into Rochel the means of taking it which he did at his giving the French King a Visit in his passage to Spain for though the Author of this History will not take from his own Country the credit of the Invention the honour of it doth traly belong to Spinola But that you may the better understand how the Reformed in France have been and still are dealt with contrary to Law I have hereunto annexed the several Declarations of Henry IV. establishing thereby his Edict and supplementary Articles for their Liberty making them perpetual and irrevocable as also the several Declarations of this present French King Louis XIV reciting the substance of the Declarations of his Father Louis XIII with several Decrees of Council owning the perpetuity of the Edict of Nants and confirming them all with this acknowledgment That he remained fully satisfied with his Subjects of the Reformed Religion as having given him certain proofs of their affection and fidelity especially in 1652. the year of his Declaration when they drew the hatred of the Prince of Condé and his Party upon them for their Loyalty in adhering to the King and opposing of the Prince in his then Rebellion But the King by their help had not long got the Ascendant of his enemies before holding the Reformed unnecessary to satisfie the insatiable malice of the Bishops as appears by their actings which will in due time be published he left them to the mercy of the Church whose mercies are cruelties and even suffered the Prince of Condé to revenge himself upon them who the first year he was restored into favour demolished all their Churches in the Pais de Gex near Geneve and under his Government which County wanted then little of being intirely of the Reformed Religion Yet that I may do the former times right I cannot but observe the Candor and Ingenuity acknowledged in this History of the French Ministers of State at the taking of Rochel who when some malicious enough and most likely the Bishop of Mande employed in the Siege and others of his Order in France who never consult truth but worldly advantage would have had it assigned in the Kings Declaration as a reason of his taking up Armes that the Rochellers did not only call in the English but also gave themselves up to them the then Chancellour caused the Registers of the Maior and Council of Rochel the Memorials and Instructions given by them to their Deputies sent into England and the Treaties made by them with that King to be all exactly perused and examined and finding that the said Instructions and Treaties had been always made with a reserve of the fidelity due to the Crown he would not suffer anything of that nature to be inserted in the Kings Declaration because it did not appear to be true a piece of honest Morality little practised in these days in France some Men there having now no other Politicks than little tricks besides lying and dissembling all easily seen thorow for which they would be thought great Statists but Honesty as King James who knew enough used to say is the best Policy And to give Richelieu a Person of vast abilities and clear Parts his due His treating with the Rochellers in their greatest distress seems to have been with more moderation sincerity and plainness than is in this Age common or usual among them And now by comparing the present French Kings Persecution of his Reformed Subjects with his former Declarations confirming and making perpetual and irrrevocable all Edicts and Lawsmade for their Liberty and Security in the exercise of their Religion as a reward for their acknowledged fidelity and good service may and ought to be observed by Protestants how little the Faith and Laws of Popish Princes are to be relied upon especially in matters of Religion The Contents of this Book I. THE Duke of Buckingham's expedition for the Isle of Ree and his taking of it II. The Dukes inviting the Rochellers by his Agent Mr. Baker to accept of his assistance and join Armes with him and his Manifest delivered to them in the Name of the King of England III. The Dukes being forced to quit the Isle of Ree and return for England IV. The Rochellers Negotiations by their Deputies in England with that King sometimes alone and sometime in Council and their several Conferences with the King and Duke V. The King of England and the Rochellers Letters one to another and the Treaty made with the King with several excellent and pressing Harangues made by their Deputies to the King VI. The Earl of Denby's ineffectual Voyage to Rochel with a Naval Fleet and his Return VII The Earl of Lindsey's Voyage with a might Naval Strength to Rochel and returning without attempting any thing as this History saith VIII The miraculous patience in the Rochellers without the least murmuring under a not to be paralleled Famine IX The Treaty for Rendition of the City made with Cardinal Richelieu X. The Edict of Nantes given by Henry IV. of France to those of the Reformed Religion together with his supplementary Articles for their security and equal liberty with the Papists XI The Declarations of Henry IV. and of the present King Louis XIV reciting those of his Father Louis XIII making all the Laws in savour of the Protestants perpetual and irrevocable with several Orders of Council confirming the said Edictrand Arcles 1627. July A JOURNAL OF THE LAST SIEGE of the CITY OF ROCHEL Begun the 20. of July 1627. THe Naval Army of the King of Great Britain commanded by the Duke of Buckingham High-Admiral of England appeared first to us upon Tuesday the 20th of July 1627. betwixt Eight and Nine in the morning to the number of Eighteen or Twenty Sail they were then believed to be Dunkirkers lying in wait for a Fleet of Hollanders laden with Salt which lay in the Road a la Palisse and before S. Martins the Principal Town of the Isle of Ré and ready to set sail for Holland Upon their nearer approach they were suspected to be English and Sixty or Eighty Sail in number but of this we were out of doubt when coming before the Fort La Prée they saluted it 1627. July fiercely with Cannon-shot which they continued that day and the next coming to Anchor a la Palisse before the Point of Sablanceau one of the Extremities in the Isle of Ré on that side next Rochel On Wednesday the 21. the Rochellers kept a Fast and betwixt Sermons there arrived in a Shallop from the Duke of Buckingham at the Chain which is the entrance by Sea into the City an English Gentleman called Baker desiring to speak with the Mayor for so the Chief Magistrate was called and to his Council who having notice thereof sent the Sieur Prou Sheriff and Symond Theuinine Advocate to acquaint him that they were in their Churches at their Devotions in the Celebration of a Fast and could not that day give him Audience upon which
from Father to Son and by this means render the Vines of the Government unprofitable and so concluded that they should not admit their offer save only as to Corn The Merchants proposing Remonstrated hereupon that for two reasons they could not make this contract for Corn alone The one that they should lose by it without hopes of recompensing their loss otherwise than by Wine Secondly That if they should carry away their 1627. July Corn without buying Wine the thing would be subject to suspition seeing that in Holland whither they pretended to send it had more need of Wine than Corn. In conclusion to ingage the City they offered to pay a Crown Custom for every Tun but notwithstanding all that they could say the interested prevailed alledging that the English being powerful at Sea and near to them could every hour send them Corn Wine and other Provisions and Commodities more then they wanted but this obstinate Counsel cost them dear in the end After the descent and Fight made by the Duke of Buckingham in the Isle of Ree three days passed without any attempt made by either party one upon the other only Monsieur Thoiras by little Skirmishes kept his enemies in breath but expecting another Fight retired to the Burrough of St. Martins and from thence into the Citadel with all that he was able to bring thither The Duke of Buckingham fortified and intrenched himself in the place where he made his descent as well because he had not the knowledg of the Country as that he dreaded the Forces of the Isle which he feared were great and gathering together to fall upon his people who had not well recovered their hardship at Sea and misfortunes at Land Nevertheless in common opinion if he had briskly followed Monsieur Thoiras he had carried the Citadel at one of the Gates which was not finished where ten or twelve men on brest might have entered besides that it was ill provided with Victuals and other necessaries which during this delay they carried day and night thither and also industriously repaired the weakest parts of the Fortifications 1627. July The 26th the Duke of Buckingham with his Armies of 7 or 8000 Foot and 100 Horse marched in Battail to St. Martins which he possessed himself off and approaching with in half Musket shot of the Trenches and ditch of the Citadel did with great dilligence in six days finish his Batteries and one of them being upon the Haven of the Burrough put the assieged in great fear because it lay right upon their Mills yet nevertheless they found means to defend them Soon after the Duke of Buckingham's descent In the Isle of Re particular Citizens of Rochel being allured by gain and the beauty of Jacobus's gold furnished his Army for their refreshment with all sorts of Provisions which they continued to do so long until they left their own City unprovided of Victuals Thursday the 29. it was debated in the Council whether they should send deputies to complement the Duke of Angoulesme who lay at Marans a great Burrough about 10 or 12 English Miles from Rochel many were against it least the English should thereby be discouraged and there upon leave their Town as a prey to their enemies But others on the contrary said that since they had sentto the Duke of Buckingham Lieutenant to the King of England with more reason they ought to do the same to the Duke of Angoulesme Lieutenant to the King their Soveraign and that if it were for no other reason then to give him thanks for that he had not committed any Act of Hostilitie against their government As also to beg leave of him for reaping and gathering in their Harvest besides that they might possibly gather from him that which might serve to help forward the peace betwixt 1627. July the two Kings which ought to be desired by them above all things since whatever the Event of the War might be Rochel would have cause of fear from their own King if he drive out the English who will consider them as having drawn them thither and from the English should they remain Masters of the Isles because thereby they would have a Bit in their Mouths to curb them as they pleased if peradventure they did not totally Master them and therefore it behoved them whilst in the beginning of the Difference to endeavour to pacifie it and by paying their Respects to this Prince they might open a way to it In the end after great Contest they resolved to send to him and to that purpose named certain Commissioners on the behalf both of the Magistracy and Citizens and on Saturday the last of the Month they waited upon him at Maran where he received them with great Friendship and sent them back on Munday following with Promises to suffer them to reap and gather in their Harvest so long as they remained good French and not otherwise The 30th the Sicur de Loudriere crossed the Sea which is two or three hours sail from Rochel to the Isle of Re with six or seven hundred men to strengthen the Duke of Buckingham who some days after commanded all the Papists of the Isle to retire to the Continent and appointed them Ships to carry them over which he did from an Opinion That they gave Intelligence to the Citadel of all that passed in the English Army Nevertheless he did not oblige the Capuchins that were in St. Martins to leave their Convent but provided for their nourishment 1627. August AVGVST The 6th day of August the Mayor and Council sent Deputies to the Duke of Buckingham to desire him not to hinder any more the Vessels and Commodities which would come from the Isle of Re or other places to Rochel all which he agreeed unto and received them very kindly Tuesday the 10th The Duke of Angoulesme came by break of day with a Party of Horse and Foot to the Gates of Rochel giving a very hot Alarm to the Town who immediately sent to him to assure him That they were the Kings good Servants and had no hand in the coming of the English to the Isle of Re As also That they were not in conjunction with them He answered them amicably so that it was permitted to such of his Servants as would to come into the City and buy what Commodities they pleased The same day after Dinner the said Duke went with the Sieur Marillot and Pompee Targon Engineer to view the point of Coureil and all the Coast without having any shot made at them from the City there not being yet any Declaration of War on either side The 13th The said Duke writ to the Mayor and Corporation of the City That if they should continue to assist the English he would approach with his Army to the Gates of their City And as they were in deliberation thereof he came the next day to Estrce la Moulinette Bongrenne and Coureille his Army being composed of some Regiments of Navarre
Sieur Thoiras and his people very uneasie SEPTEMBER Tuesday the 7th of September twelve or thirteen Pinnaces laden with all sort of Provisions entred the Citadel having passed the English Army Pinnaces Shalloops and Pallasades which by Storms the night before had been half broken and bruised which continuing obliged those in the Ships of the Pallasade to cut their Cables which tyed them together which happened well to those in the Citadel who were not able to do any more and who were so pressed that had this Succour staid three days longer the Sieur Thoiras must have been forced to have delivered the place but as this was matter of great joy to them so it was of grief and sorrow to the Duke of Buckingham who by break of day discharged his Choler by the Mouth of his Cannon upon the Citadel and Pinnaces Friday the 10th about four or five in the Evening the Rochellers observing the working at a place over against the two Mills fired their Cannon upon them the Fort Lewis answering them in the same kind which crossed the City but without doing any harm so that by this mutual thundering they declared War one against the other The same day about eight in the Evening the Fort Lewis fired three Cannon-shot with Fire-Bullets one of which fell in a House full of Hay and 1627. Septemb. Straw near a Stack of green Wood which was entirely burnt At first this new Invention astonished them much and obliged them to seek remedy against the like The 11th the Council sitting in the Town-Hall and the whole Body assembled Commissioners were ordered to consider upon conditions for the Minting of Money as also the Mayor and Council were desired to publish a Manifest and to see to the Articles of Conjunction with the Duke of Buckingham The 12th the Duke of Buckingham received a Recruit of 2500 by seven Ships and four Flutes The same day the English took two Barks laden with Provisions and Munition of War for the Citadel and gave Chase to a Ship which followed the Bark and pursued her unto the Stuckets or Pallasades The 13th in the Evening the Rochellers observing some at work near the House of Coureille for the raising of a Fort they played their Cannon upon them The same day in the Evening came from the Isle of Re to Rochel the Sieurs Ashburnham for the Duke of Buckingham and St. Surin for the Sieur Thoiras in their way to the King at Paris from whence Ashburnham after having conferred with his Majesty was to go to England and began their journey the next day And this was the effect of the Communications before-mentioned when all believed the Duke being cheated by St. Surin he would find this Voyage to no purpose as it proved The 15th Monsieur the King 's only Brother arrived at Estre and skirmished his Cavalry with those of Rochel who after some small loss gave 1627. Septemb. way to those of Monsieur who pursued them with Horse and Foot unto the very Ditch of the Fort Tadon but being too far advanced he lost some of his Cavalry as well as Infantry of the first the Sieur Maricour of the latter one Sariant and ten or twelve Souldiers whereas the Rochellers loss was no more than one Citizen and three or four Souldiers besides some wounded The same day about eight in the Evening they from the Fort Lewis made five shot with Fire-Bullets upon the City the Fire took effect in a House near the Town-house where there were Fagots and the cuttings of Vines but it was extinguished without burning more than the Roof and part of the Wood. The 16th the Mayor made Proclamation thorough all the Quarters of the City commanding every one to remove out of their high Chambers and Garrets Wood Hay Straw and whatever was subject to fire and to keep there Oxe-hides Pales and Tubs of Water as well to quench the Fire as to throw upon the Bullets The 17th a Party of Cavalry sallying out of Rochel some days before upon Adventure brought into the City a Courrier which the King had sent with a Packet to the Duke of Angoulesme with many Letters for particular Persons in the Army by which was discovered the King's design of shutting in the Rochellers by Sea with a Bank and a Naval Army and inclosing them on the Land-side with a strong Line of Communication and so to gain them by hunger rather than force according to the Tenure of that to the Duke of Angoulesme which is as followeth 1627. Septemb. The French Kings Letter to the Duke of Angoulesme in the Camp before Rochel COusin by your dispatch of the seventh of this Month you have rendered me a particular Account of the Imployment you have given the Troops of my Army since your Arrival there of the Quarters that you have taken about my City of Rochel of the Works that you have begun of those that are made of the men necessary for keeping and preserving them and opposing the Diversions that the English by Salleys from the Isle of Re may make on the Coast of Poictou and Xaintongue I understand your advice and sentement as well for shutting the Channel of the Port of Rochel as relieving of the Isle of Re of which having well considered and of what will be best for my service after having testified to you the content I receive in seeing so exact judicious and faithful an information from that side and the good liking that I have of the diligence and good Conduct that you have remarkably shewed for the advancing my service I will tell you that I approve the Quarters that you have taken for my Army and do desire that for the maintaining them with security that you order the Captains who command there to retrench and fortifie themselves well and to keep good Guards that you continue the order that you have established there for preventing the relieving of Rochel by Land with any sort of Victuals and do it with extraordinary care and security without permitting upon any cause or pretext whatsoever any contradiction nor shew 1627. Septemb. any favour to such as shall be so bold as to do contrary hereunto for in this point consists one of the principal Effects of my Army by which the factious Rochellers may be chastis'd for their Rebellion and be constrained to submit themselves to the obedience that they owe me I approve also of the Forts and Retrenchments that you are upon at Bongrenne and Moulinette I will believe that they are near if not before this done to your hands in defence it behoves us to preserve these two Postes since they are judged necessary but except you determine making at present the Fort that you have proposed betwixt the Port de Coinge and la Fons for to â—â—â— off the Current of the Water which goes to Rochel or turn to some other Enterprize I judge it more to purpose that you employ all your labour to the building of the Fort that
this Fort and furnishing it so much appeared sufficiently by the several Enterprises that had been made upon the City This was the occasion which moved the Duke of Rohan with whom the Peace of 1622 had been Treated to take Arms and give cause to the Duke of Soubize to make an Enterprize upon Blavet and to assure himself of the Isle of Re and the City and to joyn with them because that though they had not declar'd but sent Deputies to the King to obtain the justice of having this Fort demolished instead of the King 's effectual agreeing thereunto the Marshal Praslin was come against them in Arms committing Acts of Hostility That the following Peace having been made by the Intercession of the Ambassadors of the King of Great Brittain and of the States of Holland under divers Articles and above all apon the word of a King even given to the said Ambassadours in writing that within six Months the Fort should be demolished yet nothing of it had been observed That instead of suffering them to bring back their Goods the Sieur Thoiras had seized them and carryed away all their Salt and built a Citadel in the Isle of Re. That instead of reducing the Garrisons to the number agreed upon they had been increased in such sort that there was alwayes near eight or ten thousand men round the City That upon the passages to Maran and other places they had built new Forts which blocked the City and hindred the bringing in of Corn and Provisions That the Sieur Thoiras did 1627. Octob. the same by Sea by the help of Vessels which he contrary to the Treaty had lying in the Road at the head of the Bay That the Sieur Briel sent as Intendant of the Court of Justice had committed unheard of Injustice as the putting a Souldier to death upon suspicion of having broken a Crucifix in time of War which afterwards was proved false the Crucifix being found That contrary to the priviledges agreed to with the City by the King which was not of Grace but under Covenant given to France That they charged the City as belonging to the Domane establishing Offices for taxing the Corn and Wine of the Government sent Commands to Sieur Thoiras Governour of the City to build the said Fort and Citadel That besides these Injuries done them in particular those of the Religion in general were ill used thorough the whole Kingdom and their Edicts violated in all the heads That hereupon the King of England who on behalf of the King was to them Garrantee of the Peace which was so little observed having ineffectually imployed his Intercession resolved upon taking Arms and having sent his Army into these Quarters they sent Deputies to the Duke of Angoulesm who was in Arms so near to them as Maran to satisfie him by protestation That they desired to remain inviolable in their Fidelity and Obedience to the King and to beseech him to intercede with the King for their enjoyment of the last Treaty of Peace That instead of hearkening thereunto he declar'd War against them plundering their Houses building of Forts too near to them and committing openly all acts of Hostlity whilst they yet held themselves 1627. October in suspence In the end there fell into their hands the Kings Letters to the said Duke of the 13th of September where they found the Map of their ruine and the Order for besieging them both by Sea and Land That being reduced to this point they saw themselves forced to take Arms and to joyn with the English praying all their good Country-men and all good Kings and Princes to approve of their Design and to assist them therein under protestation nevertheless to remain alwayes in the duty of Subjection and Fidelity due to the King and that they should be ready to submit themselves to him when it should please him to receive them into his favour and cause the breach which had been made upon the Edicts to be repaired and to establish them in their ancient Liberties and Priviledges To this Manifest was published an ample Answer the sum of which was That if the Treaty aâ— Montpelier had not in all points been executed the Rochellers were the cause of it they having first broken it in that the Exercise of the Romish Religion ought to have been re-established fully and peaceably in their City which they would not suffer when the Commissioners of the King were sent nor suffer the publick practise of the Popish Ceremonies besides that the King by the same Treaty having ordered the dissolving of the new Order of forty eight Burgesses they would not do it adding that to their other disobedience which made his Majesty believe that it behoved him to stop that demolishment which they pressed so much for that they might be at the more liberty for a new Insurrection That the Armies levyed afterwards by the Duke of Rohan in Languedoc and the King's Vessels seized by the Duke of Soubize 1627. October at Blavet were Rebellious Attempts without Example and that the whole had been agreed with them who nevertheless was willing to amuse the King with feigned pretences of Loyalty but he did not think it reasonable to suffer himself to be so deceived by them As to the Treaty of Peace which followed it was false that Strangers had acted therein as Mediators that the King had given his word to them or consented to that Injury of their Master's being Garrantees to his Subjects as the Ambassadors of England have since told him That if after this Treaty the King thought good to build a Citadel in the Isle of Re and Forts in the Passages from the Isle of Maran it was no more than what was too apparently necessary for bridling a Rebellious City who then tampered with the English and further that it was contrary to truth that on that side they had committed any act of Hostility as all France knows but that the Passages for going and coming and bringing all sorts of Commodities was free to all As to the Offices established contrary to their pretended Priviledges and the Commands of the Governour given to the Sieur Thoiras that as these Priviledges were from the King's Grace and not as they say by Covenant so when they were fallen from their Duty it was most just to revoke them as in the time of Francis the First who dissolv'd their Common-Hall and gave them a Governour and never received them to Mercy until upon their Knees and with Tears they all made supplication for Mercy That the Judgment given against him who broke a Crucifix was judiciously done upon sufficient Informations That the Complaints of 1627. Octob. the generality of their Religion in the rest of the Kingdom was without Vouchers and refuted by the free and entire Exercise the King granted them and his protection under which they lived peaceably That the Invasions of the English and their descent in Arms in the Isle of Re made in full
Peace and without any precedent Denunciation of War was contrary to Justice and the Law of Nations which the King will make them repent in the end That if the Rochellers at first deferred declaring for them and sent Deputies to the Duke of Angoulesme it was in design to gain time and during that delay to make their Harvest for the King was most certainly advertis'd that the coming of the English was agreed upon with them and though they had not yet in words declar'd for them it was done in effect in receiving Deputies from the Duke of Buckingham and sending theirs to him and aiding him every day with Provisions that so the King had just cause to declare them Guilty of High-Treason and make them suffer for their Rebellion and he hopes in the end to make them Examples for it The said day with the Morning-tide the Sieurs David and Dehinsse went to the Isle of Re to joyn with the Sieur Salbret who was with the Duke of Buckingham and from thence to go into England to return that Prince thanks for his Assistance and to beg the continuance of it representing to him their State and Condition with them went to the said Isle of Re to reside near the person of the Duke of Buckingham the Sieurs Desherbiers and Bragneau for the City-Hall and Goyer Junier a good man and experienced Sea-Captain for the 1627. Octob. Burgesses without being prejudic'd by any Cannon-shot though many were made at them The same day with the Morning-tide thirteen Barks with six or seven hundred men got into the Fort la Pree without any Rencounter or Impediment from the English The 27th with the morning-tide there went out from Rochel to Re fifteen Sail as well Pinaces as Barks to the end to hinder the passages of those that would go to the Citadel and Fort la Pree the Enemy made many a Cannon-shot at them from their Batteries but without doing them any harm And the same day in the morning two Capuchins were brought in Prisoners which they sent back after Dinner without offering them any Injury And the Curriers did likewise bring Prisoner a Spanish Jeweller who had several precious Stones by him which caused a Debate in Council whether they should be declared good price some contradicted it and particularly the Sieur Vincent the Minister who having entertained this man and found him one of Sense was for gratifying him and to manage by him the beginning of a Treaty with the King of Spain which he maintained with many Reasons and expressed great diffidence of the Duke of Buckingham and the English but his motion was not relished The 28. those of Rochel sent forth nine other Sail as well Pinnaces as Barks equipped for War with three Companies of Infantry and some Voluntier Gentlemen which passed in spight of their Batteries from whence they played upon them with their Cannon but without effect 1627. October This same day the Sieur Salbert being excused going for England the Sieur Philip Vincent one of the City Ministers was by the Church and City-Hall appointed in his place and went the same day to the Isle of Re to joyn with the other Deputies that were there The 30. about four or five a Clock In the Evening twelve or thirteen hundred men commanded by the Sieur Canaples Master of the Camp to a Regiment of Guards were shipped at the Plomp for the Fort la Pre which passing without any obstruction and having a great Party there on Land endeavoured to make a descent but were at first by the English and French who joyned to hinder their Landing after a long Combat with the loss of fifty or sixty of those that were furthest advanced on shore forced to return to their Barks for saving of themselves in which Retreat many were drowned nevertheless the Night coming on which was so favourable to them that they found themselves very obscure they not only finished their descent to the Fort but even constrained the English to retreat with the loss of ten or twelve men and some wounded NOVEMBER The third of Novemb. there came fifteen Barks from the Isle of Re into Rochel some laden with Wines others with Commodities at which was shot sixty or more Cannon-shot from the Forts and Batteries without touching any of them The same day the Sieur Vincent came from the Isle of Re to Rochel to confer with the Mayor and Council upon some particulars relating to his Voyage for England and desired a commodious and safe 1627. Novemb. Vessel to be ready to sail with the first The Duke of Buckingham considering the supplies which the King sent to the Fort of la Pre and foreseeing that the design was to attack him and that he found himself weak he resolved upon a final Attempt and upon the sixth of Novemb. between seven and eight in the morning he assaulted the Citadel in two places the French making it on one side and the English on another At first they carried all before them gaining the Ditch and planting their Ladders against the Wall and Terraces but their Ladders proving too short and having to do with people who received them with much resolution they were in the end after two hours contest constrained to retreat with the loss of many men besides wounded which were sent the next day to Rochel to be treated and cured The same day about nine and ten a Clock in the Evening a House in Rochel was fired near the Bellfry to the Church S. Saviour where being lodged several combustible Commodities as Hemp Flax and Rosin c. it burnt so suddenly that the people in their Shifts were hard put to it to gain the top of the House and so to save themselves by their next Neighbours House The seventh Ditto there went from Rochel to Re nineteen Pinnaces and Barks in one of which was the Sieur Vincent who went to joyn with the other Deputies for England The eighth the Duke of Buckingham after this last attempt upon the Citadel despairing of gaining it and of being able to stay much longer in the Isle especially seeing there arrived from day to day considerable succours to come into the Field with and that his own Army was diminished more 1627. Novemb. than one third part proceeding from the eating too many Grapes according to Sieur de Comminges Prophesie resolved to raise the Siege and to imbark with the more security ordered his Retreat by the Isle of Lois which a small Channel of the Sea separates from that of Re and having made a Bridge for his passage in case he should be thereunto forced he marched his Troops putting in the Reer one of his best Regiments and Colonel Montjoy with his Cavalry to defend the Infantry if need were This Providence was of great use to him for the Night before his Retreat besides the Troops of the King which were already in the Isle Marshal Scomberg arrived there with three or four thousand Foot and two
remaining under the condition of your Protection When things were well with us we despised the Counsel of our Friends and if we may so express it the Respects of our Native Country even until all is lost let us find at least if you please Sir in your Justice that which we have now no more means of recovering 1628. May. by the Clemency of the King our Soveraign God hath furnished us yet with life and vigour enough though with Wounds altogether fresh and bleeding to expect your relief yet one Month more Let your Majesty second this Miracle and to your Immortal Glory see us raised and the Churches of this Kingdom restored who without your aid cannot expect less than the stroke of the Knife that iss held so near our Throats Behold Sir our most humble and most ardent Supplications or to express it better in one word it is our Testament which we shall leave written upon your Throne before Heaven and Earth for a Memorial to Posterity of the most strange and memorable Desolation that an Innocent people ever suffered the incomparable occasion whereof may ever serve to sum up the Might and Puissance of a great King as you Pardon Sir to Women little Children Mothers and Fathers dragged together to the same punishment if they cannot speak at this time but with cutting words the face of dying persons is always frightful but the anguish of Death shall never make us deny to be for all this your Serene Majesties Rochel May 18. 1628. SIR Most humble and most obedient Servants the Mayor Sheriffs Councellors Peers Burgers and Inhabitants of Rochel and for all Guitton Mayor 1628. June JVNE The first of June in the night the Rochellers sent out two Shalloops one full of Fire-works and the other a Fire-ship to blow up some of the Vessels of the Pallisade to the end to make way for the Galliots which they were to send into England but having set fire too soon one wherein were the Fire-works flew in pieces before her arrival at the Pallisade and the other run ashore toward Port-Neuf which obliged the Galliots to return into the City The same day about six or seven in the morning the Sieur Tallement came into Rochel as well about some Affairs of his own as to sound the Rochellers if they would come to a Treaty but making no advance in it returned in the Evening The same day the Sieur Grandzy Colonel of a Regiment of light Horse came to the Port Coigne demanding to speak with the Mayor or with some on his behalf Immediately the Sieurs Proâ— Pierre Toupet Defos and Mosquay were nominated by the Council to whom he offered on the behalf of Monsieur Bassompier as having Power from the King to do all he could for procuring them a good Peace they answered him speaking in the Name of all the Body and following their Instructions that they desired to remain under the Obedience they owe the King but that they could do nothing before they had communicated it to their Deputies in England the Duke of Rohan and the Churches so that after returning most humble thanks to Monsieur Bassompier they supplicated him to mediate for them to the King 1628. June for necessary Pass-Ports and in the mean time permission for some competent Provisions to come into the City that during the Negotiation they might spare their Magazines After this Answer he parted promising to return the next day in the morning to bring them an Answer which he also did and declared to them that the King would not receive their Propositions but that his will was that they should submit to an Entire Obedience to which it was told him that the City could not understand that and that they would rather expect such Event as it should please God to give them and so they separated The 7th with the Night-tide betwixt ten and eleven in the Evening the Rochellers sent out a Galliot to cross the Pallisade which he found impossible for him to do because those of the Pollisade kept good Guards with their Galliots and pursued him unto the Haven making a great many Cannon-shot at him The 10th in the morning at the opening of the Port S. Nicholas entred the Sieur de la Land du Lac coming from England bringing a Letter from the King of Great Britain signed Charles Rex dated the 19th of May old stile directed to the Mayor Sheriffs Peers Burgers and Inhabitants of the City of Rochel without having any from their Deputies which caused great jealousie in the Rochellers they not being able to believe that the King had writ because their Deputies who were near his Person did not advise of it by which Letter he gave them an assurance of a puissant succour within a few days and of his good will towards them and concern for them exhorting them to be of good courage and that in a short 1628. June time they should â—eâ— themselves delivered The Letter is as followeth Gentlemen BE not discomforted though my Fleet be returned hold out unto the last for I am resolved that all my Fleet she ll perish rather than you should not be relieved and to this end I have countermanded it and have sâ—nt Ships to make them change their design that they had taken to come back I shall shortly send you some number of Ships to reinforce it and with the help of God the success will be happy for your Deliverance May 19. N. Stile Your good Friend CHARLES R. A Messieurs les Maire Escheuin c. The 15th the Rochellers writ this Letter to their Deputies in England as well to let them understand thâ—ir nâ—cessities as to cause them to hasten the succours A Letter from the Rochellers to their Deputies in England Gentlemen This is the seventh since our last perplexity and is to press you being on our parts strangely pressed and almost oppressed even to that degree that our total loss seems not far off if you come not readily to relieve us We have Provisions but for one Month to reckon 1628. June from this day notwithstanding the best order that we can take there is already many Families in horrible extremity and who live only of Herbs yet nevertheless we hope by the help of God to draw out our lives until the middle of July and do you raise Arguments from hence for your pressing with diligence and importunity without end his Serene Majesty from whom notwithstanding our extreme necessity and the Artifice which men have used it hath not been in any kind possible to divide us Some days passed they made us new Invitations to Treat but having demanded Pass ports for sending to his Majesty and the Duke of Rohan upon the refusal thereof the Treaty is broke Fail not to represent this to him as also the confidence that we put in his Royal Word which next to God is our only support We promise our selves as much his relief as we know the facility to it is
certain and if the Earl of Denby had desired it he had infallibly carried away the Pallisade Now our fear is that if they there delay they will not here be guilty of neglect but finish the Digue by Masons work If the Count had stayed he had famished the Kings Camp and maintained in us a strong hope as also the Affairs of the Duke of Rohan in great Reputation you know how to make your Conjectures To conclude Gentlemen we send you these words of Consolation that God in mercy hath revived us more than ever in this Common Calamity we being all resolved to expect speedily from you an assured Life or to take Death patiently rather than survive the loss of 1628. June our Religion Country and the butchery of our Families These are from Messieurs Your most affectionate servants the Mayor Sheriffs Councellors Peers and Burgers and for all Guitton Mayor Rochel June 5. 1628. This Week some Souldiers killed Horses and sold the Flesh for Beef at ten or eleven Sols the pound but being discovered they were imprisoned for it because they were not then reduced to eat such Meat having yet Beef Mutton and Poultry which they sold publickly The â—1th in the morning there came to Rochel from England a Souldier called la Paillette bringing a Letter from the King of Great Britain dated the â—7th of May old stile sealed with the Arms of England subscribed Your good Friend Charles R. and another from our Deputies writ at Plymouth the ninth of June the tenure of which confirmed that of Sieur de la Land du Lac as also did that brought by another Gentleman called S. Martin who arrived the 24th about eleven or twelve in the Evening sealed with the Kings Seal and red Wax subscribed your good Friend Charles R. which is as followeth Gentlemen I Have been troubled to hear that my Fleet was upon the point of returning without answering my Commands which was to force the entry of your Provisions 1628. June whatever came of it and have given new Orders to return into your Road and not stir until it hath relieved you with Victuals or that I have sent them an additional strength for which I have caused men to work with all diligence Be assured that I will never abandon you and that I will imploy all the force of my Kingdom for your deliverance until it please God to bless me with giving you an assured Peace Given at our Palace of Westminster May 27. 1628. old stile Gentlemen Your good Friend CHARLES R. During this time the Digue was made by Stone-work every day stronger than other and was advanced in such sort on both sides that there remained but a little Channel to shut where passed the Current of the Tide and this Channel was filled from one end to the other with Vessels and Engines besides that there was before the Digue a Pallisade of floating Vessels anchored and tyed one to another by great Cables and Chains of Iron which rose and fell with the Sea as it came in and went out with many Engines and Candlesticks an Engine called so because made in the form of a Candlestick to the end that their intanglement might render the access more difficult and perilous for those that would undertake to force it and enter Rochel At this time died in the City the Sieur de Loudriere of a Burning Fever and was honourably interred according as his Rank and Quality of Chief Justice required 1628. July JVLY About the end of this Month and beginning of July they began to kill Horses Asses Mules Dogs Cats and other such Creatures the Fâ—â—â—h of which was sold for ten and eleven Sols the pound that of Horse-flesh was above all savoury there being little difference betwixt it and Seâ—f In the mean time the Famine so increased every one reserving to themselves their Provisions that the greatest part were in great want and Bread failing they had recourse to Brazil Sugar Dregs Colworts Frigased with a little Tallow and such other nourishment A little before and above aâ— when the English shewed themselves at the Head of the Bay in the Month of May the Mayor and hâ—s Council caused more than two hundred Hogsheads of Pilchers which were a little spoiled â—o be cast away for fear they should bring a Contagion in the City believing they should have â—o need of them succours being at their Gates but in this necessity they would have been of â—reat use for want of other Victuals the people scattered themselves upon the Fens where tâ—e Salt-pans were to make War with Eels and other little Fishes and on the Coast to fish for Cockles and after that eat all sorts of Herbs as Puâ—slain Savage Sampire water Caltrops good and bad boiling them in two or three waters to take away the bitterness and ill taste and filled themselves with them In the end they sell on Leather Hides and every thing that they could steep and boil and cutting them into little morsels they sold them in the Tripe-Market making Frigases of them with a little Tallow and Water in the 1628. July Stewing-pan others did it with Gelly and Sugar from this time the Famine increased exceedingly Besides other Evils with which the City found it self pressed ill Diet begot in many a Disease in the Mouth which caused the Gums to rot a shortness of breath the Jaws black and by little and little kill'd those that were infected with it being such or very near it as they call the Scurvy which is but too well known to those that make long Voyages by Sea when their Victuals corrupt At first there was many died of this Disease but a Physitian of the City called Matthias Goyer a knowing and experienced man in his Art advised a Remedy which they had used in another sickness succesfully and found the same as to this It was Mustard in Herbs of which the Hillocks in the Fens afforded as great quantities as was needful the which they bruised in a Mortar and mingled it with White-Wine and gave the quantity of an ordinary Glass thereof in the morning fasting and though this Medicine neither wrought by Stool or Urin or caused any other effects which appeared it nevertheless healed infallibly in eight or ten days At first some would have concealed this Remedy for the Physitians profit as indeed it was enough to have made him rich but he said he would not make the Publick Calamity the means of his inrichment and that since God as by Inspiration had discovered this secret to him he would give the Receipt of it gratis to every one as he also did and therein merited much from the Publick and saved the lives of a multitude of people As to the Gout Gravel and other such sicknesses there was then none heard of The second of July was seen on the side of Estre 1628. July and from de la Lieu many Horse and Foot in Battel which troubled much the Rochellers but in the
The last FAMOUS SIEGE OF THE CITY OF ROCHEL TOGETHER WITH THE Edict of Nantes WRITTEN In French by Peter Meruault a Citizen of Rochel who was in the City from the beginning of the Siege until the Rendition of it LONDON Printed for John Wickins at the White Hart over against St. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1680. THE AUTHOURS PREFACE WHEN the Siege of Rochel had its first beginning I was but in the 20th year of my Age and having been bred to commerce wanted the advantage and ornament of Scholarship yet nevertheless my curiosity prompting me I made it my business to take notice of what then passed and my Father being a Member of the Common Council and as Master of the Artillery exercised the second Charge or Office in the City I learned from him divers Particulars which I carefully committed to writing And though I had at that time nothing less in my thoughts than to compose a Narrative for the Publick yet being cloistred up until the Rendition of the City I find this Journal compleat even until the end of the Siege which I kept only for my own particular use in case the Lord in his mercy should suffer me to survive from whence it is that this Collection hath ever since lain dormant in my Cabinet and nothing but the importunity of friends could have carried me beyond my own resolution in exposing it to publick view Neither my Age my Profession nor yet the little care I then took in digesting of things intending them only for my self can beget in any an expectation of exactness in Form or Style worthy perusal having nothing more to recommend it than integrity as to matter of Fact of which those at a distance as well as those at home must bear witness it being a plain Narrative of Counsels and Transactions during the Siege without any Inferences of my own In the collecting of which neither Interest Affection or Hatred had any influence upon me As this Age is fruitful in great Wits so these Memoirs may be useful to the Writers of the Historie of our Times However some may haply be glad to understand the Particulars which I have here given an Account of PETER MERUAULT For some Reasons the Authour could not publish this Journal sooner though he had Licence for doing it many years since A PREFACE TO THE READER Reader IT is now fifty one years since the Reformed Religion and Liberty received its great wound in the loss of Rochel a City in France once famous for its constant opposition of Rome and being a safe refuge for the Protestants of that Kingdom in the frequent Massacres practised by the more than cruel and bruitish Papists Whoever shall read D' Aubignie's History not D' Avila's against which the Reformed excepts as partial of the Civil Wars of France writ in or near the time of King Henry IV. Grandfather to the present King of England will find that this City was of great service to that King in all his troubles as being a Sanctuary to him upon several occasions constantly taking his part against his Enemies the Popish and Spanish League and Faction This Henry IV. like a magnanimous and generous Soul excelling in gratitude and good Nature tyranny and oppression being the Badges and effects of dissoluteness and cowardise when by the assistance of the Reformed he was restored to the Crown and Dignity of France did not unthankfully forget his friends and persecute them but as a heroick Prince made them participate of the mercies of God towards him by giving them as their Magna Charta the Edict or Law Called that of Nantes with supplementary Articles by which they are restored in all cases to equal Priviledges with the Romanists for though to do the like by Papists in a Protestant Country would be the certain ruine of that Nation their faithless bloody Principles and owning of a Foreign Head being inconsistent with such liberty yet he knew that nothing could be of more security to his Crown than to cherish those that owned no other Sovereign than their Native Prince and could have no other Interest than his as his Successors have since experienced both of them being indebted to the Reformed for keeping their Crowns upon their heads After several former Edicts or Laws had been no sooner made for the security of the Religion than broke the reformed Party who had for their Heads the King of Navarre and Prince of Condée besides a multitude of other Grandees refusing to rely any longer upon Paper Edicts and the word of a King demanded Cautionary Towns and had amongst others the City of Rochel given them for one Whilst this excellent Prince Henry IV. lived his Edict and supplementary Articles hereunto annexed declarative of many former Edicts were faithfully observed but he was no sooner gone than his Successours losing all gratitude chose rather to follow the vicious examples of his Predecessors than the vertuous Precedent that he left them of being true and faithful to Laws and Engagements for at the importunity of their Bishops enemies to true piety setting aside all faith and reverence due to Laws made perpetual and irrevocable they took up a severe persecution of the Reformed from whence arose several Wars and as many reconciliations for the innocent Protestants thirsting after nothing but Peace in the enjoyment of their Laws were always deluded out of their advantages to rely upon fair promises and the insignificant word of their King Until Lewis XIII having first prepared all Matters took his opportunity to fall upon this City the chief Bulwark of the Reformed which resisted upon the account of their Priviledges as a Cautionary Town thinking it as lawful to defend their Rights as for the King to invade them and how the place was lost appears by the ensuing Journal or History which shews I. A Miracle and perhaps beyond example of Unity Courage Constancy and Resolution to die rather than outlive their Liberty II. In all the Managers of their defence as well at home as abroad during the Siege more of faithfulness diligence prudence readiness of Wit and Parts than peradventure will be found in any History especially of its bigness The loss of this City was the first decay of the Protestant Cause and Interest in Christendome and the Original Rise and Foundation of that Greatness in the French Monarchy which threatens at this day the Liberty of Europe for so long as Rochel remained in freedom under a Maior his Council and the Common Council of forty eight annually chosen by themselves they were so formidable under that Government that the French could never get forward in suppressing those of the Religion nor oppressing of their Neighbours which renders the Spaniard guilty of a great Solecism in Politicks in being assistant in the reducing of this City as well as Spinola the Great Spanish General but a Native of Genoua was in contriving the Digue a Bank which blocked up the Passage by Sea
he returned not a little discontented The 22. between Nine and Ten in the morning the Duke of Soubize followed by Mr. Baker Agent for the Duke of Buckingham came to the Gate of S. Nicholas desiring entrance into the City The Guard before the admitting of him acquainting the Mayor therewith he immediately repaired thither and sinding him betwixt the two Gates remonstrated to him the consequence of his coming into the City intreating of him if he desired the good and Conservation of Rochel and the Church of France to return to the Duke of Buckingham but the old Dutchess of Rohan his Mother who was some Months before retired hither coming to meet her Son after Salutations and Imbraces took him by the hand saying with a loud voice that she might be heard by the Mayor and the multitude that were there My Son come 1627. July see your Sister who is very sick At which words without demanding leave of the Mayor who found himself surprized and durst not openly and by force oppose him he went into the City with her as did also Mr. Baker who demanding to be heard in Council which was held after Dinner he made this Speech as followeth Gentlemen I am sent by my Lord the Duke of Buckingham High-Admiral of England to declare to you the Reasons for which by the Command of the King my Master he is come to the place where he now is and in sight of you accompanied with a Fleet of Ships laden with Souldiers Artillery and Ammunition ready to make a descent if occasion require It is sufficiently known to the World how the King of Great Britain our Master having Personally by an Adventure very rare and by a Prudence exceeding much his Age discovered before and since his coming to the Crown the danger ready to fall upon him and the rest of Christendom by the Ambition Fraud and Power of the House of Austria hath used all industry to prevent this danger and that not only by his own Forces but also by those of his Allies to which Resolution as he hath been pressed by almost all Princes and Estates of Christendom so none hath done it with more vehemency and efficacy than the French King his Brother-in-law and his Ministers not only by Arguments but also by Promises of Union and Assistance in that Common Cause And to conserve this Mutual Interest against a Common Enemy or suspected Friend was the reason why the King our Master hath more desired 1627. July the Amity and Alliance of France than of all the World besides hoping by this means to have the Power to divert the thoughts of this Great King from the ruine of his best Subjects those of the Reformed Religion and humbling the true Enemies of his Estate who keeps from him so many brave Provinces and Kingdoms possessed by his Predecessors In the prosecution of which Design he was willing to have sacrificed all his Interest for Common Good and securing of Christendom But his Majesty hath found by too dear experience that being ingaged in a War with Spain he did not only not receive the favour and assistance of France which with reason he might have expected but by expecting it received more prejudice and hinderances than from Spain it self and the reason hereof is most apparent for the grand design of this Estate is to take the advantage of the Ingagement of the King our Master with Spain to ruine and extirpate at the same time those of the Reformed Religion in France not that his Majesty will believe that this proceeds from the French King his Brother-in-law or the Queen his Mother being so great Princes and so nearly Allied to him but you Gentlemen know better than we the Powerful Influences that the Jesuits and Spanish Faction have upon the Councils of France which are said to be so strong that even with a high-hand Affairs are often carried against the King himself and by the force of this Faction proceeded the refusal of a passage to Mansfields Army raised and furnished in England 1624. at the very instant of their departure contrary to a Solemn Article 1627. July agreed upon with the French King for their passage by which refusal the Liberty of Germany hath been betrayed and twelve thousand English near totally destroyed The King our Master having interposed his Ambassadours for appeasing the last Wars against those of the Religion and with the consent of the French King himself becoming Guarrantee for the Peace and that those of the Religion were willing to submit to harder terms than at that time their Condition considered they needed to have done in hopes that the designs of this Estate would turn against their Common Enemies in Italy by the Power of this Faction it is nevertheless come to pass that not only the Confederates of the King in Italy have been abandoned but the Arms imployed there have since been made use of to reduce you to the extremity of Poverty and Famine of which I need not say more than that the Complaints of this City and all the Body of the Reformed Religion do still continue the Dukes of Rohan and Soubize having represented them to the King our Master Finally when this Faction perceived that all was to no purpose without prohibiting this City all Trade to Sea under pretext of an Imaginary Society of Commerce they have built a number of Ships of War but doubting that it would be sufficient to their design to fortifie themselves at Sea without at the same time weakning there the King our Master by an unexampled and unheard of Injustice in the midst of a full and perfect Peace and at a time when the King our Master was deeply ingaged in War by whch the Assurance and Riches of France increased they 1627. July made seizure of 120 Ships of his Subjects with Artillery Merchandize and Marriners and what other design could they have in it than to assure themselves of the ruine of this City For these Reasons alledged and many other of the same nature the King our Master the most Religious and Pious Prince in the World setting aside all other Respects than that of his Conscience hath a Sympathy of your Sufferings and his own Honour and finding himself obliged by Promise to procure the accomplishment of the Articles agreed upon especially being invited thereunto by my Lords the Dukes of Rohan and Soubize in the Name of the whole Body of the Reformed Religion he hath therefore sent hither my Lord the Duke of Buckingham who hath given me in Charge to make you an Offer in his Name of a powerful assistance as well by Land as Sea in case you resolve to accept of it for redeeming your Liberty by joyning with you in an actual War which he will do upon such Conditions as you your selves Gentlemen and all the World shall acknowledge that the King our Master hath no Eye to his own advantage but vour good the vindication of his Honour and discharge
shot carryed out of this World the Sieur Montferrior Brother of Monsieur Thoiras in such sort that this day was a day of great loss to each Party but above all to 1627. Septemb. the English in that Monsieur Burrowes was the only man of experience that they had The 27th The Sieur Ashburneham who was gone to Paris with the Sieur St. Surin arrived at Rochel with St. Surin in their way to Re who immediately after his arrival there was by the Duke sent Prisoner to one of his Frigats where was already the Son of Sieur Saugeon because as he said of the ill usage that Mr. Ashburnham had met with but it was believed in revenge for having been baffled by him The same day about three in the Afternoon they began Prayers in the Temple of S. John to continue every day until the Peace was made The 30th being Thursday the English took in the Evening three Barks laden with Victuals and Munition for the Citadel sunk three others forced ashore two at Aiguillion and put the rest to flight in such sort that at this time there got none into the Citadel OCTOBER The first of October the Sieur Thoiras finding himself pressed with all Extremity and seeing that all his people as well Souldiers as Voluntiers murmured against him and made Cabals for treating with the Duke of Buckingham and to deliver the place to him to the end to content them and to gain time and to amuse the English he sent the Sieur Montault to the Duke to know what Conditions he would offer him The Duke deferring the Treaty until the next morning after many goings and comings it was in the end agreed that if the Citadel was not relieved by the eighth of the Month which was High-water that both it and the Fort de la Pre should be put into his hands 1627. Octob. Thursday night before Fryday the 8th of October designed for the Rendition there went forty Barks and Pinnaces from Ollorne laden with Men and all sorts of Provisions for the Belly as well as war whereof 29 got happily into the Citadel by the favour of a very great North-East-Wind which blew so hard and master'd the English Army in such sort that it could not hinder their passing save that there were four sunk to the ground by Cannon-shot This succour came very seasonably to the Sieur Thoiras because in the morning according to Conditions he ought to have render'd the Citadel The Duke of Buckingham on the contrary was so discontented and discouraged that having discharged his Choler with multitude of Cannon-shot which broke in pieces fifteen or twenty of these Pinnaces but already un-laden two or three days after he took away his Cannon from his Batteries and Shipped them with part of his Men having taken a resolution to raise the Siege and to return for England but the Duke of Soubize who was near to him as also the Deputies of Rochel and the Inhabitants of the Isle intreating him very earnestly not to abandon them and offering him whatever was in their Power which prevailed with him to suspend this Deliberation until the Arrival of Sieur Dolbiere who he had sent into England and who put him in hopes of a succour of 6000 Men which the Earl of Holland would in a few days bring to him which in some kind restored his Courage and made him resolve to continue the Siege The 12th The King arrived before Rochel and took his Quarters at Estre he needed not to enquire 1627. October whether the Cannon and Muskets made not good Musick through all the Quarters of the Army for his welcome The 13th There were read in the Council assembled in the Town-Hall Letters from the Duke of Rohan writ the 9th and 10th of September from Nisines to those at Rochel by which he advised them of the Conjunction made by those of Languedoc with them and the English The 17th Seven Barks laden with Victuals and Munition with some Companies of Souldiers got into the Fort Pree without any Impediment but the same day a Pinace going out from the Cittadel was taken by the English Shalloops who slew the Son of Richardiere who commanded there and most part of his Men. The 18th A Ship laden with dry Fish and some Barks laden with Wine and other things from the Isle of Re came into Rochel there were fired at them from the Forts Lewis Port-Neuf and Coureille 35 Cannon-shot without touching any of them The 19th One called Franc one of the Messengers to the King's Council was brought into Rochel by John Farene a stout and bold Souldier who took him Prisoner near Lusignan as he rid post with many Letters and some even from the King himself writ to several Governours of Provinces by which he gave advice of the besieging of the Citadel commanding them to send all the Ships they could laden with Stones to fill and shut up the Haven of Rochel as also to have his Naval Army in readiness upon the first Command to come before Rochel And this by Letters dated the 14th of October The same day and the day following came from 1627. October Re to Rochel four or five hundred English who were quarter'd in Houses The 24th The Duke of Soubize writ to the Rochellers exhorting them to send Deputies to the King of Great Brittain upon which were named the Sieur Jaques David Sheriff on the behalf of the Common-Hall Sieur John de Hinsse on behalf of the Bourgesses and on behalf of the Church the Sieur Salbert a Minister who was in Re near the Duke of Buckingham The 25th Before day there came into Rochel from England a Ship with 150 Tuns of Corn as also some Barks laiden with Wine and other Commodities and entred without any damage though with the bright of the Moon and had been shot at thirty or forty times with Cannon from the Fort Lewis and the Batteries The 26th The Rochellers published their Manifest by which they gave an Account of the Causes and Reasons which moved them to joyn Arms with the King of Great-Brittain and put at the foot of the same their Kings Letter to the Duke of Angoulesme as also the Oath of Lewis the Eleventh made to Robert Cadiot Mayor of Rochel 1472. In this Manifest they say That one of the Conditions of Peace in 1622 which is recited was the demolishing of the Fort built near the City during the War as also that accordingly the King had given Letters to their Deputies Dated the 18th of December directed to Sieur Arnoult by which he enjoyns him not to delay doing it but that under divers pretexts he did not only elude the obeying him therein but on the contrary continued to fortifie it and after his death the Sieur Thoiras did the same more diligently 1627. Octob. so that neither their Complaints nor the reiterated Complaints of their Deputies to his Majesty of the breach of Agreements could produce any effect That their design in preserving
these ten Sail ten others had gone out had they not been hindered by a second intanglement of two Men of War falling foul upon one another in their going from the Chain and could not be cleared until the Tide was lost both to themselves and the rest that should have followed them this fault being imputed to one of the Captains of the Ships who as is believed not desiring the Voyage did it designedly The 20th the Rochellers played with their Cannon upon the Digue of the side of Fort Lewis to interrupt if possible their work which notwithstanding they continued The 21th betwixt two and three a Clock Afternoon being High-tide the Pallisade of ten or twelve great Ships mured full of Stones was fixed between Port-Neuf and Fort Marilac on the side of Coureille half a Cannon shot from the City whither they brought them under the favour and protection of the Gallies Men of War and Galliots of Brouage the Rochellers Cannon not being able to hinder them nor by their sallying out with ten Shalloops of War could they effect any thing but being advanced were constrained to retreat the Enemy having made ready all the Cannon of their Batteries which thundered so furiously upon them that they could do nothing even against the Men of War all that they were able to do being to return with their wounded men The 22th about nine in the Evening the Rochellers fell out by the Port of the two Mills with forty Horse and two or three hundred Foot besides with a great part of Seamen and Ship-Carpenters who with Planks and other materials went 1628. January to the Pallisade endeavouring to stop the Port-holes of the Ships mured full of stones to the end to bring them within the Chain or else to a place where they should not offend them but as they were with Ladders the Sea being low water mounting these Ships they found themselves unexpectedly received with a shower of Musket shot from those that guarded them which beat down three or four and made the rest descend faster than they mounted This gave such a consternation to those that were below to shut the Port-holes the defence being seconded by the numbers which came upon the Arms of the Port-Neuf and Coureille that they abandoned all to save themselves by flight and in such disorder that they run a great hazard of being all â—ut in pieces had not the Cavalry who from their Post saw their bad condition run to their succour and charged the Pursuants so briskly that they made them retreat even to the Pallisades killing many upon the place and amongst the rest a Captain who was come from Courcille to their succour The same day betwixt four and five a Clock in the Evening was shot from the Fort de la Fons upon the City divers Cannon shot of 32 and 33 pound Bullets without killing or hurting any person insomuch that the people seeing the little effect of the Cannon grew accustomed to them and did not regard them The 27th the Rochellers having advice that the Kings Naval Fleet of thirty Men of War conducted by the Duke of Guise was a few days before arrived at the Head of the Bay as also Don Frederwick de Tolledo Admiral of Spain with 35 or 40 other Men of War sent out with the 1628. January Evening-tide three Pinnaces of War with each their dispatch for advertising their Deputies in England with the arrival of these several Armado's as also that they had made a Pallisade cross the Channel with ten or twelve great Ships to the end that they should diligently seek succours They carried also Letters to the Estates and Prince of Orange and notwithstanding all the impediment from sunk Ships upon which was some Cannon and all the other Men of War these Pinnaces passed without difficulty The 28th arrived at the Camp at Estre Marquess Spinola whom the King received with all sort of Caresses shewed him the scituation of the Camp the Lines and the Digue he spoke thoroughout as is reported with much esteem and said above all that the Digne was the only means to take the City by FEBRVARY The 4th of February they saw from Rochel a Chain carried cross from Coureille to Port-neuf which was supported upon the water by Pipes at a distance one from another by an uncertain interval having betwixt every two cross pieces of Timber tyed and mortused one within another and in the middle of them a floating Engine turned by the Britch or Stern The 8th the Rochellers sent two light Galliots to England to hasten the succours and to represent the condition they were reduced to The 10th the King went for Paris after he had been before Rochel four Months less two days leaving all the weight of his Affairs the Principal Authority and Command of his Army and Title 1628. February of General with Cardinal Richelieu the Duke oâ— Angoulesme the Marshals of Schomberg and Bascompiere remaining there also in quality of Lieutenant Generals to his Majesty under Cardinal Richelieu The 18th divers other Ships were mured foâ— strengthening the Pallisade so that there was reckoned forty or fifty besides a Machine in the middle of the Digue The 19th some Horse being gone to Ronsay tâ— whet and provoke the Horse that were there upon the Guard were repulsed notwithstanding the succours sent them from the City and the Cannon which did their part and could not do betteâ— than leave three or four dead upon the place and among the rest one called Forest who was much lamented because of his valour and the service that he had done the City who was the next day Interred with much honour At this same time Cardinal Richelieu sent â— Trumpeter to Rochel with a Letter exhorting them to come to a Treaty for Peace saying that he had the Order of the King for it who for the facilitating of it was retired to Paris leaving to them the choice of the place for Treaty It was offered to be at one of their Gates promising to send thither Monsieur Hallier or others The thing was brought into deliberation in the Council of War assembled to that end but some opposed it with a high hand carrying it against the Mayor and the greatest part of the Council even by threats to raise the People against them if they should enter into such a Conference which as they said tended to the ruine of the City And so this Proposition came to nothing 1628. February The 25th and 26th with the Night-tide rose an impetuous Storm which broke part of the floating Chain and some of the mured Ships sending to the City a quantity of Wood and cross Timber and two Piles of the Fessine or Britch of the Machine The common people running out to carry away what they could of the Wrack the Cannon which played upon them killed one Maid hurt some others and dismounted a Trooper without doing him any other harm The 29th in the night a Galliot
little pause for fear that the word Time would not be taken by us according to his intention I mean said he the season and so soon as the Spring shall be come To which having returned him most humble thanks he said yet further Be assured that I will assist you so powerfully 1628. March as shall obtain you a good Peace The Duke added that all War was for arriving at Peace and that his Majesty in speaking intended none but such a one as was good To which having answered that we should receive from his Majesty such a Peace as himself should esteem reasonable and good I had rather said he it should be ill for me than for you for for me I can always conteâ—d it but as to you you will be totally lost After these words Sieur Dehinse bowing himself to receive his Commands Assure said he to him those of Rochel that I will not abandon them Upon which the Duke told us you see Gentlemen you have the Word of a King As to your Articles that you communicated to me yesterday the King likes them well and goes now to have them ratified in Council and cause the Confirmation thereof to be delivered to you Very much contented with these good words we withdrew and the next morning heard that the Earl of Denby prepared for Plymouth which obliged Sieur Dehinse our Collegue to begin his journey thither What passed since on the occasion of Sieur Gorribon's arrival which occasioned the retarding the sending of the Provisions is contained in our Letter of the eleventh of February This is the Contents of the Packet which Captain Sacremore delivered the Mayor and his Council by which they had a full account of all the proceedings of their Deputies and commended the diligence and care they had had of sending them divers Duplicates of their Packets to the end that one might come to hands if the other should miscarry as it fell out The 24th ditto was cast in Rochel four Pieces of 1628. March Cannon two of 28 pound Ball and the other two of 10 pound Ball of which there were but three good one of the greatest miscarrying by the Mould not being well dry The 30th the Mayor Sheriffs Counsellors Peers Burgers and Souldiers being assembled in the City-Hall swore and promised to keep the Treaty which their Deputies had made with the King of England for their protection and safeguard which they did without disowning their Fidelity and Obedience that they owed to the most Christian King their Natural Lord and Soveraign APRIL The first of April 1628. arrived at Rochel a young man one Vivier servant to Sieur Vincent dispatched by him from Holland where following the order that was given him he passed to give account of the Negotiation of his Master for procuring some relief of Victuals and Munition for the City and delivered to the Mayor this Letter dated the sixth of March of this Tenure in Cyphers Sieur Vincent's Letter from Holland to the Rochellers dated March 6. New Stile 1628. Gentlemen BEsides two men that I have sent you from this Country this third follows to give you an account how I left Affairs in England and how it is with me here I may tell you that there they dispose themselves to relieve you with great Forces both by Sea and Land and have resolved to furnish you with 1628. April Provisions and to further it Messieurs Bragneau and Dehinse were set forward from London to Plymouth the 14th passed and the Earl of Denby was speedily to follow them I hope you have e're this received something from thence I came from London the 17th with Monsieur Dolbier who came hither to buy Arms and Horses and arrived the 21th in Zealand where I stayed eight days for to dispose some particular persons to the lading of Corn to send to you which having put in order I hope you will find the effects thereof and that there will go from thence to you 150 Tun I am here where I spoke yesterday with the Prince of Orange who received me very well and I am not without hopes that we shall under-hand receive from hence some assistance at least of Money I hope to make a great Cargaison at Amsterdam whither I shall presently go having already disposed by Letters many Merchants to enter upon it Above all I believe that it is of greatest import to you to have advice and not to spare Money in Messengers but send them frequently that of many one at least may come to you I have given a hundred Livres to this Man and I pray if he acquit himself well of his promise deal honestly with him I am Gentlemen Your most humble and most obedient Deputy and Servant Ph. Vincent The hopes that men had of the speedy arrival of the Earl of Denby according to these Letters rejoyced greatly the Rochellers 1628. April The 8th in the night the Battery Royal and the Forts Louys Meroeil called S. Esprite which had never yet shot and la Fons shot Fire-Bullets from nine in the Evening until four in the Morning without killing or hurting any Person or setting any House on fire being prevented by the care they took having set Centinels in the Steeples who as soon as the Bullet was fallen gave notice of the place whither men went to search for it with a Hook of Iron made expresly for that end with which they easily seized them and carried them into the Street otherwise their burning was such that letting them lye never so little they would presently set the Floor of the Rooms on fire which are ordinarily of Fir and it was found that in a little time they would pierce three Stories The 10th the Mayor having had advice that the Besiegers mined in the first Houses of de la Fons at five hundred paces from the City they sallied out from the Port Coigne with two Companies of Foot and fifteen or twenty Horse to know the truth At first they sent out eight Horse and a Party of fifteen Souldiers conducted by a Serjeant to discover what force there was whilst the rest stole along under Covert of the great high way until they came to the Houses of which they hoped to render themselves Masters but the succours which came to their relief from the next Forts forced them to retire and the greatest part of them to put themselves into the Mill-Houses and Arbours at three hundred paces from the Counterscarp whither the others came presently to skirmish and though few enough to draw them into the Ambuscade which they had 1628. April laid for them at a hundred paces from thence in a low bottom of the High-way it was without effect they maintaining themselves in their Fort until succours coming from the City inabled them to retire Of those without a Serjeant was wounded to death with a shot of a Fire-lock cross the Body and was interred at the Port Coigne of those within a Souldier was slightly wounded in the Leg.
facilitate their entry into Rochel if it were to be done That having executed their Order they were resolved to set sail on Thursday in the Evening to return for England and the rather because they were advertised that there would suddenly come upon these Coasts a Naval Fleet from Spain to fight them which they would avoid because they would not hazard the losing any of the Kings Ships The English being obstinate in this resolution the Sieurs Bragneau and Gobert considering in what danger Rochel was dispatched immediately one called Vidault the same Evening to advertise the Rochellers thereof in a little Skiff that the Earl of Denby gave them and furnished him with two Letters one that he was to cast into the water over against the Pallisade which contained chiefly that the Rochellers were not to be astonished if on Thursday in the Evening they saw the Fleet set sail for that they had therein no other design 1628. May. than after having been at Bell Isle to meet a part of their Fleet which Storms and ill Weather had divided from the Body to return the more powerful to succour them with the peril of their â—ives and the other altogether contrary and most true to advertise their Fellow-Citizens of â—he little and no affection or good will at all that the English Army had to relieve them and of the resolution they had taken to set sail for England on Thursday in the Evening notwithstanding all the Prayers and Remonstrances that they could make for Fighting or at least for remaining in the Road some time to the end that whilst it should be there at hand the Rochellers might have reâ—course to the Bounty and Clemency of their Prince for Grace instead of a total ruine as this retreat would import Things being thus they advised them thereof to the end that they might see that as long as the Navy remained with them they had not sought the Clemency of the King or essayed to make their Agreement The same Evening the said Vidault got into the City at eleven at night having passed without Impediments crossing the Men of War and Pallisades and setting a good face on it filled all the City with good hopes and told wonders of the resolution of the English but to the Mayor represented particularly the true state of things and delivered him his Letter The same hour the Mayor assembled the Council of War and before reading of the Letter he made them all take a solemn Oath of secrefie as to the Contents of it and then communicated it unto them and after that called in Vidault who informed them of all that passed in the English 1628. May. Army Hereupon they resolved not to lose time and before it was too late to seek the Kings Grace under the best Conditions they could and in such sort as they should not know it came from them and as they were in pain how to govern themselves in it they concluded they could not better do it than by making use of Sieur de la Leu who some days before had desired permission to retire out of the City and had obtained a safe Conduct of the King for it and gave order to John Godfrey Esq and Sieur du Richard to go to him and desire him in their names to accept the Commission which Sieur Godfrey did the next morning going to Sieur de la Leu who accepted of it and agreed that if there were any hopes on the Kings side to obtain a Peace under good Conditions he would within a day send a Trumpet if under passable and not too advangeous a Drum and if he could not obtain anything he would not send either one or the other but when he had run the adventure of losing his life he returned to the City giving them an account of what he had done This being agreed upon and reported by the said Godfrey to the Mayor and Council of War they ordered that de la Leu should go from the City on Tuesday morning by six a Clock whilst people were at Church that he might not be observed by any person fearing that if they saw him go out his Enemies would stir up the people against him to do him some mischief and in the mean time to make shew of good news and gave out that there should be given a Chain of Gold to the said Vidault to the end that that being reported in the Kings Camp the management of 1628. May. that they had projected might be the more advantageously acted Before the Mayor dismissed the Council he made them all take an Oath upon the Bible that they would not either directly or indirectly buy any Provisions whilst the English Army should be at the Head of the Bay fearing that that would discover to the people that the said English Army finding themselves too weak to force the Digue and enter the City with relief would retire and leave them as a Prey and thereby not only hinder the Treaty which they desired to have by the means of Sieur de la Leu but even put all the City into a Consternation On Tuesday at the hour designed the Sieur de la Leu went away unobserved save by a very few and about three in the Evening whether it was from his Intercession as he had promised or from other cause is not known a Trumpet presented himself at the Fort Tadon but one of the Captains that commanded there caused them to shoot at him without suffering him to finish his sounding or a Drummer his beating whose Drum he broke nor did they advertise the Mayor of their coming he and many others being full of wrath against the Mayor and Council for not communicating to them the Letter nor tell them why they had sent Sieur de la Leu out of the Town they came even so high as to accuse them of designing by him to make a particular Peace for themselves and abandon the rest to the mercy and discretion of their Enemies insomuch that they were constrained to insinuate something of the Letter to some of the most inraged for they cryed that they believed that Godfrey had done it and that 1628. May. it was signed by Bragneau and Gobert before their departure and that it was an Artifice to destroy them to save themselves But Thursday in the Evening when the English Army set sail it appeared but too soon what the Letter was and that those Opiniastres had prejudiced themselves by their too much curiosity and little confidence in them that laboured more for their good than for their own whereof some repented and acknowledged their fault when it was more than time So soon as the said Vidault was come into Rochel the Mayor caused Signals by Fire to be made from the Towers of S. Nicholas of the Chain and from the Lanthorn to advertise the English Army of his arrival and in the morning they fixed Ensigns upon the said Towers which were to remain there until the English
Army should return into England The 15th the English sent a Fire-ship full of Fire-works in the fashion of Petars into the Kings Fleet to set fire on them but taking fire before its time the Fire-Ship and those that were in it perished miserably without any being saved The 18th betwixt two and three a Clock Afternoon the English Fleet set sail for England having been eight days in the Road at the Head of the Bay without making any attempt or Essaying to send any relief into Rochel which greatly dejected the Rochellers and put them in great pain and perplexity nevertheless they resolved to suffer the greatest Extremity before they would render and to that end bought one of another all sorts of Provisions and that they might hold out the longer retrenched their Ordinary to the moyety of that which they had accustomed to eat 1628. May. and above all the Bread which they began now to weigh This following is a Relation composed by the Sieur Gobert THe same day that the English Army set sail the Sieur Bragneau and Gobert 〈◊〉 â—n the morning the assembling of all the French Captains aboard Sieur Bragneau and upon the resoâ—â—tion that the English Fleet had taken to set sail foâ— Eâ—gland without being prevailed with to the contrary by all the Remonstrances Prayers and Supplications that they could make to give thâ—m their assistance for facilitating the entry of the Ships into Rochel with relief it was judged necessary and was agreed upon with the unanimous consent of all that the Sieur Gobert should prâ—sently take the Pinnace of Captain Guillet to carry him with all diligence into England to represent un oâ— the King the small endeavours that his Naval Army had made and the eminent danger that it lâ—ft Rochel in to the end that it might please his Majâ—sty to remedy it Sieur Gobert accepted of it and the Wind being favourable arrived the 22th present at the Isle of Wight from thence he went to Portsmouth and took Post for London where being arrived he immediately waited upon the Duke of Soubize to whom having given an account of what had passed in his Voyage and of the return of the English Fleet without having done any thing they went together to carry the ill news to the Duke of Buckingham who seemed to resent it very much and carried them presently to the King to whom Sieur Gobert giving a particular Relation of all 1628. May. he was thereat very much concerned and enquired what was the cause of his Fleet making so speedy a return before having first fought and relieved Rochel And then taking Sieur Gobert by the hand â—ed him to a Window and leaning upon his shoulder weeping reiterated to him the same demand in these words What cause have my people had to retreat and to abandon this poor City To which he answered that he knew none save a Panick Fear which seized them upon an uncertain noise of a Spanish Naval Fleet ready to come to those Coasts of France and the fear they had of running the adventure of losing their Ships His Majesty at this being moved more than before stepping three or four paces back said What are my Ships made to fear and not to hazard themselves in Fight and immediately commanded the Duke of Buckingham to call the â—ouncil which was presently done where Sieur Gobert being called and enquired of what day the Fleâ—t arrived before Rochel what Fight it had been constrained to make how many slain and what damage it had received there He declared that the Fleet arrived before the City the Eleventh and for Fights they had had none the King of Frances Fleet retreating near the Digue but that only from the Land and the Points which advanceth the Admiral had received from the Batteries which are there a Cannon-shot without so much as hurting any Person Upon which the King and Council resolved to dispatch a Gentleman with Sieur Gobert in the same Vessel that brought him to the English Fleet where-ever it should be with express Command to the Earl of Denby to return and come to Anchor in the Road of Rochel and to expect there the Aid that he was 1628. May. further preparing for the City and at the same time commanded the Sieur Gobert to write a Letter to those of Rochel advising them not to be astonished at the retreat of his Fleet without doing any thing for that he would prepare them a puissant succour which he assured them would relieve them In brief that he would lose the Moiety of his Kingdom rather than suffer them to perish which Sieur Gobert did write in the presence of all the Council and the King having signed it it was sent by an Express to those of the City After which the above-said Gentleman and Gobert took Post for Portsmouth where being arrived they imbarked in the said Pinnace endeavouring to meet the English Fleet as they did the fourth day after their departure from Portsmouth on the Coast of Cornwal but for the most part already dissipated there not being more than four or five Men of War with the Admiral all the rest being retired to the nearest Harbours in England nevertheless they went aboard the Admiral and presented to the Earl of Denby the Packet they had to him from the King and Council and the Commands of his Majesty to return to the Coast of France To which he answered that that was altogether impossible for him to do because his Fleet was dissipated and his Victuals for the most part consumed and continuing his course he came to Anchor betwixt the Isle of Wight and Portsmouth The English Fleet thus retreated and the Rochellers notwithstanding resolving to stand out they made choice of Sieur Grosetiere a Gentleman of Poictue to go into England to advertise the King of Great Britain and their Deputies of their condition 1628. May. and necessities and hasten relief He parted the 21th and was the Messenger of this Letter The Rochellers Letter to the King of Great Britain dated the 28th of May 1628. SIR WE are assured that the Image of our Miseries have prevented our Complaints and that your Serene Majesty having a sensible impression of them in your Spirit these cannot fail of a favourable Audience from a Heart so generous and great as yours Sir you have vowed us your Grace and promised us Deliverance you have also taken Arms to force them to keep the Publick Faith of Treaties that they have deposited with you but your People Sir have abandoned us contrary to your Magnanimous and most faithful Instructions your General not daring to breathe near nor look upon the danger of the glorious execution of your Sacred Word What sort of Excess or Prodigy can it be that hath â—o conspired against the Dignity of your Name and the Condition of our poor Country Sir we speak to you with Tears in our Eyes glaspâ—d Hands Hearts struck thorough with many Wounds whilst we have the Honour of
Evening they knew it was the mustering of the Army The eighth there came to the Port of Coigne a Drum which brought a Letter to the Mayor from Cardinal Richelieu demanding the Rendition of the City Those that were at the Guard made scruple of receiving it but having advertised the Mayor of it he came accompanied with those of his Council to whom he read the Letter and then said with a loud voice to the Drummer to the end that all those that were there might understand the Answer he gave That they were not upon the point of Rendering or Treating and that they had Provisions beyond what they were made believe besides that within eight or fifteen days they hoped to be relieved both by Sea and Land from England and that they had no other Answer to give The 10th John du Mont called la Rose a Native of Bourdeaux being well known in the City where he had a long time sojourned but had been gone from thence some years for ill behaviour being come from the Camp was Convicted of a Conspiracy and besides that he had been suspected from his arrival there was a Letter writ from Mantaubon to the Dutchess of Rohan giving advice to seize his Person which being done they found about him a Table-Book which Convicted him They stuck not to give him the ordinary and extraordinary Rack to know if he had not Complices but he accused no body yet upon the Gibbet exhorted the Rochellers very much not to relie upon any Promises or Capitulations that might be proposed to them telling them that he knew they 1628. July would not be kept and that their ruine was determined whatever it cost which occasioned the death of many people The 14th with the Evening-tide and betwixt two and three after Dinner the Digue was beat upon with a very great and impetuous South-East-wind in such sort as it was almost totally overturned the Ships walled up removed from their place the Engines and Bridges broken to pieces and part of the Wrack drive within the Chain with a Bark of 25 or 30 Tun which greatly rejoyced the Rochellers and kept them in good hopes that thence forward the like Storms and ill weather would undo more in one Tide than they could remake in many Months The same day an Artisan called Pierre du Bourg fled hither some years since for refuge was hanged in the Castle-yard for holding Intelligence with the Besiegers and was discovered by his own Son of eleven or twelve years old whose Innocency he made use of to carry his Letters to a certain place whither those without came for them Upon the Rack he accused divers Inhabitants but at the Gibbet confessed that the torment of the Rack made him say more than he knew and that they were Innocent of that which he had laid to their Charge This saved them otherwise they had run the same Adventure as he their Process being already well advanced The 24th the Deputies in England seeing that the preparations that were made for the relief of Rochel went but slowly forward made to the King sitting in his Council a free and pressing Harangue by Sieur Vincent as followeth 1628. July The Harangue of Sieur Vincent to the King of Great Britain drawn out of Sieur Vincent's own Journal JVLY SIR THe griefs and sorrows which oblige us to â—o â—ll the Ears of your Majesty and to reiterate them so often ought to be most extreme Behold us now Sir at your Feet to wash them with our Tears and we wish we do not in a little time come to sigh out our last breath with the news of the dissolution of our poor City We know not Sir how to conceal it the sense we have of its being at its last gasp puts us into dispair seeing that the succours which your Majesty hath made us hope would be ready hath been deferred from day to day for many Weeks together Sir the City of Rochel did by us beg of you to receive them into your Protection and you as solemnly agreed to it and since that they have had at divers times all the assurances possible as well from your own mouth as the Hand of your Majesty that you would never abandon them and accordingly by a Miracle of Constancy they have held out hitherto a whole year contending with the horrours of a most ghastful Famine that they might thereby give leisure to your Majesty to send them the succours you pleased to promise them and thus constant were they even when all Europe believed they ought to have despaired in that after having had relief as they thought several days in their sight it returned without effecting or attempting any thing and though our Enemies 1628. July have taken occasion from thence to make them divers Propositions of Accommodation which the extremity of their necessities seemed to counsel the hearkening unto yet they chose rather to run the hazard of their perpetual destruction than to be wanting in the least to the promises that we had sworn for them to your Majesty or to shew the least diffidence of yours After all this Sir shall it be recorded in the History of your Reign that they perished in your hands without reaping any other fruit of the good will your Majesty hath professed towards them or of the assurance they have therein relied upon than the rendering them irreconcileable to their King from whom otherwise they might have found Grace Pardon Sir this from a People that finds themselves upon the Threshold of their Sepulchres if they cannot avoid sighs that may be undecent in your presence It is ordinary with those that are near their end to finish their lives with groans and such will be our case if after the precedent neglects there follows the least delay In the Name of God Sir whilst there is yet resting to us any Breath and before we totally expire command that your succours be hastened to our assistance and provided that diligence be yet used we will remain Caution to your Majesty with the peril of our Heads that they will arrive time enough to save us And as to the impossibility that some will suggest to be in it permit us we beseech you Sir to tell you freely that that Opinion proceeds either from fear or want of affection and that besides the contrary Report that some unsuspected have made thereof to your Majesty It is not tobe thought that our City 1628. July who is within sight of the Digue and Pallisade and Carriage of her Cannon would send time after time to beg your assistance if they knew it would be unprofitable to them and having every day offers of advantageous Conditions to Treat upon if they would hearken to it for themselves alone they could be so imprudent as to neglect the opportunity But we are ready if it please your Majesty to permit it to take upon us the first Adventure of the execution to the end to justifie the sincerity of our
Mould It was published thorough all the parts of the City that all those that had Bullets proper for the said Pieces should bring them to the Master of the Artillery who should pay for them seven Livres ten Scus per quintal which furnished the said Pieces in some small kind because those that had any brought them to him The same day divers Seamen of the City went over to the Camp being debauched and had been sent into the City to pervert them This caused the Mayor to proclaim thorough the several quarters of the City that all Seamen that should be taken going to the Camp should be immediately hanged upon the place and after this we heard not of any that went away The ninth of August the Sieur Ferriere Councellor who commanded that day as Captain at the Port of Coigne as also with him Sieur Desmartes went very early in the morning as if they walked out and rendered themselves to the Fort Beaulieu Those that were on the Guard at the said 1628. Aug. Port perceiving them near the Fort could not do other than make some shot at them but did not touch them The cause of their retreat was this the Sieur de la Tourvert Son of Sieur de Fleura a Gentleman of Augoumois was killed in a particular Quarrel in the Castle yard as he walked there The Lieutenant Criminal upon the complaint made to him thereof decreed the taking of the Body and judging the case but the Mayor and Council of War being advertised thereof would have the Cognisance of the business because both the Murthered and Murtherer were people drawn thither by the War and Siege Upon this they contested and each made their Party but the Mayor prevailing the Assistant of the Judge Criminal with three or four others of the Seat of Justice gave a secret Sentence against him and the Council of War condemned them in twelve thousand Livres penalty payable by any one of them for the whole his remedy reserved against the others Of this Sentence there were four Exemplifications to remain by each one of them shut up and hid in a place the most secret they could devise reserving the execution unto the relief or change of the condition of the City It came to pass some time after that the Assistant upon some suspition though nevertheless could not be proved was made Prisoner and his Papers seized among which was found this Sentence which was the thing that moved these two Councellors to leave the City but it wanted little of bringing them into a Burning Fever for being presented to the Kings Council it made ill for them for that being Officers they remained in the City from whence it was concluded 1628. Aug. that they came away from necessity and not from affection to the service of the King so that they ran a great hazard of not having the relief that Monsieur Thoiras had promised them but having a great kindness for Monsieur Desmartes he obtained of Cardinal Richelieu the referring of them to the Marshal Schomberg who some time after took their Parol As to the fourth Judge who was John Ogier Sieur of Moriniers he left not the City finding himself supported by a number of Friends and Souldiers whom he had commanded as Camp-Master of a Regiment insomuch that without difficulty he made his agreement and as to the Assistant Criminal he remained in Prison until the reduction of the City This following Narrative is taken out of the Relation of Sieur Veronneau THe tenth of August the Sieur de la Fitte Serjeant-Major to Meilleraye's Regiment together with Sieur de Delon Lieutenant of a Company in the same Regiment sent out between eight and nine in the morning a Drum who demanded on the behalf of two Gentlemen without naming them if they might have half an hours discourse with Sieur de la Goute Honorary Advocate to the King and Sieur Peter Toupet The Guard of Maubec who received the Drum brought him to the Mayors House where the Council was assembled and the Drummer having told them the cause of his coming they demanded of the Sieur de la Goute and Toupet who those were that enquired after them and if they knew 1628. Aug. what they desired of them The one and the other finding themselves surprised by this question asked leave to go and see who it was and speak to them and to the end that the Council might be informed of all that might be said and done during their discourse they chose from among themselves of the Council Benjamin Veronneau Advocate to assist at the said Conference which being begun with imbracements made particularly by the said Sieur de la Fitte of the said de la Goute and Toupet with whom he had had long acquaintance Sieur de la Fitte began to speak in this sort Gentlemen the King being most well informed of your Fidelity towards him and that you have the Flower de Luces so impressed upon your hearts that you have rejected all the Propositions that men could make you for shaking off his Dominion to serve another Prince is the sole subject of our Message Cardinal Richelieu who knoweth that I have some Acquaintance in your City hath commanded me to endeavour to confer with some of you upon the subject of your misery to the end to prevent your ruine which you seem to affect by not seeking to your Prince who is altogether good for his Grace when he would never refuse it you if you humble your selves to him He knows that your Famine is great that your Houses are already full of dead Bodies for want of Bread that the voice of dying persons sounds in your Streets and that those that have been most provident are not furnished until the first of September it is your duty to save rather those that are remaining than to loose them because they which remain are the most considerable scarcity begun with the lowest sort most subject to Rebellion he had rather have your Hearts than your Walls and be assured that if you are once reduced to his 1628. Aug. service you will not any more depart from it You believe or suspect that the King will take away your Religion and that the Cardinal will perswade the banishing it the Kingdom you are mistaken the King would be most easie would you have confidence in him and desires to win you with sweetness without using violence The experience of times passed doth sufficiently demonstrate to France that Religion is not to be planted with the Sword and that it 's God alone that inclines the Heart and illuminates the Vnderstanding with his knowledge Think of it then whilst there is time and perish not expecting Bread from England those People think not of you and if they should have a desire to succour you they will not now be able to do it The King hath a powerful Sea-Army to destroy all the force they can bring and the Digue is in such a condition that the
our parts we shall do our duty who are Rochel Aug. 20. 1628. Gentlemen Your most affectionate Servants the Mayor Sheriffs Councellors and Peers of the City of Rochel and for all Guitton Mayor The Superscription Messieurs David Vincent Bragneau Dehinse and Gobert The 22th the Rochellers received advice that the Sieur Grossetiere who had been taken returning from England whither he was sent to hasten succours 1628. Aug. had been carried to the Kings Camp to be proceeded against by way of Process whereupon besides that from the first news of the taking him they had writ to the Camp demanding the having him treated as a Prisoner of War and to be used in his Quarters as had been hitherto practised by one to another declaring that they should do the same to the Sieur Fiquere their Prisoner as they should do to others belonging to them They writ also to Cardinal Richelieu by a Drummer who found him at Chatiliers Barlot whither he was gone for change of Air because of the Contagion that was in the Army and delivered him this Letter following The Rochellers Letter to Cardinal Richelieu in favour of Grossetiere My Lord IT is some time since we understood the taking of the Sieur Grossetiere a Gentleman gone from hence in the imployment of this City under our Commissions who passing thorough one of the Provinces of this Kingdom was taken arrested and brought into the Kings Army We immediately writ thereof to one of the Generals relying upon the Common Right of War and of the quarter that hath been always given hitherto by the one to the other but we now hear this morning that they pretend to draw up Process against him and deliver him over to the Court of Justice to condemn him to Death as if he were accused of some Crime as a man without Authority at which we are most justly concerned he not having undertaken either Voyage or any action since this War but with Commission from us by which he hath been Authorised It is therefore 1628. Aug. that we address our selves finally to you my Lord who knows perfectly the intentions of the King and to manage them with most excellent prudence and by your Authority to keep men within bounds contrary to the natural heat of particular persons to the end to supplicate your Greatness that the said Sieur Grossetiere may not meet with any evil treatment who hath not in his Comportment done any thing to be spoke against having had our Order and Commission for all his Transactions according as we now certifie you and let it please you that we dare from your bounty promise our selves that by the present Messenger who is an Express you will let us know that this Address will not be fruitless and that you will cure us of the perplexity we are in upon this occasion and of all troublesome Events which may proceed from this Occurrence Above all we remain Rochel Aug. 22. 1628. Monseigneur Your most humble and most obedient Servants the Mayor Sheriffs Councellors Peers Burgers and Inhabitants of the City of Rochel Guitton Mayor Cardinal Richelieu's Answer to the Rochellers by the same Messenger that carried theirs Gentlemen IAm sorry that your Actions beg not the favour you desire from the bounty of the King rather than your words but I am greatly astonished that hindering 1628. Aug. all the City where you are from receiving the effects of his Majesties mercy you seek it upon a particular account wherein the generality of your Citizens have not any interest you are not in a state or condition to treat as Equals with your Master and to desire it is Criminal Nevertheless not to augment by this way the number of your faults I do not know what is the Kings pleasure whose Bounty is infinite upon the subject of Grossetiere But this I know that he cannot receive any punishment that is not less than his demerits It is your duty to keep those that are in the City where you are within the Circuit of your Walls his Majesty being resolved not to suffer any longer that his Souldiers pass the Line towards Rochel nor those of Rochel approach the same bounds and pass unpunished I advertise you hereof to the end that none of you be taken by inadvertency In the mean time I pray you believe that I have with passion desired that you may give me cause to evidence my affection and that I am very glad of an occasion to let you know that I am From Chastellier Aug. 23. 1628. Gentlemen Your affectionate Servant Cardinal Richelieu The 24th ditto the Rochellers sent a Letter to their Deputies in England of this Tenure Gentlemen WE have expected three Months ago the effects of the excellent Letters that we received from the King of England but we do not hear by what disaster it is that we remain here miserable without seeing 1628. Aug. any succours appear Our Souldiers can do no more they die of Famine in the Streets and all our Families are frightened with groans sighs indigency and uncertainties nevertheless we shall hold out until the last day But in the Name of God stay not longer or we shall perish Rochel Aug. 24. 1628. Yours c. The 26th ditto about eight or nine a Clock in the Evening the Rochellers sent out by Land an Inhabitant of the City called Beron a Watch-maker as a Messenger into England to hasten their relief but being in the Kings Quarters at Estre he was discovered and as soon taken and having found by him a Billet in his Doublet behind betwixt the shoulders where he had hid it they condemned him to be hanged as they did also two others who went out at the same time SEPTEMBER The 4th of September the Sieur Arnault Master of the Camp of the Carrabines of the King came on behalf of his Majesty to the Port de Coigne to speak to them making his pretence to be the desire of treating for the exchange of Sieur Fequiere his Brother-in-law with the Sieur Grossetiere Immediately there was sent thither on behalf of the Mayor and his Council the Sieurs de Fiefmignou and Riffault for the Common-Hall and Defos and Moquay for the Burgers carrying also with them the Sieur Fiquiere They remained with him in Conference from eight in the morning until one in the afternoon and continued 1628. Septemb. the same Conference the ninth as also the twelfth thirteenth and fourteenth following and in the end after these long Debates it was decreed that the next day in the morning there should be Deputies sent to Cardinal Richelieu and to that end were nominated Sieurs Riffault and Journault who after having had Pass-ports of the King went to wait upon the Cardinal at Ronsay with whom they conferred until the Evening and then returned to their City with hopes of obtaining their Peace under Conditions good enough but the coming of two Natives of the City viz. Mesnier and Beaumont who arrived the same day from England
strength left them not so much as to traverse their Cannon or to Toll their Great Bell for the Sermon and when they set their Guards they found often half of them dead in the morning and the like by their Centinels in so much that many Nights passed without 1628. October having any persons in the greatest part of the Courts of Guard so that the least attempt had carried the City but God looked upon us in mercy and prepared the King to exercise towards us the Wonders and Miracles of his Mercy and Clemency During the horrour of this Famine as there was Examples of Cruelty there was also many of great Charity in a free and voluntary distribution of their Over-plus as others had done of their Plenty for inriching of themselves and especially Sieur Thinault a Merchant and one of my Uncles called Sieur Duprat who having in their House a most great quantity of Wheat and other Corn sold not one grain but distributed it to those whom they judged to be in want for to repay them only when God should restore them to peace and ability Others there were who distributed Charity so in secret as the Authors thereof were never discovered and amongst others I had knowledge of one which seems to me most remarkable Le Sieur de la Goute a Honorary Advocate to the King had a Sister Widow to a Merchant called Prosni who being a very religious and charitable Woman when the Famine begun to be more sharp than ordinary assisted freely the Poor her Sister-in-law Wife to the Sieur de la Goute being of another humour reproved her for it asking her in choler what she would do when she had given all away to which she answered My Sister the Lord will provide for me The Famine increasing and the Siege continuing this poor Widow who had four Children finding her self in a streight having no Provisions at all left went to 1628. October her Sister for relief but instead of comforting her she reproached her telling her she had provided well to be so reduced with all her great Faith and fair words that the Lord will provide for me and that in good time he would provide for her This poor Womans Heart was wounded with these words and returning to her House much troubled resolved to take death patiently Being come home her Children met her with great joy as formerly they used to do but now told her that a Man whom they did not know it being late knocked at the door and as soon as it was opened threw in a Sack of Wheat of about a Bushel which is near two English Bushels and then went readily away without saying any thing to them This poor Woman though hardly able to believe her own eyes went presently out of doors and with the greatest speed she could in her famished condition run to her Sister-in-law and told her with a strong voice as soon as she saw her My Sister the Lord hath provided for me and then returned without discoursing further with her By the means of this unexpected relief coming so opportunely she spun out the time until the Kings entrance and never knew to whom she was obliged for this good and merciful act The 21th ditto betwixt seven and eight a Clock in the Evening the Kings Naval Army sent four Fire-ships against the English Fleet which obliged some Ships to cut their Cables but others defended themselves and turned them aside by the help of their Dragontins and Shalloops The 23th ditto with the morning-tide the English Army set sail coming to the Pallisade and 1628. October behind the Point of Coureille but without making any attempt contented themselves with making some unprofitable Cannon-shot The 25th in the night the Mayors House was again set on fire with dry branches cut from Fir-trees well prepared with Sulphur Pitch Turpentine and other combustible things but it was presently discovered and as soon extinguished And further the same night two hours before day twenty or thirty Souldiers set fire on the Port of Coigne but those that were on the Guard at the said Port put it out immediately The 26th there came by Land into Rochel a Gentleman from the English Army who brought three Letters one from the Duke of Soubize to the Dutchess of Rohan his Mother the other two from Sieur Vincent the one to the Mayor in particular and the other to the Body of the City in general by which they gave advice of all that passed in the said English Army and above all that my Lord Montague having communicated with Cardinal Richelieu for a Treaty of Peace was gone Post for England from whence they expected him every day and intimated that in the mean time they would procure a Pass-port for two of themselves their Deputies to go to the Kings Camp to communicate with them and from thence to go to them in the City to the end that at the arrival of the said Montague all things might be disposed to a good Peace and that the General charged them to give this advice and that in the mean time he was resolved to attempt against the Digue if the weather would serve The same day this Gentleman was sent back to the English Army with Letters in Cyphers which 1628. October expressed the great and last extremity of the City conjuring them if they would relieve it to do it within a Week at furthest otherwise they should be forced to render to any conditions Immediatly after this Gent. was sent back with his dispatch to the English Army the Mayor assembled the Council in the Town House to consider of what was necessary to be done and after mature consideration of the matter contained in the abovesaid Letters the report of the said Gentleman the miserable condition to which they were reduced the great and extreme necessities which pressed them their great feebleness such as they were not sufficient nor capable to resist the least assault their Enemies should make and the little or no appearance of being relieved by the English who had been there a Month with folded Arms they concluded that it was in vain to expect any longer relief from the English or also from their Treaty for that they should be all dead before their Negotiator would return and therefore upon the whole they resolved to apply themselves to the King for his grace and mercy For that end they took occasion from a Letter that the Sieur Arnault had writ that day to the Sieur Fequiere by the Drummer who brought him his Victuals which represented to them the strength of the Digue and the little hopes they had of relief from the English and that a good Peace would be better for them got by sending to the King to receive them into his Grace The said Sieur Fequiere having communicated his Letter to the Mayor they prayed him in his Answer to Sieur Arnault to advise him to come the next morning to the City and they would confer with
him 1628. October The said Sieur Fequiere accepted most willingly this Commission and presently writ accordingly Now I hold my self obliged in duty to impart unto the Publick a Narrative which came from Cardinal Richelieu's own particular Family a little after the rendition which is believed to have been composed either by one of his Secretaries or possibly by himself which may very well serve to illustrate that which follows touching the Conditions granted the Rochellers and shew the manner and grounds upon which they were granted the Tenour of which is as followeth Cardinal Richelieu understanding by Letters from Sieur Fequiere to Sieur Arnault his Brother-in-law that the Rochellers desired Pass-ports to seek his Majesties Grace which he was pleased with his first care was to give the King ready advice thereof who received it with great joy and immediately did the Cardinal the Honour to go to him to Sousay where he assembled the Council for to deliberate upon some Conditions under which they would receive the City notwithstanding their obstinacy in their Rebellion All agreed that they had merited a most rigorous Chastisement and that they ought to make them a Signal Example to all those of the Kingdom which might for the time to come have a thought of opposing the will of the King and making Revolts or Commotions in the Estate But when it came to be debated though all agreed that the King might in Justice take the severest way yet whether that would be most for his Grandeur and Glory and most agreeable to the true Maxims of State they were divided into 1628. October three different Opinions some for the â—igour of Justice others that the King should take this occasion to signalize his Clemency and a tâ—â—â—d sort were for a middle way betwixt both that after the punishing some of the greatest Mâ—tâ—â—â—ers to shew Grace to the rest The Cardinal gathering the sense of one and the other without giving his Opinion represented all to the King to the end that he should make a decision thereof yet nevertheless tempered his discourse so as his inclinations might thereby appear Beginning with those who were for making the City an Example of Justice he said their advice was very well fortified and possible that none can be rendered more deserving punishment considering her obstinacy the trouble it hath a long time given his Majesty and that the Ruines of no place which the King hath demolished to the Foundations cry higher for teaching the people obedience to their Soveraigns that this and that there is no Ramparts secure against Rebellion As to those which held the middle Opinion he extolled their Reasons and said that in such Rencounters the punishment of the most Culpable was an awe upon Mutineers and the pardoning others shewed the bounty of the Prince and hindered the obstinacy of a Community in like cases as is ordinary with those that despair not of mercy of which the Rochellers was even then an Example But when he came to the advice of those that concluded for a General Pardon he inlarged and insisted very much upon their Reasons And first he represented as most considerable that which 1628. October they had supposed that possibly there was never so Illustrious an occasion as this presented to any Prince to signalize his Clemency which is the vertue by which Kings approach nearest to God whose Image they are most in well doing giving life and not in destroying and exterminating it Further that the more culpable that Rochel was and had given the King cause of great irritation the more it would make his Magnanimity appear in after overcoming the City with his Invincible Arms reducing it to a naked submission to him to surmount himself in pardoning it in doing of which the Celebrated Name of this City would proclaim his Glory thoroughout the World and transmit it to Posterity shewing him thoroughout as an incomparable Prince be it in conquering or in the moderate use of his Victories In the second place he weighed the Reasons they had alledged drawn from Rochel it self who though it was culpable beyond what they could say nevertheless the lives of so many thousands as their faults had cost were sufficient Victims to the Justice of his Majesty and interceded for the remainder of the miserable People which might be left which may be judged of by those that are every day seen as Anatomies and Fantasmes about the Line and indeed true Images of Death the sight only whereof doth suffice to disarm his Majesty of all revenge and though he had had a design to triumph over and consume them to change all his Irritation and Thundering into pity He added that it seemed good that they should also consider of what had been alledged and that though their Crimes were most great and without 1628. October excuse yet they had not committed that offence which ought to exclude the people from all hopes of mercy as if they had shaken off the Authority of their Soveraign and submitted to another Scepter Indeed factious spirits made use of the danger of his Majesties forcing their Religion to deceive them into the adhering to the Arms of England for the preserving of their Priviledges but his Majesty knows that the Rochellers made use only of that pretence to the English and that there were other reasons which carried them to the undertaking of this War for that he was perfectly informed that the Rochellers never intended to give themselves up to them which he knew as well by divers of his Servants which he had secretly in the City as from his Confidents which he maintained in England who had constantly writ him that though they had every way assaulted the Fidelity of their Deputies and deferred relief to oblige them to offer themselves to them they would never hearken to it and the perfect Confirmation of this they received by the Packet which one of their Pinnaces coming from England threw into the water when at the passing of the Digue they thought they should be taken Their Treaty made with the King of England and all their Negotiations being deciphered it appeared that though the English had highly Courted them for getting Conditions to the prejudice of this Crown they would never be brought to it and defended themselves therein with all the constancy and firmness that their condition could bear And therefore though they are most Culpable yet since they have preserved their hearts and affections for France it seems to invite his 1628. October Majesty to mercy and not to use them as such who would have shaken off the Yoke of the Monarchy and offered the hand to another Master In the third place he insisted much upon reason of State upon which this advice was founded and pressed the present Constitution of Affairs to require that his Majesty by a Signal example of Clemency and an exact Capitulation mutually agreed upon should endeavour to overcome the Arms of the Duke of Rohan and
other rebellious Cities who had all their eyes upon Rochel for according to the usage that they shall meet with they will conclude as to themselves suppose then that his Majesty exercising rigour towards them he makes the least paultry Town stand out a Siege and obstinately resist unto the last were it not better to grant an absolute Pardon to this City whereby he may dispose the rest to beg the Clemency of his Majesty who by this means will in a little time see all his Country in peace and may then pursue his designs against the Spaniards Invasion of his Allies He added that which themselves had also alledged that though in all appearance the Rochellers were not able to do any more yet nevertheless he was not to believe that they had deferred treating until the last morsel and that as they had been three Months deceived in their Opinion that they still could not hold out any longer it may be that those that have the major Vote and who fear their Heads may prevail for hindering the rendition and hold out yet some time and the least delay is of great consequence the Affairs of Italy being very pressing Above 1628. October all it behoves us much to consider that my Lord Montague who was gone into England was expected back every day with the allowance of his King for the rendition of the City and it will be infinitely more for his Majesties glory to receive his Subjects into Grace upon their repentance and voluntary submission to his Commands than at the Intercession of a Stranger Prince and therefore it imported them very much to prevent the said Montague to the end that at his arrival he might find his Majesty Triumphant in the place of his glorious Conquest and that they might not be obliged in Contests which otherwise they may have with him touching the Conditions of this rendition and to ingage in a further War with England when their Affairs require the contrary the making of Peace with them This was the substance of that which Cardinal Richelieu represented to his Majesty who declared that having well weighed all circumstances he would deceive those of Rochel in giving them cause to bless his entry into the City and commanded that they should have all the assurances possible given them for their Lives Goods and Religion and that forgetting all their faults they should be treated as his other Subjects provided they remained faithful for the time to come but that he intended to demolish all their Walls for taking from them the means of rendering themselves at any other time miserable and that they should not speak any more of their Priviledges which had hitherto inflamed them unto so high a degree This is the Contents of the above-mentioned Piece which I esteem worthy to be inserted in this 1628. October place it serving to clear the Articles which were afterwards agreed to Rochel The 27th the Mayor and Council being assembled those that had been sent to the Sieur Fequiere reported that he thought it necesiary for reaping the fruit of his Intercession which they had desired that they should nominate some with whom he might communicate before the arrival of his Brother-in-law who would not stay as he hoped which being approved of they deputed to him the Sieurs Viette Riffault Mocquay and Charles de la Coste The same day about ten in the morning Sieur Arnault presented himself with Pass-ports for the Deputies if they would send any and the four above-named being chosen went with him to the Cardinal Richelieu who after hearing them told them that he had no Commission from the King to treat with his Subjects of the City of Rochel but only to hear their Propositions and Demands Nevertheless that he would not cease to intercede for them to his Majesty to procure them their Lives Religion and Estates but as to their Priviledges and form of Government his Majesty would reserve that in his own Power not that he would put Souldiers into the City nor make a Citadel but rather demolish the fortifications and that in a day or two at furthest they should return the same to him or other Conditions to accept of and besides that he gave them this Answer by word of mouth he gave it them also in writing in a little Note Being come back the Mayor and Council ordered that the Bell of the City-House should be tolled the next day being October 28. at seven in the 1628. October morning to the end that they might resolve upon these offers and being assembled in the Hall of the City and having heard the report of the Deputies according to the tenure of the said Note or Billet they resolved to receive the best Conditions of Peace that they could get and to that end was named the Sieurs d'Angoulin and de la Goute to agree with the above-said Deputies upon the Articles Having composed the Articles and shewed them to the Council the Deputies went from the City betwixt three and four in the Evening and came to Sausay to wait upon Cardinal Richelieu who deferred them till the next morning but in the interim caused them to be well treated both as to Bed and Board The next morning being the 29th they were called before him finding him with my Lords the Keepers of the Seal Marshal Schomberg and other Lords of the Council and presented to him their Propositions and Demands upon which he told them that the King was pleased of pure grace to grant them their Lives Estates and Liberty of Conscience but as to that Head which imported the treating in general for all those of their Party that it did not behove them to meddle with any thing but what concerned themselves only according as the French in the English Army treated for themselves apart and the better to perswade them to it he shewed them the Deputies from the English Fleet but without permitting them to speak together In the end after many Contests and above all about liberty of the exercise of their Religion within the City they agreed upon Articles of Peace under the Conditions as followeth 1628. October The Mayor Sheriffs Peers Burgers and Inhabitants of the City of Rochel represented by John Berne Esq Sieur d'Angoulin Esq and Sheriff Peter Viette Daniel de la Goute James Riffault Peers Elie Mocquay and Charles de la Coste Burgers having the Commission of Deputies from the Body of the said City acknowledging the great faults that they have committed not only in resisting the just will and pleasure of the King as they have a long time done in not submitting to him and opening of the Gates of Rochel as they were obliged but further in adhering to Strangers who have taken Arms against this State do supplicate with all humility his Majesty to pardon them the Crimes which they have committed in governing themselves in this manner and to receive for satisfaction thereof the obedience which they desire at present to render
Ships and who applauded the good entertainment that had been given them and said that they had it in charge from Cardinal Richelieu to tell the Sieur Montague that he took his Salutations in good part and gave him assurance of all good entertainment in case he would confer with him and from thence should hope for good success for the two Crowns The next day being the 14th ditto the Council 1628. October was assembled to which was called the Duke of Soubize and the Deputies for Rochel The Sieur Montague proposed it as necessary to make a thorough discovery of the Digue taking occasion from the invitation that had been made him the day before to go into the Kings Camp and carrying with him an Engineer he brought back from thence all new assurances The Deputies cryed out against that Proposition shewing that nothing but mischief could from thence arrive them since that so soon as the least noise should be spread in the Army of a Treaty they ought not to hope any more that that courage which was already enough damped would afterwards resolve to fight And as to the design of discovering the Digue that those who should do it were at least as crafty as those who will not shew themselves except in places most perplexed and that their report about the Digue would not serve for any thing save the breeding of a Consternation and dispondency in the Souldiers Notwithstanding this opposition Montague was resolved to make the Voyage with a German Engineer and presently parting returned the same day reporting that Cardinal Richelieu had received him well and made Propositions concerning the general good of Christendom upon which he had charged them to confer with the General The 15th ditto Montague returned to the Kings Camp which putting the Deputies into an Allarm they went aboard the General representing to him the evil consequences of such Communication to which he answered that there should be nothing done to their prejudice The 19th Montague returned with his Engineer 1628. October and reported as was before prophesied that the Digue was altogether inforceable and that Cardinal Richelieu had made him Propositions by the means of which Rochel might hope for a reasonable treatment and the two Crowns a good Peace betwixt them upon which occasion it was necessary for him to go Post into England to communicate to the King what he had in charge The Deputies hereupon said that they saw now the effects of what they formerly foresaw that Rochel was not in a condition to expect a Voyage from England since they knew her frightful necessity and though they had formerly reported that the Digue was inforceable yet they ought to have essayed to force it and above all to have made shew of imploying one Ship at least as a Mine who having double the powder of those that were imployed at the Pallisades at Antwerp would make a passage sufficient if the Digue were double the strength In brief they omitted nothing of what they judged might be said for breaking this design It was notwithstanding resolved that Montague should take Post promising to return within fifteen days at the furthest with promises nevertheless made by the General to the Deputies that if the Wind did but serve they should spare no Attempt The 21th the General sent for Sieur Vincent and told him that God seemed to fight from Heaven against the passionate desire he had to do some generous execution for the relief of Rochel that since his arrival there had slipped away 22 days the Calms or contrary Winds having all that time prevented the attempting of the Digue 1628. October that the Principal of his Army seemed to have little affection for the Enterprize having agreed in opinion that it was not executable that from the Head the Malady had infected the Body in such sort that he observed throughout in his Army a great coldness yet notwithstanding that he had spared nothing nor would of that which depended on him for coming to the end of his Enterprise but to provide against all Events and supposing that the Season might continue unfavourable he judged it best to advise the Rochellers to commence a Treaty that they may be disposed thereto against the arrival of Montague when all things would be prepared for a good Accommodation if there be not other means for relieving it The Sieur Vincent communicated this with the Duke of Soubize and the other Deputies who jointly concluded that it was absolutely necessary to acquaint those of Rochel herewith and to remember them of the instance that the Sieur Treillebois had formerly made them telling them that they their Deputies were resolved to intercede with the King for his Grace and endeavor to bring them their Fellow-Citizens to it that they may owe it to his Bounty rather than to the Intercession of Strangers and believed that it would be grateful to have Communication thereof with him and that it behoved them to seek the means This they made known to the English General of whom having had the approbation they dispatched a Prisoner called Farnon belonging to the said Treillebois to whom they writ this Letter 1628. October The Letter writ by the Deputies in the English Army to Sieur Treillebois a Captain in the Kings Army SIR SInce your Conference with the Sieurs Forin and Montague the last having been in his Majesties Camp and had Conference with Cardinal Richelieu upon the means of an Accommodation betwixt the two Crowns by which may be procured the good of the General Affairs of Christendom and in particular the ease of our poor Câ—tâ— the extreme desire that we have to contribute to our utmost ability to so good a work causeth us who are here for Rochel to become Suitors to the General of this Army for his Approbation of our most humble supplication to his Majesty to grant us a Pass-port from hence to communicate with such as it shall pleasâ— him to command which we have obtained of the General so that if his Majesty find himself in like manner disposed and that it is agreeable to him that to this end some of us come to his Camp there is great reason to believe that good will come of it there remains nothing save that we find a way to make known our desire and know his pleasure Now we believe we should do you wrong seeing that your affection carried you to be before us by your invitation to the same thing for which we now act if we had employed the Intercession of anyother We address our selves now to you to the end that it may please you to manage this by such ways as in your wisdom and prudence you shall think best We mention not the names of those we shall chuse for the Voyage for it behoves us to leave them in blank But upon our word you may give yours that we acknowledge our selves desirous 1628. October of Peace having hearts truly French As to the form of the
the life of any of our men but the liberty of many Captains for not having carried themselves others being substituted in their places to do better Be not discouraged but be assured that if God please they will labour with all affection and diligence to relieve you and that the Errours passed are of Learning to them for the time to come The other Letter in Cypher from Sieur Vincent to the Mayor in particular was as followeth Monsieur BEsides the general Letter I write this to you in particular to which though it is not signed by any but my self you may please nevertheless to give an entire belief to it because that what the Duke of Soubize writeth to the Dutchess of Rohan his Mother will confirm to you the Contents The one and the other is to testifie to you our extreme fears from the Voyage of Sieur Montague to England there being great appearance that he hath agreed upon some things with the Cardinal to our prejudice and that he is 1628. October gone thither to get the King of Great Britains consent thereunto Besides this we find our selves under another trouble which is greater to wit that we observe too visibly a great coldness in many from a belief which they would impress upon themselves that it is impossible to force the Digue Against these two Evils which are extreme we would with all our might provide some Remedies And as to the first the Duke of Soubize hath writ effectually to the said King and I most particularly to Monsieur David and that which gives us hope that they will not advance any thing against us on that side is that knowing the true generous Inclinations of that Prince we cannot think that any thing is capable to turn him from that which he hath so often promised us except that Montague officiously foretelling that if we do not relieve you before his return your extremities cannot wait for him so that we must either save you speedily or you will be for ever lost Our greatest labour is to keep up the spirits of the people from fainting among whom there are many who for to palliate their Cowardice alledgeth the fear of want of Victuals as also the Sickness that is begun in several Ships Contrary to this we endeavour all we can to fortifie the General who as to himself is most well disposed and promiseth us always that with the first favourable Wind he will do what is possible to finish the Enterprise In like manner the Earl of Morton who is Vice-Admiral and the Principal Captains promise us marvels and there passeth not an hour that we do not sollicit them especially the Duke of Soubize applies himself therein with an extraordinary affection and assiduity nevertheless he and we fear that those upon whom depends the next execution will not second the good intentions of their Captains but do as ill as they did in the second attacque 1628. October and that whilst time slips away it will cost us our ruine And thus thinking it entirely necessary to have two Cords to our Ark and seeing that Montague hath opened the way to a Treaty it is adviseable to try what is to be done on that side and therefore after having ingaged the General by a most solemn promise that he will keep his word for giving way to it when God shall present the occasion we dispatched yesterday a Prisoner to Monsieur Treillebois who had heretofore invited us to seek the King assuring us that he would receive you into favour to whom we have writ that if he will procure for us a Pass port two of us will go to the Camp to confer with such as his Majesty shall appoint and contribute what in us lies for the gaining a good Accommodation We expect an Answer to our Letter and if this Pass-port be granted us our design is to hear what will be proposed to us and without rejecting or approving any thing carry our selves so that they may give us Pass-ports for to go and confer with you This is the true condition of our Affairs which I assure my self will cause great perplexity in you but in my Opinion all that you can do at present is to write pressingly to the General and represent the indignity it will be to him if after you have so long languished and seen the greatest part of your Fellow-Citizens die of famine in the expectation of so often reiterated promises from his Majesty which he was come to execute he should either return without having imployed the Power that he was furnished with for relieving you or be a means of an Accommodation when they have put the Knife to your Throats When you shall please to write us I beseech you to express very particularly your state and condition and above all how long you can yet hold out we assuring you that we will manage it with all imaginable discretion 1628. October and omit nothing that is possible for conducting this affair to a happy end notwithstanding the difficulties that is found in it The Lord bless all to us the grief that I have for your miseries will testifie for me the endeavours that I have made for preventing them and if my life would serve to remedy them I should most chearfully lay it down I hope nevertheless that in the end the Divine Bounty will look upon us in pity and that I shall have the comfort to return thanks with you and to assure you of the affection that I have for you who am From aboard the Duke of Soubize Octob. 23. 1628. Monsieur Your most humble and most obedient Servant Ph. Vincent The Letter in Cyphers from the Duke of Soubize to the Dutchess of Rohan his Mother My Dear Mother THe Inclosed expresseth particularly our whole and true state and condition it is addressed to you to the end that having deciphered it you may please to deliver it to the Mayor and confer with him upon the Contents and management of them as much as the importance of the thing requireth Remain still Madam if you please assured that we shall leave nothing unattempted and that we hope however it is at present with us that the Lord will in his mercy save us I believe you make no doubt of the extreme displeasure I am cast under by the difficulties we have here met with from him who hath ingaged us in so prodigious negligence or lingering but it behoves us to bend under that which 1628. October God hath ordained and to move him by our prayers who I assure my self will hear them and that he will yet in mercy give me the opportunity to imbrace you as being My Dear Mother Your most humble and most obedient Son Soubize This Gentleman being dispatched with these Letters and necessary Instructions went to the Kings Camp where they debated whether he should go to Rochel or no but in the end it was carried for going and the 26th he went thither where according as he
they had at last prepared a brave Army and brought it within their sight but was so late in it as they seemed to design that Rochel whose necessities they knew should render before they could be there and since their arrival it seems that they came thither but for their own affairs with the King and capitulating the reduction of the Town Indeed they had puissant means and particularly three Ships to Mine 1628. October which they protested they would imploy and promised better success than at the Stuccade or Pallisade at Antwerp but all was but words without effect and our Deputies seeing the going and coming of Montague to treat knew from the English themselves that they had sent him into England to have that Kings allowance and considering all these circumstances they concluded that since they spoke of a Treaty it would be much more agreeable to the King as also to their Fellow-Citizens to receive Grace from his own hand than from that of a Stranger Prince who had been so ill a Garrantee to them of the last Peace And that upon these considerations they had sought by those ways known to the Cardinal the means of speaking to him for obtaining of his Majesty by his favour the liberty of waiting upon him and open to him all their hearts and to endeavour also as they hoped to impress upon him their resolutions of leaving all thoughts of the English and instead of letting themselves die upon the expectation of their promises they would return to their duty in seeking the Grace of the King where they should find that which the relief of the others put them in danger of losing adding that God seemed to fight for him from Heaven having given him all weathers to his own desire both in building of the Digue and hindering what the English could do there The Cardinal being profoundly attentive to all this discourse commended the good intentions which they gave testimony of and said that they took the right way in having recourse directly to the grace of his Majesty which will be better and more surely granted them than if a Forreign 1628. October Prince should be interested in it but he further demanded what caution they could give for their serving his Majesty as they promised They answered that they would give two good Assurances one that the Interest of those for whom they acted required it the other that being two Deputies one should remain if it pleased the King as caution with his Head for the fidelity of his Companion excepting only the success The Cardinal said that he hoped that his Majesty would trust them and approve of the Project designed by them to this end and to give them light in what they were to treat of he told them his intentions touching them that he would not conceal from them that the Affairs of Italy pressed his Majesty and to such a point that days to him were years and that he would buy them at a dear rate that those of Rochel had given him to understand that they had yet enough for three full Months If so he would give them a blank Paper to write their own Conditions but if they were not able to hold out longer it was not reasonable that obdurate obstinacy should have such Conditions as a free and voluntary submission and propounded in the first place that his Majesty should send Commissioners into the City with whom their Deputies should be joyned to examine their Provisions and to make a faithful report thereof reiterating that if they had to hold out three Months they should grant them such Capitulations as themselves should desire but if extreme necessity forced them to render it was but just to do it upon discretion In reply to this they supplicated him not to 1628. October render them Messengers to their Fellow-Citizens of such bad news and said that the Expedient in searching what Victuals was remaining was impracticable as to a true discovery thereby because in times of necessity particular persons hide and lock them up as the treasure of their lives so that there may be for three Months and beyond and yet impossible to make it appear as upon the review in the Month of May there was not found more than for one Month notwithstanding that it is now near six Months since Besides that a reckoning ought to be made of all that the Sea brings of Fish and Cockles of all the Herbs that the ground produceth of all the Skins Soles Parchments and generally of all that hath any juice or moisture from which by the ingenious preparations of men Hunger can receive any nourishment And though all this is not sufficient to maintain the whole number for three Months yet reserving the Victuals for those that shall be capable to resist leaving others as a prey to Famine it may be able to pass beyond even that term they told him they knew there would never want persons who to render themselves acceptable would perpetually bring news that they are ready to render from day to day and that they knew such news had been entertained this four Months by which the vanity of it had appeared but the uncertainty herein may much better be judged of by their being yet as hardened as ever and it could not rationally be thought that they could be so imprudent as having no Victuals to suffer themselves to be reduced to the last point before making Conditions or thinking of Capitulating And all this considered he said as their 1628. October Deputy he most humbly supplicated that they might be made the Messengers of his Majesties Grace to the end that they may be the better able to value it for his service and to consider it for the good of those for whom they have to do seeing by experience that when they cannot live they know how to die Upon which Sieur Vincent who spake could not contain himself from weeping The Cardinal made hereunto answer that the representation merited consideration and that he would the same day go to his Majesty and hoped to procure his approbation for their going to their Fellow-Citizens according as they had propounded The Deputies returning him thanks added that they hoped that his Majesty would consider that though the Crimes of their Fellow-Citizens were most great and that they would not pretend to excuse them no more than themselves nevertheless the Flower de Luces which have always remained entire upon their Gates and Walls were yet more in their hearts and that they had always conserved them there and that because they shewed themselves deaf to divers Propositions by which the English would have detached their Fidelity from this Crown they had so long retarded their succours and suffered them to languish He answered with a benign Countenance and that which evidenced his Approbation of what they said We know said the Cardinal that what you say is true and it is the only door left you to enter by into the favour of
the King your Soveraign Parting thus from him they hoped that a permission 1628. October for going into the City would have been given them but the same day in the Afternoon â—hey were surprised with the news brought them â—hat there was arrived at Sausay the same place where they were Deputies from Rochel to treat of Conditions for surrendry of the City This made them the Deputies from the English Army presume that the City having received their Letters of the twenty third they agreed with them that it was to no purpose to expect any thing from the English by force of Arms and for what was of Treaty that they had the same consideration as they had had that it would be of more advantage and security to them to seek by themselves the favour of his Majesty than by the Intercession of any so little agreeable as one might judge that of the English would be and approving altogether their Counsels they regretted only that having writ them that they would endeavour a Pass-port for going to them they had not expected the effect for that it had been better that they should have sought it for them rather than themselves which administred jealousie of a great extremity As these Deputies reasoned thus one with another the other Deputies from the City were with the Cardinal and other Ministers of State treating for Conditions who to obtain the better endeavoured to give jealousie of the English succours upon which it was told them that they abused themselves in relying upon them and that the English having lost all hopes of doing any thing for their relief had sent their own Deputies to manage a particular Treaty for them without speaking of Rochel And when they made difficulty 1628. October of believing that the Deputies from the English Army were there they were sent for and shewed to them in the Council-Chamber where they saluted and imbraced one another but without being permitted to confer together only the Cardinal told the new Deputies that he could not but observe how greatly their City was obliged to their old Deputies their Fellow-Citizens which he had shewed to them for their abundant affection for that in treating for them they could not come upon their Condition without tears interceding for them with excessive earnestness and after this he obliged them to withdraw When they were a-part they all agreed that the Cardinal had dealt with them with more Art than was common in making them the several Deputies from the City and English Army to see one another without suffering them to speak together that so he might make use of their several Discourses to each Party as might best serve his turn But however finding that their last Letters to the City had been delivered by which they had acquainted them how they had managed a Passport for going to them they concluded that the Council of the City could not be wanting in advertising their Deputies sent to Court with the Effects of their Letters that they might thereby apprehend the cause of their coming thither Besides there were some of their Company who upon all occasions came to see them and particularly they found means to speak with Sieur de Lisle who without making shew of it had always had his Eye upon them and coming to them told them That the City-Deputies were advised that they were there upon their Accounts to endeavour 1628. October the Conclusion of a Treaty for the City and that by the inducement of the English themselves who though they were frequent in continual promises for attempting what was possible for their relief they nevertheless saw no reason to expect much from them nor upon that account to interrupt the Treaty only it behoved them to manage it with setting as good a Face on the matter as they could for obtaining the better Conditions These Deputies from the City being returned thither the same day went again the next day and concluded the Rendition under the Articles which they esteemed good or to express it better such as they could obtain without that the other come from the English Army having any part in them or that it was then possible for them to know the truth of what they were agreed upon The Deputies from the English Army knowing in general that the Treaty was concluded without making any mention of them because the King would not suffer it they supplicated the Cardinal to procure them also the Grace of his Majesty and to the French in the English Army and in general to all those which the Commotions had forced either into England or other Countries which he promised them and having ordered them to treat thereof with Monsieur Chateauneuf in the end they obtained the Declaration of 29. Octob. importing That the King pardoned them for all things passed permitting them to come again into their Havens even with the Prizes that they had taken for that they should enjoy the same Grace as his other Subjects with free exercise of their Religion giving them all their Goods except the Fruits received and Debts confiscated 1628. October and actually payed allowing three months to those of Re and Rochel who were in England for returning to enjoy the same Grace The Keys of the City being brought to the King the 29. and his Troops entering the 30. it was agreed among the said Deputies That the Sieur Gobert should go to the City and Sieur Vincent to the English to whom having carried this ill news the General expressed his great dislike of it and the more because Montague having used the diligence he promised was returned and had brought all necessary Orders for the Treaty to which the English had very willingly consented but were desirous to have had all to pass thorough their hands Montague upon the whole was very angry that his runnings had been unprofitable and fell upon Sieur Vincent in full Council for rendering of the City blaming their impatience and accusing them of having ill requited the King of England's good will towards them The Sieur Vincent answered him That he would force a man wounded with grief to tear it from his Bosom and told him That as to his poor Country in behalf of which he durst so unjustly accuse him it was he and such as he that by their secret Conspiracies had reduced it to the miserable condition wherein it now was That he did not speak of his serene Majesty of England whose Intentions he knew had always been for saving of this poor City nor did he intend the present General of whose sincerity and good-will he desired to be very cautious but as to Montague and others of his Faction who underhand had been nourished by him they had always 1628. October crossed the best and most generous designs and that by their delayes from day to day in England they hindered the Succours from parting in time and have continued the same Practises since the departure and arrival of the Fleet by spreading