The Siege of La Rochelle by the Duke of Anjou in 1573

This anonymous tapestry, woven in 1623 and held at the Château ducal de Cadillac, depicts the siege of La Rochelle conducted in 1572-1573 by the Duke of Anjou — brother of Charles IX and future Henry III — against the Protestant stronghold that had become the Huguenots' headquarters after the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Begun on 11 February 1573, the siege dragged on for months against stubborn resistance, before being lifted on 6 July owing to the Duke of Anjou's unexpected election to the throne of Poland, which pressed him to leave the front to take up his new kingdom. The work illustrates the siege equipment and military operations deployed around the fortified port, offering a later but detailed testimony to one of the major episodes of the fourth War of Religion.