Cardinal Richelieu

Cardinal Richelieu

Cardinal Richelieu was born Armand Jean du Plessis in Paris in September of 1585. The name Richelieu came from the name of his family's estate. The du Plessis' were considered minor nobility and Armand's grandfather, Louis, secured their place in court through marriage to Francoise de Rochechouart, an important family at the time. Louis died young and left five sons, the second oldest of whom, Francois, was Richelieu's father. Francois also died young, leaving his family in dire financial straits due to some poor investments. As a child, Richelieu was sickly and unfortunately would suffer from various maladies for the rest of his life.

Armand was extremely intelligent and at the age of nine was sent to College de Navarre in Paris. Originally, Armand was to have had a military career and his older brother Alphonse was to have a religious life, but Alphonse suffered mental problems so, at the age of seventeen, Armand began to study theology seriously, in order to keep the Bishopric in the family. Armand's mother had fought hard for this title and would not let it go easily. He took to his religious studies easily and because of his health problems was ideally suited to this life. In 1606 then Abbe Armand de Richelieu was appointed Bishop of Lucon and in 1622, Pope Gregory appointed him a Cardinal.

Like his grandfather and father before him, serving the monarchy was very important to Richelieu. To this end he allied himself with Marie de Medici, the queen mother, and was appointed to the court as Secretary of State to foreign affairs in 1616. This position did not last long as Marie's favorite, Concino Concini, was assassinated; this caused a falling out between mother and son. The king, Louis XII, had decided to take a more direct hand in government at his time. For a time Richelieu was in disgrace but then king and his mother soon reconciled, which was good news for Richelieu.

He was made Prime Minister under Louix XIII in 1624. He was dedicated to the supreme authority of the crown. At the time, there was political corruption galore, an independent nobility and problems with the Protestant Huguenots. Richelieu saw all of these things as impediments to his goals and through coercion, manipulation and oppression, set about changing things. In 1628, he defeated a Huguenot rebellion and although they were banned from military service, he allowed them to practice their religion.