne—the author is apparently Gatien de Sandraz de Courtilz (Paris, the Hague, and Cologne, 1688-95) ; Abbe Raguenet, Histoire du vicomte de Turenne (Paris 1741) and especially Ramsay, Histoire d'Henri de la Tour d'kuvergne, vicomte de Turenne (Paris 1735), the second volume of which contains the marshal's memoirs of 1643-58. These memoirs, of which the Prince de Ligne wrote that
"ce ne sont pas de conseils, ce sont des ordres . . . `faites' . . . `allez,' etc."—were written in 1665, but were first published (Memoires sur la guerre, tires des originaux, etc.) in 1738, reprinted in Michaud, Memoires sur l'histoire de France, 3rd series, vol. iii., and Liskenne and Sauvan's Bibliotheque historique et militaire, vol. iv. (Paris 1846). A manuscript Maximes de M. de Turenne (1644) exists in the Staff Archives at Vienna, and of other documentary collections may be mentioned Grimoard, Collections de lettres et memoires trouves dans le portefeuille de M. de Turenne (Paris, 1782) ; Recueil de lettres ecrites au vicomte de Turenne par Louis XIV. et ses ministres, etc. (Paris 1779) ; Correspondance inedite de Turenne avec Le Tellier et Louvois, ed. Barthelemy (Paris 1874). See also the Observations on the Wars of Marshal Turenne, dictated by Napoleon at St. Helena (5823) ; Puysegur, La Guerre par principes et regles (Paris 1748) ; Précis in Bibliotheque internationale d'hist. milit. (Brussels 5883) ; Duruy, Histoire de Turenne (Paris 588o) ; Roy, Turenne, sa vie et les institutions militaires de son temps (Paris 1884) ; de Perini, Turenne et Conde (Paris 19o7) ; Neuber, Turenne als Kriegstheoretiker and Feldherr (Vienna 1869) ; Sir E. Cust, Lives of the Warriors of the 17th Century (London 1867) ; T. 0. Cockayne, Life of M. de Turenne (founded on Ramsay's work; London 1853) G. B. Malleson, Turenne. Marshal Turenne, by "the author of the Life of Sir Kenelm Digby" (London 59°7), is a valuable work by a civilian, and is based in the main on Ramsay's work, the memoirs of Cardinal de Retz, James, duke of York, etc., and on Napoleon's commentaries. A remarkable parallel between Turenne and Conde, in Saint-Evremont's doge of the latter, will be found in Carrion-Nisas, Essai sur l'histoire general de Fart militaire, ii. 83 (Paris 5824) ; C. G. Picavet, Les derrieres annees de Turertne 1660-1675 (5959), p. 513; General Weygand, Turenne (1929). (C. F. A.)