Red Eminence: The Iron Will Of Cardinal Richelieu Home This Month Popular Red Eminence: The Iron Will Of Cardinal Richelieu Red Eminence: The Iron Will Of Cardinal Richelieu August 4, 2014 61 Comments History Of the many leadership traits, willpower has special significance. Difficult to describe, it is best illustrated by historical example, rather than by general discussion. That sustained application of effort over a long period of time, and that concentrated focus on ends in the face of myriad obstacles, are manifested in the life of Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu (1585-1642). Cardinal Richelieu was France’s most subtle, iron-willed, and ruthless statesman. He was will incarnate, and arguably more than any other, he was the maker of modern France. From an early age he showed an ability to grasp the essentials of a complicated situation and mold them to his advantage. His maternal grandfather had been a Parisian political figure, and his father, the Seigneur de Richelieu, had been Grand Provost of the Royal Household under Henry IV.

In an age when the titles of nobility meant far more than they do today, he made the most of his connections. His family had him nominated for the position of a bishopric in 1606, but he was only twenty one. The young lad then traveled to Rome and made a direct appeal to Pope Paul V; he charmed the pope by first lying about his age, and then by asking for forgiveness for his lie. Paul, not knowing whether to be angry or pleased, was won over by the audacity and keenness of the French youngster. He here demonstrated that remarkable ability to influence men of power, a skill he was to use to great effect throughout his long career. He discharged his duties as bishop with patient application and a probing intelligence that few of his contemporaries possessed. While others focused on enriching themselves with the spoils of office, Richelieu was more interested in advancement. He was nominated by his peers in 1614 to serve as delegate to the States-General; and from there it was but a short jump to be made secretary of state two years later with the help of Marie de Medicis (queen consort of Henry IV, and regent for her son Louis XIII).

He knew how to make himself indispensable to those holding the reins of power. But he was no mere court sycophant. His intellect and memory were second to none, and he had an quiet tenacity of purpose that preserved the ends, while permitting a remarkable flexibility of means. Frequently underestimated, he frustrated all who crossed swords with him. His fortunes temporarily fell when one of his allies in court was killed. The Queen Mother was banished along with Richelieu, and she soon joined an opposition faction. Richelieu, at the request of the new powers in court, managed to mediate the dispute between the parties and get her back into the king’s favor. Louis awarded him the position of cardinal, and from there he became prime minister in 1624 at the age of thirty nine. The working relationship of King Louis and Richelieu was so successful because each was aware of, and complemented, the qualities of the other. Too many kings err, Richelieu felt, in not letting themselves be served by their ministers. Although the king was always jealous of Richelieu’s abilities, he recognized that he could not do without him.

No one else had the will and means to keep the Huguenots in check, the French nobles in their place, and ambitious Spain at bay. Richelieu cared little about theology; his purpose was to make France a powerful, centralized state, and to this end, any means was permitted. He would confound many of his clerical colleagues in Rome by his ability to make alliances equally with Protestant as well as Catholic powers. But for him, the interests of France came first. The Cardinal at war: Richelieu at La Rochelle The siege of the city of La Rochelle shows Richelieu at his most tenacious. This Huguenot stronghold had become nearly an independent city, a situation no sovereign in Paris could tolerate. Richelieu assumed the role of military commander and, acting on behalf of the king, ordered a relentless blockade of the recalcitrant city. Showing an amazing grasp of siege warfare and engineering problems, he had the harbor sealed, and closed all land approaches to the city. The starving city surrendered after thirteen months of misery, and Richelieu entered in triumph on horseback. Yet his peace terms to the Huguenots thereafter were lenient and just.

He later explained that “differences in religion never prevented me from rendering to the Huguenots all sorts of good offices.” In an age of religious intolerance, it was a revolutionary view. He also put France’s arrogant nobility in its place. France at the time was still very feudal in character; the nobles in the provinces still maintained private armed forces, castles bristling with weapons, and courts of law. These semi-independent potentates could on a whim undermine the central authority in Paris. It was a situation that was impeding France’s national development, and Richelieu, with the tacit approval of the king, was determined to bring the aristocracy to heel. In 1626 he issued an order mandating the disarming of all private castles and fortresses, and outlawed the aristocratic diversion of dueling. When two barons defied the ban, Richelieu had them executed. “It is a question of breaking the neck of duels or of your Majesty’s edicts”, he explained to the king. Frances’s nobles were furious, and plotted his downfall. But he was far more adroit then they.

The Queen Mother, who had originally promoted Richelieu, made no secret of the fact that she had come to despise his special confidence with the king. She had underestimated her one-time protege, and woken up to find him running France. She demanded that Louis get rid of the subtle cardinal, who had now become informally known as “his red eminence” (L’Eminence Rouge). Richelieu, surprising the Queen Mother by entering her private chamber from a secret passage, confronted her. What precisely he said (or did) to her is not known. There followed a palace drama that was as startling as it was revealing. Red Eminence: a paragon of willpower The king, not temperamentally suited to showdowns, wavered, and left the palace in distress. Richelieu, in a private audience with Louis, persuaded him of his indispensability. He was so successful in this that Louis ordered his own mother banished, had several rebellious nobles executed, and had Richelieu confirmed once again in power. It was a counter-coup of stunning brilliance. Richelieu then went on ruthlessly to clip the wings of France’s provincial governors and the local parlements.

“Nothing so upholds the laws,” he said when meting out punishments to the nobles, “as the punishment of persons whose rank is as great as their crime.” He had made France an authoritarian state, but this was seen by most at the time as an improvement over the feudal oppression and chaos that had haunted France for centuries. He was a man of austere and pale expression, whose delicate features masked a ferocious willpower and tenacity of purpose. In the practice of statecraft and political maneuvering, he was without peer. The famous portrait of him by Philippe de Champaigne (now in the Louvre) shows an almost ascetic figure, a man weary with the exercise of authority. He understood the nature of man, and knew that a sovereign could not rule with pleas to moral virtue. Severity was mostly a virtue in a ruler, he believed, and without it a king would not be on the throne for long. Like all of us, he had his faults. He paid too little attention to France’s domestic affairs, he taxed the peasantry to the point of destitution, and he set a precedent for absolutism that would be inherited and abused by those who followed him (most notably Louis XIV).

But above all, his willpower was supreme. Frequently ill, he accomplished nearly all of the king’s (or his own) purposes that he set out to do, and left France better than he had found it. He knew of the loneliness of power, and accepted the price paid by those who would wield it. “Great men”, he once said, “who are appointed to govern states are like those condemned to torture, with only this difference, that the latter receive the punishment of their crimes, the former of their merits.” It is a judgment that we would be hard pressed to dispute. The Red Eminence | Article about The Red Eminence by The Free Dictionary The Red Eminence | Article about The Red Eminence by The Free Dictionary Richelieu, Cardinal (Armand-Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu). Born Sept. 5, 1585, in Paris; died there Dec. 4, 1642. French statesman and cardinal (from 1622). In 1624, Richelieu became head of the royal council and de facto ruler of France.

Attempting to strengthen absolutism, he took La Rochelle (1628) and the southern fortresses (1629) from the Huguenots, who had set up a state within the state. He deprived the Huguenots of the political rights granted them under the Edict of Nantes (1598), but he maintained freedom of religion, as well as certain privileges enjoyed by the Huguenot bourgeoisie (the Edict of Mercy, 1629). In 1632, Richelieu suppressed a feudal rebellion in Languedoc and executed the Duke of Montmorency, the governor general. Richelieu ordered the destruction of the nobles’ castles, excluding those located along the country’s borders. Supervision of provincial governors was increased, and the rights of the provincial estates, parliaments, and tax collection authorities were greatly limited. Administrative duties were transferred to the provincial intendants. Richelieu considered his principal foreign-policy task to be the struggle against the Hapsburgs, against whom he waged a “covert” war by supporting their enemies, the German Protestant princes, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden.

In 1635 he took France into the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48). The creation of a navy and reorganization of the army contributed to French victories. In economics Richelieu pursued a mercantilist policy, expanding the French colonization of Canada and promoting French trading companies in the West Indies, including Santo Domingo, as well as in Senegal and Madagascar. To strengthen absolutism and broaden foreign policy, Richelieu increased the oppressive tax burden and harshly suppressed popular movements provoked by his tax policy, including many urban uprisings in the 1620’s, 1630’s, and 1640’s, as well as uprisings by the Croquants (1624, 1636–37) and the Va-nu-pieds (“the barefoot ones,” 1639). In his Political Testament, Richelieu stated the basic principles of the policy of French absolutism. In literature and art, Richelieu promoted the development of French classicism. He founded the Académie Française.

WORKS September 9: The “Red Eminence” and Religion » Freethought Almanac September 9: The “Red Eminence” and Religion Categories: Cardinal Richelieu (1585) Cardinal Richelieu It was on this date, September 9, 1585, that Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac, who achieved prominence during the reign of French King Louis XIII as Cardinal Richelieu, was born in Paris, the son of Maria de’ Medici. Originally trained for a military career, his brother’s resignation from the Bishopric of Luçon persuaded him to don a clerical collar, instead. He became a bishop in 1607, before his 22nd birthday. As he began his political career, Richelieu was one of the first proponents of tax exemption for the churches. He became Secretary of State in 1616, and Pope Gregory XV made him a cardinal in 1622.

Although he neutralized the political power of Protestants (Huguenots) within France, Richelieu made compacts of convenience with Protestants when necessity demanded, much to the consternation of Rome and French Catholics. Indeed, he was reviled in Spain as the “Cardinal of the Huguenots,” but praised in France as l’Éminence rouge (“the Red Eminence”), from the red shade of his cardinal’s clerical dress and his style as cardinal. The Thirty Years War had begun between a Europe divided along religious lines, Catholic and Protestant – the Encyclopedia Britannica called it “primarily a religious war, and … waged with the bitterness characteristic of such wars.”[1] – and Richelieu greatly angered Rome by his alliance with the Protestant powers instead of Catholic ones. Richelieu is acknowledged as one of the greatest statesmen of the seventeenth century, but his independence from Rome in religious and political matters is rarely mentioned in popular histories. He routed the Papal troops from Switzerland, reinstalling Protestant rulers there, and persuaded the French king to break off relations with the Vatican altogether.

Indeed, Richelieu threatened to sever the connection with Rome and unite with the Protestants in a French National Church.[2] Richelieu was no skeptic about religion, but as his political ambitions trumped all other considerations, it is fair to say there was very little depth in his religion. Successful in reshaping France, he virtually invented nationalism, central national authority and a secret police he used to maintain his power and stifle dissent.[3] Richelieu once said, “Harshness towards individuals who flout the laws and commands of the state is for the public good; no greater crime against the public interest is possible than to show leniency to those who violate it” and “If you give me six lines written by the most honest man, I will find something in them to hang him.” Cardinal Richelieu in cardinal's robes and wearing the Order of the Saint-Esprit, looking so much like a secular prince that it is supposed that this was the persona he wished to present to the public.

Painting (1633-1640) by Philippe de Champaigne, at the National Gallery, London Richelieu founded the Académie Française, a brilliant method of unifying the French people by unifying the French language: the Academy decided proper spelling and grammar for French, and what is and is not a proper French word. In the service of his King, Richelieu made successful use of public relations and press censorship, but also managed to alienate the civil service class (by revoking their preferences), the Catholic nobility and the Pope (through his Protestant alliances) – and finally King Louis himself. The “Iron Cardinal” did not live to see the Peace of Westphalia, which ended the Thirty Years War in 1648, as he died 4 December 1642 in Paris, at age 57. Richelieu stands in retrospect as the first modern politician, often burlesqued in popular media as a power-hungry cynic.

But a deeper portrayal of the man would acknowledge his political skills and how through his actions, in which questions of religion and class became secondary to the interests of the nation, he demonstrated the irrelevance of religion in his politics and in his life. [1] One of the most savage and destructive wars in European history, of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) the Encyclopaedia Americana says, “few wars have been more calamitous in their general effect on the mass of the people, and the happiness and progress of mankind” and the Cambridge Modern History says the war furnished “the most appalling demonstration of the consequences of war to be found in history.” In our time, the religious character of the war, especially in school textbooks redacted out of sensitivity to Roman Catholics, is played down. Yet the powers engaged were Catholic on the one side and Protestant on the other, and the Catholic leaders appealed to the Pope throughout the war for financing, arguing that this was a war to destroy Protestantism!

Jesuits, who were the confessors of the Catholic leaders, counseled them to make war to crush heresy, and even followed the generals onto the battlefield to ensure that they did not fail in their fervor. [2] Pierre Bayle, Dictionaire Historique et Critique (Historical and Critical Dictionary), 1697. Called by some the “Arsenal of the Enlightenment”, Bayle’s Dictionaire was banned in Catholic France in 1697. It became a bestseller and was reprinted in several editions and translations. Its merciless scientific and philosophical inquiries challenged common assumptions and blind reverence for authority, setting new standards for all future Encyclopedists. [3] This according to historian and philosopher John Ralston Saul, who called the cardinal the “Father of the modern nation-state, modern centralized power, [and] the modern secret service.” Originally published September 2003 by Ronald Bruce Meyer .

Share this: Cardinal Richelieu biography | birthday, trivia | French Political Figure | Who2 Cardinal Richelieu Biography Name at birth: Armand-Jean du Plessis A bright child, Armand-Jean du Plessis studied theology as a teen and at the young age of 21 was appointed Bishop of Lucon. In 1622 he was made a cardinal and from there rose to become head of the Royal Council and prime minister of France. King Louis XIII was a weak ruler and Richelieu filled the void, more or less running the empire via his advice to the king. A clever politician and strategist, Richelieu expanded royal power, punished dissent harshly, and built France into a great European power. At the same time he supported the arts and learning and founded the famous French Academy. Novelist Alexandre Dumas made Richelieu a crafty villain in his 1844 book The Three Musketeers, and Richelieu’s name has since become synonymous with political intrigue and ambitious power “behind the throne.” Extra credit Richelieu is also called the Red Eminence, or in French L’Eminence Rouge.

'Cardinal de Richelieu' Rose Unknown Notes: Armand Jean de Plessis, Duc -- and Cardinal -- de Richelieu was born 9 September 1585 in Richelieu, Poitou, France. His father died when he was only five, leaving the family in a precarious position financially from which they eventually recovered, but which affected Armand so that he was obsessed throughout his life with the fear of poverty. Known also as The Red Eminence (L'Éminence Rouge), the Cardinal served as minister to Louis XIII From 1624 to 1642. He died in Paris 4 December 1642. Cardinal de Richelieu figures prominently in The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Most sources credit this rose to Van Sian, in Holland, who gave it to Laffay to introduce in France. However, Francois Joyaux, in his definitive book La Rose de France, says the breeder was actually Louis Parmentier in Belgium.

Red Eminence | Article about Red Eminence by The Free Dictionary Red Eminence | Article about Red Eminence by The Free Dictionary Related to Red Eminence: Armand Jean du Plessis Richelieu, Cardinal (Armand-Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu). Born Sept. 5, 1585, in Paris; died there Dec. 4, 1642. French statesman and cardinal (from 1622). In 1624, Richelieu became head of the royal council and de facto ruler of France. Attempting to strengthen absolutism, he took La Rochelle (1628) and the southern fortresses (1629) from the Huguenots, who had set up a state within the state. He deprived the Huguenots of the political rights granted them under the Edict of Nantes (1598), but he maintained freedom of religion, as well as certain privileges enjoyed by the Huguenot bourgeoisie (the Edict of Mercy, 1629).

In 1632, Richelieu suppressed a feudal rebellion in Languedoc and executed the Duke of Montmorency, the governor general. Richelieu ordered the destruction of the nobles’ castles, excluding those located along the country’s borders. Supervision of provincial governors was increased, and the rights of the provincial estates, parliaments, and tax collection authorities were greatly limited. Administrative duties were transferred to the provincial intendants. Richelieu considered his principal foreign-policy task to be the struggle against the Hapsburgs, against whom he waged a “covert” war by supporting their enemies, the German Protestant princes, Holland, Denmark, and Sweden. In 1635 he took France into the Thirty Years’ War (1618–48). The creation of a navy and reorganization of the army contributed to French victories. In economics Richelieu pursued a mercantilist policy, expanding the French colonization of Canada and promoting French trading companies in the West Indies, including Santo Domingo, as well as in Senegal and Madagascar.

To strengthen absolutism and broaden foreign policy, Richelieu increased the oppressive tax burden and harshly suppressed popular movements provoked by his tax policy, including many urban uprisings in the 1620’s, 1630’s, and 1640’s, as well as uprisings by the Croquants (1624, 1636–37) and the Va-nu-pieds (“the barefoot ones,” 1639). In his Political Testament, Richelieu stated the basic principles of the policy of French absolutism. In literature and art, Richelieu promoted the development of French classicism. He founded the Académie Française.

WORKS Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal et duc de Richelieu | French cardinal and statesman | Britannica.com Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal et duc de Richelieu French cardinal and statesman Alternative Titles: l’Éminence Rouge, the Red Eminence Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal et duc de Richelieu French cardinal and statesman Louis-Adolphe Bonard Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal et duc de Richelieu, byname the Red Eminence, French l’Éminence Rouge (born September 9, 1585, Richelieu, Poitou , France —died December 4, 1642, Paris ), chief minister to King Louis XIII of France from 1624 to 1642. His major goals were the establishment of royal absolutism in France and the end of Spanish-Habsburg hegemony in Europe.

Cardinal de Richelieu, detail of a portrait by Philippe de Champaigne; in the Louvre, Paris Giraudon/Art Resource, New York Heritage, youth, and early career The family du Plessis de Richelieu was of insignificant feudal origins but, by intermarriage with the legal and administrative classes, rose to some prominence and acquired the seigneury of Richelieu in Poitou. Armand-Jean’s father, François du Plessis, seigneur de Richelieu, was grand provost (chief magistrate) to Henry III , and his mother, Suzanne de la Porte, was the daughter of a councillor of the Parlement of Paris (the supreme judicial assembly). In his intelligence, administrative competence, and instinct for hard work, he resembled his middle-class ancestors. He was five years old when his father died, leaving estates that had been ruined by inflation and mismanagement during the Wars of Religion (1562–98), and he was conscious from his earliest years of the threat of penury. This inspired in him the ambition to restore the honour of his house and evoked in him the sense of grandeur he was to attribute vicariously to France.

His provident mother, with three boys and two girls, set about reorganizing the family’s precarious resources. The principal of these was the benefice of the bishopric of Luçon near La Rochelle, which had been granted by Henry III to the Richelieus under the Concordat of 1516. Unrest of the cathedral chapter threatened a revocation of the grant, and it became necessary for a member of the family to be consecrated bishop as soon as possible. Henri, the eldest son, was heir to the seigneury of Richelieu; and Alphonse, the second son, had become a Carthusian monk; so the obligation fell on Armand-Jean, who was a student. The prospect of a career in the church was not displeasing to the thin, pale, and at times sickly boy, for he had an inclination toward learning, a facility for debate, and a relish for the prospect of governing the lives of others. Because he was below the canonical age for consecration upon the completion of his studies, he needed a papal dispensation. To gain it he went to Rome, where Paul V fell victim to the young man’s skill as a charmer.

On April 17, 1607, at the age of 22, he was ordained a priest and was consecrated to the see of Luçon. He found on his arrival a diocese ruined by the Wars of Religion, a hostile chapter, and a demoralized clergy, but his opponents quickly succumbed to the unaccustomed authority that radiated from the episcopal palace. Britannica Stories Scientists Ponder Menopause in Killer Whales Richelieu was the first bishop in France to implement in his diocese the reforms decreed by the Council of Trent , and he was also the first theologian to write in French and to establish the conventions of vernacular theological exposition. He was a hard-working, conscience-stricken man, combatting forces dedicated to divisive political and social ends—a man obsessed with order as a superior moral end. Rise to power The France on which the bishop of Luçon pondered gave every indication of falling again into the disorder of the Wars of Religion. The assassination of Henry IV in 1610 released separative forces that were endemic in the administrative system.

The government of the queen mother, Marie de Médicis , as regent for Louis XIII , was corrupt, and the magnates of the realm, motivated by personal self-interest, struggled to control it. Their disobedience was accompanied by predatory expeditions of armed men and complex negotiations with the court, and on one of these occasions the bishop of Luçon found himself an intermediary, which led to his being elected one of the representatives of the clergy of Poitou to the Estates-General of 1614. He put all his energy into persuading the assembly of his talents and the court of his support for royal authority. In a clash between the clergy and the Third Estate (the middle classes, artisans, and peasants) on the subject of the relationship between the crown and the papacy, he played a conciliatory role, and he was prominent in moves of the clergy to persuade the Third Estate that the decrees of the Council of Trent should be promulgated .

Britannica Lists & Quizzes Editor Picks: Exploring 10 Types of Basketball Movies Some months later he was appointed chaplain to the new queen, Anne of Austria , which held the promise of eventual entry into the royal council , which, Richelieu had argued at the Estates-General, should accord first place to prelates of distinction. Clever negotiations with another disobedient faction led to his appointment as a secretary of state in 1616. Exploring Italy and France: Fact or Fiction? Up to this time Richelieu had had no insight into international relations, and the regard for Spain with which he was credited was probably genuine because he had had no occasion to question Spain’s ambitions. His year of office, however, coincided with war between Spain (ruled by a Habsburg dynasty) and Venice , which invoked its alliance with France. The resultant involvement persuaded Richelieu of the vulnerability of France to Habsburg political and economic encirclement, the domestic ramifications of various European movements in the religious controversy between Catholics and Protestants , and the dependence of the small states in France’s borderlands upon an equilibrium of power between France and Spain.

Richelieu’s tenure of office was terminated in April 1617 when a palace revolution overthrew the regency of Marie de Médicis. Richelieu was banished to Luçon and then exiled to the papal city of Avignon , where he sought distraction from his melancholy in writing. A rebellion of the princes, gravitating this time to Marie de Médicis as the focus of opposition to the royal council, led in 1619 to the king recalling Richelieu to his mother’s entourage on the assumption that he would exercise a moderating influence. The ascendency that he gained over her, however, did not lead to her submission. There followed four years of intricate negotiation and even overt hostilities during which the king’s nomination of Richelieu for a cardinal’s hat became one of the issues involved in a settlement. A revolt of the Huguenots and the death of the king’s favourite brought about Marie de Médicis’s recall to the council and Richelieu’s promotion.

First minister of France In 1624 another crisis, over the Valtellina in northern Italy, led to a ministerial reconstruction and to the cardinal’s appointment as secretary of state for commerce and marine and chief of the royal council. Four years later the title of first minister was to be created for this office. The controversy occurred when the Protestant Swiss canton of Grisons invoked a treaty of protection with France against Spanish ambitions in the Valtellina valley. The struggle had ramifications throughout Europe as the Protestants made common cause with Grisons and the Catholics with the Habsburgs. Richelieu recognized that vacillation would threaten domestic stability, and so he struck, expelling the papal troops. It was an action that gained for Richelieu an instant reputation for decision and ruthlessness. It also disillusioned those who had seen in him a defender of Catholic interests and of a Franco-Spanish alliance. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest From his first days in office Richelieu was the object of conspiracies to remove him, and the success of his security organization in ferreting out the disaffected and his manipulation of state trials made him misunderstood, feared, and detested.

Yet according to the standards of the age, his administration of justice did not depart from the moral principles that he believed to underlie all government. The goals that Richelieu set himself were to counter Habsburg hegemony in Europe, which threatened France’s independence of action, and “to make the king absolute in his kingdom in order to establish therein order,” but at no time was Richelieu powerful enough to achieve his domestic ends by overt measures. A respecter of law and history, he accepted the necessity of working with the traditional framework of administration. His sense of the feasible and his gift for seeing both sides of a question resulted in a pragmatism in practice that often contradicted his proclaimed theories, and he confused his critics by unexpected compromise and moderation. Richelieu’s great intellectual capacity enabled him to penetrate to the essence of events, and his tremendous willpower drove him to incessant work. In his theory of politics he shared the rationalism of contemporary philosophers, believing in “the light of natural reason.” While he did not doubt the capacity of the mind to know what is naturally enjoined, he participated in the prevailing pessimism about man’s will to act accordingly.

A twofold view of moral causes, the natural and the divine, provided a philosophical axiom for state supervision of conduct in both the secular and the spiritual spheres. Sin and civil disobedience were, to Richelieu, but two aspects of disorder. Trending Topics Open Door policy The gravest divisive factor in French society was religion . To Richelieu the Huguenots constituted a state within a state, with the civil government of major cities in their hands and considerable military force at their disposal. Yet Richelieu was prepared to tolerate this religious dissent so long as it did not amount to a political challenge. In this attempt to preserve social harmony at the expense of confessional difference he failed at first, for the Huguenot community was foolishly drawn into the intrigues of the Protestant magnates, who instigated England to war with France. Richelieu laid siege in 1628 to La Rochelle , the Huguenot centre, but it took a year to reduce the city, during which time Spain took advantage of the distraction to extend its hegemony in northern Italy at the expense of France’s allies.

While promising Richelieu help to combat the Protestants, Spain in fact subsidized their leaders, in order to keep the French government preoccupied, and seized the strategic fortress of Casale in northern Italy. Again Richelieu acted with surprising vigour. The moment La Rochelle fell, he led the army in winter over the Alps and checked the Spanish design. This reverse was countered by the Habsburgs with the introduction of imperial garrisons into parts of the duchy of Lorraine, which were claimed as fiefs of France. There followed intricate diplomatic maneuvers, culminating in Richelieu’s dramatic refusal to ratify the peace Treaty of Regensburg in 1630, and the Habsburgs’ appeal to Pope Urban VIII to excommunicate Louis XIII for this supposed breach of faith. This was Richelieu’s moment of greatest political insecurity. His relationship with the king was distant, and Catholic zealots provoked Marie de Médicis into a state of hysteria concerning the man who, she believed, had deprived her of influence. On Richelieu’s return from Italy in 1630, she tried to influence her son to dismiss his minister.

The king, however, perceived that the issue was his own independence or his mother’s domination and that there was no one but Richelieu who could relieve him of the responsibility of decisions at a moment of bewildering complications. After a day of suspense, he supported the cardinal and thereafter did not waver in his support. Marie de Médicis and the king’s brother Gaston fled to the Spanish Netherlands , there to constitute a focus of sedition that Richelieu countered by a fatal involvement with the enemies of the Habsburgs. The central objective of his foreign policy was to restore the equilibrium in the empire that Habsburg victories had disturbed. Although Bavaria was disposed to seek French protection, the emperor’s military successes and the Edict of Restitution occasioned a new mutual antagonism of Catholics and Protestants, which made neutrality of the Catholic League an impossibility. Richelieu’s German policy fell into ruins as a result of his grant of subsidies to Gustav II Adolf of Sweden, who was then engaged in the conquest of Pomerania. The subsidies liberated Gustav Adolf from constraint, and he fell on southern Germany, became embroiled with the armies of the Catholic League, and so consolidated the imperial and Catholic causes.

The war spilled over the Rhine, and France’s client states were by degrees drawn into the Habsburg orbit. The seizure by Spain in 1635 of the archbishop of Trier, who was under French protection, led to France’s alignment with the Protestant powers in the Thirty Years’ War . This involvement on behalf of the Protestants was regarded by many Catholics in his own time and later as a betrayal of the church by one of its princes, and Richelieu has been criticized for intensifying a war whose horrors have rarely been equaled. That Richelieu was drawn unwillingly by events into the vortex is clear, just as it is clear that the cost paid in social suffering and economic decline, leading to more frequent agrarian revolts, was high. Almost as soon as war broke out with Spain in 1635, Richelieu initiated secret peace negotiations and renewed them repeatedly. His justification for war was the same as that for rigorous domestic discipline: only the statesman, furnished with all available information and equipped for judicious appraisal of events, is competent to judge policy. In economic matters Richelieu was an amateur.

He committed war expenditure with little regard for the difficulties of raising revenue, and he was given to economic improvisation that was often unsound, but he eschewed doctrinaire views and retained flexibility of mind. Whereas he was early influenced by the theories of the economist Antoine de Montchrestien, who argued for economic self-sufficiency so as to conserve specie, he was later persuaded that the drain of specie could be compensated for by trade. He promoted products and industries that could give France an export advantage and discouraged imports of luxury goods. Glassmaking, tapestry and silk, sugar, and the extractive industries attracted his interest. He planned canal systems and promoted overseas trading companies, in which he was a shareholder and which began the process of French colonization in Canada and the West Indies , and he gained economic footholds in Morocco and Persia. His vast horizon reflected in part his concern with the French religious missions, which spread in Africa, the Middle East , and America and which extended French influence and created a vast intelligence network that fostered his political and economic designs. He laid the foundations for the French navy by buying ships from the Dutch, and, though he failed to have much influence on seapower, he developed shipping connections with the Baltic.

The legal reforms of his period were spasmodic and often frustrated by the Parlement, and how much of their content is due to him is questionable. The Code Michaud of 1629—which regulated industry and trade, companies, public offices, the church, and the army and standardized weights and measures—was promulgated under his authority, although he may not have been its architect. Later years in the church In his last years Richelieu found himself involved in religious conflict, in opposition to the pope , and in a struggle with the French church over the allocation of revenues to the financing of the war. His relationship with Urban VIII became strained over diplomatic grievances, church administration, and his own ambitions to extend French political influence by acquiring benefices for himself in the Holy Roman Empire . In spite of these conflicts, Richelieu remained orthodox in his views on the relationship between church and state and resisted the Gallican challenge to the absolutism of papal authority.

The theocratic concept of the state that resulted from his notion of kingship caused Richelieu to regard heresy as political dissidence, and he harried the apparently unorthodox, such as the first Jansenists , on the ground that they disturbed the spiritual and secular orders, just as he harried the recalcitrant nobles and stamped out dueling. Although there were canonical irregularities in his life, notably in the matter of pluralism (the multiplication of ecclesiastical benefices), there is no evidence of a serious departure from the principles or practices of the church. His accumulation of wealth was excessive even by the standards of the age, but it was largely dedicated to public service and to patronage of the arts and of the University of Paris . Richelieu was a playwright and musician of some talent, and his establishment of the French Academy is one of his best-remembered achievements. His last months were agitated by the most dangerous of all the conspiracies against his life, that of the youthful royal favourite Cinq-Mars , who was exposed by Richelieu’s secret service and died on the block.

The cardinal’s health, bad for some years, had deteriorated, and it was virtually from his deathbed that he was compelled to dictate to the king five propositions respecting royal behaviour toward ministers that he considered essential for proper government. He died in 1642 and was buried in the chapel of the Sorbonne, which he had financed. Assessment As both statesman and churchman, Richelieu was the acknowledged architect of France’s greatness in the 17th century and a contributor to the secularization of international politics during the Thirty Years’ War. While in detail he was only moderately successful, Richelieu in substance attained his goals of orderly government under the royal authority and the defeat of Habsburg hegemony. Whether the centrifugal forces in Germany that he promoted—and which the Peace of Westphalia institutionalized—were advantageous to Europe in the long run is questionable, but the political fragmentation of the empire and the military eclipse of Spain made possible the grandeur of France that Richelieu foresaw and his successors realized. This mystical aspect of his designs is difficult to articulate but is essential to his greatness.

The conspiracies that erupted under his successor, Cardinal Mazarin , failed as much because Richelieu had wrought a fundamental psychological change in favour of the moral ascendency of the crown as because, by the destruction of castles and city walls and the centralization of military authority, he had eliminated the power base of both aristocratic and religious dissent. Cardinal Richelieu Biography (Political Figure/Religious Figure) Best known as: The power behind the throne of Louis XIII Name at birth: Armand-Jean du Plessis A bright child, Armand-Jean du Plessis studied theology as a teen and at the young age of 21 was appointed Bishop of Lucon. In 1622 he was made a cardinal and from there rose to become head of the Royal Council and prime minister of France. King Louis XIII was a weak ruler and Richelieu filled the void, more or less running the empire via his advice to the king. A clever politician and strategist, Richelieu expanded royal power, punished dissent harshly, and built France into a great European power. At the same time he supported the arts and learning and founded the famous French Academy.

Novelist Alexandre Dumas made Richelieu a crafty villain in his 1844 book The Three Musketeers, and Richelieu's name has since become synonymous with political intrigue and ambitious power "behind the throne." Extra credit: Richelieu is also called the Red Eminence, or in French L’Eminence Rouge. Copyright © 1998-2017 by Who2?, LLC. All rights reserved. Advertisement Advertisement Armand-Jean du Plessis (1585 - 1642) - Genealogy Armand-Jean du Plessis Rue de Bouloi, Paris, Île-de-France, France Death: François du Plessis de Richelieu, Susanne du Plessis de Richelieu (geb. de La Porte) Siblings: Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duc de Richelieu et de Fronsac (French pronunciation: [ʁiʃəljø]; 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.[who?] 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 Quebec, 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, France, Richelieu was the fourth of five children and the last of three sons. 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 grants, 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. 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, instead became a Carthusian monk. Thus, it became necessary that the younger Richelieu join the clergy. As a frail and sickly child who preferred academic interests, he was not averse to the prospect. 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 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 The young King Louis XIII was only a figurehead during his early reign; power actually rested with his mother, Marie de Médicis.In 1614, the clergymen of Poitou elected Richelieu as 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 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 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 in April 1624, he intrigued against the chief minister, Charles, duc de La Vieuville. In 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. Chief minister Henri Motte's stylised depiction of Cardinal Richelieu at the Siege of La Rochelle.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 the 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 decision to support a Protestant canton against the Pope won him many enemies in predominantly Catholic France. 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; however, 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. On the "Day of the Dupes" in 1630, it appeared that Marie de Médicis had secured Richelieu's dismissal.

Richelieu, however, survived the scheme, and Marie was exiled as a result.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. France was not openly at war with the Hapsburgs, who ruled Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, so subsidies and aid were given secretly to their adversaries.

In 1624, 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. 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. 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. 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 intendants (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. [edit] 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. Jules Cardinal Mazarin succeeded Richelieu in office.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. In the same year, however, Richelieu's health was already failing. He suffered greatly from eye strain and headaches, among other ailments.

As he felt his death approaching, he named as his successor one of his most faithful followers, Jules Cardinal Mazarin. Although Mazarin was originally a representative of the Holy See, he had left the Pope's service to join that of the King of France. Mazarin succeeded Richelieu when the latter died. Richelieu is interred at the church of the Sorbonne. Arts and culture Cardinal de RichelieuRichelieu was a famous patron of the arts. Himself an author of various religious and political works (most notably his Political Testament), 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. 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 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.

Most notably, he owned Slaves (sculptures by the Italian Michelangelo Buonarroti), as well as paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, Nicolas Poussin and Titian. [edit] 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 Hapsburg 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.[citation needed]) 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 Québec 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. Jüngere Linie [Younger Son of Guillaume III d 1373)'s Line]= 1. Sauvage, † 1409, Seigneur de La Vervolière, de La Valinière et de Favardines; ∞ 10.

Juli 1388 Isabeau, Dame de Belarbe, † 1401, Tochter von Jean Le Groing, Seigneur de La Mothe-au-Groing – Vorfahren siehe oben 1. Sauvage 2. Geoffroi, Seigneur de La Vervolière, de La Valinière, du Petit-Puy et de Hautmont; ∞ Perrine, Dame de Richelieu, Tochter von Jean de Clérembault, Seigneur de Richelieu 1. François I., Seigneur de Richelieu, de Beçay, de La Vervolière et du Petit-Puy ∞ 21. November 1456 Renée, Tochter von Jacques Eveillechien, Seigneur de Saumoussay 1. François II., Seigneur de Richelieu, de Beçay, de La Vervolière, du Petit-Puy et de Neufville; ∞ I 25.

Januar 1489 Guyonne, Tochter von Jean, Seigneur de Brée (Stammliste der Montmorency); ∞ II 31. März 1506 Anne, Dame du Chillou, Tochter von Guyon, Seigneur du Chillou. (Haus Le Roy) 1. (I) Aymée; ∞ Léon de Barbançois, Seigneur de Sarzay. 2. (I) Jeanne; ∞ 28. Oktober 1514 Mathurin du Theil, Seigneur de Frène. 3. (I) Renée 4. (II) Louis I., Seigneur de Richelieu, de Beçay, du Chillou et de La Vervolière, † 1551; ∞ 16. Januar 1542 Françoise, Tochter von Antoine, Seigneur de Saint-Amand (Haus Rochechouart). 1. Louis II., X 1555, Seigneur de Richelieu, de Beçay, du Chillou et de La Vervolière, . 2.

François III., Seigneur de Richelieu, de Beçay, du Chillou et de La Vervolière, † 10. Juli 1590; ∞ Susanne, Tochter von François, Seigneur du Boissier (Haus La Porte) 1. Henri, X 1619, Seigneur de Richelieu, de Beçay, du Chillou et de La Vervolière; ∞ Marguerite Guyot, Dame d'Ansac. 2. Alphonse-Louis, * 1582, † 24. März 1653, genannt Le Cardinal de Lyon, Erzbischof von Aix 27. April 1626-27. November 1628, dann Erzbischof von Lyon 27. November 1628-24. März 1653, Kardinal 19. November 1629, 24. März 1632-24.

März 1653 Großalmosenier von Frankreich 3. Armand-Jean, * 5. September 1585, Bischof von Luçon 18. Dezember 1606-4. Dezember 1642, Kardinal 5. September 1622, August 1631, Duc de Richelieu, Marquis und Juli 1634, Duc de Fronsac, Pair de France (Patentbrief für Richelieu August 1631, für Fronsac Juli 1634, registriert für Richelieu 4. September 1631, für Fronsac 5. Juli 1634) 4. Françoise † 1615 ∞ I Jean de Beauvau, Seigneur de Pimpeau; ∞ II 28. August 1603 René de Vignerot, Seigneur du Pont-Courlay, † 1625 (Haus Vignerot) 5. Nicole, † 30.

August 1635; ∞ 25. November 1617 Urbain, Marquis de Brézé, † 1650 (Haus Maillé) 3. Benjamin, Abbé de Montier-la-Celle 1573-1608 4. Louise, Dame de Beçay; ∞ 24. April 1565 François, Seigneur du Cambout, † 1625 (Haus Le Cambout) 5. Jeanne ∞ I Pierre Fretart, Seigneur de Sauve ∞ II Charles, Baron de Marconnay 5. (II) François, Seigneur de Beaulieu ∞ Françoise, Tochter von Pierre de Trion, Seigneur de Legurat 1. Jacquette ∞ François d'Aloigny, Seigneur de La Groye 6. (II) Jacques évêque de Luçon 7. (II) François Pillon, Seigneur de La Jabinière 8. (II) René abbé de Nieuil 9.

(II) Antoine Le Moine, X 19. Januar 1576 10. (II) Françoise ∞ Georges L'Enfant, Seigneur de La Patrière 11. (II) Anne ∞ 11. Juni 1543 Gabriel de Mauvoisin, Seigneur de La Forêt, † 1557 2. Jeanne ∞ Louis Herpin, Seigneur du Château 2. Pierre, Seigneur de Hautmont 3. Antoinette ∞ Pierre Loubes, Seigneur de Gastevine 4. Jacquette ∞ 1451 Guyot de Giresmes 5. Isabeau ∞ 13. Januar 1451 Jean Herpin, Seigneur du Château 3. Jeanne ∞ Gilles Fretart, Seigneur de Sauve

Question: Born in 1585, who was known as the red eminence?
Answer: Cardinal Richelieu