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Siege of Fort Crozon

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
Date1 October – 19 November 1594
Location
Present day Pointe des Espagnols, France
48°20′24.57″N 4°32′6.95″W / 48.3401583°N 4.5352639°W / 48.3401583; -4.5352639
Result Anglo-French victory[1][2]
Belligerents
 England
Kingdom of France		  Spain
Commanders and leaders
Jean VI d'Aumont
Kingdom of England John Norreys
Kingdom of England Martin Frobisher †		 Spain Tomé de Paredes  †
Spain Juan del Águila
Strength
Kingdom of England 3,000 troops,
10 ships & 1,200 sailors
3,000 infantry,
300 cavalry & 400 knights[3][4]		 Spain 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]

  1. ^ MacCaffrey p 193 One decisive victory which ensured the Spanish would not be able to establish an independent base in the province
  2. ^ Loades p 286 Although small scale the victory would prove decisive
  3. ^ a b McFee pp.264-67
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b Nolan pp 215-17
  6. ^ a b Wernham pp 533-47
  7. ^ a b Loades p 284-86
  8. ^ Fissel pp 229-30
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ MacCaffrey p.193

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