On 4 August 1627 a royal French army, 11’000
strong, arrived at the Huguenot town of La Rochelle. Their arrival marked the beginning
of a siege characterized by an impregnable fortress, extremely determined commanders and
ingenious siege craft, manifesting above all in a 1.5 km long sea-wall, a construction seemingly
impossible at its time. La Rochelle was one of the major strongholds of the Huguenots, the French
Protestants, and the siege marked the climax of the reformatory struggle in France. It was the
centerpiece of both the third Huguenot rebellion and the Anglo-French war of 1627-29. This
is how modern historiography tells the story of the staggering siege of La Rochelle:
Chapter 1: The Hornet’s Nest The Reformation spread to France in the
16th century. Especially in the south of the kingdom many turned their back to Catholicism and
converted to the new belief. When noble families started to join the Huguenots — which is what the
French Protestants were called — their influence grew, and the catholic nobility, in turn, felt
that their privileges and possessions were threatened. The Catholics reacted with resistance
and repression against the Huguenots, until in 1562 the situation escalated when the first
of eight Huguenot wars broke out. After years of cruelties and political intrigue, both parties
reached a compromise in the 1598 edict of Nantes. While Catholicism was to remain France's official
religion, the Huguenots were guaranteed political and religious privileges. They were, for
example, allowed to man their own garrisons in certain strongholds (about 100) in southern
France at the expense of the Kingdom. Among these was the thriving town of La Rochelle situated
at the Bay of Biscaya at the Atlantic coast and inhabited by 28’000 people. La Rochelle
was one of the largest cities of France and a commercial and cultural center.
The footage and detailed 3d animations you’re looking at was kindly provided by
CuriosityStream, the sponsor of today’s video. They produced a documentary on The Siege of
La Rochelle” themselves. And you might think, why recommend a documentary that is about the
same topic as this video. Well, many of our viewers are interested in sieges, and there is
much more content on sieges on CuriosityStream. The episode on La Rochelle for example is
part of a series called “Besieged Fortress”, which also features the sieges of Orléans and
Chateau Gaillard, the daunting fortress of Richard Lionheart. These documentaries always feature a
variety of historians and beautiful 3d animations, which we simply could not offer you. And there
is much more content like their documentary on Castle defense in the Middle Ages, to name but one
other example. Of course, Curiositystream is home to thousands of other streamable documentaries
and non-fiction TV shows on topics like History, Nature, Science and more. To check them out sign
up to CuriosityStream using code sandrhoman for just $14.99 for the whole year. This way you
get a 25% discount and help out our channel! When King Louis XIII came to power in 1617,
the Huguenots were a thorn in his side not only because he was a devout Catholic but also
because he wanted to centralize all power in his kingdom. The edict of Nantes and the privileges
granted to the Huguenots were at odds with that. When he tried to cut those privileges
in 1621 the Huguenots rose in Rebellion. Led by Henri II of Rohan (Anm.) and his
brother Benjamin, the Huguenots successfully resisted. The king failed to conquer the
fortresses of Montauban and Montpellier; eventually, he had to confirm
the edict of Nantes in 1622. But one year later a new and very determined
man entered the stage. Armand-Jean du Plessis, better known as Cardinal Richelieu, a very devout
Catholic member of the clergy, made it his mission to end the privileges of the Huguenots and the
religious wars which had been plaguing France for more than six decades. The king and his new
counselor intensified their anti-Huguenot politics and broke the King’s earlier promises. This
spurred another rebellion, which was terminated only in early 1626 in the peace of Paris. This
peace, however, was only half-heartedly agreed and alert observers presumed it might be more of
a truce. And indeed, the king violated the terms again. Richelieu was preparing to defeat the
Huguenots once and for all by destroying the hornet’s nest – La Rochelle.
Chapter 2: Impregnable Walls La Rochelle was not just a thriving commercial
center. It was also a formidable fortress. It wasn't accountable to anyone, and its burghers
were proud and independent people. It was governed by a senate. The title of senator was not
hereditary, but it was rarely given to outsiders. The senate of La Rochelle generally refused a
royal governor or royal troops within their walls. This freedom was guarded by the vigilant eyes
of the burghers and the formidable defenses of the town. Three offshore islands (Ré, Aix, and
Olérons) protected La Rochelle’s coast and harbor. An approach from the sea was almost impossible.
Even more favorable was the landward situation. Wetlands and marshes stretched east and west
of the city as far as the eye could see. It was only passable through narrow causeways of
stone. The only dry approach was from the north. In addition to these natural features,
the Venetian engineer Scipione Vergano had overhauled the medieval fortifications
of the town in 1569. Now, La Rochelle was surrounded by a massive wall featuring
a formidable number of ravelins, a wet ditch and 6 to 10 bastions – a number which is disputed
because fake plans distributed by the rochellese, the people of La Rochelle to confuse
potential attackers and modern historians. A complex system of sluices and valves allowed
them to flood parts of the surroundings. The expert on fortifications Nicolas Faucherre
explains in the CS-Docu: CS ab 14:15 ab “what characterizes…” The Wall
itself stretched all around the city, even along the coast and only a narrow passage
between two massive towers CS ab 12.10 allowed ships to enter the inner harbor, which could
shelter more than 200 large ships at a time. A massive iron chain connected the two towers
and could be tightened to close the last gap. La Rochelle was virtually impregnable. And
it was not only considered so theoretically: In 1573 a French army sent by King Charles
IX had shot 34’000 cannonballs at the town and lost about 20’000 men in eight storm
assaults before the siege ended in negotiations. The walls of La Rochelle had proven themselves. Richelieu did his best to
keep his arrangements secret, but information soon leaked to the Huguenots.
They prepared their defense by filling up their pantries and powder reserves. Benjamin of
Rohan-Soubise sought support from England. King Charles I of England, who saw a fitting
chance to destabilize his rival France, sent George Villiers, the duke of Buckingham,
with 80 ships and 7’000 men to aid the Huguenots. On the 10 July 1627, the English fleet arrived
at the island of Ré, which had already been taken by the French royal army. Benjamin
(Anm.) went to La Rochelle to make sure the inhabitants would cooperate with the English,
while Buckingham was attacking the island. After a first clash on the beach the English
laid siege to Saint-Martin-de-Ré on 17 July. They occupied the town without difficulty, but they
had a hard time with the well-prepared citadel. Meanwhile, La Rochelle kept its doors closed to
Benjamin and the English ambassador accompanying him. The mayor refused to let them in
because the Rochelais wanted to stay loyal to their rightful king despite of what had
been happening. Only when Catherine de Parthenay, the very influential and extremely popular mother
of the two Rohan-brothers, rallied a mob at Saint Nicholas gate, did the mayor let Benjamin and the
ambassador in. Catherine escorted her son into the town, allegedly with the words “the sons of Rohan
have always defended the liberty of La Rochelle”. Now, negotiations began. But the Rochelais
hesitated because they wanted to consult with the other French Protestants and wait for the outcome
of the English campaign on the island of Ré. Then, on 4 August, before the people
of La Rochelle had come to a decision, a royal army of 11’000 men commanded by Charles de
Valois, Duke of Angoulême, arrived at La Rochelle. The duke sent a messenger to the
city, requesting capitulation. The Rochelais again hesitated and held
heated debates about the duke's request. They were still sitting on the fence when
the royal troops overstepped a red line. On 10 September, the troops began to reinforce
Fort St. Louis just west of the town. This fort had been built by the king in 1622 and had been
regarded as an unwelcome means of supervision by the burghers of the town ever since. CS ab
03:43-03:58 “This fortress is an aggression…” Now that the royal army was reinforcing the fort,
annoying supervision turned into a direct threat. As a consequence, the Rochelais, opened
fire on the fort. Unsurprisingly, the royal gunners answered with a
cannonade. The mutual bombardment went on until sunset. This made it very clear
that a peaceful solution was no longer an option. Considering La Rochelles
formidable defenses, however, Richelieu and Angoulême ruled out a direct attack.
Moreover, the swamps made it virtually impossible to dig trenches and approaches. So, the only
way to take La Rochelle was to starve it out. Chapter 3: “Secure Peace, Complete
Victory or Honorable Death” To implement this plan and cut off all
supply routes, Angoulême ordered his men to the shovels. Soldiers closely guarded all ways to
and from the city, warships patrolled the harbor, and the Catholic side was digging a ring of
fortifications, a so-called circumvallation, to seal the city off bit by bit. Richelieu
carefully supervised the operations while the king himself was tied to his bed by a tertian fever.
Despite being bled seven times in seven days by his doctors, the King recovered quickly and
received news about the situation from Richelieu. The royal army was well fed, well paid and
growing in number. Troops from every quarter of France were marching toward La Rochelle. When
the king himself arrived at the site with further reinforcements on 12 October 1627, about 22’000
men stood at the gates of the Huguenot town. Meanwhile in the city the burghers had decided
to defend themselves, but they were still arguing about the treaty with the English.
Resisting a direct attack was one thing, but making a pact with a foreign sovereign was
an altogether different affair. On 27 September the mayor finally agreed to a contract with
Buckingham. The senate declared: “We will always respect our King even though he forces us to throw
ourselves into the arms of a foreign sovereign. We seek not to change masters but to find
a protector.” However, they had hesitated for too long. The English were still tied
down in the siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré and on 27 October (CS 6 Nov) Buckingham ordered a
last desperate assault. The assault failed badly because the English siege ladders were too
short. Buckingham had to abandon the siege and marched north to embark from the island
of Loix. On their march, they were attacked by French cavalry and suffered heavy losses. On
7 November Buckingham left the theatre of war and set sail for Portsmouth. Only about 3’000 of the
7’000 men he had brought to France returned with him. The drama of the proud and sovereign city
of La Rochelle, however, had only just begun. All royal French attention, embodied really
by Richelieu, was now on La Rochelle itself. He was facing a city guarded by its thick
walls and by a formidable artillery as well as militant inhabitants. Most of the townspeople
were trained to use weapons and instructed how to defend themselves and their town. Every man in
the city was ordered to help defend the walls. All able hands helped to reinforce and repair the
defenses and the soldiers of the garrison found themselves supported by a formidable militia.
By the end of November, the French army had established a firm circumvallation, interspersed
with strong forts. Their tight grip on La Rochelle not only prevented the inhabitants from
leaving but also cut them off from any support from the landward side. No man, no food,
no powder could reach the city on the dry way. The morale within the city deteriorated quickly,
even though there was still enough food. Knowing that this was to change soon, the
Rochelais asked the besiegers to let the “useless mouths” leave the city - but Richelieu
refused. Still, some women and children left or were thrown out. CS Mickael Augeron ab 42:21
Receiving Richellieu’s answer and seeing the tragedy happening under the walls, Catherine de
Parthenay wrote to the King himself, asking for permission to leave the city with two hundred
women and children. The reply was devastating: Either all would leave the city, or none.
After this Catherine was determined to resist to the bitter end. She adopted the motto of Jeanne
d’Albret the wife of Henry IV, queen of Navarre and former spiritual and political leader of
the Huguenots: Secure peace, complete victory, or honorable death.
Chapter 4: Watertight While the Rochelais were cut off from land, they were supplied from the sea by English ships
who could slip through the blockade. The king and Richelieu soon looked for an alternative
solution to their ineffective blockade. As the expert on siege warfare Christopher Duffy
puts it they “[…] unearthed a relic in the person of the irrepressible Pompeio Targone.” Richelieu
was skeptical towards this witty and creative man. He said, “It was impossible to have much faith in
him, since he gave little evidence that he knew what he was about” . This was not unjustified
as Targone had already attempted to cut off the town of Ostende 25 years earlier. There, he had
tried to build a dam but had failed miserably. The task the engineer was given this time was even
more of a challenge. He had to build a blockade, stretching across 1.5 km of water, stable enough
to withstand nature and man. Nevertheless, Targone took to his drafting board once more
and designed a sequence of floating elements, reinforced by chains and spikes. But when these
floating fortress was finished and put to water, a stiff winter storm revealed the weakness in
his plan: the links between the floats broke and his construction was swept out to the sea.
Targone’s failure made it clear that something more substantial was needed to make the blockade
effective. Richelieu assigned the task to two less creative but more practical men: the royal
architect Clément Métezeau and the Parisian mason Jean Thiriot . The two took a very different
approach. They began by building two jetties each projecting from the shores and just beyond
reach of the Huguenot cannons. Their biggest challenge was the muddy ground, as the narrator
of the La Rochelle documentatary explains. CS Faucherre ab 28.44 The central part was
left open so that the tides could pass through without tearing the whole thing
apart. This was an immense project. Thousands of workers dragged rocks and
stones to the site for the whole winter. Richelieu wanted the work to be
completed as quickly as possible and made sure they were well fed, warmly clothed
and regularly paid – something rare in these days. Louis XIII himself supervised the military
preparations and motivated the men. As soon as the dam was walkable, it was manned and
equipped with artillery batteries so that the royal gunners were able to beat off every
attempt to resupply or relief La Rochelle. In addition, so-called “candlesticks”,
huge sharpened tree trunks which were mounted at a 45degree angle threatened to
rip open the hull of any approaching ship. Now, the seal of La Rochelle was watertight.
Chapter 5: Holy Warriors, Hunger, and a last Hope For the besiegers, money was
not the problem for once. The Catholic clergy saw the struggle against the
Huguenots as a rightful cause and contributed much from their coffers and even took up military duty
– friars became adjutants, priests lieutenants and the Bishop of Mende commanded the ships
around the town before he was killed in action. But the most famous and most arduous helper
of Richelieu was a priest of the Capuchin order, Father Joseph. The phrase “grey
eminence”, which refers to a powerful advisor who pulls the strings secretly
in the background, is originally French (éminence grise) and allegedly goes back to this
man. Father Joseph not only counselled Richelieu and inspired the French soldiers with his sermons
but also contributed very directly to the siege. He devised, for example, a plan to travel
up the sewage aqueduct of La Rochelle to invade it secretly. When the first men
set out on their smelly path, however, and had made — to use the words of Christopher
Duffy — their first “muddy reconaissances”, they refused to continue. Richelieu was furious but
wouldn’t lead by example in this specific case. In March, King Louis XIII got impatient. He had
almost 30’000 men at hand and the work on the dyke made good progress. But still La Rochelle stood
strong. The king wanted an opportunity to attack the city. To his pleasure he received intelligence
from within the city that the defenses of La Rochelle had a flaw: The entrance of Maubec gate
was fortified less strongly than the rest of the wall. The spies believed a small bomb could bring
it down. Thus, Richelieu and 5’000 soldiers set out in the night of 12 March and took position
outside the Cougnes gate. Meanwhile, scouts and explosive experts set out on boats to blast
open Maubec gate for the men to charge in. This was the first direct attack by the royal forces
since the beginning of the siege. However, the French explosive experts got lost in the marches
east of the city and found the weak point only when the first light of the day pushed through the
morning mist. When morning broke, Richelieu gave up his plan of a frontal offensive for good.
In April, the Rochelais elected a new mayor to lead the defense. Jean Guiton was a
weather-hardened and well-seasoned sailor, short and broad shouldered. This man from
a Rochelais family of old was a leader of extraordinary determination. After his election,
he is said to have rammed his dagger into the desk and said “I accept the honor you have done
me only on condition that yonder poniard shall serve to pierce the heart of whoever
dares mention surrender, mine first of all, if I am ever wretch enough to condescend to such
cowardice." And he did indeed as he had said: an order was passed that whoever talked of surrender
in the city should face capital punishment. From the very beginning Guiton had his hands
full because food and powder had become scarce. Soon, prices rose. The poor began to starve first. Annick Notter paints a vivid picture of the
hungry city CS ab 40:12 “the scenes of famine…” An 18th century historian of La Rochelle writes
"Entire families starved together, […]and their houses became their tombs." But Guiton didn’t even
think of giving in: “While a man remains to keep the gates closed, I will never consent that they
be opened." Despite his determination, Guiton knew that the only hope left for the city was England.
He wrote a desperate letter to England with the words “In God's name, come with all speed […]."
Chapter 6: Forsaken On 1 May, the Rochelais finally spotted English
sails on the horizon. Cs 35:57 However, they first cast anchor in reasonable distance and tried to
contact the town. This failed because the French intercepted the English messenger-ships. Then,
the English sailed up to the dyke and opened fire. However, their attack was only
half-hearted and Richelieu knew all their plans thanks to the letters he
had intercepted from the messenger-ships. Despite the dyke not being
fully completed just yet, the English turned away with no damage done
or suffered. Another three days of indecisive waiting later, they set sail for England. The
desperate Rochelais were left to their fate. The inhabitants of the city were deprived
of their hope. Richelieu, in stark contrast, was in high spirits. He wrote “This shameful
English retreat astounded the Rochellese so mightily that they would readily have surrendered
if Mme de Rohan […] and the minister Salabert, a very seditious fellow, had not regaled
them with imaginary tales of succor.” Although Catherine de Parthenay was an old woman,
plagued by rheumatism and other ailments of old age she was in this situation, as Jack Alden
Clarke puts it, “as much a warrior as her son.” Catherine used her popularity with the people
to support Guiton, who would have had to give in to the pressure of the hungry people much earlier
without her help. And not only that, she also led by good example and cut back on her food, eating
only horsemeat and nine ounces of bread a day. Nevertheless, Richelieu was not quite right
when talking of “imaginary tales of succor”. As soon as the English King Charles I heard
about the failure of the second expedition, he hurried to send a third
fleet to relief the Rochelais. Despite speedy preparations, September arrived
before Benjamin of Rohan and Lord Lindsey set sail. To their great consternation, they found the
seawall finished and both shores of the channel full of forts, batteries and warships. This sight,
as the reconstruction taken from the documentary shows, must have been very impressive. CS
ab 38:00 und 43:03 To even reach the mole, any ship would have had to run a deadly
gauntlet. La Rochelle was cut off completely. But the English were very determined and
despite the hopelessness of the undertaking tried to break the blockade twice. Twice,
however, the winds were unfavorable, and the heavy English ships despite bombarding the
French couldn’t force their way to the sea wall. On 23 October Lindsey made a last attempt. He
ordered his men to build what we today would call a very simple torpedo. It was described
in detail by Siegfried Julius von Romocki who wrote a history of explosives in the late 19th
century. (anm) According to him it consisted of a wooden box with a tin inlay and a contact trigger.
This very simple devise was intended to blow up a French ship and demoralize the defenders by
making them fear unpredictable explosions. However, the machine's construction had a flaw.
When it floated near a French ship and touched its hull, the device blew up, but the lid of the
wooden box dampened the explosion so much that all that followed was a spectacular splash of water.
Lindsey, unnerved and disappointed by this last failure, ordered his men to set sail and left.
Chapter 7: The Fall of La Rochelle The fate of La Rochelle was sealed. No autumn
storms clashed against the shore of the bay to test Richelieu’s sea-wall. The plague
that raged in all of France was strangely absent from the royal camp. “It was as if god
himself had decreed the fall of this proud city” a French officer allegedly said. The once
prosperous city couldn’t hold out any longer. By the end of October 1628, the crowd cried out
for surrender. How desperate the situation was, becomes clear when Christelle Mesmer explains
how the people stretched their last reserves: CS 41:17 ab “they ate…”. Guiton had to fear for
his life whenever he was walking the streets. He carried a loaded pistol all the time and was
accompanied by a guard of 10 trustworthy soldiers. The garrison was effectively reduced to 136
soldiers, all barely able to lift a pike. On Sunday 26 October Jean Guiton finally sent
an embassy to the royal army to negotiate peace. The negotiators trudged themselves to Cardinal
Richelieu and no questions asked accepted the terms he offered. On 28 October, after
14 months and 16 days under siege, La Rochelle signed a capitulation.
Richelieu granted them fair terms. He guaranteed the Huguenots free exercise of their
religion and the security of life and property. The cardinal even pardoned most who had conspired
with the English king against their own ruler. Only very few nobles including Jean Guiton were
exiled. Excluded from this was Madame de Rohan. She was considered “the brand that
consumed this people” and sent to prison, where she was prohibited to practice her religion.
On 1 November Louis XIII entered La Rochelle. What he found was misery and destruction. The
shops, houses and streets were littered with the bodies of starved people. The survivors
could barely walk upright and they were but bones and skin. Of the 28’000 inhabitants of the
flourishing town in summer 1627 scarcely a third was left by the end of the siege. Even
after Richelieu had taken care of the people and brought food to the city, over a thousand
more died of the exhaustions of the siege. La Rochelle, the proud and prosperous city and
center of Huguenot faith lost all its privileges. The king abolished the office of major and the
senate as well as the burghers. As severe were the sanctions against the Protestant faith. No
protestant born outside La Rochelle was henceforth allowed to take residence in the town. Catholicism
was not only reestablished, but a new bishopric created with it’s seat in the town. The defenses
of La Rochelle, which had remained impenetrable to the very, end were razed to the ground. Only the
three big towers at the harbor remained intact. Richelieu's dyke was quite ironically washed
away by a storm just days after the surrender. After the loss of La Rochelle and with their
privileges lost, the Huguenots of France fought a lost fight. While Henri II of Rohan was still
resisting in southern France and indeed managed to negotiate the peace of Alais in 1629,
the Huguenots were at the king's mercy. Louis XIII made a big step towards
a centralised government in France, thereby paving the way for the age of absolutism.
