Coehoorn, Menno van

views updated

Menno van Coehoorn (mĕ´nō vän kōō´hôrn), 1641–1704, Dutch military engineer and nobleman. He invented a portable bronze siege mortar called the coehorn. He was considered in his day a rival of Vauban in the construction of fortresses. He served (1702–3) in the army of the duke of Marlborough in the War of the Spanish Succession. The name also appears as Coehorn or Cohorn.