On 12 July 1627, an English force of 100 ships and 6,000 soldiers,[1] having previously departed from Plymouth Sound,[5] under the command of the Duke of Buckingham invaded the Île de Ré, landing at the beach of Sablanceau, with the objective of controlling the approaches to La Rochelle and encouraging rebellion in the city.

[6] A Royal French force of 1,200 infantry and 200 horsemen under the Marquis de Toiras, the island's Governor, resisted the landing from behind the dunes, but the English beachhead was maintained, with over 12 officers and 100 men killed.

[7] The French, despite difficulties, managed to get small amounts of supplies through to the defenders throughout the siege – in August, Cardinal Richelieu offered a reward of 30,000 livres to the first ship captain to deliver 50 barrels of corn, flour, or biscuits to the citadel.

[10] On 27 October Buckingham attempted a last desperate attack on Saint Martin,[11] but the English ladders turned out to be too short to scale the walls, and the fortress again proved impregnable.

[8] Although there were indications that the Saint Martin French garrison was also close to exhaustion, Buckingham finally retreated with his troops towards the northern part of the island, with the objective of embarking from the area of Loix.

Following these defeats, England would end its involvement with the Thirty Years War by negotiating peace treaties with France in 1629 and with Spain in 1630, to the dismay of Protestant forces on the continent.