The Blockade of La Rochelle (French: Blocus de La Rochelle) took place in 1621-1622 during the repression of the Huguenot rebellion by the French king Louis XIII.[1][2]
In June 1621, Louis XIII besieged and captured Saint-Jean d'Angély, a strategic city controlling the approaches to the Huguenot stronghold of La Rochelle. Louis XIII chose however to move south with his main force for the Siege of Montauban.[1]
Blockade
Meanwhile, Louis XIII ordered the Duke of Épernon to blockade La Rochelle by sea as well as by land.[1] On the sea, however, efforts were ineffective, as many small ships could easily go through ships of the Royal Navy and the Huguenots generally had mastery of the sea.[3] At one point they attacked the harbour of Brouage and attempted to block it by sinking ships filled with stones at its entrance.[3]
Jean Guiton.
In July 1621, d'Épernon established his headquarters on land in La Jarrie, in the vicinity of La Rochelle. In August, the shipowner Jean Guiton was named by the City Council as Admiral of the fleet of La Rochelle, with 16 sails and 90 cannons.
The fleet of La Rochelle under Guiton made at least four sorties against the Royal fleet, commanded by the Count of Soissons, the Duke of Guise, M. de Saint-Luc and Isaac de Razilly, and somewhat managed to hold its own.[4]
In October, Razilly, leading a French fleet of 13 ships with 124 cannons, stationed seaward in the Pertuis Breton, and Jean Guiton managed to force them to disengage in two encounters on 6 October. Jean Guiton then managed to capture the Island of Oléron.
On 6 November Jean Guiton attacked Brouage, where 25 royal ships were stationed, and blocked the entrance of the harbour by sinking ships in it.
The Huguenots met with defeat however when Soubise was vanquished by Royal troops at the Riez marches on 16 April 1622.
By that time the nearby Siege of Royan was also going on. The blockade of La Rochelle was strengthened under the leadership of the Count of Soissons. He started the building of the Fort Louis just outside La Rochelle in order to obtain a commanding position over the approaches to La Rochelle.
Another major encounter was the Naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-Ré in October 1622. As the conflict lengthened into a stalemate, however, the King and the Huguenots agreed to the 1622 Treaty of Montpellier, which maintained Huguenot privileges. Although La Rochelle demanded the destruction of Fort Louis, Louis XIII temporized and managed to maintain it.
This constant threat to the city would be instrumental in encouraging later conflicts, especially the Capture of Ré island by Royal troops in 1625, and the 1627-1628 Siege of La Rochelle.
Louis XIII was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown.
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.
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 1627–1628. 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 Battle of Getaria was fought on 22 August 1638 during the Franco-Spanish War (1635–59), at Getaria, in northern Spain. A French naval force commanded by Henri de Sourdis attacked and destroyed a Spanish squadron under Lope de Hoces, who survived but was killed at the Battle of the Downs in 1639.
Isaac de Razilly (1587–1635) was a member of the French nobility appointed a knight of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem at the age of 18. He was born at the Château d'Oiseaumelle in the Province of Touraine, France. A member of the French navy, he served for many years during which he played an important role in the French colony of Acadia in New France. He was the son of François de Razilly and Catherine de Villiers, brother of Claude de Razilly and François de Razilly. Commandeur de la Commanderie de l'Ile Bouchard (Touraine)
The siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, or siege of St. Martin's, was an attempt by English forces under George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, to capture the French fortress-city of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, on the isle of Ré, in 1627. After three months of siege, the Marquis de Toiras and a relief force of French ships and troops managed to repel the Duke, who was forced to withdraw in defeat. The encounter followed another defeat for Buckingham, the 1625 Cádiz expedition, and is considered to be the opening conflict of the Anglo-French War of 1627–1629.
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 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.
The Battle of Blavet was an encounter between the Huguenot forces of Soubise and a French fleet under the Duke of Nevers in Blavet harbour, Brittany in January 1625, triggering the Second Huguenot rebellion against the Crown of France.
The siege of Royan was a siege accomplished by the young French king Louis XIII in 1622, against the Protestant stronghold of Royan. This siege followed the siege of Montauban, in which Louis XIII had failed against the Huguenot city.
The Nègrepelisse massacre was a massacre committed on 10 and 11 June 1622 by the French Royal Army of the King Louis XIII in the Protestant stronghold of Nègrepelisse during the Huguenot rebellions. The taking of the town followed Louis's unsuccessful siege of Montauban.
François du Val, Marquis de Fontenay-Mareuil (fôNt′nā̇′mȧ′rẽ′y’) (c.1594-1665) was a French soldier, diplomat, and historian.
Events from the year 1621 in France.
Events from the year 1622 in France.
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