The English having made themselves masters of La Rochelle, the
inhabitants of that important city did not endure the yoke without
impatience. They were only restrained by their fear of the military
who garrisoned the castle, which dominated over both the port and the
city. Jean Candorier, mayor of La Rochelle, proposed gaining possession
of it by a stratagem. “We shall easily do so, and to our honour,” said
he, “for Philip Monsel (the English commander) is not over cunning.”
Candorier invited Monsel to dine with him, and took the opportunity of
showing him an order which desired him, in his quality of mayor, to
review the garrison and the armed burgesses. This order was a fiction.
The English commander, like most warriors of the time, could neither
read nor write. Candorier showed the order so openly, and read it
with a confidence that might have imposed upon any one. On the day
appointed for the review, Monsel marched all his garrison out of the
castle, with the exception of about twelve men. Scarcely had he passed
the fortifications, than a body of armed citizens, placed in ambuscade
behind an old wall, got between him and the citadel, whilst a body of
two hundred men met him, in good order, in front. The English, finding
themselves surrounded, yielded at discretion. The inhabitants then
summoned the few left in the citadel to place it immediately in their
power. Their number was so small that they complied without hesitation.
Charles V. rewarded the Rochellois with great privileges.