La Rochelle, formerly hôtel de Marsan, belonging to the Duchesse de Rohan © Musée Rochelais d'Histoire Protestante
The Marsan Hotel was totally rebuilt after 1770 by Carré de Condé, treasurer of France. It is a witness to the presence of Catherine de Parthenay, duchess of Rohan, mother of Henri II de Rohan and Benjamin de Soubise. She lived there with her daughter Anne from 1626 to 1628 throughout the Grand siege during which her courage and her faith made her ‘the soul of the resistance of La Rochelle’.
Before the end of the siege, Louis XIII gave the house to the Capucins to build a monastery. On the day after the surrender of La Rochelle, Father Joseph celebrated mass with the king attending, while Madame de Rohan and her daughter Anne were escorted to Niort. They remained prisoners there until 1629, until the peace of the ‘Grâce d’Alès’ was signed.
Musée virtuel du protestantisme