God." The Prince of Conde had been commissioned to fight the valiant
chief of the Huguenots, "for that he was their sworn enemy," says the
cardinal. In the eyes of fervent Catholics the name of Conde had many
wrongs for which to obtain pardon.

The English were ignominiously defeated; the king was now confronted by
none but his revolted subjects; he resolved to blockade the place at all
points, so that it could not be entered by land or sea; and, to this end,
he claimed from Spain the fleet which had been promised him, and which
did not arrive. "The whole difficulty of this enterprise," said the
cardinal to the king, "lies in this, that the majority will only labor
therein in a perfunctory manner."

His ordinary penetration did not deceive him: the great lords intrusted
with commands saw with anxiety the increasing power of Richelieu. "You
will see," said Bassompierre, "that we shall be mad enough to take La
Rochelle." "His Majesty had just then many of his own kingdom and all
his allies sworn together against him, and so much the more dangerously
in that it was secretly. England at open war, and with all her maritime
power but lately on our coasts; the King of Spain apparently united to
his Majesty, yet, in fact, not only giving him empty words, but, under
cover of the emperor's name, making a diversion against him in the
direction of Germany. Nevertheless the king held firm to his resolve;
and then the siege of La Rochelle was undertaken with a will."

The old Duchess of Rohan (Catherine de Parthenay Larcheveque) had shut
herself up in La Rochelle with her daughter Anne de Rohan, as pious and
as courageous as her mother, and of rare erudition into the bargain; she
had hitherto refused to leave the town; but, when the blockade commenced,
she asked leave to retire with two hundred women. The town had already
been refused permission to get rid of useless mouths. "All the
Rochellese shall go out together," was the answer returned to Madame de
Rohan. She determined to undergo with her brethren in the faith all the
rigors of the siege. "Secure peace, complete victory, or honorable
death," she wrote to her son the Duke of Rohan: the old device of Jeanne
d'Albret, which had never been forgotten by the brave chief of the
Huguenots.

At the head of the burgesses of La Rochelle, as determined as the Duchess
of Rohan to secure their liberties or perish, was the president of the
board of marine, soon afterwards may