At the beginning of the 17th century, after the assassination of Henri IV (1610), the France of Louis XIII launched an attack on the republic of parpaillots. The Edict of Nantes (1598) allowed them to obtain a certain number of freedoms such as the practice of religion but also political advantages: places of security, assemblies, deputies representing the Protestant party at court. Supported by his mother Marie de Medici, the young Louis XIII did not intend to maintain this situation which defied the royal authority which, for its part, could only be Catholic. Tensions between the two religious communities were now such that the royal army mobilized to face Huguenot resistance. Protestant strongholds which deny the religion of the King of France are systematically besieged. Refractory to this authority, Montauban must therefore suffer the wrath of the canons of the Catholic King. At that time, Montauban was a place of safety like La Rochelle. The Quercy stronghold was then called Little French Geneva. Entirely Huguenot, its population of approximately 15,000 inhabitants includes 10,000 Calvinists. The management of the city is in the hands of consuls (elected by 25 inhabitants representing all the city's corporations) who enjoy great autonomy. Since 1600, there has been a college and an academy there which recruit students from all the provinces of the kingdom and abroad. It is for all these reasons that Montauban-la-Protestante gives the image of a true Huguenot republic where Catholics no longer have the right to live. Louis XIII, after subduing Agen, decided on August 10, 1621 to put an end to the Montalbanese revolt. On August 17, the king moved to the castle of Montbeton and began the siege. The latter only stopped four months later with the victory of the Montalbanais. Effective resistance to modify It is a fact that the Montalbanais were able to resist thanks to a small number of men against the plethoric royal army. It is also true that the city's first Consul, Jacques Dupuy (1591-1621) had taken care to prepare the city for the siege by building up large reserves of food. Throughout the siege, the Montalbanais did not suffer from hunger at any time. The royal army suffered dramatic losses. Louis XIII would have called on an Aragonese Discalced Carmelite, a very well-known alchemist. He would have meditated for a long time before giving the following recommendation to the King: “we must scare the inhabitants of the city. A great fear that will make them surrender.” The cannonade was mentioned by Marshal de Bassompierre in his Memoirs where he wrote that the king, incited by the Discalced Carmelite to bombard the city with 400 cannon shots, “sent for me on Sunday September 20 to fire the 400 cannon fire; as I did.” There were more than 650 shots that day, according to another witness... The expression "400 shots" recalls the violence of the cannonades, but these 400 shots could not be fired at the same time as legend has it. In total, there have been nearly 16,000 shots in two and a half months. In vain… Let us add for the sake of understanding, that until then the cannonades were mainly aimed at the ramparts to create breaches... The Carmelite's idea was to fire 400 shots into the city, to frighten the population, which was actually without effect. Decimated by purple fever, a serious epidemic which caused bright red spots on the body, Louis XIII's army capitulated at the beginning of November and the king lifted the siege.
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