The Siege of Montpellier was a siege of the Huguenot

Huguenot

The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...

 city of Montpellier

Montpellier

-Neighbourhoods:Since 2001, Montpellier has been divided into seven official neighbourhoods, themselves divided into sub-neighbourhoods. Each of them possesses a neighbourhood council....

 by the Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 forces of Louis XIII of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, from August to October of 1622. It was part of the Huguenot rebellions

Huguenot rebellions

The Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan Wars after the Huguenot leader Henri de Rohan, refers to events of the 1620s in which French Protestants , mainly located in southwestern France, revolted against royal authority...

.

Background

Louis XIII stationed his troops around Montpellier in July 1622. A treaty was agreed upon between Henri, Duke of Rohan, and Louis XIII, through his officer, Marshal Lesdiguières

François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières

François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières was soldier of the French Wars of Religion and Constable of France.- Early life :He was born at Saint-Bonnet-en-Champsaur, to a family of notaries with pretensions to nobility...

; it was signed by Rohan on 22 August 1622. The inhabitants of Montpellier, however, refused to open their gate to royal troops, fearing depredation by Henri, Prince of Condé and demanded humiliating conditions if the King wished to enter the city.

Siege

Outraged, Louis XIII revoked Lesdiguières' command, and ordered his troops to set up a siege of the city. The besieging army was placed unter the command of Condé.

Etienne d'Americ led the defense of Montpellier in an energetic manner. Operations proved to be difficult for the troops of Louis XIII. Royal troops captured the bastion of Saint-Denis on September 2, which had a commanding position over the city, but the stronghold was recaptured by the Huguenots the following day, leaving 200 dead in the royal army. On September 2 also, 400 Huguenots under Galonges, the Commander of the Montpellier garrison, made a sortie and defeated 1000 royal troops.

On October 2, the Huguenots were able to repel three assaults by royal troops numbering 5,000. The assault left from 300 to 400 dead in the royal camps, and many more wounded. At the same time, the royal army was plagued with sickness and was running short of supplies.

Aftermath

Finally, Louis XIII authorized negotiations to be resumed, asking Lesdiguières to lead the army once more, and to secretly negotiate at the same time. On October 8, Rohan arrived in front of Montpellier with a relief army 4,000 veterans. He might have fought victoriously, but he desired to negotiate, as he was running short of international support.

The inhabitants agreed to make amends, and the King granted his pardon, leading to the signature of the Treaty of Montpellier

Treaty of Montpellier

The Treaty of Montpellier was signed in Montpellier on October 18, 1622 between King Louis XIII of France and Duke Henry II of Rohan. The treaty followed the Siege of Montpellier and ended hostilities between French royalists and the Huguenots...

 on 19 October, in which the King fully confirmed the observation of the Edict of Nantes

Edict of Nantes

The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity...

, but the Huguenots agreed to the dismantlement of the fortifications of Montpellier, Nîmes and Uzès.

Louis XIII finally entered Montpellier on 20 October 1622, bareheaded and unarmed. Royal troops entered the city, effectively occupied it, and started to dismantle its fortifications. The Citadel of Montpellier

Citadel of Montpellier

The Citadel of Montpellier is an Early Modern fortification in the city of Montpellier, in the Hérault département of southern France. It was built between 1624 and 1627, after several rebellions under the orders of Louis XIII in order to keep watch over the town...

was built soon after by Louis XIII in order to better control the city.