La Rochelle - dagenais

Figure 12 D'Artagnan and the Three Musketeers in La Rochelle
The effects of the siege on the Dagenais family are not known, but because of the
widespread destruction in the city and the severe reduction of its population, much of
their lives probably had to be rebuilt. Still, Catholic forces had triumphed, and the simple
fact that that they had remained Catholic in a Huguenot stronghold probably worked
significantly in their favor. Most of the remaining Huguenots, in fact, eventually fled the
city for Holland, England, or the New World. (Some would found the city of New
Rochelle in the English colony of New York.) Merchants like Renaud Dagenais may
well have been left in an advantageous commercial situation in the devastated city as a
result.
Into this time of extreme strife but also apparent opportunity, Renaud Dagenais’ two sons
were born. Civil birth records did not exist at the time, but their baptisms are on record at
Chapelle Sainte-Marguerite in La Rochelle. The elder, Simon, was baptized on 17
September 1632, followed by Pierre two years later on 17 August 1634. Like the
cathedral and the other four Catholic churches in La Rochelle, the Dagenais’ home
church of Saint-Sauveur had been largely destroyed by Huguenots in 1568, the stones
used to reinforce the city walls against attack. As a result, Catholic services for all
parishes in the city were held at the smaller Chapelle Sainte-Marguerite until 1665 and
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