Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré (1627)

For the 1625 siege by Louis XIII against Soubise, see Capture of Ré island.
Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré
(Siège de Saint-Martin-de-Ré)
Part of the Huguenot rebellions


Top: Full map of the landing, siege and retreat by the English forces of Buckingham.
Bottom: The fortress of Saint-Martin. Military mock-up, 1702. Musée des Plans-Reliefs.
Date 1627
Location Ile de Ré
Result Decisive French victory
Belligerents
 England
La Rochelle (Volunteers)		  France
Commanders and leaders
Charles I
Duke of Buckingham (commander)		 Louis XIII
Toiras (commander)
Strength
Initially:100 ships[1]
6,000 English soldiers[2] 1,000 horses[3]
La Rochelle volunteers: 800

Reinforcements:
2,000 Irish soldiers
400 raw troops		 Initially:
1,200 men
200 horsemen

Reinforcements:
4,000 men (October)
Casualties and losses
around 5,000[4] around 500
1621-1622
Saumur – Saint-Jean-d'Angély – La Rochelle – Montauban – Royan – Saint-Foix – Nègrepelisse – Saint-Antonin – Montpellier – Treaty of Montpellier – Saint-Martin-de-Ré
1625
Blavet – Ré island – Treaty of Paris
1627-1629
Saint-Martin-de-Ré – La Rochelle – Privas – Alès – Montauban – Peace of Alès

The Siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, also Siege of St. Martin's (French:Siège de Saint-Martin-de-Ré), occurred in the French isle of Ile de Ré around the fortress of the city of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, when Duke of Buckingham tried to occupy the island in 1627. After three months of combats and sieges however, Governor Toiras and a relief force of French ships and troops managed to repel the Duke of Buckingham, who was forced to withdraw in defeat.[5] This encounter followed another defeat for Buckingham, the 1625 Cádiz Expedition, and is considered as the opening conflict of the Anglo-French War of 1627-1629, itself a part of the Thirty Years' War.

Contents

Landing

On 12 July 1627, an English invasion force of 100 ships and 6,000 soldiers[6] under the command of the Duke of Buckingham invaded the island of Ile de Ré at the beach of Sablanceau with the objective of controlling the approaches to La Rochelle, and of encouraging the rebellion in the city. Buckingham wished to capture the Fort of La Prée and the fortified city of Saint Martin de Ré.[7] Toiras fought against the landing from behind the dunes, with a force of 1,200 infantry and 200 horsemen, but the English beachhead was maintained, with over 12 officers and 100 men dead.[8]

During a period of three days during which Buckingham consolidated his beachhead, Toiras took all the available provisions on the island and fortified himself in the citadel of Saint Martin with 1,000 men.[9] Buckingham endeavoured to establish a siege around the citadel, but things proved difficult. The English siege engineer had drowned during the landing, the cannons were too few and too small, and disease started to take its toll on the English troops as Autumn arrived. The siege continued until October.[10]

Reinforcements

Requested supplies from England also proved insufficient. Irish troops numbering 2,000 arrived under Sir Ralph Bingley on 3 September 1627. A small supply fleet under Sir William Beecher arrived with only 400 raw troops.[11]

A Scottish fleet composed of 30 ships, with 5,000 men, was on its way on October 1627, but was broken up by a storm on the coast of Norfolk.[12]

A strong relief fleet under the Earl of Holland only departed on 6 November 1627, which proved to be too late.[13]

The French on their side, despite difficulties, managed to run a supply fleet during the night of 7–8 October 1627, with 29 ships managing to make it through the English naval blockade on a total of 35. From the mainland, 4,000 additional troops were landed on the southern end of the island on October 20.[14] The rescue troops were under the Marshal of France Henri de Schomberg.[15]

Final assault and retreat

Buckingham attempted a last desperate attack on Saint Martin on October 27, but it was a failure.[16] The Saint Martin fortress again proved to be impregnable, and the English ladders turned out to be too short to scale the fortification walls.[17]

Although there are indications that the Saint Martin French garrison was also close to exhaustion, Buckingham finally retreated with his troops towards the northern part of the island, with the objective of embarking at the area of Loix. He was harassed by pursuing French troops, with heavy casualties.[18] Altogether, Buckingham lost more than 5,000 men in the campaign, out of a force of 7,000.[19]

Aftermath

Two months into the siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré, the people of La Rochelle finally started open hostilities against the central government of France in September, initiating the Siege of La Rochelle.

Following the defeat of Buckingham in October, England attempted to send two fleets to relieve La Rochelle. The first one, led by William Feilding, Earl of Denbigh, left on April 1628, but returned without a fight to Portsmouth, as Denbigh "said that he had no commission to hazard the king's ship in a fight and returned shamefully to Portsmouth".[20]

Back in England, Buckingham tried to organize a second campaign to relieve the Siege of La Rochelle, but he was stabbed and killed at Portsmouth on August 23, 1628 by John Felton, an army officer who had been wounded in the earlier military adventure and believed he had been passed over for promotion by Buckingham. Felton was hanged in November and Buckingham was buried in Westminster Abbey. The second fleet was finally dispatched under the Admiral of the Fleet, the Earl of Lindsey in August 1628, but remained blocked by the seawall in front of La Rochelle.[21]

Exhausted and without hope of outside support anymore, La Rochelle finally surrendered to French Royal forces on 28 October 1628. Following these defeats, England would end its involvement with the Thirty Years War, by negotiating peace treaties, with France in 1629 and Spain in 1630, to the dismay of Protestant forces on the continent.[22]

Following these conflicts, the main port of Saint Martin, was further fortified by Vauban in 1681.

Notes

  1. ^ An apprenticeship in arms by Roger Burrow Manning p.116
  2. ^ Burrow Manning p.116
  3. ^ Burrow Manning p.116
  4. ^ Charles I by Michael B. Young, p.54
  5. ^ Fissel, p.123
  6. ^ An apprenticeship in arms by Roger Burrow Manning p.116
  7. ^ War and government in Britain, 1598-1650 by Mark Charles Fissel, p.123 [1]
  8. ^ Fissel, p.123
  9. ^ Fissel, p.123
  10. ^ Fissel, p.125
  11. ^ Fissel, p.125
  12. ^ An apprenticeship in arms by Roger Burrow Manning p.118
  13. ^ Fissel, p.125
  14. ^ Fissel, p.125
  15. ^ Commentaries on the life and reign of Charles the First p.114
  16. ^ Fissel, p.126
  17. ^ An apprenticeship in arms by Roger Burrow Manning p.118
  18. ^ Fissel, p.126-127
  19. ^ Charles I by Michael B. Young, p.54
  20. ^ An apprenticeship in arms by Roger Burrow Manning p.119
  21. ^ An apprenticeship in arms by Roger Burrow Manning p.119
  22. ^ Peltonen, p.271

References