Second siege of Corbie

Second siege of Corbie
Part of the Thirty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War (1635–59)
La Reprise de Corbie par Louis XIII et Gaston d'Orléans, généralissime de l'armée de Picardie, Anonymous, c. 1640
Date 30 September – 14 November 1636 Location Corbie, France Result French victory
Belligerents
France	Spain Holy Roman Empire
Commanders and leaders
Cardinal Richelieu
Strength
30,000 infantry 12,00 cavalry

The second siege of Corbie of 1636 was begun by a French army under the command of Cardinal Richelieu on 30 September. ^[1] It ended with the surrender of the Spanish garrison on 14 November. ^[2]

Corbie had been captured by the Spanish Army of Flanders after the first siege on 15 August. In response, Richelieu used the arrière-ban to call up the nobility of the Paris region. ^[3] The size of the army raised at Paris is unknown, ^[4] but may have been as large as 30,000 infantry and 12,000 cavalry under the command of Richelieu and King Louis XIII, who arrived at the siege of Corbie in early October. ^[3] Most of the Army of Flanders had retreated back across the border, leaving only a small garrison in Corbie. The Count-Duke of Olivares was to criticize the Cardinal-Infante for this decision after the loss of Corbie. ^[5]

On 5 November, Richelieu wrote that to take Corbie by blockade would probably take another six months. At the suggestion of the Marshal of Châtillon, however, it was decided by the king to assault the place and take it by force, which was successful. ^[6]

References

1. David Parrott, Richelieu's Army: War, Government and Society in France, 1624–1642 (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 121, indicating that Richelieu only took command after the siege had begun.
2. David Parrott, Richelieu's Army: War, Government and Society in France, 1624–1642 (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 121, although he dates the recapture to 10 November on p. 198.
3. Stéphane Thion, French Armies of the Thirty Years' War, 1618–48 (Casemate, 2024), p. 23.
4. David Parrott, Richelieu's Army: War, Government and Society in France, 1624–1642 (Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 199.
5. Jonathan Irvine Israel, Conflicts of Empires: Spain, the Low Countries and the Struggle for World Supremacy, 1585–1713 (Continuum, 1997), p. 78.
6. Gabriel Hanotaux and the Duc de La Force, "Histoire de Richelieu: L'année de Corbie (1636). Les camps et la cour", Revue des Deux Mondes50.3 (1939): 556–590. JSTOR   44852229