Coehoorn, Menno van

Coehoorn, Menno van

(mĕ`nō vän ko͞o`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.