ined the royal
army seven weeks before the walls, and seeing no hope of relief,
surrendered on the same conditions that had before been agreed on.
Its capture had cost the Duc d'Anjou 6000 men, about half of whom
had fallen by disease, the rest in the assaults; and the delay had
entirely defeated the object of the campaign.

The gates were opened, and the little body of defenders marched
out, with colours flying. One of the conditions of surrender had
been that they should not serve again during the war.

The Duc d'Aumale, and other officers, endeavoured to ensure the
observance of the condition of their safe conduct through the
Catholic lines; but the soldiers, furious at seeing the handful of
men who had inflicted such loss upon them going off in safety,
attacked them, and nearly a hundred were killed--a number equal to
the loss they had suffered throughout the whole siege. De Piles
with the rest were, by their own exertions and those of some of the
Catholic leaders, enabled to make their way through, and rode to
Angouleme.

There De Piles sent a letter demanding the severe punishment of
those who had broken the terms of the surrender; but, no attention
having been paid to his demand, he sent a herald to the king to
declare that, in consequence of the breach of the conditions, he
and those with him considered themselves absolved from their
undertaking not to carry arms during the war; and he then rode
away, with his followers, to join the Admiral.

The French army rapidly fell to pieces. With winter at hand, it was
in vain to attempt the siege of La Rochelle. Philip of Spain and
the pope ordered the troops they had supplied to return home,
alleging that the victory of Moncontour, of which they had received
the most exaggerated reports, had virtually terminated the war. The
German and Swiss troops were allowed to leave the service, and the
nobles and their retainers were granted permission to do the same,
until the spring. Thus the whole fruits of the victory of
Moncontour were annihilated by the heroic defence of Saint Jean
d'Angely.

In the meantime, the Admiral had been moving south. In order to cross
the rivers he had marched westward, and so made a circuit to Montauban,
the stronghold of the Huguenots in the south. Moving westward he joined
the Count of Montgomery at Aiguillon, and returned with him to Montauban,
where he received many reinforcements; until his army amounted to some
twenty-one thousand men