
The Surrender of Montauban occurred on 21 August 1629, when the
Huguenot
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 Bez ...
city of
Montauban
Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...
surrendered to the
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...
troops of the French king
Louis XIII
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 crown ...
under the direction of
Richelieu.

In 1622, Mautauban had successfully resisted the assaults of Louis XIII, but the city finally lost its independence with its surrender to royal forces in 1629.
Montauban was considered to be the most powerful Huguenot fortress in France after
La Rochelle
La Rochelle (, , ; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''La Rochéle''; oc, La Rochèla ) 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 department. Wit ...
.
[''French Absolutism: The Crucial Phase, 1620-1629'' by A. D. Lublinskaya, Brian Pearce p.191''ff''](_blank)
/ref>
The redition was the final chapter 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 against ...
, as the remnants of Huguenot power in southern France surrendered to the king. After the sieges of 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 Privas. ...
and Alès
Alès (; oc, Alès) is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region in southern France. It is one of the sub-prefectures of the department. It was formerly known as ''Alais''.
Geography
Alès lies north-northwest of Nîmes, on t ...
, the remaining Huguenot cities rapidly fell, and finally Montauban
Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...
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 against ...
in France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
.[''Siege Warfare: The fortress in the early modern world, 1494-1660'' Christopher Duffy p.121](_blank)
/ref>
The redition 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 ...
of 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
/ref>
Soon after the surrender, the fortifications of Montauban were taken down by Richelieu.[''The London encyclopaedia 15'' by Thomas Curtis p.63](_blank)
/ref> Catholicism was reinstated in Montauban, and a governing body, formed of half Protestants and half Catholics, established, as well as a senior administrator representing the king in 1635.[''La Trobe: The Making of a Governor'' by Dianne Reilly Drury p. 11''ff''](_blank)
/ref> In the space of 30 years, numerous discriminatory rules were established against the Protestants of Montauban, from clothing to religious restrictions. The Huguenots of Montauban were finally broken by Catholic military repression, the ''Dragonnades
The ''Dragonnades'' were a French government policy instituted by King Louis XIV in 1681 to intimidate Huguenot (Protestant) families into converting to Catholicism. This involved the billeting of ill-disciplined dragoons in Protestant househol ...
'', in 1683.
Notes
{{reflist
1629 in France
Conflicts in 1629
History of Occitania (administrative region)
Huguenot rebellions