Impregnable Fortress: The (Staggering) Siege of La Rochelle 1627
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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.
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Bibliography
Arcère, Louis Etienne, Histoire de la ville de La Rochelle et du pays d' Aunis, 2 vols., La Rochelle 1756-1757.
Beaulieu-Persac, Philippe Prevost de, Mémoires, Paris, 1913.
Clarke, Jack Alden, Huguenot Warrior. Life and Times of Henri II de Rohan 1579-1638.
Duffy, C., The Fortress in the Early Modern World 1494-1660, London 1979.
Holt, Mack P., The French Wars of Religion 1562-1629, Cambridge 22005.
Parker, Geoffrey, The Thirty Years War, London 1997.
Pontis, Louis de, Memoires du sieur de Pontis qui a servi dans les armees cinquantesix ans sous les rois Henri XIV, Louis XIII et Louis XIV. 2 vols., Paris 1824.
Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, cardinal duc de, Lettres, instructions diplomatiques et papiers d' etat du Cardinal de Richelieu. 8 vols., Paris 1853-1877.
Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, Memoires du cardinal de Richelieu. Ed. for the Societe de l'histoire de France. 10 vols, Paris 1907-1931
Romocki, Siegfried Julius von, Geschichte der Explosivstoffe: Band 1: Geschichte der Sprengstoffchemie, der Sprengtechnik und des Torpedowesens bis zum Beginn der neuesten Zeit, Berlin 1895.
Patreon (thank you): www.patreon.com/sandrhomanhistory Get access to many documentaries on sieges, history and much more on CuriosityStream for just 14.99 a year by using code sandrhoman: curiositystream.com/sandrhoman
Happy Halloween SandRhoman History. And this video was quite long. But very informative too. Have a nice day.
It would be great if you could get someone to dub these videos into Spanish, greetings from Argentina.
Don't want to sound offensive, But this channel needs a good animator.
Kind of reminds me of the Alamo story in a way
#SandRhomanHistory j'mappelle Sarah et j'habite à la Rochelle, ta vidéo et très intéressante☺️👍🏻
"Despite treatment by his doctor, the king survived." Love the wording there.
Being bled seven times in seven days? The poor guy.
@@kylepessell1350 He got better just to avoid any more bleedings
scariest thing in the world are ancient and medieval doctors. They'll make sure you'll die if you get a cold or flu
The king mumbled in a fever that he wanted siege laying and the doctors understood he meant "leech laying".
We are talking about the Rohan sons helping LaRochelle, but let me ask: Where was LaRochelle when the Westfold fell?
Made my day hahaha
WHERE WERE THEY?
No my lord SandRhoman, we are alone...
I'm form La Rochelle and I felt that ahah pretty good one
The beacons are lit, LaRochelle calls for aid! And Rohan will answer!
Such a "boring" and disciplined siege for the age, especially from the French. No flashy attacks, no undermining, no crumbling walls; just a solid circumvallation and patience. The best generalship is not always the most exciting.
True. The sea wall makes up for it though!
Yeah, it's fully in the character of the cardinal of Richelieux. The guy was an exemple of professionalism and seriousness, he had little patience for pointless flashy movements. It's may be why he is one of the most efficient statmen of the french history.
@@SandRhomanHistory Even that. It's impressive, but it's also the most efficient way of doing what needed to be done, in a no-nonsense kind of way.
Dry history is the best history. I love learning more about random obscure 18th century kings than the more exciting figures.
The engineering was insane.
"To confuse potential attackers and historians" I expected nothing less from a Frenchmen
"Why do you put the wrong number in your letter, Guillaume? The king's army stands just outside the city. They can count our towers from there." "The king can, but KZhead peasants from the future cannot."
nothing to do with the french
@@eljanrimsa5843 Lmao
@@clintmoor422 okay lol
France > English, Germany.
"Despite getting bled seven times in seven days by his doctors, Louis recovered quickly" lmaoo
So maybe it's actually because of.
@@MrLoobu No, just no
@@varengo1838 yes just yes.
@@MrLoobu It just works .
@@varengo1838 this makes me wonder: would bleeding have a positive impact in the very specific case of a blood infection?
Your quality has certainly improved here. Cardinal Richelieu’s battle armour is also epic.
wrong time period Napoleon! what u doing here?
Yes
@@gabrielvanhauten4169 no let the man Have his time
@@gabrielvanhauten4169 hes remembering a time when the french fought and didn't hide behind white flags
Richelieu - "Armored vestments, please" Clerk - "Excellent, Sir, would you like badass black or edgelord red?" Richelieu - "Yes"
Finally, a siege that didn't leave me staggered.
We will try to stagger you with the next one. edit: typo
Love ur profile pic :)
Don't worry They still refer to it as "staggering" at 0:52 in the video lol
I was staggered! I can be staggered even without being told to be staggered.
@@kylebell7879 frog lives matter
"Despite being bled 7 times by his doctor, The King recovered quickly" Got a laugh out of that.
Rochelle calls for aid Rohan: and Rohan will answer
*throws tree trunk and ship and then leaves*
will answer but no charges xD
Up up up
A siege on la Rochelle by the best siege channel? Count me in.
The painting done by Henri Motte is one of the coolest/oldest pieces of historical art I personally can remember. I'm sure if he was alive would love to dive in deep in every single good KZhead video, book or movie out there related with military history.
I feel the same! The cannonball that's wedged in the pier just before his feet (who's trail you can see through the sea wall) is my most favorite detail.
Same here, it’s my favorite painting of all time, Richelieu watching the scene unfold arms crossed is beautiful and inspiring
i'm my favorite painting
@@thomascatty379 Reichlich had been in military training when his elder brother became a Carthusian monk (he was authentically religious) so Armand was switched to a clerical career in his stead. But he did know something about fighting; being of frail health, he believed in scientific warfare with a minimum of violence and bloodshed. Hence the cool-headed siege.
In spite of the lack of general assaults, there was still occassion for valorous deeds. A small group of French Musketeers of the Guard managed to capture the St. Gervais bastion as part of a bet, even hoisting their own flag improvised from napkins. Richelieu himself was very pleased with their performance and commended the men who took part in the feat.
You beat me to it.
that just fictional story, not history.
@@kaleidoscope3234 I found the guy, who did not get the joke.
and it was just so the gentlemen could have a chat among themselves... good times!
Only 1617 bois will understand
I don't think Catholic religious devotion was much of a driving motivation in the case of Richelieu in this case. After all, Richelieu spent the Thirty Years War supporting Protestants against Catholics in order to reduce Habsburg power. Rather, Richelieu had come of age during the French Wars of Religion, and seen how sectarian struggle by feudal nobles with private armies had devastated France. His ethos was thus simple: Peace at home through religious tolerance, rule by a single all-powerful centralized state, and a foreign policy that put national interest above religious allegiance.
It's realpolitk basically. This is one of the final strike in this huge battle begun in the late Middle Ages between the Kings of France and the powerful, autonomous or semi-autonomous regional princes or free-cities outside the Isle de France. The goal would be the consolidation of France as a nation, brushing away what was left of feudalism.
Totally true. He didn’t care of the religion. The wars of religion in France were more wars between the idea of centralism/absolutism vs federalism/feodalism.
The Vatican and the Jesuits from 1540 represent the principle power in the world, the Pope crowned the kings of Europe for over a thousand years. The Catholic Church has always been a political power and still is. But God is not political. When Jesus answered Pilate he said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would fight, that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now My kingdom is not from here.” John 18:36. -- Jesus said the Law can be summed up with two laws: 1. Love God with all your heart, mind and soul. And 2. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". --- When the Principle Powers in this world create fiat money from NOTHING, and lend back to us with interest added, they're Criminals and have a license to steal. The Vatican b@nk3rs are the same as the world b@nkst3rs and these people want the Great Reset, and they shake the hand of Klaus Schwab.
His goal is to transform France from a constitutional feudal monarchy to an absolute modern monarchy
anders french here you right france supporting protestant and catholics states for its own interest,plus the mistake and tragedy of la rochelle and french protestants,they werre allied with england and by that called traitor."il n'y a pas d'etat dans l'etat"there is no state in the state,.richelieu.
8:40 "The beaquonnes are lit! Rohan calls for aid!" "And Gondorshire shall answer!"
Note: Jeanne d`Albret was indeed Queen of Navarre but in fact she was the mom of Henry IV, not his wife.
Yep xD
The islands were also heavy fortified worth noticing, later on Napoleon used La Rochelle for his purposes as it was really hard to brake the defences from the sea
Interesting..even though you spelled break wrong lol
… and the nazis too
I am more and more impressed by what you do. No matter if it's PLC or Netherlands or England it's always well researched and skilfully depicted. Keep it up!
Sunday is complete now that this gem is available for our viewing experience. Thank you for the great content. Movies should be made about the tales your videos have covered.
This was in The Three Musketeers
Hollywood likes to use history in their movies.
The animation certainly improved my friend
How's Prussia my friend? You still fighting for it?
@@clintmoor422 I have taken Silesia from the Austrians
@@clintmoor422 Also yes I’m still fighting for it
A very specific thing I like about your videos is the chapters/transitions and music. Really sets the tone
The 2nd "3 Musketeers" movie (1970s) featured this siege and I never understood WTF was going on. Now I know
The 3 Musketeers were the baddies? 🔫 always have been
There's even a porn version
this channel deserves a million subscribers, incredible work !
I couldn't thank you enough for the endless amount of dates, numbers, and quotes you've put in this video! that was simply AMASING. Thanks for all your hrad work, and please, keep it up!
This is insanely good man! Your production quality has certainly gone up, keep up the good work man smh
Awesome another great video!! I like how you showed other speakers and other audio from sources it enhances your video ten fold.
Me: Henri the second of rohan must be a joke. Googles it Holy shit Tolkien
The more I learn about history the more I think fiction writers are plagiarist.
Eh... Aragorn... Tolkien knew his history, almost as well as his languages. And we all steal and get inspired while we write.
Tolkien wrote in his letters that he was unsatisfied with Rohan being, essentially, a placeholder culture. The language was never fleshed out the way he wanted to, which is why so much of the Rohan language is just slightly modified Germanic and Old English, rather than the full bottom-up new construction that he would use for his Elvish languages.
@@ArchonShon it is cool when one detects an influence but the story functions well by itself even while being ignorant of the particular culture or event, but when the reference is so obvious and is used in a surface level manner, it does take away part of the quality of the product, I guess that's why I never could get to much into Game of Thrones / A Song of Fire and Ice, it displays a very deep talent from the author in many aspects but also a great deal of ignorance about several subjects that are centerpieces of the books.
@@g.sergiusfidenas6650 As someone unfamiliar with the specific plots of the books: Elaborate?
I don't know if someone wants to hear it, but I really love your work here. Thru and thru. Watched multiple videos multiple times for I like your voice in general and most things historical. Take this as just "engagement" on your work, may it help you the tiniest bit.
Engagingly engaging in engagement.
Where was Gondor when La Rochelle fell??
Another great video , getting better and better man
Outstanding! Thank you for making these!
All I got to say is that this is another well put together and narrorated like normal it is excellent work and thank you(plural) for making it
A small inaccuracy: Jeanne d'Albret was not the wife of Henri IV but his mother. His wife a Medici from Florence.
The Henri IV used to be a good ship
Informative AND entertaining! Keep up the good work!
One of the best and most underrated history channel on youtube!
Just staggering really 😉. Great video! Really enjoyed this one!
English language history books generally call these conflicts The French Wars of Religion, not The Huguenot Wars.
These English people...
@@lars9925 were they wrong?
@@mitonaarea5856 It's just a name, a lable. Multiple different names can be "right" at the same time. I prefere the term Hugenottenkriege (=Huguenot Wars) as they are typically called in my language because the Huguenot Wars were not purely religious wars; dynastic and power-political backgrounds played an equally important role (especally centralization against regional self-government).
We call these "Wars of Religion" / "Guerres de Religion" in French too.
@@KroM234 These French people...
Hi, I'm native to the area and while I can only praise your work I see that some of the maps you used are somewhat mistaken, showing marshes as the ocean and vice-versa, especially in the case of Oleron Island. Outside of that this is a very good video, and I praise your work once again !
(And I can assure its not because of the changes through the eras since I have access to maps of Oleron and the nearby Coast from the time)
@@fallenangel100197 Yeah, Oléron is a complete swamp ^^ That's why there's less tourists there than on Ré, and of that I am thankful
@@rollolol6053 6h de queue pour rentrer ou sortir l'été. Je pense que c'est amplement suffisant en terme de baigne à sous.
@@anaiswhl2112 Ça dépend des heures et d'où vous allez sur l'île. Si vous allez à Dolus vous n'êtes pas sorti, mais si vous habitez au Château c'est beaucoup plus simple
@@rollolol6053 Même en partant aux heures creuses, il y a du monde. J'habite à st Denis... Il n'y a pas que le sud de l'ile.
Thanks for this episode! I love the detail a d everything!
I’m just surprised you didn’t mention the role of this proud young soldier named d’Artagnan and his friends Athos, Aramis and Porthos. It seems the Cardinal propaganda worked…
Only D'Artagnan was real though. The three Musketeers are characters from a book by Alexandre Dumas.
@@MatthewVanston oh swear ?!
@@freewal he is right, Athos, Aramis and Porthos were purely fictional, alongside the whole rivalry between the musketeers and the cardinal's guard.
@@chagui5253 oh gosh… you know what is sarcasm, don’t you ? I was not serious in my message. Of course I know of all this. I love Dumas work and I love historyW
@@freewal There are no need to get angry, man, I had no way to know.
Love your content, keep up The good work!
Great content! I enjoy that your channel covers several sieges in history. Many channels focus on great battles, but masive battles were unusual in history. Wars were won by long sieges and the ocupation of strategic locations.
Absolutely fantastic video. Bravo!!!!
Siege of Namur 1695 would be a cool vid, I don’t think the 9 years war gets enough coverage
I am rochelais and very proud to be represented in your video. The lower tower is the named "chain's tower" as you explained. And the third island Aix is pronounced as ex and not as aï
I live in La Rochelle and just got this in my recommandations. I only knew a tiny bit about the siege. You are very interesting and clear(even for a frenchman haha)
Cardinals in battle armor must have looked hardcore
Great video as always cheers!
amazing video as always.
Oh boy, been waiting for that. Can't wait for Spinola cameo.
Subscribed! Started watching your stuff. Can't stop!
I come from La Rochelle and my flat is right into the old town, that's funny to watch that when you're just in the place 🤣
which part was funny? the part where 20k people starved to death? if you see a ghost, tell them their death amused you
4:02 so that's where lotr got their namespiration from!!!! Thanks SandRhoman History
That was interesting to see and I appreciate an English telling of this. My direct ancestors came from La Rochelle and would have survived the siege, only to end up in New France by 1631 (along with a lot of other survivors of the siege).
That's why we consider you as our cousins from Quebec and we still like you all
Same, they came on the same boat, I assume. They had farmland south of Québec city for a few hundred years before migrating to northern Ontario and turning northern Ontario into an extension of Québec. Still very French up there and around the border.
@benjaminblabla When thinking of French in New france, you have to think pass Québec, francophones take up a bigger space than that and French people outside Québec dedicated way harder to fight for their language and culture. The French culture is found in Nouvelle-Écosse (Acadians, mostly Chti & Normand accents) same for Nouveau Brunswick, they have French as an official language still today. Québec, Ontario where I'm from has a good population of French and ton of history. Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta where my sister lives her kids go to French schools, all the streets names are in French. There's whole French communities in Colombie Britanique too, we literally spread everywhere 😄 Forcing all English kids to take French in school across the country 😁 There's a small town in Saskatchewan where everything is in French and people have Eiffel towers on their lawns to remind people where they are from. If you want interesting history, check the in depth journey of Acadians. Those are my French heroes, the determination they had to hold on for dear life to their French identity even when it cost their lives is remarkable. Every morning a French school bus drives in front of my house in Halifax, with it's proud Acadian flag painted on, makes me smile. Despite the British efforts, they still exist and now send their children's to French schools. I hear lots of new French people from France around here too and some French Africans, all making more space for what was new France once upon a time. All this to say, French Canadian doesn't just equal Québec, we're everywhere and we're inceedibly stubborn 😁
I rarely leave comments, but I'd just like to say that I find your videos to be very well made and interesting. Make more! :D
Good vid. I’ll have to start watching your channel 👍
Cardinal Richelieu had incredible drip
Best siege video yet! Can't imagine what the people went through
Had to watch this to understand Alexandre Dumas' reference to the siege of La Rochelle in the very first line of "The Three Musketeers."
Fun book but nothing historical about it.
Some of my ancestors came from LaRochelle and some went there to escape the Holy Inquisition, some died in the siege but some managed to escape by ship to New France.
This is so amazing!
Just a correction which some might already have pointed out before me, Jeanne de Albret was not Henry IV's wife but his mother, it was at the hands of her grandson and great-grandson (Louis XIII and Louis XIV) that the cause she and Henry IV so hard had fought to defend was destroyed after such bitter and long struggle.
that is an interesting way of mixing ads with the content. Never see that way done before. Congrats.
That was a great video. Thanks.
So, Tolkien took the battle of Minas Tirith from Vienna (1683) and the Rohirim (Rohan) from France. I wonder what other pieces of history inspired his writings.
Tolkien's universe was inspired by the Bible , European History and European Mythology
You will see great influenza from the word wars. And european history in general.
Rohan were based around the old Anglo Saxons, I think Gondor was more France/Western Europe
Martin does the same, there's nothing new
kudos go out not only to your incredible content but also to your great pronounciation of the french names. Not many english native speakers can pronounce them so well. Btw I'm german, not french, and would be curious to see how you pronounce german words :-)
Hey we’re Swiss not English! And we actually have a German channel (SandRhoman Geschichte). Roman is doing the voiceovers there though! To German speakers we recommend the German channel over the English one because the videos are remastered and because we get a chance to correct our mistakes!
La Rochelle is my hoem city !! Very interesting to know more about my city's history, thank you !
Love your sige videos!!!!
Wonderful video. The perfection is only marred (ruined) by the high number of ad breaks throughout the video (mine had 6 NOT counting 1 before the video even started)
Great. Its a masterpiece
thanks!
These are the best siege documentaries.
Very good video! Would be great to have one about the siege of Montauban.
Love these
Very cool as always.
very interesting, thank you
Yes my city since I was born ! Nice to learn more about it historically speaking 😊
Love La Rochelle. My ancestors are from there. What a gentle place!
20:40 they needed those "candlesticks" to block the fireships!
Legend says that Dies Irae played on a loop wherever Richelieu went.
I watched that episode on Curiosity Stream , it was good .
Hey guys. Love the video as I do all your other ones. I have a hypothetical question that I can't seem to find an answer for anywhere: If cavalry werw not used as much as they were or it simply didn't exist, would pikes still have become as prevalent dureing the the 16th century?
High quality video!
Voltaire once wrote: "In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other"
how is that connected to this video?
Government bad -Sun Tzu, The Art of War
@@gabrielvanhauten4169 I am assuming because the French army was well paid as were the workers giving the king ample time to besiege.
I like the theatrical tone. It's quite appropriate for this particular story. History needs to be remembered, however this is accomplished.🏆
Very instructive. As a La Rochelle resident.
We had a Huguenot Fort here in Florida just up the road from me, Fort Caroline. Sadly it was not nearly as impregnable.
I have no enemies, only the enemies of France. Richelieu
And anybody who wanted to read the Bible in French
I live at La Rochelle since I'm born and this video is extremely interesting even for I who knows some of the history
Thank you
Two of my favourite paintings.
I'm an Afrikaner, South African from Hugonote ancestrial. Settled here because of the war on protosants in Europe in the late 1600s.
Goeie naand vriend. kzhead.info/sun/prCycr2ng2uEq4U/bejne.html
Dude was literally named of Rohan
The ole grind em down tactic
The city map at 10:05 looks beautiful, what software did you use to create it?
It's Inkarnate
larochelle was the home port of the templar fleet too. when the inquisition started, the fleet set sail and simply disappeared.
Nice video.
Fun that this came out on the same day that pike and shot released their french hugonot war documentary
21:13 Just a note: The phrase "Eminense Grise" in English is also "Eminense Grise". Although the literal translation "Grey Eminence" has been used on occasion, it practically never is.
Could you one day make a video about Marodeurs, Snipures, Hussars and Fouragieres in for example the thirty years war?
18:00 what is the music in the background?