Siege of Chartres (1568)

Siege of Chartres
Part of the French Wars of Religion
Date February-March 1568
Location Chartres, France
Result Lifted after two weeks;
Peace of Longjumeau on March 23
Belligerents
Huguenots Royalists
Commanders and leaders
Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé Anthony de Lignieres
Nicolas des Essars
Strength
Probably 30,000[1] Some 4,000 (except townspeople)[1]
Casualties and losses
300 to 400[2] some 350[2]

The Siege of Chartres in February to March 1568 was the pivotal event which ended the Second War of Religion, an episode of the French Wars of Religion.

The Huguenot army besieged the town at the end of February. The Prince of Condé had five battering cannons and four light culverins.[3] Part of the army acted as block and the rest, about 9,000 men, encircled the town and used their nine guns to breach the north wall. The Huguenots assaulted the town on March 7, but the Royal garrison of Nicolas des Essars, assisted by inhabitants defended stoutly. The assault was repelled and the breach sealed off.

Following the lifted siege, the Peace of Longjumeau was signed, on March 23.

Notes

  1. ^ a b Wood, James B. (2002). The King's Army. Cambridge University Press. p. 20. ISBN 0521525136. 
  2. ^ a b Knecht, Robert Jean (2002). The French Religious Wars 1562-1598. Osprey Publishing. p. 44. ISBN 1841763950. 
  3. ^ Wraxall, Nathaniel William (1814). The History of France, from the Accession of Henry the Third, to the Death of Louis the Fourteenth. T. Cadell and W. Davies. p. 58. 

Sources