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The naval Battle of Tarragona of August 1641 took place between 20 – 25 August, 1641, between the Spanish and French fleets during the French stage of the Thirty Years' War.〔 The Spanish fleet, led by the Duke of Fernandina and the Duke of Maqueda broke the French naval blockade over Tarragona and defeated the French fleet under Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis,〔 forcing it to retreat.〔〔La Roncière p.82〕 The city was also besieged by land since April by a Franco-Catalan army commanded by Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt. The Spanish success in driving Sourdis out of the area, together with the arrival of a relief force sent by land, forced the Franco-Catalan army to leave the siege, and to retreat to Valls, pursued by the Spanish army.〔 The Spanish victory prevented the fall of Tarragona to the Franco-Catalan allies, for which Cardinal Richelieu deprived Sourdis of his office and replaced him by the young Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé, his nephew.〔La Roncière p.83〕 In spite of his success, the Duke of Fernandina was also dismissed from duty.〔 The Count-Duke of Olivares was dissatisfied because the Duke of Fernandina failed to destroy the French fleet, and imprisoned him.〔 The case was truly unusual: the two admirals, both the victor and the vanquished, had the same bitter reward. However, the ostracism of the French Admiral was final, while the Spanish Admiral was soon restored after the fall of Olivares in 1643, and even became part of the ''Council of the King of Spain''.〔Duro, p. 84–85〕 ==Background== On April 1641, the Catalan rebels and the French troops led by Marshal Philippe de La Mothe-Houdancourt sent to support them, launched an offensive to capture Tarragona, one of the few remaining Catalan towns in Spanish hands.〔Balaguer p.50〕 On 29 April, La Mothe was in front of Tarragona with his army, composed by 10,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, and laid siege to the town.〔Balaguer p.53〕 The French Mediterranean fleet, commanded by Henri d'Escoubleau de Sourdis, was deployed to support the land operations, and the French Admiral began a naval blockade of Tarragona.〔La Roncière p.75〕 Between 4 and 6 July, 1641, a large Spanish galley fleet led by the Duke of Fernandina attempted to break the French naval blockade over Tarragona. He succeeded at a heavy cost to introduce some relief into Tarragona, but failed to break the blockade.〔 ''For more details, see Naval Battle of Tarragona (July 1641)'' In response to the failure, Philip IV of Spain ordered to assemble a second, far bigger force, to force Sourdis to abandon his blockade and introduce soldiers and supplies into the town.〔Balaguer p.56〕 The command of this new fleet was entrusted to the Duke of Maqueda, who sailed from Cádiz on 20 July.〔Duro 83–85〕 The squadrons of Galicia and Dunkirk, and the galleys of Naples, Sicily and Genoa were gathered at Cartagena. The Duke of Fernandina joined this force with the remains of his fleet, increasing its strength to 30 or 35 galleons and frigates, 29 galleys and 65 transport ships full of supplies. At the dawn of August 20, they reached the waters of the besieged city.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Battle of Tarragona (August 1641)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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