During Roman times, Île de Ré was an archipelago consisting of three small islands. The space between the islands was progressively filled by a combination of human activity (salt fields gained from the sea) and siltage.
In the seventh and eighth centuries the island, along with Oléron, formed the Vacetae Insulae or Vacetian Islands, according to the Cosmographia.Since Vaceti is another name for the Vascones, this reference is evidence of Basque (Gascon) settlement or control of the islands by that date. In 745, Hunald the Duke of Aquitaine retired to a monastery on the island.
The island became English in 1154, when Alienor d'Aquitaine became queen of England through her marriage with Henry Plantagenet. The island reverted to France in 1243, when Henry III of England returned it to Saint Louis through a treaty. In 1360, however, with the Treaty of Bretigny, Île de Ré briefly became English again, until the 1370s.
Capture of Ré island (1625)
In February 1625, the Protestant Soubise led a Huguenot revolt against the French king Louis XIII, and after publishing a manifesto, invaded and occupied the island of Ré He seized Ré with 300 soldiers and 100 sailors. From there he sailed up to Brittany, where he led his successful attack on the royal fleet in Blavet, although he could not take the fort after a three-week siege. Soubise then returned to Ré with 15 ships and soon occupied the Ile d'Oléron as well, thus giving him command of the Atlantic coast from Nantes to Bordeaux. Through these actions, he was recognized as the head of the reform, and named himself "Admiral of the Protestant Church". A few months later, in September 1625, Charles, Duke of Guise organized a landing in order to recapture the islands, with the support of the Dutch (20 ships and English navies. The fleet of La Rochelle was defeated, as was Soubise with 3,000 when he led a counter-attack against the royal troops who had landed on the island. The island
