Battle of Blaye

Battle of Blaye (1593) Part of the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and the French Wars of Religion View of the Gironde Estuary from the ruins of the Citadel of Blaye (2010) Date 18 April 1593 Location Off Blaye, Gironde Estuary, France Result Spanish victory[1][2] Failure of the English naval blockade of Blaye[3] French-Catholic troops at Blaye were successfully relieved by Spanish forces[4][5] Belligerents  England Supported by: France of Henry IV  Spain Commanders and leaders Peter Houghton  † Captain Lallmiraille Pedro de Zubiaur Joanes de Villaviciosa Strength First battle: 6 galleons[5] Supported by: 11–19 to 40–60 French and English ships[3] (Including 6 galleasses)[6] First battle: 4 pinnaces[2] Spanish fleet: 16 flyboats and pinnaces[3] Casualties and losses 2 galleons sunk (Flagship destroyed)[2][5] Several ships damaged and 6 English merchant vessels captured[3][5] 2 ships burned[3]

Anglo-Spanish War 1585–1604 Spanish Main San Juan de Ulúa São Vicente Santo Domingo Cartagena St. Augustine Havana 1st Puerto Caballos San Mateo Recife Guadalupe Island 1st San Juan Pinos 2nd San Juan Tabasco Portobello 2nd Puerto Caballos Atlantic Ponta Delgada Terceira Santiago 1st Azores 1st Flores 2nd Flores Faial Las Palmas 2nd Azores European waters Scheldt Pantelleria 1st Cádiz 1st Calais • Gravelines Corunna • Lisbon Bayona 1st Gibraltar Strait 2nd Gibraltar Strait Berlengas Gulf of Almería Bay of Biscay Gironde 1st Cornwall 2nd Cádiz Cape Finisterre 2nd Cornwall • West Wales Sesimbra Dover Strait Gulf of Cádiz Low Countries and Germany Mons Goes Middelburg Haarlem Leiden Alkmaar 1st Geertruidenberg Valkenburg Schoonhoven Gembloux Rijmenam Borgerhout Mechelen 1st Steenwijk Kollum Noordhorn Niezijl Lochem Lier Eindhoven Steenbergen Aalst Antwerp Arnhem 1st Grave Venlo Axel 1st Rheinberg 1st Zutphen 1st Sluis Bergen op Zoom 2nd Geertruidenberg Breda 2nd Zutphen Deventer 2nd Steenwijk Huy 1st Groenlo Lippe Hulst Turnhout 2nd Rheinberg Meurs 2nd Groenlo Bredevoort Enschede Ootmarsum Oldenzaal Lingen Rees • 3rd Rheinberg Nieuwpoort Ostend 's-Hertogenbosch 2nd Grave Ardenburg • Oostberg • 2nd Sluis France Arques Paris Rouen Craon Blaye Crozon Le Catelet Doullens 2nd Calais Amiens Ireland Carrigafoyle Smerwick Irish West Coast Kinsale Castlehaven French Wars of Religion Mérindol (1545) Amboise (1560) 1st–7th wars 1562–63 Edict of Saint-Germain Vassy Rouen Dreux Orléans Edict of Amboise 1567–68 Saint-Denis Chartres 1568–70 Jarnac La Roche-l'Abeille Orthez Moncontour 1572–73 Mons St. Bartholomew Sommières Sancerre La Rochelle 1574–76 Dormans Edict of Beaulieu 1576–77 Treaty of Bergerac 1579–80 Treaty of Fleix War of the Three Henrys Treaty of Nemours Coutras Vimory Arques Day of the Barricades Ivry Paris Rouen Craon Blaye Fort Crozon Edict of Nantes Franco-Spanish War (1595–98) Fontaine-Française Ham Le Catelet Doullens Cambrai Calais Ardres Amiens Huguenot rebellions 1621–22 Saumur Saint-Jean-d'Angély La Rochelle Montauban Royan Saint-Foix Nègrepelisse Saint-Antonin Montpellier Saint-Martin-de-Ré Treaty of Montpellier 1625 Blavet Ré island Treaty of Paris 1627–29 Saint-Martin-de-Ré La Rochelle Privas Alès Montauban Peace of Alès Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685)

The Battle of Blaye of 1593, also known as the Battle of Bec d'Ambès (in French) or Battle of the Gironde Estuary, was a naval Spanish victory that took place on 18 April 1593 off Blaye and Bec d'Ambès, Gironde Estuary, France, during the seven-month siege of Blaye between the French-Protestant forces of Henry of Navarre and the French-Catholic garrison of the city led by Governor Jean-Paul d'Esparbès de Lussan d'Aubeterre, in the context of the French Wars of Religion and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).^[1][2][4][7]

Battle

In April 1593, a Spanish naval force of 16 warships (flyboats and pinnaces) commanded by Admiral Pedro de Zubiaur and General Joanes de Villaviciosa Lizarza set out to relieve Blaye. The city was controlled by the Catholic League of France, but under heavy siege by French Royal troops, supported by English and Huguenot forces, commanded by Marshal Jacques de Goyon d'Matignon, and blocked by sea by six English warship-squadron under Admiral Sir Peter Houghton.^[2][8] On 18 April the English naval force was defeated and dispersed by Zubiaur's fleet, and the Spanish troops disembarked at Blaye, relieving the Catholic forces.^[2][4][8]

Soon after, another Anglo-French fleet of 11 to 19 warships from Bordeaux, supported by about 40 small vessels (including six galleasses from the port of La Rochelle), arrived at Blaye, trying to block the Spanish fleet.^[8] After a fierce and unequal battle, amid an intense storm, the Spaniards were victorious,^[9] with significant loss of life on both sides due to heavy musket fire. In the end, many ships of both fleets were dispersed by the storm, and the Spanish fleet managed to return safely to the port of Pasajes.^[8][10]

For his part in the fighting, Pedro de Zubiaur was decorated by King Philip II of Spain, receiving the title of "de general como a lo demás de escuadra para que antes que muera deje esto a los míos".^[11]

On 14 July the same year another Spanish force, composed of six pinnaces, under the command of Joanes de Villaviciosa Lizarza,^[8] and 120 soldiers led by Captain Antonio Manrique de Vargas, sailed from the Basque port of Castro Urdiales, to reinforce the Catholic forces of Blaye.^[10][12] After the Spanish troops under Villaviciosa launched a successful assault against the Protestant positions, which resulted in over 800 Protestants killed or wounded,^[12] the siege finally ended with the withdrawal of the French-Protestant troops.^[4][10][13]

See also

• Battle of Craon
• Battle of the Bay of Biscay (1592)
• Siege of Fort Crozon
• Battle of Cornwall
• French Wars of Religion
• Catholic League of France

Notes

References

• Fernández Duro, Cesáreo (1898). Armada Española desde la unión de los reinos de Castilla y Aragón. Vol. III. Madrid. (Spanish)
• José Ortiz y Sanz. Historia General de España. Vol. VII. Third Edition, Madrid (1846). (Spanish)
• Gustav Ungerer. A Spaniard in Elizabethan England: The Correspondence of Antonio Pérez's Exile. Vol. I. London 1974. ISBN 0-900411-84-8
• Mac Caffrey, Wallace T. (1994). Elizabeth I: War and Politics, 1588–1603. Princeton. Princeton University Press. USA. ISBN 978-0-691-03651-9
• Ortega y Medina, Juan Antonio. El conflicto anglo-español por el dominio oceánico. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 1994. ISBN 968-58-0150-9 (Spanish)
• Gracia Rivas, Manuel. En el IV Centenario del fallecimiento de Pedro Zubiaur, un marino vasco del siglo XVI. Itsas Memoria. Untzi Museo Naval. San Sebastián 2006. (Spanish)

External links

• José Ortiz y Sanz. Historia General de España. Vol. VII. Battle of Blaye 1593. (Spanish)