Siege of Chartres (1568)

The Siege of Chartres in February to March 1568 was the pivotal event which ended the Second War of Religion, an episode of the French Wars of Religion.

Siege of Chartres
Part of the French Wars of Religion
Date 28 February to 15 March 1568 Location Chartres, France Result Lifted after two weeks; Peace of Longjumeau on 23 March
Belligerents
French Huguenot forces	Royalists
Commanders and leaders
Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé	Anthony de Lignieres Nicolas des Essars
Strength
Probably 9,000[1]	Some 6,000 (plus townspeople)[1]
Casualties and losses
300 to 400[2]	Some 350[2]

The Huguenot army besieged the town at the end of February. The Prince of Condé had five battering cannons and four light culverins.[3] Part of the army acted as block and the rest, about 9,000 men, encircled the town and used their nine guns to breach the north wall. The Huguenots assaulted the town on 7 March but the Royal garrison of Nicolas des Essars, assisted by inhabitants defended stoutly. The assault was repelled and the breach sealed off.

Following the lifted siege, the Peace of Longjumeau was signed, on 23 March.

Notes

1. Wood, James B. (2002). The King's Army. Cambridge University Press. p. 20. ISBN 0-521-52513-6.
2. Knecht, Robert Jean (2002). The French Religious Wars 1562-1598. Osprey Publishing. p. 44. ISBN 1-84176-395-0.
3. Wraxall, Nathaniel William (1814). The History of France, from the Accession of Henry the Third, to the Death of Louis the Fourteenth. T. Cadell and W. Davies. p. 58.

Sources

• "Etat des dépenses faites par la ville de Chartres, pendant les troubles et pendant le siège de ladite ville (1er Octobre 1567-18 April 1568)", ed. Lucien Merlet, Bulletin historique et philologique du comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, 1840
• Lehr, Henri. Le siège de Chartres en 1568, Chartres, 1912