1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Fabert, Abraham de

FABERT, ABRAHAM DE (1599–1660), marshal of France, was the son of Abraham Fabert, seigneur de Moulins (d. 1638), a famous printer who rendered great services, civil and military, to Henry IV. At the age of fourteen he entered the Gardes françaises, and in 1618 received a commission in the Piedmont regiment, becoming major in 1627. He distinguished himself repeatedly in the constant wars of the period, notably in La Rochelle and at the siege of Exilles in 1630. His bravery and engineering skill were again displayed in the sieges of Avesnes and Maubeuge in 1637, and in 1642 Louis XIII. made him governor of the recently-acquired fortress of Sedan. In 1651 he became lieutenant-general, and in 1654 at the siege of Stenay he introduced new methods of siegecraft which anticipated in a measure the great improvements of Vauban. In 1658 Fabert was made a marshal of France, being the first commoner to attain that rank. He died at Sedan on the 17th of May 1660.

See Histoire du maréchal de Fabert (Amsterdam, 1697); P. Barre, Vie de Fabert (Paris, 1752); A. Feillet, Le Premier Maréchal de France plébéien (Paris, 1869); Bourelly, Le Maréchal Fabert (Paris, 1880).