Rethel

Rethel grew around the castle of its counts on a hill overlooking the Aisne. In 1357 Count Louis of Male began a continuous line of fortifications around the town, later strengthened and enlarged in 1444 as the settlement expanded beyond it. By the end of the sixteenth century Rethel was an important military place on France's northeastern frontier.

During the Fronde, Turenne, then allied with Spain, took Rethel in 1650. A royal army under Marshal du Plessis-Praslin besieged the town in December, and its Spanish garrison surrendered before Turenne's relief force arrived. The ensuing battle, fought some distance from Rethel, ended in a French royal victory. Condé captured the town in 1652; Turenne, by then fighting for the king, recovered it the following year.