All his possessions were thereupon sequestrated by the republican government. He very soon returned, divorced his wife, and married the daughter of an apothecary. He obtained the annulment of the sequestration. Carnot often called him into consultation on military affairs, and, in 1792, promoted him general of division. Proposed as a member of the Institut de France in 1797, he withdrew his candidature in favour of General Bonaparte. His wife, Marie Josephine de Comarieu, was the hostess of one of the best-known salons of Louis XVI's time. She wrote two novels of merit, Elise Dumesnil (1798) and Horace (1822). She died in 1832. Works Besides his masterpiece, he wrote L'Art défensif supérieur à l'offensif (1793; in reply to attacks made upon his earliest work, La Fortification perpendiculaire, of which in later editions it forms part); Mémoire historique sur la fonte des canons (Paris, 1758), and other works on the same subject; (London, 1777); Rotation des boulets (Acad., 1755); and Relation du siège de Saint-Jean-d'Acre (Paris, 1789). He also wrote short stories and verse, as well as comedies. He also modelled a complete course of fortification (92 models), which he offered to the Committee of Public Safety. His bust was sculptured by Bonvallet. Montalembert's position in the history of fortification may be summed up as a realization of his own wish to do for the defence what Vauban had done for the attack. It was the inability of his contemporaries to see that Vauban's strength lay in his parallels and batteries and not in his bastions that vitiated their methods, and it was Montalembert's appreciation of this fact which made him the father of modern fortification. See Tripier, La Fortification déduite de son histoire (Paris, 1866). Family His nephew, also called Marc-René (1777-1831), is father of Charles Forbes René de Montalembert who was a French politician. See also Ruelle foundry References External links 1714 births 1800 deaths People from Angoulême French marquesses French generals Members of the French Academy of Sciences French military engineers Military theorists French essayists French military writers French dramatists and playwrights