Siege of Fuenterrabía (1638)

Coordinates: 43°22′00″N 1°48′00″W / 43.3667°N 1.8000°W

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Siege of Hondarribia

Part of the Thirty Years' War and the
Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659)

Etching depicting the 1638 battle

Date	June – September 1638
Location	Hondarribia, Gipuzkoa, Spain
Result	Spanish victory^[1]

Belligerents

France

Spain

Commanders and leaders

Henri de Bourbon

Henri de Sourdis

Bernard, Duke d'Épernon

Juan Alfonso de Cabrera

Strength

18,000 infantry
2,000 cavalry^[2]
20–30 warships
7,000 sailors

1,300 men^[2]
(Hondarribia)
15,000 infantry
500 cavalry^[2]
(Spanish Relief Army)

Casualties and losses

4,000 dead or wounded^[1]
2,000 captured^[1]

Unknown

Thirty Years' War

Bohemian Revolt (1618–1620)
Pilsen Lomnice Sablat Wisternitz Bautzen White Mountain Neu Titschein
Palatinate campaign (1620–1623)
Bad Kreuznach Oppenheim Bacharach Jülich Mingolsheim Wimpfen Höchst Bergen op Zoom Heidelberg Fleurus Mannheim Frankenthal Stadtlohn
Transylvanian invasions of Hungary (1619–1621, 1623–1624, 1626)
Humenné Érsekújvár Tyrnau [de] Hodonín Vlach uprisings
Danish intervention (1625–1629)
Breda Dessau Bridge Oldenzaal Lutter am Barenberge Groenlo Stralsund Wolgast 's-Hertogenbosch
Swedish intervention (1630–1635)
Swedish landing Frankfurt Magdeburg Werben 1st Breitenfeld Bamberg Rain Maastricht Nuremberg Wiesloch Alte Veste Fürth Lützen Oldendorf Pfaffenhofen Steinau Konstanz 1st Breisach 1st Rheinfelden Liegnitz [de] 1st Nördlingen Strasbourg Bridge
Swedish-French Period (1635–1648)
Les Avins Leuven Schenkenschans Ray-sur-Saône Dömitz [de] Haselünne [de] Raon Tornavento 2nd Magdeburg Somme Wittstock 2nd Breda Venlo Leipzig Hanau 2nd Rheinfelden Saint Omer Fuenterrabía Kallo Wittenweiher Thann [de] Vlotho 2nd Breisach 1st Freiberg Chemnitz Melnik Thionville Salses Cambrils Montjuïc Preßnitz Plauen La Marfée Dorsten Wolfenbüttel Kempen Honnecourt Schweidnitz 2nd Breitenfeld 2nd Freiberg Rocroi 1st Brno Tuttlingen Kolding Freiburg Philippsburg Jüterbog Bysjön Jankau 2nd Brno Mergentheim 2nd Nördlingen 3rd Hulst Korneuburg [de] Totenhöhe [de] Hohentübingen [de] Triebl Naples Zusmarshausen Wevelinghoven Lens Dachau [de] Prague
Naval battles
Gibraltar Genoa The Slaak 1st Saint Martin Lizard Point Dunkirk Channel The Downs Cape St. Vincent 2nd Saint Martin Lister Dyb Colberger Heide Fehmarn

_Treaties

Franco-Spanish War
(1635–1659)

Flanders and Northern France

Northern Spain and Southern France

Italy

France hinterland

The Fronde

Franche-Comté and Germany

Caribbean

Naval battles

The siege of Hondarribia of 1638 took place in June – September 1638, between Spain and France during the Thirty Years' War and the Franco-Spanish War (1635-1659).

The French army commanded by Henri de Bourbon, Prince of Condé, Bernard de La Valette, Duke d'Épernon and Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis^[3] composed of 27,000 men and several warships besieged the city for two months, firing 16,000 shells into the walled city, leaving only 300 survivors, most of them women and children. The city was virtually destroyed, but nevertheless did not surrender.

On 7 September, the Spanish army led by Juan Alfonso Enríquez de Cabrera, 9th Admiral of Castile, relieved the city and defeated the French forces. The raising of the siege is celebrated annually on 8 September in a parade, known as Alarde.

After the French disaster of Fuenterrabía (Hondarribia), Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis attempted to blame the defeat on Bernard de La Valette, Duke d'Épernon, who had refused to lead the attack, believing that it would fail.

For the successful resistance, the city received the title of «Muy noble, muy leal, muy valerosa y muy siempre fiel».

References

Collins, James B. (1995). The State in Early Modern France. Cambridge University Press.
Geoffrey Parker, Spain and the War, The Thirty Years' War London Routledge (1984).
Hondarribia: El Sitio de 1638. Auñamendi Entziklopedia

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Clave historial con que se abre la puerta a la historia eclesiástica y política (1742)
^ ^a ^b ^c Geoffrey Parker p.223 n.72
^ Collins 1995, p. 66.

External links

[1] Las fortificaciones de Fuenterrabía ante el Sitio de 1638.
[2] Clave historial con que se abre la puerta a la historia eclesiástica y política, 1742.
Official Website Information available in Spanish, Basque and English.

43°22′00″N 1°48′00″W / 43.3667°N 1.8000°W / 43.3667; -1.8000

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