SOUBISE, BENJAMIN DE ROHAN, SEIGNEUR DE

(lord of) born 1583, La Rochelle, France died Oct. 9, 1642, London, Eng. French Huguenot leader, younger brother of Henri, duc de Rohan. Soubise apprenticed as a soldier under Prince Maurice of Orange-Nassau in the Low Countries. In the Huguenot rebellions that rocked France in the 1620s, his elder brother chiefly commanded the Huguenots' forces on land and in the south, while Soubise commanded those in the west and along the seacoast. His exploits in the conflict have been sympathetically related by his brother, who, if he was not quite an impartial witness, was one of the best military critics of the time. Soubise's most impressive exploit was a singularly bold and well-conducted attack (in 1625) on the Royalist fleet in the River Blavet and the occupation of Olron. He commanded the Huguenots' defense of La Rochelle during the Royalists' famous siege. When surrender became inevitable, he fled to England, which he had previously visited in quest of succour.