Siege of La Rochelle

Huguenots areas of France (marked purple and blue)

The 1598 Edict of Nantes that ended the French Wars of Religion granted Protestants, commonly known as Huguenots, a large degree of autonomy and self-rule. La Rochelle was the centre of Huguenot seapower, and a key point of resistance against the Catholic royal government.[1]

The assassination of Henry IV of France in 1610 led to the appointment of Marie de' Medici as regent for her nine-year-old son, Louis XIII. Her removal in 1617 caused a series of revolts by powerful regional nobles, both Catholic and Protestant, while religious tensions were heightened by the outbreak of the 1618 to 1648 Thirty Years War. In 1621, Louis re-established Catholicism in the formerly Huguenot region of Béarn, resulting in an uprising led by Henri de Rohan and his brother Soubise.[2]

Despite the Royalist capture of Saint-Jean d'Angély, a blockade of La Rochelle was unsuccessful and the revolt ended in stalemate with the October 1622 Treaty of Montpellier. Taking La Rochelle was a priority for Louis and his chief minister Cardinal Richelieu; it was then the second- or third-largest city in France, with over 30,000 inhabitants, and one of its most important ports. In addition to the customs duties generated by imports, it was also among the biggest producers of salt, a major source of taxes for the state; this made it economically crucial.[3]

Defeating Rohan and taking possession of La Rochelle were both essential for Richelieu's policy of centralisation, but since the French Crown did not have a navy strong enough to capture it, he asked England for help. When James I refused, he approached the Dutch Republic. The Huguenots were supported by Spain, who the Protestant Dutch were then fighting for their independence; in return for French subsidies, the Dutch agreed to provide naval backing in the 1624 Treaty of Compiègne.[4]

The Duke of Buckingham attempted to lift the siege.

The Anglo-French conflict followed the failure of their alliance of 1624, in which England had tried to find an ally in France against the power of the Habsburgs. In 1626, France under Richelieu concluded a secret peace with Spain, and disputes arose around Henrietta Maria's household. Furthermore, France was building the power of its navy, leading the English to be convinced that France must be opposed "for reasons of state".[5]

In June 1626, Walter Montagu was sent to France to contact dissident noblemen, and from March 1627 attempted to organize a French rebellion. The plan was to send an English fleet to encourage rebellion, triggering a new Huguenot revolt by Duke Henri de Rohan and his brother Soubise.[5]

First La Rochelle expedition

Main article: Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré (1627)

Left image: Landing of Buckingham in Sablanceau (detail).
Right image: English forces in the siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré.

On the first expedition, King Charles I sent a fleet of over 100 ships, under his favourite George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, to encourage a major rebellion in La Rochelle. In June 1627, Buckingham organised a landing on the nearby island of Île de Ré with 6,000 men in order to help the Huguenots, thus starting the Anglo-French War of 1627, with the objectives being to control the approaches to La Rochelle and to encourage the rebellion in the city.

The city of La Rochelle initially refused to declare itself an ally of Buckingham against the crown of France and effectively denied access to its harbour to Buckingham's fleet. An open alliance would be declared only in September, during the first fights between La Rochelle and royal troops.

Although it was a Protestant stronghold, Île de Ré had not directly joined the rebellion against the king. On Île de Ré, the English under Buckingham tried to take the fortified city of Saint-Martin in the siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré (1627) but were repulsed after three months. Small French royal boats managed to supply St Martin in spite of the English blockade. Buckingham ultimately ran out of money and support, and his army was weakened by disease. After a last attack on Saint-Martin, they were repulsed with heavy casualties and left with their ships.

La Rochelle during the siege

The Siege of La Rochelle (map), Stefano della Bella, 1641

La Rochelle, surrounded by Royal fortifications and troops, Jacques Callot, 1630.

Siege of La Rochelle, with nearby Île de Ré, by G.Orlandi, 1627.

First seawall, built by Pompeo Targone, 1627.

Second seawall, designed by Clément Métezeau.

Construction of a Royal fort in the area of Les Minimes.

Meanwhile, in August 1627 French royal forces started to surround La Rochelle, with an army of 7,000 soldiers, 600 horses, and 24 cannons, led by Charles of Angoulême. They started to reinforce fortifications at Bongraine (modern Les Minimes), and at the Fort Louis.

On September 10, the first cannon shots were fired by La Rochelle against royal troops at Fort Louis, starting the third Huguenot rebellion. La Rochelle was the greatest stronghold among the Huguenot cities of France, and the centre of Huguenot resistance. Cardinal Richelieu acted as commander of the besiegers when the King was absent.

Once hostilities started, French engineers isolated the city with entrenchments 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) long, fortified by 11 forts and 18 redoubts. The surrounding fortifications were completed in April 1628, manned with an army of 30,000.

Four thousand workmen also built a 1,400 meters (0.9 mi) long seawall to block the seaward access between the city and harbor, stopping all supplies. The initial idea for blocking the channel came from the Italian engineer Pompeo Targone, but his structure was broken by winter weather, before the idea was taken up by the royal architect Clément Métezeau in November 1627. The wall was built on a foundation of sunken hulks filled with rubble. French artillery battered English ships trying to supply the city.[6]

Meanwhile, in southern France, Henri de Rohan vainly attempted to raise a rebellion to relieve La Rochelle. Until February, some ships were able to go through the seawall under construction, but after March this became impossible. The city was completely blockaded, with the only hope coming from possible intervention by an English fleet.

Foreign support for the French Crown

Louis XIII at the siege of La Rochelle

Jean Guitton and the defenders vowing to defend La Rochelle to the death.

The surrender of La Rochelle, 17th century.

Entrance of Louis XIII in La Rochelle, by Pierre Courtilleau.

Residents of La Rochelle had resisted for 14 months, under the leadership of the mayor Jean Guitton and with gradually diminishing help from England. During the siege, the population of La Rochelle decreased from 27,000 to 5,000 due to casualties, famine, and disease.

Surrender was unconditional. By the terms of the Peace of Alais, the Huguenots lost their territorial, political, and military rights, but retained the religious freedom granted by the Edict of Nantes. However, they were left at the mercy of the monarchy, unable to resist later when Louis XIV abolished the Edict of Nantes altogether and embarked on active persecution.

Aside from its religious aspect, the siege of La Rochelle marks an important success in the creation of a strong central government of France, in control throughout its territory and able to suppress regional defiance. In the immediate aftermath was the growth of the absolute monarchy, but it had long-term effects upon all later French regimes up to the present.

The French philosopher Descartes is known to have visited the scene of the siege in 1627.

The siege was depicted in detail by numerous artists such as Jacques Callot and marked by the 1635 painting Louis XIII Crowned by Victory.

Around the time of the siege, a series of propaganda coins were cast to describe the stakes of the siege, and then commemorate the Royal victory. These coins depict the siege in symbolic ways, showing the city and the English effort in a poor light, while putting an advantageous light on Royal might.[10]

• 
  Lucerna Impiorum Extinguetur ("The beacon of the impious will be extinguished"), 1626.
• 
  Two dogs in the water around the reflection of a crown 1627.
• 
  Dragon (La Rochelle) and lion (England) mastered under Royal arm, 1628.
• 
  Lionness captured behind a seawall, 1628.
• 
  Sea monster cut in two by the seawall, 1628.
• 
  English snail pierced by an arrow on a raft, Esto Domi ("Go Home"), 1628.
• 
  Vanquished English ship, Tellus decepit et Unda, 1629.

The siege forms the historical background for the novel The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, père and the book's numerous adaptations to stage, screen, comics and video game.

The 11th book of Robert Merle's Fortune de France series, La Gloire et les perils, deals entirely with the siege.

In Lawrence Norfolk's 1991 novel, Lemprière's Dictionary, the siege is the central cause of events (entirely fictional) 160 years later in London around the writing of John Lemprière's Classical Dictionary containing a full Account of all the Proper Names mentioned in Ancient Authors.

Taylor Caldwell writes about the siege in great detail in her 1943 novel The Arm and the Darkness but has as its commander the fictional Huguenot nobleman Arsene de Richepin, one of the central characters of the book.

• Duffy, Christopher (1995). Siege Warfare: The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494–1660. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415146494.
• Gillespie, Alexander (2017). The Causes of War Volume III: 1400 CE to 1650 CE. Hart Publishing. ISBN 978-1849466462.
• Glete, Jan (1999). Warfare at sea, 1500–1650: maritime conflicts and the transformation of Europe. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415214551.
• Palm, Franklin Charles (1923). "The Siege and Capture of La Rochelle in 1628: Its Economic Significance". Journal of Political Economy. 31 (1): 114–127. doi:10.1086/253493. JSTOR 1823071. S2CID 153639520.
• Parker, Geoffrey (1997). The Thirty Years War. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415154581.
• Sturdy, David (2002). Fractured Europe: 1600–1721 (Blackwell History of Europe). Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0631205128.