The Battle of La Roche-l'Abeille occurred on 25 June 1569 between the

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

forces of King

Charles IX of France Charles IX (Charles Maximilien; 27 June 1550 – 30 May 1574) was List of French monarchs, King of France from 1560 until his death in 1574. He ascended the French throne upon the death of his brother Francis II of France, Francis II in 1560, an ...

commanded by the Duke d’Anjou and the

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

commanded by the Admiral de Coligny during the third war (1568–1570) of the

French Wars of Religion The French Wars of Religion were a series of civil wars between French Catholic Church, Catholics and Protestantism, Protestants (called Huguenots) from 1562 to 1598. Between two and four million people died from violence, famine or disease di ...

Background

The Third War of Religion saw an uprising of the Protestants and the creation of an army under the command of

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. This army had laid siege to several cities in the

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region, and then

Angoulême Angoulême (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Engoulaeme''; ) is a small city in the southwestern French Departments of France, department of Charente, of which it is the Prefectures of France, prefecture. Located on a plateau overlooking a meander of ...

and

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. At the

Battle of Jarnac The Battle of Jarnac on 13 March 1569 was an encounter during the French Wars of Religion between the Catholic forces of Marshal Gaspard de Saulx, sieur de Tavannes, and the Huguenots led by Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé. The two forces ...

(16 March 1569), the Prince de Condé was killed, forcing Admiral de Coligny to take command. In order to attack the royal army, Coligny directed the Protestant army toward the

Limousin Limousin (; ) is a former administrative region of southwest-central France. Named after the old province of Limousin, the administrative region was founded in 1960. It comprised three departments: Corrèze, Creuse, and Haute-Vienne. On 1 Jan ...

region, hoping thus to regroup with 14,000 mercenaries being led by the Duke of Zweibrücken () and financed by Queen

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

. After a brief fight with a detachment of the royal army, the Duke of Zweibrücken was able to cross the Vienne at Aixe, but died on 11 June at

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. The Protestant army and the Duke of Zweibrücken's mercenaries were able to regroup at

Châlus Châlus (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Vienne Departments of France, department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Regions of France, region in western France. History Richard I of England, Richard I, King of England was siege, bes ...

, for a total of 25,000 men. The royal army of 29,500 troops, led by the Duke d’Anjou (the future Henry III) were stationed before Saint-Yrieix to protect the city.

Battle

The Protestant army surprised the royal troops, and this gave them the initial advantage. The

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of the royal infantry, Philippe Strozzi, was however able to temporarily save the situation, before an attack by Coligny – threatening to encircle the army – forced the royal troops to retreat before the Protestants.

Aftermath

Coligny's victory was far from being decisive, but it allowed him to open a route toward the

Périgord Périgord ( , ; ; or ) is a natural region and former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne department, now forming the northern part of the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It is divided into f ...

region. The Protestant army took few prisoners, the most famous being the colonel-general Philippe Strozzi. In the days that followed, the Protestant army massacred hundreds of people throughout the

and Périgord regions, including 500 infantry men at La Roche-l'Abeille and 250 peasants at La Chapelle-Faucher,Jouanna, p.183-4. as retribution for the death of Condé and Paulon de Mauvans. In autumn the same year, the

Battle of Moncontour The Battle of Moncontour occurred on 3 October 1569 between the royalist Catholic forces of King Charles IX of France, commanded by Henry, Duke of Anjou, and the Huguenots commanded by Gaspard de Coligny. Battle Weeks before, Coligny had lifted ...

(30 October 1569) would see the Huguenots defeated and Catholic forces participating in similar massacres against the defeated.

Notes and references

*''This article is based in part on a translation of the article Bataille de La Roche-l'Abeille from the

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on 14 March 2007.'' * Jouanna, Arlette and Jacqueline Boucher, Dominique Biloghi, Guy Thiec. ''Histoire et dictionnaire des Guerres de religion''. Collection: Bouquins. Paris: Laffont, 1998.