Siege of Sancerre

The French Wars of Religion comprise of a series of military conflicts between Roman Catholics and Huguenots from 1562-1598. The fourth war was set off by the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre in August 1572 and lasted until the signing of the July 1573 Edict of Boulogne. This phase of the Wars of Religion is famous for three episodes in which the royalist Catholic forces besieged Huguenot cities at Sommières, La Rochelle and Sancerre.

Sommières capitulated after a siege which lasted from February to April 1573, during which the fortified city's defenders fought ferociously even pouring pots of boiling oil upon the heads of the attackers, and the terms of surrender were generous. Henry Baird writes that "the garrison capitulated on such favorable terms, that the Protestants were rather elated than discouraged" (History of the Rise of the Huguenots of France, Vol. 2, p. 589).

La Rochelle is a seaport and thus was not completely cut off by the massive consolidation of royalist forces, led by Henri, Duke of Anjou, which surrounded it. The conflict began there in November 1572, and the siege itself lasted from February to July 1573. Help was sought from Queen Elizabeth I of England, but she felt bound by an earlier peace treaty with France not to interfere beyond sending a small, ineffective relief convoy. (The famous Huguenot treatise, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos (Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants), which has an important section on the duty of foreign princes to aid Christian subject being persecuted by their tyrant ruler, was published seven years later.) The city suffered but held out until the siege was lifted following diplomatic negotiations which involved Poland.

The Siege of Sancerre became legendary. Like La Rochelle, the initial phase of the conflict began in November 1572, with a temporarily successful surprise attack launched by the royalist forces led by Honorat de Bueil, seigneur de Racan. Unlike La Rochelle, Sancerre is a fortified landlocked hilltop city. Troops returned in January 1573, and in March, Claude de La Châtre led a second attack with 7,000 men, which was bitterly repulsed. Royalist troops pounded the city's walls with cannon fire, but the Sancerreans fought back with trebuchets, which became known as the "arquebuses of Sancerre," one of the last times this type of weapon was used in a European military campaign. After the failed assault, Châtre instituted a blockade which lasted through the summer. He made the calculated decision to starve the defenders whom he could not take by force. The Huguenot citizens responded bravely, singing psalms throughout the siege. But the effects of the starvation were staggering to contemplate. Resupply was impossible; messengers who were sent from the city to find help were executed. The day-to-day events were recorded by Jean de Léry, the Huguenot minister who had himself survived privation at the Protestant colony of France Antarctique in the 1550's, and lived through the Siege of Sancerre too, teaching his fellow citizens how to eat leather to survive. He wrote Histoire memorable de la ville de Sancerre (1574), the tenth chapter of which Edward Smedley, History of the Reformed Religion in France, Vol. 3, p. 88, has termed a "Cookery Book for the Besieged," because of de Léry's attention to detail and personal efforts at survival learned in Brazil and shared with his fellow Frenchmen. While most of the citizens suffered honorably, subsisting on horses, dogs, rats, mice, leather, parchment, grass and roots, he faithfully and sadly records the unpleasant details surrounding one family's descent into cannibalism. The dramatic effects of hunger led many to compare this siege to that of Jerusalem, and the Siege of Sancerre became a Protestant cause célèbre throughout Europe. Over 600 royalist troops were killed in combat compared to only 84 Sancerreans, but over 500 citizens, many of them children under the age of 12, died of starvation. But the city held out until a diplomatic solution was worked out. The city was ultimately taken by Châtre in August after Henri, Duke of Anjou (later Henri III of France), was elected king of Poland, upon the condition that he ceased hostilities against French Protestants, which led to the signing of the aforementioned Edict of Boulogne. Thus was the siege lifted. A year to the day after the commencement of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre, the last Sancerrean left the city freely, and shortly thereafter Châtre entered in triumph of sorts. One of the most horrific sieges in modern history ended in God's providence with mercy to its heroic citizens, if not the city's fortifications, which were leveled by Châtre. The courage of the Huguenot Sancerreans, and all those who suffered for the name of Jesus and the sake of the Protestant religion in France, must not be forgot.

French Witness in Brazil

The Psalms resonate with all of God's creatures. Case in point, Jean de Léry was a missionary sent in 1556 by the Church of Geneva to the fledgling Huguenot colony at what is now Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, known as France Antarctique, who recorded his adventures in Histoire d'un voyage faict en la terre du Brésil (History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil) (1578). One anecdote concerns a trip he took with some of the local Tupi Indians. He writes (p. 149):

I do recall, however, another example that I will put forth here, showing that these nations of savage living in the land of Brazil are teachable enough to be drawn to the knowledge of God, if one were to take the trouble to instruct them. One day, going from our island to the mainland to get provisions, I was accompanied by two of our Tupinikin savages and by another of the nation called Oueanen (which is their ally), who had come with his wife to visit his friends and was returning to his own land. As I was passing with them through a great forest, contemplating so many different trees, grasses, and flowers, all green and fragrant, and hearing the songs of the countless birds warbling through the woods in the sunlight, and I felt impelled to praise God, and feeling gay of heart, I began to sing aloud Psalm 104, "Bless the Lord, O my soul." My three savages and the woman who walked behind me took such delight in it (that is, in the sound, for they understood nothing of the rest) that when I had finished, the Oueanen, stirred with joy, his face beaming, came forward and said to me, "Truly you have sung wonderfully; your resounding song has recalled to me that of a nation that is our neighbor and ally, and I have been filled with joy at hearing you. But we understand their language, and not yours: therefore I entreat you to tell us what your song was about." So I explained to him as best I could (I was on my way to join two of my countrymen at the place where I was to spend the night, and I was the only Frenchman present) that I had in general praised my God for the beauty and governance of his creatures, and in particular I had attributed to him this: that it was he alone who nourished all men and all animals, and made the trees, fruits, and plants grow throughout the whole world; moreover, that this song I had just sung, dictated by the spirit of this magnificent God whose name I had celebrated, had first been sung more than ten thousand moons ago (for that is their way of counting) by one of our great prophets, who had left it to posterity to be used to that same end. They are wonderfully attentive to what you say to them, and will never interrupt you, so that, as they made their way, it was more than half an hour after hearing this discourse that -- using their interjection of amazement, "Teh!" -- they said, "O you Mairs (that is, Frenchmen) how fortunate you are to know so many secrets that are hidden from us poor wretches!" And to compliment me, saying "Here, because you have sung so well," he made me a present of an agouti that he was carrying, which I have described along with other animals in Chapter X.

First Protestant Confession of Faith in the New World

The first Protestant colony in the New World was known as La France Antarctique, at the site of what is now known as Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was settled by French Huguenots under the direction of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny in 1555 and came to an end when destroyed by the Portuguese in 1567. The colony itself was led by Nicholas Durand de Villegaignon, who for his treachery against the Reformed later came to be known as the "Cain of America." Jean de Léry wrote a fascinating account of his interactions with the local Tupinamba Indians, entitled History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil. In 1559, pastors were sent to minister to the colony by John Calvin. But by this time, Villegaignon was beginning to show his true colors. The persecution suffered by the Huguenots, including Jean du Bourdel, Matthieu Verneuil, Pierre Bourdon and André la Fon, gave rise to a 1559 Confession of Faith, written by the aforementioned in response to queries from Villegaignon, known as the Guanabara Confession, or Martyrs' Confession, that was the first Protestant Confession of Faith written in the New World. Within 12 hours after it was written, its authors were executed by Villegaignon. The Confession was recorded by de Léry, brought back to Europe and published by Jean Crespin. The Guanabara Confession is due to be included in the forthcoming second volume of James T. Dennison, Jr.'s series of Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation.