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 silting.

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.
In the mid-twelfth century, a Cistercian monastery was founded on the isle, where the Abbot Isaac of Stella sojourned amid the Becket controversy.

The island became English in 1154, when Eleanor of 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.
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 silting.
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. In the mid-twelfth century, a Cistercian monastery was founded on the isle, where the Abbot Isaac of Stella sojourned amid the Becket controversy.
The island became English in 1154, when Eleanor of 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.
Île de Ré