Resentment was breeding on the Huguenot side however as King Louis XIII was not respecting the clauses of the Treaty of Montpellier.[1] Not a single condition is said to have been respected, as Toiras was reinforcing the fortification of Fort Louis, instead of dismantling it, right under the walls of the Huguenot stronghold of La Rochelle, and as a strong fleet was being prepared in Blavet for the eventuality of a siege of the city.[2] The threat of a future siege on the city of La Rochelle was obvious, both to Soubise and the people of La Rochelle.[3] These 6 Royal Ships were intended for use against the Barbary Pirates.[4]
At the same time the Huguenots and Soubise were very defiant of the Crown, displaying intentions to become independent on the model of the Dutch Republic: "If the citizens, abandoned to their guidance, were threatened in their rights and creeds, they would imitate the Dutch in their resistance to Spain, and defy all the power of the monarchy to reduce them." (Mercure de France)[5]
A fleet of five warships was being prepared at Blavet, for a future blockade of the city of La Rochelle.[6] Emissaries were sent to Paris to obtain the execution of the Treaty of Montpellier, but in vain.[7] These were the 6 Royal Ships: La Vierge, Saint Basile, Saint François, Saint Jean, Saint Louis de Nevers, Saint Michel (1625) [8]
Soubise resolved to take action. With a few ships which he had prepared at Chef de Baye, near La Rochelle, he set sail, and attacked Blavet in January 1625.[9][10] He had 12 small boats, 300 well-armed soldiers, and 100 sailors.[11] Six Royal great ships were at anchor, "all well armed with cannon, but lacking men and ammunition".[12]
Soubise captured the fleet by surprise, and became master of the city, including taking possession of La Vierge, the largest known warship of the period:[13] it weighed 500 tons, had 80 bronze cannons, and had cost 200,000 crowns to build.[14]
The Duke of Vendôme, Commander of the Province, attempted to block Soubise in the harbour, with heavy chain and batteries. After two weeks however, Soubise managed to break through with his fleet.[15]
Soubise, now in possession of a formidable fleet of 70 ships, then anchored in front of Île de Ré, which he had occupied with his troops.[16]
These events led to a strong reaction from the King, who set up a counter-attack in September 1625, leading to the Capture of Île de Ré, and with Soubise fleeing to England.[17] Soubise would return two years later with a large fleet under the Duke of Buckingham, leading to the final showdown of the Siege of La Rochelle (1627–1628).
Île de Ré is an island off the Atlantic coast of France near La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait. Its highest point has an elevation of 20 metres. It is 30 kilometres long and five kilometres wide. The 2.9 km (1.8 mi) Île de Ré bridge, completed in 1988, connects it to La Rochelle on the mainland.
La Rochelle is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime department. With 78,535 inhabitants in 2021, La Rochelle is the most populated commune in the department and ranks fourth in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region after Bordeaux, the regional capital, Limoges and Poitiers.
Henri II, Duke of Rohan, Duke of Rohan and Prince of Léon, was a Breton-French soldier, writer and leader of the Huguenots.
Benjamin de Rohan, duc de Soubise (1580–1642), was a French Huguenot leader.
The siege of La Rochelle was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627–28. The siege marked the height of the struggle between the Catholics and the Protestants in France, and ended with a complete victory for King Louis XIII and the Catholics.
Jean Guiton was born in La Rochelle, where he followed the occupation of ship-owner. He became a notable Huguenot leader during the Naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-Ré and siege of La Rochelle.
The Treaty of Montpellier was signed in Montpellier on 18 October 1622 between King Louis XIII of France and Duke Henry II of Rohan. The treaty followed the siege of Montpellier and ended hostilities between French royalists and the Huguenots. It confirmed the religious tenets of the Edict of Nantes and pardoned Rohan, but reduced the number of Huguenot places de sûreté to two: in La Rochelle and Montauban. The Huguenots would have to raze their other fortifications. They also would thenceforth be forbidden from holding their general assemblies and synods.
René II, Viscount of Rohan (1550–1586), was Prince of Leon, Count of Porhoët, seigneur of Pontivy and Frontenay, and a Huguenot nobleman. He was head of one of the oldest and most distinguished families in France, which was connected with many of the reigning houses of Europe.
The Recovery of Ré Island was accomplished by the army of Louis XIII in September 1625, against the troops of the Protestant admiral Soubise and the Huguenot forces of La Rochelle, who had been occupying the Island of Ré since February 1625 as part of the Huguenot rebellions.
The Anglo-French War was a military conflict fought between the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England between 1627 and 1629. It mainly involved actions at sea. The centrepiece of the conflict was the siege of La Rochelle (1627–28), in which the English Crown supported the French Huguenots in their fight against the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France. La Rochelle had become the stronghold of the French Huguenots, under its own governance. It was the centre of Huguenot seapower and the strongest centre of resistance against the central government. The English also launched a campaign against France's new colony in North America which led to the capture of Quebec.
The Naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-Ré took place on 27 October 1622, between the Huguenot fleet of La Rochelle under Jean Guiton, and a Royal fleet under Charles de Guise.
The Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan Wars after the Huguenot leader Henri de Rohan, were a series of rebellions of the 1620s in which French Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots), mainly located in southwestern France, revolted against royal authority. The uprising occurred a decade after the death of Henry IV who, himself originally a Huguenot before converting to Catholicism, had protected Protestants through the Edict of Nantes. His successor Louis XIII, under the regency of his Italian Catholic mother Marie de' Medici, became more intolerant of Protestantism. The Huguenots responded by establishing independent political and military structures, establishing diplomatic contacts with foreign powers, and openly revolting against central power. The Huguenot rebellions came after two decades of internal peace under Henry IV, following the intermittent French Wars of Religion of 1562–1598.
The siege of Saint-Jean-d'Angély was a siege, accomplished by the young French king Louis XIII in 1621, against the Protestant stronghold of Saint-Jean-d'Angély led by Rohan's brother Benjamin de Rohan, duc de Soubise. Saint-Jean-d'Angély was a strategic city controlling the approach to the Huguenot stronghold of La Rochelle.
The siege of Montauban was a siege conducted by the young French king Louis XIII from August to November 1621, against the Protestant stronghold of Montauban. This siege followed the siege of Saint-Jean-d'Angély, in which Louis XIII had succeeded against Rohan's brother Benjamin de Rohan, duc de Soubise.
The Blockade of La Rochelle took place in 1621-1622 during the repression of the Huguenot rebellion by the French king Louis XIII.
The Capture of Saumur was the military investment of the Huguenot city of Saumur accomplished by the young French king Louis XIII on 11 May 1621, following the outbreak of the Huguenot rebellions. Although the Huguenot city was faithful to the king, Louis XIII nevertheless wished to affirm control over it. The Governor of the city Duplessy-Mornay was tricked out of his command of Saumur and the city was invested.
Fort Louis was a Royal fort built just outside the walls of the Huguenot city in La Rochelle.
The Treaty of Compiègne, signed on 10 June 1624, was a mutual defence alliance between the Kingdom of France and the Dutch Republic, for an initial period of three years.
The siege of Montpellier was a siege of the Huguenot city of Montpellier by the Catholic forces of Louis XIII of France, from August to October 1622. It was part of the Huguenot rebellions.
Events from the year 1622 in France.
References
Eyre Evans Crowe The history of France Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, and Roberts, 1863
Jack Alden Clarke Huguenot warrior: the life and times of Henri de Rohan, 1579-1638 Springer, 1967 ISBN90-247-0193-7
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