I am getting to know Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu through writing The Favourite Murder, the fifth book in the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. I expect this book to end in 1617, so the siege of La Rochelle is still ten years distant. It was a defining event for Louis’s reign though. And I can see him growing towards it.
The siege of La Rochelle in 1628 was one of the defining conflicts of 17th-century France, representing the tensions between the French crown and its Protestant Huguenot population. Located on France’s Atlantic coast, La Rochelle was a Protestant stronghold in a predominantly Catholic nation. The city’s independence was safeguarded by the Edict of Nantes, which allowed French Protestants to practice their faith openly. However, rising conflicts with the Catholic monarchy, especially under King Louis XIII and his chief minister Cardinal Richelieu, brought this freedom into question.
The siege began in 1627 when Louis XIII, with Richelieu’s backing, decided to reassert royal control and eliminate Protestant resistance. La Rochelle, seen as a symbol of Protestant defiance, was a strategic target due to its access to the sea, which allowed the Huguenots to maintain alliances with Protestant England. To cut off this critical lifeline, Richelieu ordered the construction of a massive seawall, effectively blockading the city from English reinforcements and supplies. For over a year, the people of La Rochelle endured extreme hardship, with severe food shortages and disease taking a heavy toll.
Finally, in October 1628, the starving city surrendered to royal forces. The siege resulted in the deaths of over three-quarters of La Rochelle’s population and marked a turning point in French history. By crushing the Huguenot resistance, Louis XIII and Richelieu solidified the centralisation of the French monarchy, reducing the power of regional nobility and reinforcing Catholic dominance.
The fall of La Rochelle was more than a military victory; it was a symbolic blow to Protestant autonomy within France. The siege underscored the crown’s resolve to unify the kingdom under a single faith and authority, setting a precedent for the future of France’s absolute monarchy.