1-276-644 - Art Media/Heritage Images

The Siege of La Rochelle, 1628 (20th century). During the Renaissance, La Rochelle adopted Protestant ideas, and from 1568 became a centre for the Huguenots, initiating a period of freedom and prosperity until the 1620s. The city was starved into surrender during Cardinal Richelieu's campaign to break the power of the Huguenots in France. From an anti-British brochure titled Who has been the enemy of France through History?.