Richelieu
Interesting things come up when you read whatever books come to hand. I just finished a serious history of Cardinal Richelieu, the villain of The Three Musketeers. Cardinal Richelieu was a real person, and so were the king and queen of France; Buckingham was a real guy. There were even a woman like Constance and a young buck like D’Artagnan. The novel takes a number of liberties.
Buckingham was indeed powerful in England, and he did try to make trouble in France by kissing up to the queen: the Queen Mother, young King Louis XIII’s mom. Louis’s wife was even younger than Louis, and he was just out of his minority. His mother and Cardinal Richelieu, along with several other people, played tug-o-war with Louis’s attention and favors. It’s probably a good thing that Buckingham didn’t last long; I don’t wish assassination on anyone, but he was up to no good.
Richelieu was one of three brothers, sons of a widowed noble mother. She took her three sons to live with her mother-in-law; they didn’t get along all that well, but they did agree on what the boys should be doing. They planned for one to become a Catholic churchman and one to become a courtier. Armand was to become a soldier, preferably a high-ranking officer. He learned math, fencing, horse riding, strategy, courtly manners, and dancing. Then his brother, in the church, decided to become a cloistered monk. This threw a wrench in the family plans. They held a bishopric in gift; now the intended son didn’t want it!
So they turned to Armand, our hero: “Son, Grandma needs this bishopric living to survive financially. You’ve got to pull through for us!” He was twenty-one years old when King Henry IV nominated him for the bishopric. Armand traveled to Rome to get the Pope’s approval because he was underage. In 1607 he was consecrated. In 1608 he took up his duties. Bishop Armand immediately started implementing changes called for by the Council of Trent. The Council of Trent had taken place 40 years before; Armand was the first French bishop to put it into practice!
In 1610 King Henry IV died. Marie de Medici, Louis’s mother, took over as regent for her nine-year-old son. Armand became her right-hand man. It was only after the regency ended that Marie became his enemy. At that point Louis was supposed to take over on his own, theoretically. In practice no king ever ruled without advisors and people to carry out his wishes. Armand became foreign secretary and a force to be reckoned with. He had firm ideas on what France should be doing, when, where, and to whom. In 1622 he became a cardinal and in 1629, Duke of Richelieu.
The Thirty Years’ War raged around them. The Hapsburgs ruled Austria and Spain, along with the Spanish Netherlands and parts of Italy. France was practically surrounded. There were Protestant kingdoms revolting; Richelieu supported and encouraged their revolts. There were French Protestants revolting; Richelieu maneuvered them into defeat. In 1630 there was another of several attempts to remove him. King Louis, who personally disliked him, agreed. The Wikipedia page on Richelieu says “he quickly persuaded the king to repent.”
Dang it! What do you do when the person purporting to be God’s representative refuses to let you remove him from power?
