To protect his rich and strategic lands in France, the English king, Richard the Lionheart, decided to build an impregnable castle to bar the route along the Seine, thus asserting his supremacy in Normandy. Four years later, France’s King Philip besieged the site at the head of an army of 6,000 men.

La Rochelle. It's hard to believe that 400 years ago, this popular seaside destination was the scene of one of the bloodiest sieges in the history of France, and for the Catholic King, Louis XIII, it was the last stronghold needing to be abolished before he could reign fully over the country.

It is the most striking event in the Hundred Year War. Between 1428 and 1429, Orleans was subject to a violent and pitiless siege. Hidden away in the extraordinary walled enclosure, for 7 months, the French resisted an English army that was bent on conquering this strategic city on the Loire River.