Second Battle of Re

Protestants waged an armed struggle against the central Catholic government in 1620-1622, which, in particular, led to the naval battle of Saint-Martin-de-Re on October 27, 1622 between the naval forces of the Huguenot La Rochelle and the king’s fleet under the command of Charles I de Giza. A difficult world was concluded by treaty in Montpellier , but its provisions were ignored by both parties ^[2] .

In February 1625, Protestant Benjamin de Rogan, Duke of Subiz , led a second Huguenot revolt against the French king Louis XIII, and, after the publication of the manifesto, occupied the island of Re ^[3] . Taking with him 300 soldiers and 100 sailors, he departed for the coast of Brittany, where he carried out a successful attack on the royal fleet in the Battle of the Blava River . Subiz then returned to Re with 15 ships and soon occupied the island of Oleron , thus taking control of the Atlantic coast of France from Nantes to Bordeaux . For these operations, Subiz received the title “Admiral of the Protestant Church” ^[4] . The French Navy, on the contrary, was weakened, as a result of which the central government was very vulnerable ^[5] .

In the city of Huguenots La Rochelle, residents voted to join the forces of Subiz on August 8, 1625 .

Charles I de Guise, on the instructions of the king, arranged a landing to return the island to Re Crown, using 20 borrowed Dutch warships ^[6] , as well as seven English ships ^[5] under the command of the Duke of Montmorency.

The Dutch fleet of 20 ships arrived in France in accordance with the terms of the Franco-Dutch treaty of 1624 and was under the command of Admiral Willem de Zoute (he left the French service in February 1626 after permission from the General States) ^[7] .

The English king Charles I and the Duke of Buckingham were negotiating with the French regent, Cardinal Richelieu , to provide France with English ships to help fight the French Protestants (Huguenots) in exchange for French help against the Spaniards who occupied the Palatinate. Despite the indignation of the English parliament that the king helped fight the Protestants, seven English ships were delivered to France by Captain Pennington ^[8] and were engaged in the conflict ^[1] , although they were mainly manned by French crews, as most British refused to serve against their co-religionists and got off the ships in Dieppe ^[9] .

July 16, 1625 Subiz managed to blow up the Dutch ship of Vice Admiral Philipps van Dorp and 300 Dutch sailors on board.

In September 1625, Montmorency withdrew his large fleet from Le Sables d'Olonne and finally defeated the La Rochelle fleet, commanded by Jean Guiton and Subiz at Saint-Martin-de-Re September 18, 1625 ^[10] .

Two elite regiments of royal troops were landed on the island of Re and defeated the 3,000th forces of Subiz ^{[6] [11]} . The island was lost, and Subiz fled to England with the few remaining ships ^[12] . Thus, Montmorency was able to return to the crown of Re and Oleron ^[5] .

After lengthy peace negotiations in Paris (1626), an agreement was finally signed between La Rochelle and King Louis XIII on February 5, 1626 , preserving the religious freedom of citizens, but creating guarantees to prevent future conflicts: La Rochelle was forbidden to have its own navy , and also had to tear down the fort in Tasdon. The controversial Fort Louis, under royal control not far from the city’s western gates, was to be destroyed "in a reasonable amount of time."

The French officer Tuaras was appointed governor of the island and he began to strengthen the defenses in the light of future attacks, especially in Fort de La Pré and Saint-Martin-de-Re.

In 1627, the British tried to capture the island of Re to support the defenders of the besieged La Rochelle , which led to the second siege of Saint-Martin-de-Re , led by the Duke of Buckingham against Tuaras.

The conflict clearly showed France's dependence on foreign naval forces. This led to the launch of Richelieu's ambitious plans to create a national fleet ^[5] .