Antiquity times The Romans subsequently occupied the area, where they developed salt production along the coast. Roman villas have been found at Saint-Éloi and at
Les Minimes.
Salt evaporation ponds dating from the same period have also been found.
Foundation The name was first recorded in 961 as
Rupella, from a Latin diminutive meaning 'little rock'. It was later known as
Rocella and
Roscella before the name took on its current form. The establishment of La Rochelle as a harbour was a consequence of the victory of Duke
Guillaume X of
Aquitaine over
Isambert de Châtelaillon in 1130, and the subsequent destruction of his harbour of
Châtelaillon. In 1137, Guillaume X to all intents and purposes made La Rochelle a free port and gave it the right to identify as a
commune. Fifty years later
Eleanor of Aquitaine upheld the communal charter promulgated by her father. For the first time in France, a city mayor was appointed for La Rochelle,
Guillaume de Montmirail. Guillaume was assisted in his responsibilities by 24 municipal magistrates, and 75 nobles who had jurisdiction over the inhabitants.
Plantagenet rule (1154–1224) Eleanor married Henry Plantagenet in 1152, who became king of England as
Henry II in 1154, thus putting La Rochelle under Plantagenet rule, until
Louis VIII captured it in the 1224
siege of La Rochelle. During the Plantagenet control of the city in 1185, Henry II had the
Vauclair castle built, remains of which are still visible in the Place de Verdun. The main activities of the city were in the areas of maritime commerce and trade, especially with England, the Netherlands and Spain. In 1196, wealthy bourgeois
Alexandre Auffredi sent a fleet of seven ships to Africa seeking wealth. He went bankrupt awaiting the return of his ships; they returned seven years later bearing riches.
Knights Templar The
Knights Templar had a strong presence in La Rochelle since before the time of
Eleanor of Aquitaine, who exempted them from duties and gave them
mills in her 1139 Charter. La Rochelle was the Templars' largest base on the Atlantic Ocean, and where they stationed their main fleet. From La Rochelle, they were able to act as intermediaries in trade between England and the Mediterranean.
Hundred Years' War Royal property since 1271, the 1293 sacking of La Rochelle by the
Bayonnais during an outbreak of reciprocal
piracy between English and French (particularly
Norman) sailors was one of the main charges of
King PhilipIV against
King EdwardI when he declared the
Duchy of Aquitaine forfeit to the French crown, prompting the 1294–1303
Gascon War whose
peace terms produced
the marriage that led to
EdwardIII's later claims to the French crown. Following the
Treaty of Brétigny during the
Hundred Years' War, La Rochelle again came under the rule of the English monarch in 1360. La Rochelle however expelled the English in June 1372, following the naval
Battle of La Rochelle, between Castilian-French and English fleets. The French and Spanish decisively defeated the English, securing French control of the
Channel for the first time since the
Battle of Sluys in 1340. The naval battle of La Rochelle was one of the first cases of the use of
handguns on warships, which were deployed by the French and Spanish against the English. Having recovered freedom, La Rochelle refused entry to
Du Guesclin, until
Charles V recognized the privileges of the city in November 1372. In 1402, the French adventurer
Jean de Béthencourt left La Rochelle and sailed along the coast of Morocco to conquer the
Canary Islands. Until the 15th century, La Rochelle was to be the largest French harbour on the Atlantic coast, dealing mainly in wine, salt and cheese.
French Wars of Religion 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. An early result of this was the burning at the stake of two "heretics" in La Rochelle in 1552. 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.
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"). La Rochelle was the first French city, with
Rouen, to experience
iconoclastic riots in 1560, at the time of the suppression of the
Amboise conspiracy, before the riots spread to many other cities. 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
Tower of the Lantern. From 1568, La Rochelle became a centre for the
Huguenots, and the city declared itself an independent Reformed Republic on the model of
Geneva. During the subsequent period, La Rochelle became an entity that has been described as a "
state within a state". This led to numerous conflicts with the Catholic central government. The city supported the Protestant movement of
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. 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. 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.
Huguenot rebellions Le siège de La Rochelle Under Henry IV, and under the regency of his son
Louis XIII, the city enjoyed a certain freedom and prosperity. However, La Rochelle entered into conflict with the authority of the adult Louis, beginning with a
1622 revolt. A fleet from La Rochelle fought a royal fleet of 35 ships under
Charles, Duke of Guise, in front of
Saint-Martin-de-Ré, but was defeated on 27 October 1622, leading to the signing of the
Peace of Montpellier.
Siege of La Rochelle (1627–1628) at the siege of La Rochelle,
Henri Motte, 1881 Following these events,
Louis XIII and his Chief Minister
Cardinal Richelieu declared the suppression of the Huguenot revolt the first priority of the kingdom. The English came to the support of La Rochelle, starting
the Anglo-French War, by sending a major expedition under the
Duke of Buckingham. The expedition however ended in a fiasco for England with the
siege of Saint-Martin-de-Ré. Meanwhile, cannon shots were exchanged on 10 September 1627 between La Rochelle and Royal troops. This resulted in the siege of La Rochelle in which
Cardinal Richelieu blockaded the city for 14 months, until the city surrendered and lost its mayor and its privileges. (1649–1712) The remaining Protestants of La Rochelle suffered new persecutions, when 300 families were again expelled in November 1661, the year
Louis XIV came to power. The reason for the expulsions was that Catholics deeply resented a degree of revival of Protestant ownership of property within the city. The growing persecution of the Huguenots culminated with the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685. Many Huguenots emigrated, founding such cities as
New Rochelle in the vicinity of today's New York in 1689. La Rochelle, and the siege of 1627 form much of the backdrop to the later chapters of
Alexandre Dumas' classic novel,
The Three Musketeers.
La Rochelle and the New World Le Saphir ex-voto, 1741 ;
Musée de la Marine Because of its western location, which saved days of sailing time, La Rochelle enjoyed successful fishing in the western Atlantic and trading with the
New World, which served to counterbalance the disadvantage of not being at the mouth of a river (useful for shipping goods to and from the interior). Its
Protestant ship-owning and merchant class prospered in the 16th century until the Wars of Religion devastated the city. The British navy in wartime were alert that shore watchers at La Rochelle were employed. The period following the wars was a prosperous one, marked by intense exchanges with the New World (
Nouvelle France in Canada, and the
Antilles). La Rochelle
armateurs (shipowners) became very active in
triangular trade with the New World, dealing in the
slave trade with Africa,
sugar trade with
plantations of the
West Indies, and
fur trade with Canada. This was a period of high artistic, cultural and architectural achievements for the city. La Rochelle was also the port city from which the Carignan-Salieres Regiment departed for Nouvelle France. In 1664, based upon attacks by the Iroquois against the Quebec inhabitants and following the request of the New France Sovereign Council, the French finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert ordered the 24 companies composing the Carignan-Salières Regiment to duty in New France. Beginning with departures from the port of La Rochelle, France on 19 Apr 1665, five troop ships and one supply ship left the French coast. A sixth troop ship, Le Breze, began the journey from the Antilles island in the West Indies. All of the seven ships arrived at Quebec City during the three-month period between 19 Jun 1665 and 14 Sep 1665. They carried approximately 1,200 men of the regiment. Additionally, it was from this port city that many of the estimated 768 women known as the
Filles du Roi (Daughters of the King), set sail for Quebec during the period of 1663 to 1673.
Robert de La Salle departed from La Rochelle, France, on 24 July 1684, with the aim of setting up a colony at the mouth of the
Mississippi, eventually establishing
Fort Saint Louis in Texas. The city eventually lost its trade and prominence during the decades spanning the
Seven Years' War, the
French Revolution and the
Napoleonic Wars. During that period France lost many of the territorial possessions which it had had in the New World, and also saw a significant decrease in its
sea power in the continuing conflicts with Britain, ultimately diminishing the role of such harbours as La Rochelle. After abolitionist movements led by such people as
Samuel de Missy, the slave trade of La Rochelle ended with the onset of the French Revolution and the war with England in the 1790s, the last La Rochelle slave ship, the
Saint-Jacques being captured in 1793 in the
Gulf of Guinea. In February 1794, the National Convention passed the
Law of 4 February 1794, which effectively freed all colonial slaves. In 1809, the
Battle of the Basque Roads took place near La Rochelle, in which a British fleet defeated the French Atlantic Fleet.
La Rochelle faience La Rochelle became one of the French centres for
faience at the end of the 18th century.
Bernard Palissy was born in the region and had some bearing in this development. During the 18th century, its style was greatly influenced by Chinese themes and Japanese
Kakiemon-type designs. Many of these ceramics can be viewed at the
Musée d'Orbigny-Bernon. File:La Rochelle Faience de grand feu with Chinese manganese motif 18th century.jpg|La Rochelle faience, 18th century. File:La Rochelle Faience de grand feu plate with Chinese decorations 18th century.jpg|La Rochelle faience with Chinese decorations. File:La Rochelle Faience de grand feu pot with Chinese decorations 18th century.jpg|La Rochelle faience pot, 18th century.
19th century In 1864, the harbour of La Rochelle (area of the "Bassin à flot" behind the water locks), was the site for the maiden dive experiments of the first mechanically-powered
submarine in the World,
Plongeur, commanded by
Marie-Joseph-Camille Doré, a native of La Rochelle.
Second World War at the harbor of La Rochelle (2007) During the Second World War, Germany established a
submarine naval base at La Pallice (the main port of La Rochelle). A German stronghold, La Rochelle was the last French city to be liberated at the end of the war. The
Allied siege of La Rochelle took place between 12 September 1944 and 7 May 1945. The stronghold, including the islands of
Ré and
Oléron, was held by 20,000 German troops under German vice-admiral
Ernst Schirlitz. Following negotiations by the
French Navy frigate captain Meyer, the general German capitulation occurred on 7 May and French troops entered La Rochelle on 8 May. The submarine base became the setting for parts of the movie . The U-boat scenes in
Raiders of the Lost Ark were also shot in La Rochelle. The base is featured in the computer game
Commandos 2: Men of Courage. It was also chosen in 2018 for the location shooting of the German television series
Das Boot (a sequel to the
1981 classic). ==La Rochelle today==