Editing La Rochelle (section)

===French Wars of Religion===
{{Main|French Wars of Religion}}
{{multiple image| align = right | direction = horizontal | header = | header_align = left/right/center | footer = '''Left image''': Remains of [[Reformation iconoclasm]], Clocher Saint-Barthélémy, La Rochelle.<br /> '''Right image''': Remains of iconoclasm, Eglise Saint-Sauveur, La Rochelle.| footer_align = left | image1 =Iconoclasm Clocher Saint Barthelemy south side La Rochelle.jpg| width1 = 200 | caption1  = | image2 =Iconoclasm Eglise Saint Sauveur.jpg| width2 = 117 | caption2 = }}
During the [[Renaissance]], La Rochelle adopted Protestant ideas. [[Calvinism]] started to be propagated in the region of La Rochelle, resulting in its suppression through the establishment of ''Cours présidiaux'' tribunals by [[Henry II of France|Henry II]]. An early result of this was the burning at the stake of two "heretics" in La Rochelle in 1552.<ref name="Robbins">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aFwHB9p0yJoC&pg=PA120|title=City on the Ocean Sea: La Rochelle, 1530–1650 : Urban Society, Religion, and Politics on the French Atlantic Frontier|first=Kevin C.|last=Robbins|date=15 April 1997|publisher=BRILL|isbn=9004108807}}</ref> Conversions to Calvinism however continued, due to a change of religious beliefs, but also to a desire for political independence on the part of the local elite, and a popular opposition to royal expenses and requisitions in the building projects to fortify the coast against England.<ref name="Robbins"/>

On the initiative of [[Gaspard II de Coligny|Gaspard de Coligny]], the Calvinists attempted to colonise the [[New World]] to find a new home for their religion, with the likes of [[Pierre Richier]] and [[Jean de Léry]]. After the short-lived attempt of [[France Antarctique]], they failed to establish a colony in Brazil, and finally resolved to make a stand in La Rochelle itself.<ref>''Fortress of the soul: violence, metaphysics, and material life'' by Neil Kamil p.133 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ekSkZXXjVWUC&pg=RA1-PA133 Google Books]</ref> [[Pierre Richier]] became "Ministre de l'église de la Rochelle" ("Minister of the Church of La Rochelle") when he returned from Brazil in 1558, and was able to considerably increase the Huguenot presence in La Rochelle, from a small base of about 50 souls who had been secretly educated in the [[Lutheran]] faith by [[Charles de Clermont]] the previous year. He has been described, by [[Lancelot Voisin de La Popelinière]], as "le père de l'église de La Rochelle" ("The Father of the Church of La Rochelle").

[[File:Grand temple de La Rochelle.jpg|thumb|Protestant "Grand Temple" of La Rochelle, built on the ''Place du Château'', modern ''Place de Verdun'', in 1600–1603, accidentally burned down in 1687]]

La Rochelle was the first French city, with [[Rouen]], to experience [[Reformation iconoclasm|iconoclastic riots]] in 1560, at the time of the suppression of the [[Amboise conspiracy]], before the riots spread to many other cities.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=95sDFZbl4S4C&pg=PA279|title=War Against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin|first=Carlos M. N.|last=Eire|date=27 January 1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=9780521379847}}</ref> Further cases of [[Reformation iconoclasm]] were recorded in La Rochelle from 30 May 1562, following the [[Massacre of Vassy]]. Protestants pillaged churches, destroyed images and statues, and also assassinated 13 Catholic priests in the [[Lantern Tower (La Rochelle, France)|Tower of the Lantern]].<ref>''Fortress of the soul: violence, metaphysics, and material life'' by Neil Kamil p.148 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ekSkZXXjVWUC&pg=RA1-PA148 Google Books]</ref>

From 1568, La Rochelle became a centre for the [[Huguenots]], and the city declared itself an independent Reformed Republic on the model of [[Geneva]].<ref>''Fortress of the soul: violence, metaphysics, and material life'' by Neil Kamil p.149 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ekSkZXXjVWUC&pg=RA1-PA149 Google Books]</ref> During the subsequent period, La Rochelle became an entity that has been described as a "[[state within a state]]".<ref>{{cite book|author=MacKenney, Richard|title=The City State, 1500–1700|publisher=[[Prometheus Books|Humanities Press International]]|date=1989|page=13}}</ref> This led to numerous conflicts with the Catholic central government. The city supported the Protestant movement of [[William the Silent|William of Orange]] in the Netherlands, and from La Rochelle the Dutch under [[Louis of Nassau]] and the ''[[Sea Beggars]]'' were able to raid Spanish shipping.<ref>''The rise and fall of Renaissance France, 1483–1610'' by Robert Jean Knecht p.355 [https://books.google.com/books?id=nuyx5E_wp7QC&pg=PA355 Google Books]</ref><ref>''The Counter-Reformation and price revolution, 1559–1610'' Richard Bruce Wernham p.288 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z-48AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA288 Google Books]</ref>

In 1571 the city of La Rochelle suffered a naval blockade by the French Navy under the command of [[Filippo di Piero Strozzi]] and [[Antoine Escalin des Aimars]], a former protagonist of the [[Franco-Ottoman alliance]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q_Va0lM_EOsC&pg=PA20 |title=''Memoirs of Maximilian de Béthune, duke of Sully'' |year=1778 |page=20 |access-date=15 April 2010}}</ref> The city was finally besieged during the [[siege of La Rochelle (1572–1573)]] during the [[French Wars of Religion]], following the [[St. Bartholomew's Day massacre]] in August 1572, and occurred at the same time as other sieges of Protestant cities such as the [[siege of Sancerre]]. The conflict ended with the 1573 [[Peace of La Rochelle]], which restricted the Protestant worship to the three cities of [[Montauban]], [[Nîmes]] and La Rochelle. Pierre Richier died in La Rochelle in 1580.