Battle at Riez

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The battle near Riez , also battle near Île de Riez (Combat de Riez, contemporary: Combat de l'île de Rié ), on April 16, 1622 near the village of Île de Riez (today: Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez ) occurred during the campaign of King Louis XIII. against the Huguenots .

prehistory

At the beginning of 1622 Huguenot troops under the command of Benjamin de Rohan had conquered parts of the Pays nantais (the area around Nantes , in the south of historical Brittany ), fortified the Île d'Oléron , Saujon , Mornac , Royan , Blaye , das Médoc , and the Château de Chaume conquered and Les Sables-d'Olonne occupied. The royal troops under the command of Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette , Timoléon d'Epinay de Saint-Luc and François V. de La Rochefoucauld had initially not responded or could not respond. After the Huguenots had taken western Poitou ( Bas-Poitou , lower Poitou), Louis XIII decided to intervene personally. He left Paris on March 20, 1622 and arrived in Nantes on April 10.

The Huguenots stood with 7,000 infantry , 700 horsemen and 7 cannons northeast of Les Sables-d'Olonne in Île de Riez. On April 13th, the royal army stood at Legé south of Nantes, from where they marched. While the Huguenots loaded their booty on 14 ships in Saint-Gilles-sur-Vie and Croix-de-Vie (today Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie ), the Prince de Condé put his army in marching order.

Starting position

When the Maréchal de camp Jean-Louis de Marillac arrived in Challans on April 14th, he was informed by the residents of Île du Perrier (contemporary spelling: Perié ; today: Le Perrier ) of the presence of the Huguenots in Île de Riez. The Canal de Besse with the Pont d'Orouet bridge lay between the two villages . Thereupon Marillac sent a reconnaissance team of 50 carabiniers and 30 noble horsemen against the village of Perrier. When they reached the bridge of Orouet, they saw that farmers from the village were defending it against Huguenot attacks. The carabiniers intervened in the fight, whereupon the attackers withdrew.

The king, meanwhile arrived in Challans, ordered the Maréchal de Vitry , with 14 companies of the Régiment des Gardes françaises to reinforce to Île du Perrier to secure the place. On April 15, Louis XIII lodged. with his staff in the hamlet of Perrier and gathered his armed forces there. He sent the cavalry to Saint-Jean-de-Monts and decided to cross the inlet at low tide and to attack the Huguenots with his whole army at daybreak.

The line-up for battle

The Ordre de bataille (order of battle) was developed by François de Bassompierre :

“The troops are ready at 10 o'clock in the evening. The infantry line up on the plain to the left of the king's quarters:

On the level to the right of the king's quarters stands the cavalry with seven cornettes:

  • at the head of this Carabins d'Esplans
  • behind the Chevau-légers de Châteaubriant, the Chevau-légers de la garde and the gendarmes de la garde ,
  • then a mixed escadron of 50 Chevaulegers and 50 gendarmes
  • behind the nobles "de la Reine-mère" with the volunteers
  • In the end the company of the Chevaulegers du duc de Guise.
Henri II. De Bourbon-Condé, Lieutenant General of the Army, commands the vanguard made up of the Carabiniers, the Chevaulegers and the Gardes françaises.
The king commands the center from the gendarmerie and the Swiss.
Louis de Bourbon-Soissons commands the rearguard from the Normandy and Navarre regiments. "
In reserve
  • the Régiment d'Estissac
  • the Régiment de Saint-Vincent
  • the Régiment de Vitry

The battle

On April 16 at midnight, 7,000 royal infantrymen set off, crossed a ford and initially encamped in front of Île de Riez without being noticed. Around 4 a.m., a two-kilometer line formed and marched towards the Huguenots. These did not wait for the advance of the enemy, but withdrew to Saint-Gilles-sur-Vie on their ships. Those who failed to do so laid down their arms and asked for mercy.

About 1,500 Huguenots were slaughtered by François de La Rochefoucauld's soldiers or by the peasants. In this respect, it was more of a slaughter at Riez than a "battle". Just as many Huguenots were captured and sentenced to galley punishment. 150 Huguenot members of the nobility were also imprisoned.

Benjamin de Rohan escaped to La Rochelle with 30 of 700 riders. Of his 7,000 infantrymen, only 400 got away. The seven cannons, the flags and the baggage were captured by the royal troops.

After this victorious day, the king dined at Saint-Gilles and stayed at Apremont .

Result

The Bas-Poitou was "cleansed" of the Huguenots, but the rebellion lived on in the area between La Rochelle and the Aigues-Mortes and in the Midi . The king did not want to return to Paris until the rebellion was suppressed and therefore continued to command his army himself. With her he covered 294 Lieues from Nantes to Montpellier . After two rest days on April 19, the army moved via Niort , to Aizenay , La Roche-sur-Yon , Sainte-Hermine and Fontenay-le-Comte , where it arrived on April 23. From there they moved on to the siege of Royan .

literature

in order of appearance

  • Plan de Lisle de Perié et de Rié avec la Representation de l'armée du Roy . Nicolas de Mathoniere, Paris 1622 ( online at Gallica ) <with a description of the events (French)>.
  • Édouard Hardy de Périni: Batailles françaises , Vol. 3: 1621 à 1643 . Flammarion, Paris 1650.
  • Patrick Avrillas: Louis XIII et la bataille de l'isle de Rié, 1622. Les armes victorieuses de la monarchie absolue . Geste Éditions, La Crèche 2013, ISBN 978-2-36746-057-4 .

Footnotes

  1. ↑ only rudimentarily available today
  2. ↑ disappeared today
  3. ↑ Édouard Hardy de Périni: Batailles françaises , Vol. 3: 1621 à 1643 . Flammarion, Paris 1650.
  4. ↑ "the Queen Mother"; the regiment became the Régiment de La Reine-Mère Cavalerie on October 18, 1651 and existed as "4 er Régiment de Cuirassiers" until 1815.
  5. ↑ Nobles were usually not sentenced to galley punishment.
  6. ↑ Le château d'Apremont ( Memento of the original of September 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.apremont85.fr

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