In the 15th century, the site of Saint-Tropez, at the bottom of a deserted gulf devastated by invasions and by the plague, was repopulated, rebuilt, and fortified by order of King René by an Italian gentleman, Raphaël de Garezzio, who brought twenty-one Genoese families there. In return for the defense and protection of the city, the inhabitants were free from taxes and levies. In 1558, the King granted them the right to raise an army which, placed under the authority of a city captain, chased off twenty-one Spanish galleys in 1637. In 1672, the privileges of the inhabitants of Saint-Tropez were abrogated by Louis XIV, who installed a royal garrison in the citadel.