Siege of Poitiers (1569)

The size of the opposing forces is uncertain, but Martin Liberge asserts the Catholics fielded between 3,000 and 4,000 infantrymen, cavalry and armed civilians. On 12 July 1569 the Henry I of Lorraine, Duke of Guise and his brother the marquis of Mayenne arrived to reinforce Poitiers with 800 cavalrymen, including 400 Italian lancers. de Coligny had around 10,000 infantry and between 8,000 and 9,000 cavalry as well as an artillery force of unknown size.

From 26 to 30 July Coligny built his camp and dug siegeworks around the city. On 27 July he began to bombard the city's castle, but it suffered no damage. The Protestants built a bridge over the river. On 31 July the defenders used all sorts of traps and projectiles to repulse those attacking through breaches in the city wall.^[3]

The siege was at its fiercest in August. Early in the month the Protestant cannon fired on the city wall and the tour du pont Joubert was destroyed. Coligny tried to breach the wall near the tour du pont Joubert, firing on the defensive structures for three days. Over the course of August the Protestants managed to make three breaches in the city wall but failed at the pont Saint-Cyprien. Coligny's force then formed up for open battle on the dunes, confusing the Catholic defenders. The defenders won an important victory defending the Tison mill, but towards the end of the month the Protestants continued to bombard Pré-Abbesse from the third breach, getting as far as the église Sainte-Radegonde. On 25 August both armies stopped, just before the Protestant camp was ravaged by dysentery, killing many of its leaders.

Early in September the defenders made a successful sortie against the Protestant positions in the vineyard overlooking Rochereuil, getting as far as the west gates of the suburb. Protestant counter-attacks were resisted and on 7 September the royal army arrived to lay siege to the Protestants before Châtellerault. According to Liberge the inhabitants of Poitiers heard the artillery fire against the Huguenots and Coligny's troops left the siege to go to defend Châtellerault, later fighting at the major Protestant defeat at Moncontour. The city then held a thanksgiving procession on 8 September and an annual procession in honour of its patron saints Radegund, Hilary and the Virgin Mary was held thereafter.

Peace did not immediately return after the siege was lifted, though Poitiers' successful resistance was interpreted as a sign of divine providence opening the way to a new era of victories for the most orthodox Catholic forces. The damage from the siege was repaired little by little, though the abbey of Saint-Cyprien was abandoned and demolished in 1574.^[4]

• Marianne Carbonnier-Burkard and Patrick Cabanel Une histoire des protestants en France, Desclée de Brouwer, Paris, 1998
• Nicole Vray, La guerre des religions dans la France de l’Ouest : Poitou, Aunis, Saintonge, 1534-1610, Geste Editions, 1997
• Henri Dubief and Jacques Poujol, La France protestante, Histoire et Lieux de mémoire, Max Chaleil éditeur, Montpellier, 1992, rééd. 2006, p. 45
• Hiernard Jean, Le siège de Poitiers en 1569, La Crèche: la Geste, 2019.
• Aubigné, Histoire Universelle, 11 vol., 1616-1630
• Davila, Histoire des guerres civiles de France, trad. de l'italien, Paris, 1644