Name: Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu
State: France
Field of activity: Statesman
Greatest Achievement: The world's first minister. Head of government from 1624 to 1642. Under him, the monarchy and imperialism flourished in France.
Armand Jean Du Plessis Richelieu was a famous French priest and statesman. Born in Paris, September 9, 1585, died December 4, 1642 at the age of 57 from tuberculosis.
Facts about Richelieu's life
Armand du Plessis, known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French nobleman, priest and important political figure. Richelieu became known as the "Red Cardinal". He served as a bishop and secretary of state for France before entering politics as chief minister of King Louis XIII. Richelieu's main goal was to strengthen the monarchy. He successfully reformed France into a powerful state with centralized power, limiting the powers of the nobles. He strengthened the army and navy and led France to confident dominance in Europe. Richelieu contributed to the conquest of new colonies by France. Religious beliefs did not prevent him from entering into political alliances with Protestants if they contributed to achieving his goals.
early years
Armand Richelieu was born into the family of Lord François Du Plessis Richelieu and Suzanne de la Porte. Arman had poor health from birth and throughout his life.
François Richelieu served as chief justice under Henry III. His maternal grandfather was a councilor in the Parliament of Paris.
Francois died during the "Wars of Religion" when Armand was only five years old. The family found itself in a difficult financial situation, which was partially corrected by the king's help.
At the age of 9, the future cardinal entered the College of Navarre in Paris. There he studied philosophy and was trained for military service. In 1605, Richelieu suffered from gonorrhea.
His family received an award for his father’s participation and death in the “Wars of Religion.” The clergy tried to force the family to give the award to the needs of the church. To protect the property, Richelieu's mother asked his older brother Alphonse to accept the rank of bishop, but he refused. Then Arman himself had to become a bishop.
In 1606, Armand Jean Du Plessis Richelieu was appointed Bishop of Luzon by Henry IV. However, since Richelieu was still too young, he had to go to Rome to obtain additional permission from the Pope. Henry IV personally petitioned the Pope to obtain permission for Richelieu. In 1607, Richelieu received permission from the Pope and already in 1608 he became the main reformer in his diocese. He played an important role in implementing the institutional reforms discussed at the Council of Trent (1545-63). He soon became the most famous bishop of France.
Political career
After the assassination of King Henry IV in 1610, Marie de' Medici became regent. She tried to overthrow her son Louis XIII from the throne. It was a difficult time of conspiracies, intrigues and unrest. Corruption flourished in France, and thanks to the strengthening of the royalists, uprisings became more frequent among the nobles.
Bishop Richelieu acted as a mediator between the Third Estate, the papacy and the crown. He participated in the meetings of the "Resident Generals" in 1614, when serious confrontations began between the common people (the "Third Estate") and the Church. Richelieu was able to convince all parties to this conflict of the need to accept the convention of the Council of Trent. Eventually, Marie de Medici provided him with her patronage, and he became the personal confessor of Anne of Austria.
In 1616 Richelieu received the post of cardinal. Marie de' Medici continued to rule the country together with Concino Concini, despite the fact that Louis XIII had already reached adulthood. Her inept rule, along with Concini's defiant behavior, caused a coup d'etat in France. As a result of the coup, Marie de' Medici was arrested and exiled to the Château de Blois. On April 24, Charles d'Albert de Luynes killed Concini.
Cardinal Richelieu was dismissed from his posts and exiled to Avignon in 1618. While in exile, he was able to reconcile Marie de Medici with Louis. A peace treaty was concluded between mother and son (the Treaty of Angoulême), and Marie de' Medici later returned to the royal council.
In 1622, Richelieu again took the post of cardinal after the death of Charles d'Albert de Luines. On April 29, 1624, Richelieu received a seat on the royal council of ministers. He wanted to eliminate the chief minister, Duke de La Vieville, who was subsequently arrested on charges of corruption. The very next day after his arrest, Richelieu took this position.
Richelieu tried to limit the Habsburg dynasty in power. Despite being a Catholic, he assisted Protestant Switzerland against Italy. Richelieu sought to strengthen royal power and create a new centralized government. In 1627, Richelieu ordered an army to attack La Rochelle, which was controlled by the rebels. Finally, the rebels surrendered in 1628.
Richelieu strengthened the army and navy. It was very important to him that France occupy a dominant position in the European Thirty Years' War. He came up with a new "salt tax" to raise additional funds for the army. The poor suffered greatly from the extortionate tax and rebelled in 1636-1639. The rebellion was put down by force. Richelieu made the Thirty Years' War between Catholics and Protestants a war against Habsburg hegemony. After victory in the war, France received a number of new colonies, and Richelieu issued a decree that Hindus who converted to Catholicism could be considered French.
Richelieu provided patronage to various artists, from architects to writers. Despite this, he executed many of them for the slightest attempt to make him an object of criticism.
Legacy of the Red Cardinal
In the era of the absolute power of the monarchy, when it was as easy as shelling pears to incur the wrath of influential people and pay for it with one’s life, Armand Richelieu showed an excellent ability to smooth out rough edges. He managed to become a friend to the monarchy, without sacrificing his own principles. Due to the ability to find a common language with his opponents and take into account the interests of all parties, Richelieu was able to achieve such influence that no representative of the French elite of the 17th-18th centuries had.
Richelieu is often called the world's first prime minister. The Cardinal wanted to create a strong centralized power in France, strengthening the monarchy. In this he was hindered by numerous French aristocrats and landowners, with whom he fought all his life. In his struggle, Richelieu used various methods, from economic and political pressure to intrigue. French historians agree that Cardinal Richelieu led the country to prosperity and the flourishing of the monarchy and imperialism.
After a protracted illness (tuberculosis), Richelieu died on December 4, 1642. He was buried at the Sorbonne. Richelieu's body was embalmed and later, during the French Revolution, the head was stolen. The head was found in 1796 and was returned by Napoleon III.
Richelieu was one of the most intelligent, prudent and cunning statesmen in France and the whole world.
Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, later nicknamed the "Red Cardinal" (l"Eminence Rouge), was born on September 9, 1585 in Paris or at the castle of Richelieu in the province of Poitou into an impoverished noble family. His father, Francois du Plessis, was the chief provost - a judicial official of France under Henry III, and his mother, Suzanne de la Porte, came from the family of a lawyer of the Parisian Parliament. Armand-Jean was the youngest son in the family. When Jean was only five years old, his father died, leaving his wife alone with five children, a dilapidated estate and considerable debts. The difficult years of childhood affected Jean's character, since throughout his subsequent life he sought to restore the lost honor of the family and have a lot of money, surround himself with luxury, which he was deprived of in childhood. From childhood, Arman-Jean, a sickly and quiet boy, preferred books games with friends.In September 1594, Richelieu entered the College of Navarre in Paris and began to prepare for a military career, inheriting the title of Marquis du Chilloux.From childhood, Richelieu dreamed of becoming an officer in the royal cavalry.
The main source of the family's material wealth was the income from the position of Catholic clergyman of the diocese in the La Rochelle area, granted to Plessis by Henry III in 1516. However, in order to keep it, someone from the family had to take monastic orders. Until the age of 21, it was assumed that Armand, the youngest of three brothers, would follow in his father's footsteps and become a military man and courtier.
Since Jean was too young to be ordained, he needed the blessing of Pope Paul V. Having gone to the pope in Rome as an abbot, he initially hid his too young age from Pope Paul V, and after the ceremony he repented. The Pope's conclusion was: "It is fair that a young man who has discovered wisdom beyond his age should be promoted early." On April 17, 1607, twenty-two-year-old Armand-Jean du Plessis took the name Richelieu and the rank of Bishop of Luzon. A church career at that time was very prestigious, and was valued above a secular one. However, Jean Richelieu found only ruins on the site of the once thriving abbey in Luzon - a sad memory of the Wars of Religion. The diocese was one of the poorest and the funds it provided were not enough for a more or less decent life. But the young bishop did not lose heart.
Being a bishop gave him the opportunity to appear at the royal court, which Richelieu was not slow to take advantage of. Very soon he completely charmed King Henry IV with his intelligence, erudition and eloquence. Henry called Richelieu nothing more than “my bishop.” But, as happens in such cases, such a rapid rise of the provincial bishop did not please some influential people, and Richelieu had to leave the capital.
Estates General 1614-1615.
Richelieu spent several years in Luzon. There, Bishop Richelieu was the first in France to reform the economy of the monastery, and was also the first Frenchman to write a theological treatise in his native language, where he reflected the state of affairs in the country destroyed by the Wars of Religion.
Richelieu spent all his free time engaged in self-education, that is, reading. In the end, he got to the point where he was tormented by terrible headaches until the very end of his days.The murder of Henry IV by the Catholic fanatic Ravaillac in 1610 gave the separatists a free hand. The government of Marie de' Medici, the Queen Mother, regent under Louis XIII, was thoroughly corrupt. The collapse was reinforced by the failures of the military, so the royal court began negotiations with representatives of the armed masses.
The Bishop of Luson (Richelieu) acted as a mediator in the negotiations, which served as the reason for his election as a representative to the States General from the clergy of Poitou in 1614. The Estates General is a collection of estates established in the Middle Ages and still occasionally assembled by the king on one occasion or another. The delegates were divided into the First Estate (clergy), Second Estate (secular aristocracy), and Third Estate (bourgeois). The young bishop of Luzon was supposed to represent the clergy of his native province of Poitou. In the conflict between the clergy and the third estate (artisans, merchants and peasants) over the relationship between the crown and the Pope, Bishop Richelieu took a neutral position, devoting all his efforts to bringing the parties to a compromise.
Richelieu was soon noticed due to the dexterity and cunning he showed in establishing compromises with other groups and eloquently defending church privileges from the encroachments of secular authorities. In February 1615, he was even tasked with delivering a ceremonial speech on behalf of the First Estate at the final session. The next time the Estates General would meet was only 175 years later, on the eve of the French Revolution.
The rise of Richelieu at the royal court.
At the court of young Louis XIII, they paid attention to the 29-year-old bishop.
Richelieu's talents made the greatest impression on the Queen Mother Marie de' Medici, who still effectively ruled France, although her son had already reached adulthood in 1614. Appointed confessor to Queen Anne of Austria, the young wife of Louis XIII, Richelieu soon won the favor of Maria Concino Concini (also known as Marshal d'Ancre). In 1616, Richelieu joined the royal council and took the post of Secretary of State for Military Affairs and Foreign Affairs politics. The new post required Richelieu to actively participate in foreign policy, to which he had not previously had anything to do. Richelieu’s first year in power coincided with the outbreak of war between Spain, which was then ruled by the Habsburg dynasty, and Venice, with which France was at war Union This war threatened France with a new round of religious strife.However, in April 1617, Concini was killed by a group of “friends of the king” - opponents of the regency of Maria Medici. The inspirer of this action, the Duke of Luynes, now became a favorite and adviser to the young king. Richelieu was first returned to Luzon and then exiled to Avignon, the papal region, where he fought melancholy by reading and writing. For two years Richelieu studied literature and theology in complete solitude. During this time, he wrote two theological works - "Defense of the Fundamental Tenets of the Catholic Faith" and "Instructions for Christians."
The French princes of the blood - Condé, Soissons and Bouillon - were outraged by the arbitrary actions of the monarch and rebelled against him. Louis XIII had to retreat. In 1619, the king allowed Richelieu to join the Queen Mother in the hope that he would have a pacifying influence on her. For seven years, part of which had to be spent in exile, Richelieu maintained an active correspondence with Marie de' Medici and Louis XIII.
However, the Dowager Queen was not the type to immediately forget everything after reconciliation. As befits any woman, especially a regal one, she broke down a little more before agreeing to the final reconciliation. And when she decided that it was time, she demanded that her son appoint Richelieu as a cardinal. On September 5, 1622, Bishop Richelieu received the rank of cardinal. And if someone was appointed a cardinal, then he certainly had to be included in the Royal Council, the then French government, especially since almost all of the ministers of Louis XIII’s father had already died.
But only in 1624 was Marie de Medici returned to Paris, and with her Richelieu, without whom she could no longer take a single step. Louis continued to treat Richelieu with distrust, since he understood that his mother owed all her diplomatic victories to the cardinal. When Richelieu first entered the meeting room of the French government on April 29, 1624, he looked at those present, including the chairman, the Marquis of La Vieville, in such a way that it immediately became clear to everyone who was boss here from now on. A few months later, in August, the current government collapsed, and at the insistence of the Queen Mother, on August 13, 1624, Richelieu became the king's "first minister" - a post in which he was destined to remain for 18 years.
Cardinal Richelieu is the first minister of France.
Despite his fragile health, the new minister achieved his position through a combination of qualities such as patience, cunning and an uncompromising will to power. Richelieu never ceased to use these qualities for his own advancement: in 1622 he became a cardinal, in 1631 - a duke, all the while continuing to increase his personal fortune.
From the very beginning, Richelieu had to deal with many enemies and unreliable friends. At first, Louis himself was among the latter. As far as one can judge, the king never gained sympathy for Richelieu, and yet with each new turn of events, Louis became increasingly dependent on his brilliant servant. The rest of the royal family remained hostile to Richelieu. Anna of Austria could not stand the ironic minister, who deprived her of any influence on state affairs. Duke Gaston d'Orléans, the only brother of the king, weaved countless conspiracies to increase his influence. Even the Queen Mother, always ambitious, felt that her former assistant stood in her way, and soon became his most serious opponent.
Suppression of the nobility under Richelieu.
Various factions of rebellious courtiers crystallized around these figures. Richelieu responded to all the challenges thrown at him with the greatest political skill and brutally suppressed them. In 1626, the central figure in the intrigue against the cardinal was the young Marquis de Chalet, who paid for it with his life.
The king himself felt like an instrument in the hands of the cardinal and, apparently, was not without sympathy for the last attempt to overthrow Richelieu - the Saint-Mars conspiracy. Just weeks before his death in 1642, Richelieu uncovered a final conspiracy, the central figures of which were the Marquis de Saint-Mars and Gaston d'Orléans. The latter, as always, was saved from punishment by royal blood, but Saint-Mars, Louis' friend and favorite, was beheaded. In the period between these two conspiracies, the most dramatic test of the strength of Richelieu's position was the famous "Day of the Fooled" - November 10, 1631. On this day, King Louis XIII promised for the last time to dismiss his minister, and rumors spread throughout Paris that the Queen Mother had defeated her enemy. However, Richelieu managed to obtain an audience with the king, and by nightfall all his powers were confirmed and his actions sanctioned. Those who believed false rumors turned out to be “fooled”, for which they paid with death or exile.Resistance, manifested in other forms, met with no less decisive resistance. Despite his aristocratic leanings, Richelieu crushed the rebellious provincial nobility by insisting on their submission to royal officials. In 1632, he achieved the death sentence for participation in the rebellion of the Duke de Montmorency, the Governor-General of Languedoc, who was sent against Richelieu by Marie de Medici, and one of the most brilliant aristocrats. Richelieu prohibited parliaments (the highest judicial bodies in cities) from questioning the constitutionality of royal legislation. In words he glorified the papacy and the Catholic clergy, but from his deeds it was clear that the head of the church in France was the king.
Cold, calculating, very often harsh to the point of cruelty, subordinating feelings to reason, Richelieu firmly held the reins of government in his hands and, with remarkable vigilance and foresight, noticing the impending danger, warned it at its very appearance. In the fight against his enemies, Richelieu did not disdain anything: denunciations, espionage, gross forgeries, previously unheard of deceit - everything was used. His heavy hand especially crushed the young, brilliant aristocracy surrounding the king.
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From the very first day in power, Richelieu became the object of constant intrigue on the part of those who tried to "catch" him. In order not to become a victim of betrayal, he preferred not to trust anyone, which caused fear and misunderstanding of those around him. “Anyone who knows my thoughts must die,” said the cardinal. Richelieu's goal was to weaken the position of the Habsburg dynasty in Europe and strengthen the independence of France. In addition, the cardinal was an ardent supporter of absolute monarchy.
Suppression of Huguenot Protestants under Richelieu.
Another important source of opposition, crushed by Richelieu with his characteristic decisiveness, was the Huguenot (Protestant) minority. The conciliatory Edict of Nantes by Henry IV of 1598 guaranteed the Huguenots complete freedom of conscience and relative freedom of worship. He left behind them a large number of fortified cities - mainly in the south and southwest of France. Richelieu saw this semi-independence as a threat to the state, especially during the war. The Huguenots were a state within a state; they had strong supporters in the cities and powerful military potential. The cardinal preferred not to bring the situation to a crisis, but the fanaticism of the Huguenots was fueled by England, France's eternal rival. The participation of the Huguenots in 1627 in an English naval attack on the French coast served as a signal for the government to begin action. By January 1628, the fortress of La Rochelle, a Protestant stronghold on the shores of the Bay of Biscay, was besieged.
Richelieu took personal leadership of the campaign, and in October the recalcitrant city capitulated after some 15,000 of its inhabitants starved to death. In 1629, Richelieu ended the religious war with a magnanimous reconciliation - the peace agreement of Alais, according to which the king recognized for his Protestant subjects all the rights guaranteed to him in 1598, with the exception of the right to have fortresses. True, the Huguenots were deprived of political and military privileges. But the freedom of worship and judicial guarantees granted to him put an end to the religious wars in France and did not give rise to disagreements with Protestant allies outside the country. Protestant Huguenots lived in France as an officially recognized minority until 1685, but after the capture of La Rochelle their ability to resist the crown was undermined.Administrative and economic reforms under Richelieu.
In an effort to strengthen the sovereignty of royal power in the field of domestic and foreign policy and finance, Richelieu initiated the codification of French laws (the Michaud Code, 1629), carried out a number of administrative reforms (the establishment in the provinces of intendants appointed by the king), fought against the privileges of parliaments and the nobility (prohibition of duels, destruction of fortified noble castles), reorganized the postal service. He intensified the construction of the fleet, which strengthened France's military position at sea and contributed to the development of foreign trade companies and colonial expansion. Richelieu developed projects for the financial and economic recovery of the country in the spirit of mercantilism, but internal and external wars did not allow them to be implemented. Forced loans led to increased tax oppression, which, in turn, caused riots and peasant revolts (the revolt of the "crocans" of 1636-1637), which were brutally suppressed.
As for economics, Richelieu understood practically nothing about it. He declared wars without thinking about supplying the army, and preferred to solve problems as they came. The Cardinal followed the doctrine of Antoine de Montchristien and insisted on the independence of the market. At the same time, he emphasized the production of goods for export and discouraged the import of luxury goods. His economic interests included glass, silk, and sugar. Richelieu advocated the construction of canals and the expansion of foreign trade, and he himself often became a co-owner of international companies. It was then that the French colonization of Canada, the Western Indies, Morocco and Persia began.
Wars of France under Richelieu.
By the late 1620s, the French government was able to take a more active role in international affairs, which prompted Richelieu to act. By the time Richelieu came to power, the grandiose (called the Thirty Years) War in Germany between the Catholic sovereigns led by the Holy Roman Emperor and the alliance of Protestant princes and cities was already in full swing. The House of Habsburg, including the ruling families in Spain and Austria, was the main enemy of the French monarchy for more than a century, but Richelieu initially refrained from intervening in the conflict. Firstly, in this case, the allies of France were supposed to be the Protestant powers, so the cardinal and his chief adviser, the monk of the Capuchin Order, Father Joseph (nicknamed, in contrast to his boss, l "Eminence grise, i.e. "Grey Cardinal") understood , that it is necessary to have a clear and legal justification for such a step. Secondly, freedom of action outside the country has long been constrained by the turbulent situation within France itself. Thirdly, the main threat to French interests came not from the Austrian Habsburgs, but from the even more powerful Spanish branches, which encouraged the French to focus on the Pyrenees and Spanish possessions in Italy rather than on Germany.
Nevertheless, France was still involved in the war. By the end of the 1620s, the Catholics had achieved such impressive victories within the Empire that it seemed that the Austrian Habsburgs would become complete masters of Germany.
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During the siege of Richelieu for the La Rochelle fortress, the Spaniards managed to mobilize forces in northern Italy and capture the Casal fortress. Then Richelieu showed extraordinary mobility: immediately after the fall of La Rochelle, the French army was transferred across the Alps and took the Spaniards by surprise. In 1630, in the course of complex intrigues, Richelieu refused to sign the Peace of Regensburg; in response, Spain turned to Pope Urban VIII with a request to excommunicate Louis XIII from the church. Richelieu was on the verge of failure, since his relationship with the king was very difficult, and the zealous Catholic Marie de Medici simply fell into hysterics. When Richelieu returned to France, she demanded the cardinal's resignation, but Louis did not agree to this, seeking to maintain political independence from his mother. Richelieu was the only one who could assist him in this, so he retained the rank of cardinal and the place of first minister. The offended Queen Mother left the court and went to the Netherlands, which was under the rule of the Spanish Habsburgs, taking with her the king's younger brother Gaston d'Orléans.
Overcoming the opposition of the pro-Spanish “party of saints,” Richelieu pursued an anti-Habsburg policy. He counted on an alliance with England, arranging the marriage of Charles I of England with Henrietta Maria of France, sister of Louis XIII, which was concluded on June 12, 1625. Richelieu sought to strengthen French influence in Northern Italy (expedition to Valtellina) and in the German lands (support for the league of Protestant princes). He managed to keep France from direct participation in the Thirty Years' War for a long time.
After the landing of the Swedish king in Germany, Richelieu found it necessary to intervene, for now indirectly. On January 23, 1631, after lengthy negotiations, envoy Richelieu signed an agreement with Gustav Adolf in Berwald. Under this agreement, the French Catholic prelate provided the Swedish Lutheran warrior king with financial resources to wage war against the Habsburgs in the amount of one million livres per year. Gustav promised France that he would not attack those states of the Catholic League ruled by the Habsburgs. Nevertheless, in the spring of 1632, he turned his troops east against just such a state - Bavaria. Richelieu tried in vain to keep his ally. It was only with the death of Gustavus Adolphus at the Battle of Lutzen (November 16, 1632) that the cardinal’s difficult dilemma was resolved.
At first, Richelieu had a glimmer of hope that monetary subsidies to the allies would be enough to protect his own country from the risk of open conflict. But by the end of 1634, the remaining Swedish forces in Germany and their Protestant allies were defeated by Spanish troops.
In 1635, Spain occupied the bishopric of Trier, which caused the unification of French Catholics and Protestants, who stood hand in hand against the external enemy - Spain. This was the beginning of the Thirty Years' War for France.
In the spring of 1635, France formally entered the war - first against Spain and then, a year later, against the Holy Roman Empire. At first the French suffered a series of disappointing defeats, but by 1640, when France's superiority began to emerge, it began to defeat its main enemy, Spain. Moreover, French diplomacy achieved success, causing an anti-Spanish uprising in Catalonia and its secession (from 1640 to 1659, Catalonia was under French rule) and a full-scale revolution in Portugal, which ended Habsburg rule in 1640. Finally, on May 19, 1643, at Rocroi in the Ardennes, the army of the Prince de Condé achieved such a crushing victory over the famous Spanish infantry that this battle is generally considered to be the end of Spanish dominance in Europe.
In the last years of his life, Cardinal Richelieu was involved in another religious conflict. He led the opposition to Pope Urban VIII, since France's plans included expanding its sphere of influence in the Holy Roman Empire. At the same time, he remained devoted to the ideas of absolutism and fought against the Gallicans who encroached on Papal power.
Death of Cardinal Richelieu.
In the autumn of 1642, Richelieu visited the healing waters in Bourbon-Lancy, because his health, undermined by many years of nervous tension, was melting before his eyes. Even while ill, the cardinal dictated orders to the armies, diplomatic instructions, and orders to the governors of various provinces for several hours until the last day. On November 28, there was a sharp deterioration. Doctors make another diagnosis - purulent pleurisy. The bloodletting did not produce results; it only weakened the patient to the limit. The Cardinal loses consciousness at times, but, having come to his senses, tries to continue working. These days, his niece, the Duchess of Aiguillon, is inseparable from him. On December 2, Louis XIII visits the dying man. “Here we say goodbye,” Richelieu says in a weak voice. “Leaving Your Majesty, I console myself with the fact that I am leaving your kingdom on the highest steps of glory and unprecedented influence, while all your enemies are defeated and humiliated. The only thing I dare to ask Your Majesty for my labors and my service is to continue to honor my nephews and relatives with your patronage and your favor. I will give them my blessing only on the condition that they never break their loyalty and obedience and will be devoted to you to the end."
Then Richelieu... names Cardinal Mazarin as his only successor.
Left with the doctors, Richelieu asks to tell him how much time he has left. The doctors answer evasively, and only one of them - Monsieur Chicot - dares to say: “Monsignor, I think that within 24 hours you will either die or get back on your feet.” “Well said,” Richelieu said quietly and concentrated on what something of yours.
The next day, the king pays another, last, visit to Richelieu. They talk face to face for an hour. Louis XIII left the dying man's room very excited about something. True, some of the witnesses claimed that the king was in a cheerful mood. Priests gather at the cardinal's bedside, one of whom administers communion to him. In response to the traditional appeal in such cases to forgive one’s enemies, Richelieu says: “I had no other enemies except the enemies of the state.” Those present are surprised by the clear, clear answers of the dying man. When the formalities were over, Richelieu said with complete calm and confidence in his rightness: “Very soon I will appear before my Judge. With all my heart I will ask him to judge me by that standard - whether I had intentions other than the good of the church and the state.”
Early in the morning of December 4, Richelieu receives the last visitors - envoys from Anne of Austria and Gaston of Orleans, who assure the cardinal of their best feelings. The Duchess d'Aiguillon, who appeared after them, began to tell with tears in her eyes that the day before a Carmelite nun had a vision that His Eminence would be saved by the hand of the Almighty. “Come on, come on, niece, all this is ridiculous, you only have to believe the Gospel.”
They spend some time together. Somewhere around noon, Richelieu asks his niece to leave him alone. “Remember,” he tells her goodbye, that I loved you more than anyone in the world. It will be bad if I die before your eyes...” Father Leon takes the place of Aiguillon, giving the dying man his last absolution. “I surrender, “Lord, into your hands,” Richelieu whispers, shudders and falls silent. Father Leon brings a lit candle to his mouth, but the flame remains motionless. The cardinal is dead.”
Richelieu died in Paris on December 5, 1642, not living to see the triumph at Rocroi and broken by numerous illnesses. Richelieu was buried in a church on the Sorbonne grounds, in memory of the support given to the university by His Eminence the Cardinal.
Achievements of Cardinal Richelieu.
Richelieu contributed in every possible way to the development of culture, trying to put it at the service of French absolutism. At the cardinal's initiative, the Sorbonne was reconstructed. Richelieu wrote the first royal edict on the creation of the French Academy and, in his will, donated one of the best libraries in Europe to the Sorbonne, and created the official propaganda organ “Gazette” by Theophrastus Renaudo. The Palais Cardinal grew in the center of Paris (it was later donated to Louis XIII and has since been called the Palais Royal). Richelieu patronized artists and writers, in particular Corneille, and encouraged talent, contributing to the flourishing of French classicism.
Richelieu, among other things, was a very prolific playwright; his plays were published in the first royal printing house opened on his initiative.
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In general, Richelieu directed by no means “like Hamlet.” He reconciled the French (Catholics and Huguenots) among themselves and, thanks to “Pistol diplomacy,” quarreled their enemies, managing to create an anti-Habsburg coalition. To distract the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the Habsburgs, he sent messengers to the Russian state to the first of the Romanovs, Mikhail, with an appeal to trade duty-free.
Richelieu had a strong influence on the course of European history. In domestic policy, he eliminated any possibility of a full-scale civil war between Catholics and Protestants. He failed to end the tradition of duels and intrigues among the provincial nobility and courtiers, but thanks to his efforts, disobedience to the crown began to be considered not a privilege, but a crime against the country. Richelieu did not, as was commonly claimed, introduce the positions of intendants to carry out government policy locally, but he significantly strengthened the position of the royal council in all areas of government. The trading companies he organized to deal with overseas territories proved ineffective, but the protection of strategic interests in the colonies of the West Indies and Canada opened a new era in the creation of the French Empire.
Steadfast service to clearly realized goals, a broad practical mind, a clear understanding of the surrounding reality, the ability to take advantage of circumstances - all this ensured Richelieu a prominent place in the history of France. The main directions of Richelieu's activities are formulated in his "Political Testament". The priority of domestic policy was the fight against the Protestant opposition and the strengthening of royal power, the main foreign policy task was to increase the prestige of France and the fight against Habsburg hegemony in Europe. “My first goal was the greatness of the king, my second goal was the power of the kingdom,” the famous fighter against the musketeers summed up his life’s journey.
1. Robert Knecht. Richelieu. - Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1997.
2. All the monarchs of the world. Western Europe / under control. K. Ryzhova. - Moscow: Veche, 1999.
3. Encyclopedia "The World Around Us" (cd).
4. Great Encyclopedia of Cyril and Methodius 2000 (cd).
Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis (1585-1642), cardinal (from 1622), first minister of France (from 1624).
Born on September 5, 1585 in Paris. Father - Francois du Plessis, close associate of King Henry III, chief provost (judge) of France. In 1594, Richelieu entered the capital's Collège de Navarre, and then studied at the Pluvinel Academy, a higher school for the scions of noble families.
In 1606 Richelieu was appointed Bishop of Luzon. He went to Poitou and immersed himself in the affairs of his diocese. After the death of Henry IV (1610), Richelieu returned to Paris to join one of the political factions fighting at court. Soon he made acquaintance with the favorite of the Dowager Queen Maria de Medici, the Italian Concino Concini. Appreciating Richelieu's intelligence and education, Concini became the patron of the young bishop, who in turn joined the ranks of the so-called Spanish party. Soon the regent could no longer do without his advice.
At the end of 1615, young Louis XIII was married to the Spanish infanta Anne of Austria, and Richelieu was chosen as the confessor of the young queen. A year later he is already Secretary of State, entrusted with responsibility for military and foreign affairs.
The matured Louis wanted to get rid of Concini and gave the order to kill him.
That same evening, paid agents of the Secretary of State informed Richelieu about the impending conspiracy. But instead of warning his former patron and arresting the potential killers, Richelieu calmly went to bed. The next morning he went to the king with congratulations, but the monarch greeted him with the words: “So I got rid of your tyranny. Leave this house." This was Richelieu's biggest political blunder. He was removed first to Blois, where the Queen Mother was in exile, and then to Luzon.
Seven long years passed before Richelieu returned to court. Mary's reconciliation with her son was accompanied by a pardon for her supporters. The Queen Mother made the condition of her entry into Paris the return of Richelieu from exile. The future cardinal had to start his career at court virtually from scratch. Richelieu showed himself to be a master of intrigue, skillfully maneuvering between the interests of the king and his domineering mother.
In 1622, on the proposal of the monarch, the Pope granted Richelieu the title of cardinal. Richelieu proposed to Louis a program of reforms that would strengthen state power in France and undermine the influence of the feudal nobility. With the tacit consent of the king, the cardinal concentrated all government of the country in his hands. “I promised the king to use all my abilities ... to destroy the Huguenots as a political party, weaken the illegal power of the aristocracy, establish obedience to royal authority throughout France and exalt France among foreign powers” - this is how Richelieu described his program.
The first blows fell on the aristocrats, who were accustomed to rebel with impunity. The execution of the Duke of Montmorency and the destruction of the feudal castles showed the rebellious princes that the times of feudal wars were over. Richelieu believed that nobles should shed blood only for their king, and therefore banned duels. For personal protection, he brought in his own musketeers (and not “guardsmen”, as in the novel by A. Dumas), who wore red cloaks in contrast to the royal blue ones.
Having taken the Huguenot stronghold - the fortress of La Rochelle (1627) after a stubborn siege and repelled a military landing from England, the cardinal deprived the Huguenots of the privileges (1629) they had received under Henry.
heh IV. It was no less difficult to limit the rights of city parliaments. “Both Huguenots and Catholics were equally French in my eyes,” said Richelieu.
He made a serious turn in French foreign policy from an alliance with Spain to the fight against the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs.
With generous subsidies, the cardinal helped the Protestant princes of Germany to withstand the Holy Roman Emperor. In the war with Spain (1635-1659), he managed to return Alsace, Lorraine and Roussillon to France. Wars and taxes explain the dissatisfaction with the cardinal of ordinary Frenchmen, peasants and bourgeois, who repeatedly rebelled (1636-1637, 1639).
Cardinal Richelieu died on December 4, 1642 in Paris from pleurisy. Dying, he joked: “I had no other enemies except the enemies of the state.”
Cardinal Richelieu is the First Minister of France.
The king allowed Richelieu to join the Queen Mother in the hope that he would have a pacifying influence on her. As part of the king's compromise with Mary, on September 5, 1622, Armand Jean du Plessis, former bishop of Luçon, became Cardinal du Plessis, then 37 years old. In a congratulatory letter, Pope Gregory XV wrote to him: “Your brilliant successes are so famous that all France should celebrate your virtues... Continue to elevate the prestige of the church in this kingdom, eradicate heresy.”
But Louis continued to treat Richelieu with distrust, since he understood that his mother owed all her diplomatic victories to the cardinal. A few months later, in August, the current government collapsed, and at the insistence of the Queen Mother, Richelieu joined the Royal Council and became the king's "first minister", a post in which he was destined to serve for 18 years. When Richelieu first entered the meeting room of the French government on April 29, 1624, he looked at those present, including the chairman, the Marquis of La Vieville, in such a way that it immediately became clear to everyone who was boss here from now on. From that moment until the end of his life, Richelieu remained the de facto ruler of France. From now on, Richelieu began to serve Louis XIII, and not the whims of his eccentric mother. Of course, Marie de Medici was angry when she realized the situation had changed, but this did not happen immediately. Cardinal du Plessis knew full well that he would not be able to avoid a violent confrontation with the Queen Mother.
From the very first day in power, Richelieu became the object of constant intrigue on the part of those who tried to "catch" him. In order not to become a victim of betrayal, he preferred not to trust anyone, which caused fear and misunderstanding of those around him. In Paris, Cardinal Richelieu managed to prove his indispensability and in 1624 headed the new government. In terms of intrigue, the First Minister had no equal.
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I touched on the topic of the cardinal's favorites. Contemporaries attribute to him many affairs with the most noble ladies of France. The favorites always received gifts from the cardinal, but not everyone was able to achieve special generosity. There are many conversations about the life of the cardinal and most of them are contradictory.
About relationships with ladies, the social gossip Talleman de Reo wrote: “Cardinal Richelieu paid women no more for their services than he paid artists for their work.”. However, according to contemporaries, in the cardinal’s biography there are ladies for whom he had a heartfelt inclination.
Without having a remarkable appearance (according to the tastes of the era), Richelieu always enjoyed success with the ladies. In his youth, when he was not yet a cardinal, two ladies, the Marquise de Nesle and the Countess de Polignac, did not share his attention and staged a ladies' duel with swords (yes, the ladies of the gallant century also loved to fight). Fortunately, no one was hurt, the ladies fought until the first blood was drawn.
Richelieu in his youth
The cardinal's famous favorite, to whom the poems of the play were dedicated, was Marion de Lorme; at first, the lady was courted by Saint-Mars, the favorite of King Louis XIII. The king became jealous of his close friend. They said that “every evening the monarch took Saint-Mars to his bedroom at seven o’clock, showering his hands with kisses”. According to another version, the king had only a “platonic weakness” for the young man; he was simply interested in the company of a cheerful young friend.
19th century actress as Marion de Lorme
The prudent cardinal did the king a favor and drew attention to the king's rival. They said that Marion came on dates to Richelieu in a man's suit, and she was mistaken for a messenger. Madame de Lorme was 26 years younger than the cardinal.
Soon the favorite lost her caution and began to boast about the cardinal’s attention. In society, Marion de Leorme was nicknamed “Madame Cardinal.” To questions about how one can sleep with a priest, Marion answered “He doesn’t look like a priest at all when he takes off his cardinal’s cap and purple robe.”
Contemporaries have different opinions about Marion’s appearance; one called her “the most beautiful lady of the 17th century,” others considered her too thin. The ideal of beauty of the Baroque era was ladies with full bodies, like in the paintings of Rubens.
Marion de Lorme
By the way, the 19th century writer Victor Hugo dedicated the play to Marion de Lorme. In the play, Hugo created a tragic romantic image of a dowry woman who set out on the path of a courtesan, but luxury did not bring her happiness. Marion decided to leave the vicious world for the sake of love, but intrigues prevent her from finding happiness. The sinister figure of the cardinal remains “behind the scenes” in the play.
Marion de Lorme (engraving for the play)
Having received the favor of the cardinal, Marion broke up with her former admirer Saint-Mars, but there were rumors that Saint-Mars climbed into his mistress’s room at night using a rope ladder that she lowered from the window. Marion could not part with the young handsome man, who was 35 years younger than the cardinal.
Marion believed that he was sent to her by fate “Saint-Mars”, consonant with the French “Cinn Mars” - “fifth of March”, Marion’s birthday. Unlike other fans, Marion did not accept money or gifts from Saint-Mars, believing that this would be the end of their love.
Saint-Mars - young rival of the cardinal, executed in Lyon
The ardent lover of Saint-Mars became a conspirator against Richelieu. It is believed that Saint-Mars' conspiracy also included a romantic reason for rivalry with the cardinal. Saint-Mars was jealous of Marion and decided to take revenge on Richelieu.
The plot was unsuccessful, Saint-Mars was arrested for treason and executed in Lyon on the gloomy Place du Thérault (which I wrote about in the post) in 1642. The vengeful cardinal paid 100 ecus to the inexperienced executioner, who cut off the condemned man's head only on the second attempt. The executed Saint-Mars was 22 years old.
The cardinal outlived his rival by only a few months.
They said that Marion took the death of Saint-Mars hard; she spent a year in solitude and prayers for the repose of his soul.
Richelieu had many rivals for Marion’s love, but some only provoked ridicule.
For example, the court poet Barro, who dedicated the following poems to the lady:
I will forever love the incomparable beauty,
For whom slaves and earthly kings
Numerous altars were erected
To serve only her alone in the world.
To eminent opponents I say:
I am not jealous, although I suffer from you too,
May you love her as I love her, -
This will only increase my fame.
This is just a small part of Barro's joyful song.
The poems began with a boastful title: “On how much sweeter the author is in the arms of his mistress than M. Cardinal de Richelieu, who was his rival.”
There is a version that the Duke of Buckingham, who received the pendants of Queen Anne of Austria, also became the cardinal’s rival for Marion’s attention. The Duke paid his attorney 25,000 ecus to meet Marion.
It turns out that the Duke twice stood in the way of the cardinal in personal matters. Insulted, Richelieu ordered an assassin to be sent to Buckingham. Although the political reason for the murder seems more plausible.
Twice Rival - Duke of Buckingham
Marion survived the cardinal. In court intrigues after the death of Richelieu, she took the side of Queen Anne, but did not accept Mazarin's policies.
Madame de Lorme died at the age of 44, having made a mistake with the dosage of the medicine she was taking to prevent pregnancy. They said that Marion was poisoned by Mazarin's agents. There were also rumors that Marion feared imprisonment in the Bastille, so she faked her own death and fled to England with her adventurer lover. Then she married three times and died at the age of one hundred.
Marion had a rival - the widow d'Aiguillon (aka Madame de Combalet), the niece of the cardinal, whom he took under his protection.
Tallemant de Reo wrote about Marion's rivalry: “She said that Cardinal Richelieu once gave her a purse with sixty pistoles through Madame d’Aiguillon...
“I considered this purse as a trophy,” she said, “because, generally speaking, my rival, Madame de Combalet, should have received it: this is evidence of my victory over her, although her remains still lie on the battlefield in the heart of the cardinal "
The cardinal was infatuated with Marion de Lorme, but it was the faithful d’Aiguillon, who lived with him in the palace, who enjoyed special honor. She was the cardinal's niece - the daughter of his beloved sister.
Of course, everyone remembers the song “About Madame d’Aiguillon” from the film.
At the time of her acquaintance with the cardinal, the widow was 37 years old; she met with him to receive guidance in the monastic life to which she wanted to devote herself.
Seeing the widow, the cardinal told her “your place is not in the monastery, but next to me.” Madame d'Aiguillon became Richelieu's companion.
Versions about the relationship between the cardinal and d'Eguillon are contradictory. Some argue that rumors about the love affair between the cardinal and his niece were invented by gossips - enemies of Richelieu. Others are sure that d’Aiguillon was a favorite of Richelieu, who laughed at morality.
Modest Madame d'Aiguillon
Reviews from contemporaries about d’Aiguillon herself are also contradictory. According to some statements, Madame d’Eguillon was modest in her everyday life and received the nickname “nun”; she spent the cardinal’s expensive gifts on helping those in need. According to other versions, the favorite “walked with millions,” adored luxury and walked around the cardinal’s palace half naked, not embarrassed by visitors.
“This charming, plump blonde of thirty-seven years old loved to walk with her breasts bare, which brought untold joy to the cardinal’s friends.”. Perhaps this gossip was caused to create an association with the perverted Borgia, whose daughter Lucrezia behaved in a similar manner.
Ceremonial portrait of Madame d'Aiguillon
It was said that Cardinal Richelieu introduced the fashion of presenting his young mistresses in society as “nieces,” whom he then married off. According to legend, he married one of his “nieces” to the Duke of Enghien; the king and favorite Marion de Lorme was present at the magnificent wedding.
The king condemned the “sin” of Madame d’Aiguillon, but Queen Anne stood up for the favorite, noting that such a sin was the fault of two:
“The king is behaving very strangely. He defends the cardinal and blasphemes his niece in everything. Calling her a shameless woman, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the fact that she dared to appear in the Church of St. Eustace at the moment when I was listening to a sermon there.”- Anna was publicly indignant.
Cardinal Richelieu in the last year of his life - the man of Baroque ladies' dreams
There are allegations that Madame d'Aiguillon turned out to be very jealous; a social gossip described the story of the torture of reprisals against her rival Madame de Chaulnes:
“The biggest scandal erupted when the cardinal became infatuated with Madame de Chaulnes. On the road from Saint-Denis, six officers of the naval regiment threw two bottles of ink at Madame de Cholne's face, but she managed to dodge, and the bottles hit the door of her carriage. The bottles were glass. The glass shards were supposed to cut the face, and the ink was supposed to fill the cuts. There would be dark blue scars on the face that could not be removed. Madame de Chaulne did not dare to complain. Everyone believes that the officers received orders to frighten her: the Duchess d’Aiguillon did not want anyone else to have as good a time with her uncle as she did herself.”
It’s strange, of course, that d’Eguillon wants to disfigure one rival, while the other, Marion de Lorme, transfers money from the cardinal. Gossip is very controversial.
Madame Chaulne received compensation from the cardinal - an estate with an annual annuity.
Medallion d'Aiguillon
It was claimed that the cardinal and d'Aiguillon had children. One day Marshal de Breze said that the favorite gave birth to four children for the cardinal.
Queen Anne mockingly remarked:
You can only half trust the marshal
So a rumor spread that the cardinal had two children.
Richelieu and d'Aiguillon were together for 17 years, until the death of the cardinal. Richilier died at the age of 57. The faithful d'Eguillon was next to him. The cardinal left his niece a rich inheritance.
The poet Paul Scarron wrote a poem on Richelieu's death:
Those who wished me defeat,
He suppressed with his omnipotence:
To conquer the proud Spaniards,
I did not spare France,
Sinless angel or demon -
Judge for yourself who I was
And the common people sang vulgar couplets:
Here lies a terrible prisoner of pride.
Here lies a mysterious priest.
The one who fought wars and drank the blood of the French,
Bringing misfortune and good fortune to the country.
From his niece he received
Two children and syphilis to boot.
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