Fort Louis was a Royal fort built just outside the walls of the

Huguenot 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, ...

city in

La Rochelle La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle'') is a city on the west coast of France and a seaport on the Bay of Biscay, a part of the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Charente-Maritime Departments of France, department. Wi ...

. The fort was a source of great tension between the Huguenots of La Rochelle and Louis XIII, and was perceived as a real threat to their survival. Marshal Lesdiguieres predicted "Either La Rochelle must take Fort Louis, or the Fort will destroy La Rochelle." The construction of the fort had been started by the

Count of Soissons This is a list of those who bore the title Count of Soissons () and ruled Soissons and its ''civitas'' or diocese as a county in the Middle Ages. The title continued in use into modern times, but without ties to the actual Soissonnais. Carolingia ...

in 1620 during the first

Huguenot rebellion The Huguenot rebellions, sometimes called the Rohan Wars after the Huguenot leader Henri, Duke of Rohan, Henri de Rohan, were a series of rebellions of the 1620s in which French people, French Calvinist Protestants (Huguenots), mainly located in ...

. With the

Treaty of Montpellier The Treaty of Montpellier (or the Peace of Montpellier) was signed in Montpellier on 18 October 1622 between King Louis XIII of France and Duke Henry II of Rohan. The treaty followed the siege of Montpellier and ended hostilities between French ...

, Louis XIII had agreed to remove the fort in due time, but he and his Minister Richelieu later temporised and avoided the promised removals despite the requests by La Rochelle.''The Huguenots of La Rochelle'' by Louis Delmas p.13

/ref> Fort Louis played a key role in establishing the fortifications around La Rochelle during the 1627-1628

Siege of La Rochelle The siege of La Rochelle (, or sometimes ) was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627–1628. The siege marked the height of Huguenot rebellions, the struggle between ...

Notes

{{coord, 46.1558, N, 1.1721, W, source:wikidata, display=title Châteaux in Charente-Maritime Buildings and structures in La Rochelle