Benjamin de Rohan

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benjamin de Rohan, called "duc" de Soubise
Coat of arms of the House of Soubise

Benjamin de Rohan , duc de Frontenay, baron de Soubise, called "duc de Soubise", (born 1583 in La Rochelle ; died October 9, 1642 in London ), was a military leader of the Huguenots .

Surname

The majority of historians refer to Rohan as "called duc de Soubise" (Duke of Soubise). This is formally wrong, however, since Soubise was only a rule (seigneury) or barony. In July 1626 the king had raised the barony of Frontenay to a duchy and a peerage , but no nobility letter was issued and was therefore not valid. However, since Rohan died unmarried and with no offspring, it was of no consequence.

Château de Soubise in Mouchamps

In connection with the name Soubise, the expired Soubise Castle in the municipality of Mouchamps in the Vendée is mentioned in 1556 as the property of Jean V. de Parthenay-l'Archevêque. This called himself "de Soubise" and bequeathed the name to Benjamin de Rohan. The current castle is a successor to the ruins that were demolished in 1771 and was built from 1784.

The double name "Rohan-Soubise" has only been used since the elevation of François de Rohan-Soubise to Prince (Prince de Rohan-Soubise) in March 1667 .

On older documents the name is also given as "Soubize".

Life

origin

He was the younger son of René II. De Rohan, prince de Léon and vicomte de Porhoët and the humanist Catherine de Parthenay, heir to the Protestant family of Jean V. de Parthenay from Gâtine and Bocage vendéen in Poitou . As the grandson of René I. de Rohan and Isabelle d'Albret, daughter of the King of Navarre, Benjamin belonged to the Protestant nobility of Poitou and Brittany . As a younger son he was denied the title “de Rohan”, but he had inherited the title “Baron de Soubise” from his mother. As a follower of the Reformed religion through his mother's upbringing, he did his military training under the command of Moritz von Nassau in the Netherlands .

He was one of the French nobles who managed to get into the city as reinforcements during the Spanish siege of Bergues .

In 1615 he joined the revolt of Henri II. De Bourbon against the king or regent Maria de 'Medici . However, this civil war ended quickly.

commander

The brother of Henri II. De Rohan , duc de Rohan, was the last general of the Calvinist resistance. He did not shrink from perjury before his enemies either.

But neither he nor his brother could prevent the French Protestants from being exposed again to persecution after the death of King Henri IV with the revocation of the Edict of Nantes .

With the defeat after the siege of La Rochelle , none of the Huguenot leaders were ready to oppose the king's policies at that time. When Louis XIII. was finally able to get his brother (Henri II. de Rohan) on his side, he did not succeed with Benjamin de Rohan. When a renewed outbreak of the religious war threatened in 1621, Rohan took over command of the Huguenot provinces of Poitou, Brittany and Anjou , where he was subordinate to the council in La Rochelle . Rohan fought along the coast in the west while his brother was active in the south. In the same year, the king suddenly decided to take personal action against Rohan, which led to the siege of Saint-Jean-d'Angély .

The chronicle tells that a herald appeared at the city gate and without introducing himself called up to Rohan:

“ 'To Benjamin de Rohan; the King, your sovereign and mine, orders the gates of the city of Saint-Jean-d'Angeli to be opened so that he can enter with his army. Otherwise you will be accused of libel, you will lose your nobility, your fortune will be confiscated, your houses will be burned down as well as those of those who help you ' .

- 'As a soldier, I cannot answer in your favor,' replied Rohan, who had kept his hat on

- 'You should not answer as a soldier and not as a captain,' replied the Herald, 'as long as you do not know that it is your duty to hold your hat in your hand when I am with you in the name of the King, yours and speak of my Lord ' .

Hautefontaine, an elderly officer, apologized to his superior by stating: 'Monsieur de Soubise has never stood before the King, so he does not know the formalities. If he were asked to bend his knee, he would. ' "

Rohan gave the answer to the surrender request in writing and by hand, he wrote to the king:

“Sire, I am a very humble servant of the king, but I am unable to obey your invitation.
Benjamin de Rohan. "

After a month of resistance, Rohan had to surrender. He and his troops were given free retreat after bowing both knees to the king and swearing an oath of allegiance.

Louis XIII. then said to him:

“I am pleased that from now on you are giving me more opportunities to be more satisfied than I have been in the past. Rise up and serve me better in the future. "

However, Rohan took up the fight again in 1622, he captured Olonne , the Île de Ré , the Île d'Oléron , threatened Nantes , and was of the opinion that he was in an unassailable position. In April the king marched against him again. On the night of April 15-16, 1621 the royal troops crossed the inlet to Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez at low tide through a ford and slaughtered the surprised Huguenots. Rohan was able to escape to La Rochelle with 500–600 riders. 500 infantrymen were massacred on the spot with a musket or saber without offering any resistance . 600 were captured, some hanged and the others sent to the galleys .

Rohan had fallen out of favor with the king - with all the consequences.

"... the Sieur de Soubise is declared a criminal against his king as the supreme commander, his goods and assets are confiscated in favor of his majesty .."

Nevertheless, by edict of October 18 of the same year in Montpellier, Rohan was given back his goods and pensions; at a time when the Huguenots only had two permanent places: La Rochelle and Montauban.

Protestant corsair

On January 17, 1625 he sailed with a small fleet, manned by 300 soldiers and 100 sailors, into the mouth of the Blavet . Here they attacked the largest ship in the royal fleet and overpowered the crew. They then went ashore and launched an attack on Fort Port Louis. Here, however, the resistance was stronger than expected. Meanwhile, the governor of Brittany , the duc de Vendôme , who had been held back by headwinds for three weeks, appeared . He tried to cut off Soubise's way back by locking the port exit with a chain. Soubise was able to break through this barrier and, favored by the wind, sailed to the Île de Re, carrying 15 ships of the royal fleet as booty.

Soubise took the Île de Ré in 1625

This action gave the Huguenots back control of the sea between Nantes and Bordeaux . He was then regarded as a hero by the Protestant party, which had at times disregarded him as a privateer. The king tried again to win him over and offered him command of a fleet that was to operate against Genoa , but Soubise refused and accepted the title of "Admiral of the Protestant Church" (Amiral des Églises protestantes). However, his subsequent action in the Médoc did not succeed, after he was attacked near Castillon , he had to retreat hastily to the Île de Re.

He continued to fight against the royal fleet, which was commanded by the Dutchman Houstein, Admiral of Zeeland . Although a ceasefire with mutual hostage had been agreed, he managed to get his hostages back through a trick and then attacked despite the ceasefire. The enemy flagship could be set on fire.

He then withdrew to the Île de Re and was ultimately defeated by Henri II de Montmorency in the battle of Saint-Martin-de-Ré. Attacked by a 3,000-strong corps, Rohan was forced to retreat with five or six hundred cavalry remaining.

Rohan escaped hastily in a sloop to the Île d'Oleron. Montgomery pursued him, so that Rohan had to sail on to England. The islands were now under the rule of the king again.

At the urging of King Charles I , the war was ended on April 6, 1626 and a peace treaty was signed. Rohan were from Louis XIII. the same offers as already made several times.

The siege of La Rochelle

Rohan came to the aid of the city with an English fleet that had been provided by Buckingham . However, at that time he had so little support among the citizens of La Rochelle that they refused to let the ships, and with them Rohan, into port. It took the massive intervention of Catherine de Parthenay (Rohan's mother) to allow the ships to enter. The defense of the port was then given to Rohan. When Buckingham had left and he no longer had any support, the city council withdrew the task after four months of suspicion. After this personal defeat, Rohan went back to England, where he had come from in the spring. In search of support, he met King Charles I. Later he had an intensive conversation (or a dispute) with Buckingham, who was murdered shortly afterwards by the fanatic John Felton . Rohan was then accused of treason by the confidants of Duke Buckingham, but then exonerated by Felton himself.

Louis XIII and Cardinal de Richelieu before La Rochelle

King Charles I sent a fleet to La Rochelle in support under the orders of the Earl of Lindsey. Lindsey, however, refused to take orders from Rohan and break the lock on the port of La Rochelle. After the attempt to avert a famine had failed, the city surrendered to Richelieu.

Death in exile

Although de Rohan was included in Alès' act of grace of June 28, 1629, he preferred to stay in England and continued to toy with the idea of ​​continuing the fight in Brittany. He died childless in London in 1642, the title de Soubise passed on to his cousin François de Rohan (1630-1712).

Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon wrote in his memoir:

“Monsieur de Soubise was the brother of the Grand Duke de Rohan. His persistence in continual waste earned him a reputation for boldness. Although the king had made him Duke in 1626, nothing more was heard from him in France after the capture of La Rochelle until he died unmarried in England around 1641. "

His life was recorded in the memoirs of his brother, Henri II. De Rohan, with whom he was in lively correspondence throughout his life. From this there is certain knowledge about the tragedy of his military career, in which he discussed all his actions with his brother and also asked him for advice.

Rohan was filled with an irrepressible hatred of the Catholic, which he ceaselessly fought against. The judgment of most historians is therefore one-sided and he is often presented simply as a partisan, which he was not.

family

  • Jean V. de Parthenay-l'Archevêque, Seigneur de Mouchamps (Les Herbiers) called Soubise (1512–1561) ∞ Antoinette Bouchard d'Aubeterre (1535–1580) widow de Soubise
→ Catherine de Parthenay, Mademoiselle de Soubise, widow de Rohan (1554–1631)
  1. ∞ Charles de Quellenec, Baron du Pont, called Soubise (1548–1572) without descendants
  2. ∞ René II de Rohan, called Pontivy, then Frontenay, Vicomte de Rohan (1550–1585)
→ Henri II de Rohan, Viscount and 1st Duke after 1604, (1579–1638)
→ Benjamin de Rohan, "duc" de Soubise, (1583–1642)
→ Henriette de Rohan, called la Bossue, (1577–1624)
→ Catherine de Rohan (1580–1607) ∞ Jean de Bavière
→ Anne de Rohan (1584–1646)

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Louis Gabriel Michaud"
  2. ↑ Michel Le Vassor: Histoire du Règne de Louis XIII, roi de France et de Navarre , tome quatrième, Amsterdam, Pierre Brunel, 1706, Book XVII, pp 194-195 16 juin 2012 .
  3. ↑ le procès Soubise ( Memento of the original of September 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ledroitcriminel.free.fr
  4. ↑ Louis Gabriel Michaud, Biography universelle ancienne et moderne vol. 43
  5. ^ Alain Hugon, Au service du roi catholique: Honorables ambassadeurs et divins espions
  6. ↑ Saint-Simon, Mémoires complets et authentiques vol. 2
  7. ↑ Joseph Dedieu; Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France
  8. ^ H Lagarde cité dans Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France , Volume 22 Par Société d'histoire ecclésiastique de la France

Web links

literature

personal data
SURNAME Rohan, Benjamin de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French Huguenot leader, Duke of Frontenay, Peer of France
DATE OF BIRTH 1583
PLACE OF BIRTH La Rochelle
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 1642
Place of death London