In 1347, following a particularly long siege, the city of Calais was obliged to surrender to Edward III, the King of England. Six burghers, Eustache de Saint-Pierre, Jean d'Aire, Jacques and Pierre de Wissant, Jean de Fiennes, Andrieu d'Andres, were willing to sacrifice their lives and accepted to hand over the keys of the city to the King.
"It is the subject itself which (...) imposes a heroic vision of all six figures being sacrificed to one single communicative expression and feeling. The pedestal is triumphal, it has the rudiments of an arch of triumph intended to uphold, not a quadriga, but human patriotism, self-abnegation and virtue" (Rodin)