| Siege of Fort Crozon | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Anglo–Spanish War and the French Wars of Religion | |||||||
 Pointe des Espagnols – present day area where siege took place | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 England Kingdom of France |
 Spain | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Jean VI d'Aumont John Norreys Martin Frobisher † |
Tomé de Paredes † Juan del Águila | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
|
3,000 troops, 10 ships & 1,200 sailors 3,000 infantry,300 cavalry & 400 knights[3][4] |
400 (Crozon)[5], 4,000 (Relief)[6] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 700 killed & wounded or sick & dead to disease[7] |
(Crozon) 400; only 13 survivors [6] (relief) Unknown | ||||||
The siege of Fort Crozon or the siege of El Leon was a land and sea engagement that took place as part of Spain's Brittany campaign late in the French wars of religion and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).[8] The siege was fought between 1 October and 19 November 1594 and was conducted by English and French troops against a Spanish fort constructed on the Crozon Peninsula near Brest.[5] After a number of assaults were repelled, a Spanish relief force under Juan del Águila attempted to relieve the garrison, but it was delayed by French cavalry and could not reach the garrison in time.[9]
An assault by the English using a deceitful ruse ended the siege when the defenders were all but put to the sword.[3] The victory proved decisive in two ways. First, it denied the Spanish an important large independent base and port from which to operate in Brittany against the English and Dutch.[10] Second, the Spanish had lost most of their support from the French Catholic League, and as a result enabled the French king Henry IV to declare war on Spain.[7]
- ^ MacCaffrey p 193 One decisive victory which ensured the Spanish would not be able to establish an independent base in the province
- ^ Loades p 286 Although small scale the victory would prove decisive
- ^ a b McFee pp.264-67
- ^ List and Analysis of State Papers: Foreign Series: July, 1593-December, 1594 Vol 5. Public Record Office: Stationery Office Books. 1989. pp. 303–10. ISBN 9780114402181.
- ^ a b Nolan pp 215-17
- ^ a b Wernham pp 533-47
- ^ a b Loades p 284-86
- ^ Fissel pp 229-30
- ^ Cheyney, Edward Potts (1914). A History of England: From the Defeat of the Armada to the Death of Elizabeth; with an Account of English Institutions During the Later Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries, Volume 1. Longmans. pp. 300–03.
- ^ MacCaffrey p.193