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The siege of Alès was undertaken by Louis XIII of France, and the city captured on 17 June 1629.


The siege

The siege of Alès followed the disastrous capitulation of the main Protestant stronghold of La Rochelle, in the siege of La Rochelle. Huguenot resistance persisted in the south of France though, and Louis XIII endeavoured to eliminate it as well. With
Privas Privas (; oc, Privàs , also ) is a city located in France, in the department of Ardèche. With its 8,465 inhabitants (2019), it is the least populated prefecture (capital of a department). It was the location of the 1629 Siege of Priva ...
and Anduze, the city of Alès was at the center of a string of Protestants strongholds in the Languedoc, stretching from
Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...
and Uzès in the east, to Castres and Montauban in the west. Alès was selected by Antoine Hercule de Budos, Marquis des Portes (1589-1629), as a strategic target to sever Huguenot defenses in two and disconnect their main centers of Nîmes and Montauban. After Privas fell on 28 May 1629, in which the Marquis des Portes was killed, French attention turned to Alès. After an intense siege, the city surrendered on 17 June. At the end of the siege, Henri, Duke of Rohan, the leader of the Huguenot rebellion, submitted.''Rebels and Rulers, 1500-1660: Provincial rebellion'' by Pérez Zagorín p.18
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Aftermath

The remaining Huguenot cities rapidly fell, and finally Montauban surrendered without resistance. This was one of the last events in the repression of the
Huguenot rebellions The Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan Wars after the Huguenot leader Henri de Rohan, were a series of rebellions of the 1620s in which French Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots), mainly located in southwestern France, revolted agains ...
in France.''Siege Warfare: The fortress in the early modern world, 1494-1660'' Christopher Duffy p.121
/ref> The siege was followed by the
Peace of Alès The Peace of Alais, also known as the Edict of Alès or the Edict of Grace, was a treaty negotiated by Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was ...
(27 September 1629), which settled the revolt by guaranteeing the practice of the Huguenot religion and judicial protection, but requiring Huguenot strongholds as well as political assemblies to be dismantled.''The Cambridge illustrated history of France'' by Colin Jones p.145
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See also

* French Wars of Religion *
Huguenot rebellions The Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan Wars after the Huguenot leader Henri de Rohan, were a series of rebellions of the 1620s in which French Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots), mainly located in southwestern France, revolted agains ...


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ales, Siege of 1629 in France Sieges involving France Conflicts in 1629 Huguenot rebellions Battles in Occitanie History of Gard