(1585–1642). Armand-Jean du Plessis, duke of Richelieu, was a cardinal of the Roman Catholic church. He was also chief minister of state to Louis XIII from 1624 to 1642. During this period he made France the foremost power in Europe. He was frail and sickly, but in his red cardinal’s robes he appeared distinguished and commanding. By the force of his will—he was called the “iron cardinal”—he overawed all, including the king himself. He showed no mercy to his enemies but was loyal to his king and country.
Richelieu was born in Paris to a poor but noble family on Sept. 9, 1585. He was educated for the church and became a bishop at the age of 21. His eloquence attracted the notice of the queen regent, Marie de’ Médicis. She invited him to court, and in 1622 she secured for him the office of cardinal after her son Louis XIII had come of age. Richelieu became the king’s chief adviser in 1624. Louis was more interested in hunting and music than in affairs of state. Although the king disliked Richelieu, he recognized his ability and allowed him to exercise almost unlimited power.
When Richelieu became adviser to Louis, he promised the king “to employ all my efforts and all the authority which it might please you to give me, to ruin the Huguenot party, to lay low the pride of the nobility, and to raise your renown among foreign nations to the point at which it ought to be.” He fulfilled his pledge (see Louis, Kings of France).
In 1627 a military force under the command of Richelieu besieged the town of La Rochelle, chief fortress of the Huguenots. He built a barrier nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) long to deprive them of access to the sea. After a year of defiance, the starving city surrendered to him. This defeat ended the political power of the Huguenots, but Richelieu let them keep freedom of worship and civil rights (see Huguenots).
To humble the nobles was more difficult, but the ruins of many castles throughout France show how methodically and ruthlessly Richelieu struck at the nobles’ power. He ordered the destruction or dismantling of every fortified place not needed for national defense. He also appointed royal officers to oversee the governors of the provinces and to bring them under the control of the king.
The opportunity to carry out his third plan came when religious and political wars broke out in Germany (see Thirty Years’ War). Although a staunch Roman Catholic, Richelieu used the war to make France a great power by aiding the German Protestants in their struggle against Spain and the Holy Roman emperor. At first he gave financial aid to the Protestant leader Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden. Later he plunged France into the conflict. At the conclusion of peace in 1648, France was the foremost power in Europe. It added to its domains the territory of Alsace, later to become one of the “lost provinces” restored by World War I.
Richelieu did not live to see the conclusion of the Thirty Years’ War. At his death in Paris on Dec. 4, 1642, he was the most hated man in the country. Humiliated nobles and tax-burdened peasants lighted bonfires to celebrate their release from his tyrannical control. The French people today, however, esteem him as one of the greatest of their leaders.
Richelieu also made a place for himself in the literary annals of France. He fostered the great writers of his day and in 1635 established the famous French Academy (see academy).