Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis , " cardinal - duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac " ( ; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642 ) was a French clergyman , noble and statesman . Consecrated as a bishop in 1608 , he later entered politics , becoming a Secretary of State in 1616 . Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic Church and the French government , becoming a Cardinal in 1622 , and King Louis XIII ' s chief minister in 1624 . He remained in office until his death in 1642 ; he was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin , whose career he had fostered . The Cardinal de Richelieu was often known by the title of the King ' s " Chief Minister " or " First Minister " . As a result , he is considered to be the world ' s first Prime Minister , in the modern sense of the term . He sought to consolidate royal power and crush domestic factions . By restraining the power of the nobility , he transformed France into a strong , centralized state . His chief foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austro - Spanish Habsburg dynasty , and to ensure French dominance in the Thirty Years ' War that engulfed Europe . Although he was a cardinal , he did not hesitate to make alliances with Protestant rulers in attempting to achieve his goals . Richelieu was also famous for his patronage of the arts ; most notably , he founded the Académie Française , the learned society responsible for matters pertaining to the French language . Richelieu is also known by the sobriquet " l ' Éminence rouge " ( " the Red Eminence " ) , from the red shade of a cardinal ' s clerical dress and the style " eminence " as a cardinal . As an advocate for Samuel de Champlain and of the retention of New France , he founded the Compagnie des Cent - Associés and saw the Treaty of Saint - Germain - en - Laye return Quebec City to French rule under Champlain , after the settlement had been captured by the Kirkes in 1629 . This in part allowed the colony to eventually develop into the heartland of Francophone culture in North America . He is also a leading character in " The Three Musketeers " by Alexandre Dumas , père and its subsequent film adaptations , portrayed as a main antagonist , and a powerful ruler , even more powerful than the King himself , though events like the Day of the Dupes show that in fact he very much depended on the King ' s confidence to keep this power . Early life . Born in Paris , Armand du Plessis was the fourth of five children and the last of three sons : he was delicate from childhood , and suffered frequent bouts of ill - health throughout his life . His family , although belonging only to the lesser nobility of Poitou , was somewhat prominent : his father , François du Plessis , seigneur de Richelieu , was a soldier and courtier , who served as the Grand Provost of France ; his mother , Susanne de La Porte , was the daughter of a famous jurist . When he was five years old , his father died fighting in the French Wars of Religion , leaving the family in debt ; with the aid of royal grant s , however , the family was able to avoid financial difficulties . At the age of nine , young Richelieu was sent to the College of Navarre in Paris to study philosophy . Thereafter , he began to train for a military career . His private life seems to have been typical of a young officer of the era : in 1605 , aged twenty , he was treated by Théodore de Mayerne for gonorrhea . King Henry III had rewarded Richelieu ' s father for his participation in the Wars of Religion by granting his family the bishopric of Luçon . The family appropriated most of the revenues of the bishopric for private use ; they were , however , challenged by clergymen , who desired the funds for ecclesiastical purposes . In order to protect the important source of revenue , Richelieu ' s mother proposed to make her second son , Alphonse , the bishop of Luçon . Alphonse , who had no desire to become a bishop , became instead a Carthusian monk . Thus , it became necessary that the younger Richelieu join the clergy . He had strong academic interests , and threw himself into studying for his new post . In 1606 King Henry IV nominated Richelieu to become Bishop of Luçon . As Richelieu had not yet reached the official minimum age , it was necessary that he journey to Rome for a special dispensation from the Pope . This secured , Richelieu was consecrated bishop in April 1607 . Soon after he returned to his diocese in 1608 , Richelieu was heralded as a reformer . He became the first bishop in France to implement the institutional reforms prescribed by the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1563 . At about this time , Richelieu became a friend of François Leclerc du Tremblay ( better known as " " Père Joseph " " or " Father Joseph " ) , a Capuchin friar , who would later become a close confidant . Because of his closeness to Richelieu , and the grey colour of his robes , Father Joseph was also nicknamed " l ' Éminence grise " ( " the Grey Eminence " ) . Later , Richelieu often used him as an agent during diplomatic negotiations . Rise to power . In 1614 , the clergymen of Poitou asked Richelieu to be one of their representatives to the States - General . There , he was a vigorous advocate of the Church , arguing that it should be exempt from taxes and that bishops should have more political power . He was the most prominent clergyman to support the adoption of the decrees of the Council of Trent throughout France ; the Third Estate ( commoners ) was his chief opponent in this endeavour . At the end of the assembly , the First Estate ( the clergy ) chose him to deliver the address enumerating its petitions and decisions . Soon after the dissolution of the Estates - General , Richelieu entered the service of King Louis XIII ' s wife , Anne of Austria , as her almoner . Richelieu advanced politically by faithfully serving the Queen - Mother ' s favourite , Concino Concini , the most powerful minister in the kingdom . In 1616 , Richelieu was made Secretary of State , and was given responsibility for foreign affairs . Like Concini , the Bishop was one of the closest advisors of Louis XIII ' s mother , Marie de Médicis . The Queen had become Regent of France when the nine - year old Louis ascended the throne ; although her son reached the legal age of majority in 1614 , she remained the effective ruler of the realm . However , her policies , and those of Concini , proved unpopular with many in France . As a result , both Marie and Concini became the targets of intrigues at court ; their most powerful enemy was Charles de Luynes . In April 1617 , in a plot arranged by Luynes , King Louis XIII ordered that Concini be arrested , and killed should he resist ; Concini was consequently assassinated , and Marie de Médicis overthrown . His patron having died , Richelieu also lost power ; he was dismissed as Secretary of State , and was removed from the court . In 1618 , the King , still suspicious of the Bishop of Luçon , banished him to Avignon . There , Richelieu spent most of his time writing ; he composed a catechism entitled " L ' Instruction du chrétien " . In 1619 , Marie de Médicis escaped from her confinement in the Château de Blois , becoming the titular leader of an aristocratic rebellion . The King and the duc de Luynes recalled Richelieu , believing that he would be able to reason with the Queen . Richelieu was successful in this endeavour , mediating between her and her son . Complex negotiations bore fruit when the Treaty of Angoulême was ratified ; Marie de Médicis was given complete freedom , but would remain at peace with the King . The Queen - Mother was also restored to the royal council . After the death of the King ' s favourite , the duc de Luynes , in 1621 , Richelieu began to rise to power quickly . Next year , the King nominated Richelieu for a cardinalate , which Pope Gregory XV accordingly granted on 19 April 1622 . Crises in France , including a rebellion of the Huguenots , rendered Richelieu a nearly indispensable advisor to the King . After he was appointed to the royal council of ministers on 29 April 1624 , he intrigued against the chief minister , Charles , duc de La Vieuville . On 12 August of the same year , La Vieuville was arrested on charges of corruption , and Cardinal Richelieu took his place as the King ' s principal minister the following day , although Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld nominally remained president of the council ( Richelieu was officially appointed as president in November 1629 ) . Chief minister . Cardinal Richelieu ' s policy involved two primary goals : centralization of power in France and opposition to the Habsburg dynasty ( which ruled in both Austria and Spain ) . Shortly after he became Louis ' principal minister , he was faced with a crisis in Valtellina , a valley in Lombardy ( northern Italy ) . In order to counter Spanish designs on the territory , Richelieu supported the Protestant Swiss canton of Grisons , which also claimed the strategically important valley . The Cardinal deployed troops to Valtellina , from which the Pope ' s garrisons were driven out . Richelieu ' s early decision to support a Protestant canton against the Pope was a foretaste of the purely diplomatic power politics he would espouse in his foreign policy . In order to further consolidate power in France , Richelieu sought to suppress the influence of the feudal nobility . In 1626 , he abolished the position of Constable of France and ordered all fortified castles to be razed , excepting only those needed to defend against invaders . Thus , he stripped the princes , dukes , and lesser aristocrats of important defences that could have been used against the King ' s armies during rebellions . As a result , Richelieu was hated by most of the nobility . Another obstacle to the centralization of power was religious division in France . The Huguenots , one of the largest political and religious factions in the country , controlled a significant military force , and were in rebellion . Moreover , the King of England , Charles I , declared war on France in an attempt to aid the Huguenot faction . In 1627 , Richelieu ordered the army to besiege the Huguenot stronghold of La Rochelle ; the Cardinal personally commanded the besieging troops . English troops under the Duke of Buckingham led an expedition to help the citizens of La Rochelle , but failed abysmally . The city , however , remained firm for over a year before capitulating in 1628 . Although the Huguenots suffered a major defeat at La Rochelle , they continued to fight , led by Henri , duc de Rohan . Protestant forces , however , were defeated in 1629 ; Rohan submitted to the terms of the Peace of Alais . As a result , religious toleration for Protestants , which had first been granted by the Edict of Nantes in 1598 , was permitted to continue , but the Cardinal abolished their political rights and protections . Rohan was not executed ( as were leaders of rebellions later in Richelieu ' s tenure ) ; in fact , he later became a commanding officer in the French army . Habsburg Spain exploited the French conflict with the Huguenots to extend its influence in northern Italy . It funded the Huguenot rebels in order to keep the French army occupied , meanwhile expanding its Italian dominions . Richelieu , however , responded aggressively ; after La Rochelle capitulated , he personally led the French army to northern Italy to restrain Spain . In the next year , Richelieu ' s position was seriously threatened by his former patron , Marie de Médicis . Marie believed that the Cardinal had robbed her of her political influence ; thus , she demanded that her son dismiss the chief minister . Louis XIII was not , at first , averse to such a course of action , as he personally disliked Richelieu . The persuasive statesman convinced his master of the wisdom in his plans , however . On 11 November 1630 , Marie de Médicis and the King ' s brother , Gaston , duc d ' Orléans , secured the King ' s agreement for the dismissal . Richelieu , however , was aware of the plan , and quickly convinced the King to repent . This day , known as the Day of the Dupes , was the only one on which Louis XIII took a step toward dismissing his minister . Thereafter , the King was unwavering in his political support for him ; the courtier was created duc de Richelieu and was made a Peer of France . Meanwhile , Marie de Médicis was exiled to Compiègne . Both Marie and the duc d ' Orléans continued to conspire against Richelieu , but their schemes came to nothing . The nobility , also , remained powerless . The only important rising was that of Henri , duc de Montmorency in 1632 ; Richelieu , ruthless in suppressing opposition , ordered the duke ' s execution . Richelieu ' s harsh measures were designed to intimidate his enemies . He also ensured his political security by establishing a large network of spies in France as well as in other European countries . Thirty Years ' War . Before Richelieu ' s ascent to power , most of Europe had become involved in the Thirty Years ' War ( 1618 – 1648 ) . France was not openly at war with the Habsburgs , who ruled Spain and the Holy Roman Empire , so subsidies and aid were given secretly to their adversaries . He subsidized the Dutch to fight against the Spanish via the Treaty of Compiègne in 1624 . That same year , a military expedition , secretly financed by France and commanded by Marquis de Coeuvres , liberated the Valtelline of Spanish occupation . In 1625 Richelieu also sent money to Ernst von Mansfeld , a famous mercenary general operating in Germany in English service . However , in 1626 , he made peace with Spain via the Treaty of Monçon . This peace quickly broke after tensions due to the War of Mantuan Succession . In 1629 , the Emperor Ferdinand II subjugated many of his Protestant opponents in Germany . Richelieu , alarmed by Ferdinand ' s influence , incited Sweden to intervene , providing money . In the meantime , France and Spain remained hostile over Spain ' s ambitions in northern Italy . At that time northern Italy was a major strategic item in Europe ' s balance of powers , serving as a link between the Habsburgs in the Empire and in Spain . Had the imperial armies dominated this region , France ' s very existence would have been endangered , as it would have been encircled by Habsburg territories . Spain was seeking papal approval for a universal monarchy . When , in 1630 , French ambassadors in Regensburg agreed to make peace with Spain , Richelieu refused to uphold them . The agreement would have prohibited French interference in Germany . Thus , Richelieu advised Louis XIII to refuse to ratify the treaty . In 1631 , he allied France to Sweden , who had just invaded the empire , in the Treaty of Bärwalde . Military expenses put a considerable strain on the King ' s revenues . In response , Richelieu raised the " gabelle " ( salt tax ) and the " taille " ( land tax ) . The " taille " was enforced to provide funds to raise armies and wage war . The clergy , nobility , and high bourgeoisie were either exempt or could easily avoid payment , so the burden fell on the poorest segment of the nation . To collect taxes more efficiently , and to keep corruption to a minimum , Richelieu bypassed local tax officials , replacing them with " intendant s " ( officials in the direct service of the Crown ) . Richelieu ' s financial scheme , however , caused unrest among the peasants ; there were several uprisings in 1636 to 1639 . Richelieu crushed the revolts violently , and dealt with the rebels harshly . Because he openly aligned France with Protestant powers , Richelieu was denounced by many as a traitor to the Roman Catholic Church . Military hostilities , at first , were disastrous for the French , with many victories going to Spain and the Empire . Neither side , however , could obtain a decisive advantage , and the conflict lingered on until after Richelieu ' s death . Richelieu was instrumental in redirecting the 30 Years ' War from the conflict of Protestantism versus Catholicism to that of nationalism versus Habsburg hegemony . In this conflict France effectively drained the already overstretched resources of the Habsburg empire and drove it inexorably towards bankruptcy . The defeat of Habsburg forces at the Battle of Lens , and their failure to prevent French invasion of Catalonia effectively spelled the end for Habsburg domination of the continent , and Olivares ' personal career . Indeed , in the subsequent years it would be France , under the leadership of Louis XIV , who would attempt to fill the vacuum left by the Habsburgs in the Spanish Netherlands , and supplant Spain as the dominant European power . Last years . Towards the end of his life , Richelieu alienated many people , including Pope Urban VIII . Richelieu was displeased by the Pope ' s refusal to name him the papal legate in France ; in turn , the Pope did not approve of the administration of the French church , or of French foreign policy . However , the conflict was largely healed when the Pope granted a cardinalate to Jules Mazarin , one of Richelieu ' s foremost political allies , in 1641 . Despite troubled relations with the Roman Catholic Church , Richelieu did not support the complete repudiation of papal authority in France , as was advocated by the Gallicanists . As he neared his death , Richelieu faced a plot that threatened to remove him from power . The cardinal had introduced a young man named Henri Coiffier de Ruzé , marquis de Cinq - Mars to Louis XIII ' s court . The Cardinal had been a friend of Cinq - Mars ' father . More importantly , Richelieu hoped that Cinq - Mars would become Louis ' favourite , so that he could indirectly exercise greater influence over the monarch ' s decisions . Cinq - Mars had become the royal favourite by 1639 , but , contrary to Cardinal Richelieu ' s belief , he was not easy to control . The young marquis realized that Richelieu would not permit him to gain political power . In 1641 , he participated in the comte de Soissons ' failed conspiracy against Richelieu , but was not discovered . Next year , he schemed with leading nobles ( including the King ' s brother , the duc d ' Orléans ) to raise a rebellion ; he also signed a secret agreement with the King of Spain , who promised to aid the rebels . Richelieu ' s spy service , however , discovered the plot , and the Cardinal received a copy of the treaty . Cinq - Mars was promptly arrested and executed ; although Louis approved the use of capital punishment , he grew more distant from Richelieu as a result . However , Richelieu was now dying . For many years he had suffered from recurrent fevers ( possibly malaria ) , strangury ( from the gonorrhoea he had caught as a teenager ) , intestinal tuberculosis with fistula , and migraine . Now his right arm was suppurating with tubercular osteitis , and he coughed blood ( after his death , his lungs were found to have extensive cavities and caseous necrosis ) . His doctors continued to bleed him frequently , further weakening him . As he felt his death approaching , he named as his successor Mazarin , one of his most faithful followers . Richelieu died on 4 December 1642 , aged 57 . His body was embalmed , and interred at the church of the Sorbonne . ( On hearing of Richelieu ' s death , Pope Urban is said to have remarked , " If there is a God , Richelieu will have much to answer for . If there is not , he lived a successful life . " ) During the French Revolution , the corpse was removed from its tomb , and the mummified front of his head , having been removed and replaced during the original embalming process , was stolen . It ended up in the possession of Nicholas Armez of Brittany by 1796 , and he occasionally exhibited the well - preserved face . His nephew , Louis - Philippe Armez , inherited it and also occasionally exhibited it and lent it out for study . In 1866 , Napoleon III persuaded Armez to return the face to the government for re - interment with the rest of Richelieu ' s body . An investigation of subsidence of the church floor enabled it to be photographed in 1895 . Arts and culture . Richelieu was a famous patron of the arts . Himself an author of various religious and political works ( most notably his " Political Testament " ) , he sent his agents abroad in search of books and manuscripts for his unrivaled library , which he specified in his will , leaving it to his great - nephew fully funded , should serve , not merely his family but to be open at fixed hours to scholars ; the manuscripts alone numbered some 900 , bound as codices in red Morocco with the cardinal ' s arms . The library was transferred to the Sorbonne in 1660 . He funded the literary careers of many writers . He was a lover of the theatre , which was not considered a respectable art form during that era ; a private theatre was a feature of the Palais - Cardinal . Among the individuals he patronized was the famous playwright Pierre Corneille . Richelieu was also the founder and patron of the Académie française , the pre - eminent French literary society . The institution had previously been in informal existence ; in 1635 , however , Cardinal Richelieu obtained official letters patent for the body . The Académie française includes forty members , promotes French literature , and continues to be the official authority on the French language . Richelieu served as the Académie ' s " protector " ; since 1672 , that role has been fulfilled by the French head of state . In 1622 , Richelieu was elected the " proviseur " or principal of the Sorbonne . He presided over the renovation of the college ' s buildings , and over the construction of its famous chapel , where he is now entombed . As he was Bishop of Luçon , his statue stands outside the Luçon cathedral . Richelieu oversaw the construction of his own palace in Paris , the Palais - Cardinal . The palace , renamed the Palais Royal after Richelieu ' s death , now houses the French Constitutional Council , the Ministry of Culture , and the Conseil d ' État . The " Galerie de l ' avant - cour " had ceiling paintings by the Cardinal ' s chief portraitist , Philippe de Champaigne , celebrating the major events of the Cardinal ' s career ; the " Galerie des hommes illustres " had twenty - six historicizing portraits of great men , larger than life , from Abbot Suger to Louis XIII ; some were by Simon Vouet others were careful copies by Philippe de Champaigne from known portraits ; with them were busts of Roman emperors . Another series of portraits of authors complemented the library . The architect of the Palais - Cardinal , Jacques Lemercier , also received a commission to build a château and a surrounding town in Indre - et - Loire ; the project culminated in the construction of the Château Richelieu and the town of Richelieu . To the château , he added one of the largest art collections in Europe and the largest collection of ancient Roman sculpture in France . The heavily resurfaced and restored " Richelieu Bacchus " continued to be admired by neoclassical artists . Among his 300 paintings by moderns , most notably , he owned Leonardo ' s " Virgin and Child with Saint Anne " , " The Family of the Virgin " by Andrea del Sarto , the two famous " Bacchanales " of Nicolas Poussin , as well as paintings by Veronese and Titian , and " Diana at the Bath " by Rubens , for which he was so glad to pay the artist ' s heirs 3 , 000 " écus " , that he made a gift to Rubens ' widow of a diamond - encrusted watch . His marble portrait bust by Bernini was not considered a good likeness and was banished to a passageway . The fittings of his chapel in the Palais - Cardinal , for which Simon Vouet executed the paintings , were of solid gold — crucifix , chalice , patten , ciborium , candelsticks — set with 180 rubies and 9 , 000 diamonds . His taste also ran to massive silver , small bronzes and works of " vertu " , enamels and rock crystal mounted in gold , Chinese porcelains , tapestries and Persian carpets , cabinets from Italy and Antwerp and the heart - shaped diamond bought from Alphonse Lopez that he willed to the king . when the Palais - Cardinal was complete , he donated it to the Crown , in 1636 . With the Queen in residence , the paintings of the " Grand Cabinet " were transferred to Fontainebleau and replaced by copies , and the interiors were subjected to much rearrangement . Michelangelo ' s two " Slaves " were among the rich appointments of the château Richelieu , where there were the Nativity triptych by Dürer and paintings by Mantegna , Lorenzo Costa and Perugino , lifted from the Gonzaga collection at Mantua by French military forces in 1630 , as well as numerous antiquities . Legacy . Richelieu ' s tenure was a crucial period of reform for France . Earlier , the nation ' s political structure was largely feudal , with powerful nobles and a wide variety of laws in different regions . Parts of the nobility periodically conspired against the King , raised private armies , and allied themselves with foreign powers . This system gave way to centralized power under Richelieu . Local and even religious interests were subordinated to those of the whole nation , and of the embodiment of the nation — the King . Equally critical for France was Richelieu ' s foreign policy , which helped restrain Habsburg influence in Europe . Richelieu did not survive until the end of the Thirty Years ' War . However , the conflict ended in 1648 , with France emerging in a far better position than any other power , and the Holy Roman Empire entering a period of decline . Richelieu ' s successes were extremely important to Louis XIII ' s successor , King Louis XIV . He continued Richelieu ' s work of creating an absolute monarchy ; in the same vein as the Cardinal , he enacted policies that further suppressed the once - mighty aristocracy , and utterly destroyed all remnants of Huguenot political power with the Edict of Fontainebleau . Moreover , Louis took advantage of his nation ' s success during the Thirty Years ' War to establish French hegemony in continental Europe . Thus , Richelieu ' s policies were the requisite prelude to Louis XIV becoming the most powerful monarch , and France the most powerful nation , in all of Europe during the late seventeenth century . Richelieu is also notable for the authoritarian measures he employed to maintain power . He censored the press , established a large network of internal spies , forbade the discussion of political matters in public assemblies such as the Parlement de Paris ( a court of justice ) , and had those who dared to conspire against him prosecuted and executed . The Canadian historian and philosopher John Ralston Saul has referred to Richelieu as the " father of the modern nation - state , modern centralised power [ and ] the modern secret service . " Richelieu ' s motives are the focus of much debate among historians ; some see him as a patriotic supporter of the monarchy , while others view him as a power - hungry cynic ( Voltaire even argued that Richelieu started wars to make himself indispensable to the King ) . The latter image gained further currency due to Alexandre Dumas ' " The Three Musketeers " , of which Richelieu is a major character and one of the main villains . The novel , and subsequent film adaptations , depicts Richelieu as a power - hungry , unscrupulous , and avaricious minister . Despite such arguments , Richelieu remains an honoured personality in France , particularly for his stubborn refusal to let courtly intrigues and foreign interests dominate the government . He has given his name to a battleship and a battleship class . The French government planned to use his name for an aircraft carrier but the ship was finally named after Charles de Gaulle . His legacy is also important for the world at large ; his ideas of a strong nation - state and aggressive foreign policy helped create the modern system of international politics . The notions of national sovereignty and international law can be traced , at least in part , to Richelieu ' s policies and theories , especially as enunciated in the Treaty of Westphalia that ended the Thirty Years ' War . One aspect of his legacy which has remained less renowned is his involvement with Samuel de Champlain , and his fledgling colony along the St . Lawrence River . The retention and promotion of Canada under Richelieu allowed it — and through the settlement ' s strategic location , the St . Lawrence – Great Lakes gateway into the North American interior — to develop into a French empire in North America — parts of which would eventually become modern Canada and Louisiana . Film portrayals . As of April 2013 , the International Movie Database lists ninety - four films and television programs in which Cardinal Richelieu is a character . Richelieu is one of the clergymen most frequently portrayed in film , notably in the many versions of Alexandre Dumas ' s " The Three Musketeers " . He is usually portrayed as a sinister character , but the 1950 " Cyrano de Bergerac " showed him ( in a scene " not " from Rostand ' s original verse drama ) , as compassionate to Cyrano ' s financial plight , and playfully having enjoyed the duel at the theatre . " Cardinal Richelieu " , a semi - fictional treatment of incidents in his career was made in 1935 with George Arliss in the role . It was based on the play , " Richelieu " , by Edward Bulwer - Lytton , which had Richelieu utter the famous line , " The pen is mightier than the sword . " Raymond Massey played Richelieu in " Under the Red Robe " ( 1937 ) , based on Stanley J . Weyman ' s swashbuckling novel of the same title . Poet Christopher Logue portrayed Richelieu in the Ken Russell film , " The Devils " ( 1971 ) , based on Aldous Huxley ' s " The Devils of Loudun " . He is depicted as cruel and scheming , the true power behind the throne , and also as wheelchair - bound , although at the time of the events depicted , Richelieu was not bed - ridden , as he later became . Christoph Waltz played Richelieu in the 2011 film " The Three Musketeers " . Other portrayals include : Honors . Many sites and landmarks were named to honor Cardinal Richelieu . They include :