Antoine de Ville and the ‘supputation’ of the regular fortress (1628)

The contribution, part of the research project PRIN2022 INFORTREAT, proposes an updated critical reading of Les Fortifications du Chevalier Antoine de Ville, 1628, specifically of the Livre Premier–Partie I (regular fortifications). The author, A. de Ville (ca. 1596-1656), enjoyed a successful career as a military engineer, sharing the ‘stage’ with the more famous B. F. Pagan (1604-65), and succeeding the first generation of French military architecture treatise writers. De Ville proposed a personal methodology for tracing regular fortifications. His design was based on a fixed dimension of the base side of the polygon, 180 or 150 geometric paces. However, what places de Ville among the innovators of fortification practice are the procedures for the ‘supputation’ (calculation) of the bastioned front, summarised in a table.