The Anglo-French War () was a military conflict fought between the

Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...

and the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain. On ...

between 1627 and 1629. It mainly involved actions at sea.''Warfare at sea, 1500-1650: maritime conflicts and the transformation of Europe'' by Glete J Staff, Jan Glete Routledge, 2002 p.17

/ref> The centrepiece of the conflict was the siege of La Rochelle (1627–28), in which the English Crown supported the French

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster B ...

in their fight against the French royal forces of

Louis XIII of France Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crow ...

. La Rochelle had become the stronghold of the French Huguenots, under its own governance. It was the centre of Huguenot seapower and the strongest centre of resistance against the central government. The English also launched a campaign against France's new colony in North America which led to the capture of Quebec."KIRKE, SIR DAVID, adventurer, trader, colonizer, leader of the expedition that captured Quebec in 1629, and later governor of Newfoundland"
''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''

Background

The conflict followed the failure of the Anglo-French alliance of 1624, in which England had tried to find an ally in France against the power of the

House of Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

. French politics evolved otherwise however as

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...

came to power in 1624. In 1625, Richelieu used English warships to vanquish the Huguenots at the

Recovery of Ré island The Recovery of Ré Island (French: ''Reprise de l'Île de Ré'') was accomplished by the army of Louis XIII in September 1625, against the troops of the Protestant admiral Soubise and the Huguenot forces of La Rochelle, who had been occupying th ...

(1625), triggering outrage in England.''Historical dictionary of Stuart England, 1603-1689'' by Ronald H. Fritze p.20

/ref> In 1626, France concluded a secret peace with Spain, and disputes arose around

Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria (french: link=no, Henriette Marie; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until Charles was executed on 30 January 1649. She was ...

's household. Furthermore, France began building up its navy, leading the English to be convinced that France must be opposed "for reasons of state". In June 1626,

Walter Montagu Walter Montagu (c. 1603–1677) was an English courtier, secret agent (a.k.a. David Cutler) and Benedictine abbot. Life He was the second son of Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester, by his first wife Catherine Spencer. He was born in the par ...

was sent to France to contact dissident noblemen, and from March 1627 started to organize a French rebellion. The plan was to send an English fleet to encourage rebellion, as a new Huguenot revolt by

Henri, Duke of Rohan Henri (II) de Rohan (21 August 157913 April 1638), Duke of Rohan and Prince of Léon, was a Breton-French soldier, writer and leader of the Huguenots. Early life Rohan was born at the Château de Blain (now a part of Blain, Loire-Atlantique) ...

and his brother Soubise was being triggered.

War

Ile de Ré expedition

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

sent his favourite

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham, 28 August 1592 – 23 August 1628), was an English courtier, statesman, and patron of the arts. He was a favourite and possibly also a lover of King James I of England. Buckingham remained at the ...

with a fleet of 80 ships. In June 1627 Buckingham organised a landing on the nearby island of

Île de Ré Île de Ré (; variously spelled Rhé or Rhéa; Poitevin: ''ile de Rét''; en, Isle of Ré, ) is an island off the Atlantic coast of France near La Rochelle, Charente-Maritime, on the northern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait. Its high ...

with 6,000 men in order to help the Huguenots. Although a Protestant stronghold, Île de Ré had not directly joined the rebellion against the king. On Île de Ré, the English under Buckingham tried to take the fortified city of

Saint-Martin-de-Ré Saint-Martin-de-Ré (, literally ''Saint-Martin of Ré''; Saintongeais: ''Sént-Martin-de-Ré'') is a commune in the western French department of Charente-Maritime.William Feilding, Earl of Denbigh, left in April 1628, but returned without a fight to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

, as Denbigh "said that he had no commission to hazard the king's ship in a fight and returned shamefully to Portsmouth".''An apprenticeship in arms'' by Roger Burrow Manning p.119
/ref> A second fleet, organized by Buckingham just before his assassination, was dispatched under the Admiral of the Fleet, the Earl of Lindsey in August 1628, consisting of 29 warships and 31 merchantmen. In September 1628, the English fleet tried to relieve the city. After bombarding French positions and trying to force the sea wall in vain, the English fleet had to withdraw. Following this last disappointment, the city surrendered on October 28, 1628. OUR FIRST FOOTING IN CANADA

New France expedition

An English force led by

David Kirke Sir David Kirke ( – 1654), also spelt David Ker, was an adventurer, privateer and colonial governor. He is best known for his successful capture of Québec in 1629 during the Thirty Years' War and his subsequent governorship of lands in Ne ...

launched a campaign against

New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...

in 1628 their target being the French colony of

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

under the command of

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...

. The force sailed up the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

and occupied

Tadoussac Tadoussac () is a village in Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saguenay and Saint Lawrence rivers. The indigenous Innu call the place ''Totouskak'' (plural for ''totouswk'' or ''totochak'') meaning "bosom", probably in reference to the tw ...

and Cap Tourmente. Kirke promptly laid waste to the French settlements and then blockaded the Saint Lawrence. The English succeeded in capturing a supply convoy bound for

, severely impairing that colony's ability to resist attack. Winter forced the Kirke brothers to return to England where King Charles I on hearing of the successes increased the number of Kirke's fleet to return in the Spring. Champlain, whose residents were on the point of starvation, was hoping for a relief fleet to arrive. The fleet was intercepted and captured by the English on their way upriver to Quebec. Kirke, now aware of the desperate conditions in Quebec, demanded the surrender; having no alternative, Champlain surrendered on 19 July 1629."KIRKE, SIR DAVID, adventurer, trader, colonizer, leader of the expedition that captured Quebec in 1629, and later governor of Newfoundland"
''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'' The English occupied the colony with Kirke as governor.

Peace

With 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 with Huguenot leaders and signed by King Louis XIII of France on 28 June 1629. It confirmed the basic principles of the Edi ...

in April 1629 which settled concessions to the defeated Huguenots, Richelau's first step was to end hostilities with England in order to try to break the Hapsburg encirclement of France. England and France were thus able to negotiate a peace at the

Treaty of Susa The Treaty of Susa (also sometimes spelled Suza) refers to two separate peace treaties signed in 1629 at Susa in the Duchy of Savoy (now in the Italian Piedmont near the French border), recently occupied by France during the Thirty Years' War. ...

which saw no benefits to each other, and amounted to little more than a return to the 'status quo ante bellum'.Parker p. 139 With regards to New France, much of this side of the conflict had spilled over after the Susa treaty had been signed. In 1632 Charles I agreed to return the lands in exchange for Louis XIII agreeing to paying Charles' wife's

dowry A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...

. These terms were signed into law with the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The lands in Quebec and

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and earl ...

were returned to the French

Company of One Hundred Associates The Company of One Hundred Associates ( French: formally the Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, or colloquially the Compagnie des Cent-Associés or Compagnie du Canada), or Company of New France, was a French trading and colonization company ch ...

. A peace treaty was also signed with Spain in 1630 – England's disengagement from European affairs dismayed Protestant forces on the continent.Peltonen: Classical Humanism and Republicanism in English Political Thought, 1570-1640, p. 271
/ref> In England, internal conflict continued between the monarchy and

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, which would lead to the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...

s of the 1640s. France on the contrary continued to grow more powerful, its navy becoming even larger than that of England by 1630.

References

;Bibliography * {{DEFAULTSORT:Anglo-French War (1627-29) 1627 in England 1627 in France Anglo-French wars Thirty Years' War 1620s conflicts 17th-century military history of the Kingdom of England 1628 in France 1629 in France 1628 in England 1629 in England England–France relations