Richelieu

R J Knecht

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9781317874546
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early Modern History
• Index: History

This concise and up-to-date assessment of Richelieu's career provides an enthralling introduction to the character and exercise of his power. Richelieu governed France for 18 years until his death and until the mid-20th century was viewed by Anglo-Saxon historians as cold, clever and ruthless. Recent interpretations have been more favourable and in this incisive study R. J. Knecht uses recent research to reassess Richelieu's career and achievements.

Chapter 1

Richelieu’s Rise to Power (1585–1624)

Armand-Jean du Plessis, the future Cardinal Richelieu, was born on 9 September 1585, almost certainly in Paris. He was the youngest son of François du Plessis, seigneur de Richelieu, a nobleman from Poitou. Early in his career François committed a murder, but the legend that he escaped prosecution by going into exile is unfounded. He travelled to Poland in the entourage of Henri duc d’Anjou, who, after a brief spell on the throne of that country, succeeded to the French kingdom in May 1574 as King Henry III. François was appointed prévôt de l’hôtel, and as such was responsible for keeping law and order at court. In 1578 he was given the title of grand prévôt de France and created a knight of the Holy Ghost. This was a new order of chivalry with a fixed membership of one hundred, dedicated to honour the person of Henry III. François’s duties often kept him in Paris, which probably explains why his son, Armand-Jean, was born there rather than at the family home in Poitou. As a member of the royal entourage, François became involved in some famous events of the Wars of Religion. He was among the first to declare for Henry IV and was accordingly confirmed in his office of grand prévôt. He took part in Henry’s campaigns for the conquest of his kingdom, being present at the battles of Arques and Ivry. But he did not live to see Henry’s final victory, for he died on 10 July 1590 at the age of 42.

Suzanne de la Porte, cardinal Richelieu’s mother, was the daughter of François de la Porte, a well-to-do barrister in the Parlement of Paris. She married François du Plessis in 1569, bringing him a substantial dowry. She gave him five children: three sons – Henri, Alphonse and Armand-Jean – and two daughters, Françoise and Nicole. Suzanne was, it seems, unhappy in her relations with her mother-in-law. Financial difficulties also beset her after her husband’s death. She was apparently driven to sell his collar of the Order of the Holy Ghost, but, as Dr Bergin has recently shown, ‘very little is known about the economic position of the Richelieu family before the cardinal’s rise to power’.¹ It is clear, however, that François du Plessis left his affairs in a state of confusion. His widow and later his children decided that their interest could best be served by repudiating his inheritance. It thus became a bankrupt estate and his creditors were left free to recoup their loans by selling it off. In 1603 Suzanne was allowed to take 22,000 livres out of the estate.²

Following the death of her husband, Suzanne lived at the manor of Richelieu in Poitou; it was here that her third son, Armand-Jean, spent his childhood. In 1594 his uncle, Amador de la Porte, took him to Paris which had recently submitted to King Henry IV. As peace returned to the capital, its schools reopened and Armand was admitted to the famous Collège de Navarre. The course offered by the college comprised three main subjects: grammar, arts and philosophy. Young noblemen usually studied only the first two, leaving philosophy to students who wanted to become priests or scholars. Armand was by all accounts a diligent student. An early biographer states that ‘his thirst for praise and fear of criticism were such as to keep him fully stretched’.³

Once Armand had completed his courses in grammar and arts, his mother called a family council. It was decided that he would become a soldier. He was given the title of marquis du Chillou and allowed to carry a sword. He moved from the home of his uncle Amador to that of a parlementaire, called Bouthillier. At the same time he joined the Academy of Antoine de Pluvinel, a finishing school for young noblemen. This taught not merely physical exercises, fencing and riding but also deportment, alertness of mind and body, elegance and honourable conduct. Courtly manners and dress were also part of the Academy’s curriculum. Armand always showed a strong liking for the martial arts; but an unexpected turn in the fortunes of the Richelieu family diverted him from the military career that had been mapped out for him. The reason was his family’s need to retain control of the bishopric of Luçon.

It had become the custom in sixteenth-century France for the Crown to bestow important ecclesiastical benefices, such as bishoprics and abbeys, on faithful servants, even if they were laymen. Thus in 1584 Henry III had given the see of Luçon to François du Plessis and for the next half century it was handed down according to the wishes of the Richelieu family. The first bishop chosen by François was his uncle, Jacques, who never resided. The second was François Yver, curé of Braye, who was merely a caretaker until such time as Armand’s brother, Alphonse, who had been promised the see, completed his studies. But in 1602 he declined the dignity, preferring instead to become a Carthusian monk. Rather than lose the see of Luçon and its revenues as a result of Alphonse’s decision, the Richelieu family called on Armand to step into his shoes. Without hesitation he complied: ‘Let God’s will be done!,’ he wrote to his uncle. ‘I shall accept everything for the good of the church and the glory of our name!’⁴

The switch in Armand’s career necessitated a readjustment of his education. He left Pluvinel’s Academy and returned to the Collège de Navarre to study philosophy. He allegedly ‘threw himself into controversy with so much application and assiduity that he gave it regularly eight hours a day for four years’. This intensive period of study has been blamed for permanently damaging his health.⁵ In 1604 he held a public debate at the Collège de Navarre. By this time he had been formally nominated bishop of Luçon, but, being under the canonical age, he required a papal dispensation before he could be consecrated. Such dispensations were not uncommon, and cardinal du Perron was asked by Henry IV to obtain it. Meanwhile, Richelieu (as we shall call him from now on) obtained an exemption from the university’s residence requirements. Soon afterwards he left for Rome in the hope of speeding up his dispensation. He reached the Holy City in January 1607 and was introduced to Pope Paul V by the French ambassador. He apparently dazzled everyone, including the pope, by his eloquence and extraordinary memory. It is also alleged that he became fluent in spoken Italian and Spanish. Having obtained his dispensation, he was consecrated in Rome on 17 April 1607.

Soon afterwards the new bishop returned to Paris and wound up his studies. On 29 October he became a bachelor of theology (not a doctor, as historians have sometimes suggested). A few days later he was admitted to membership of the Sorbonne.⁶ He was now ready to advance his career at court, but in January 1608 he fell gravely ill. For several weeks he endured bouts of fever and severe migraines. Throughout life Richelieu was bedevilled by what he called his ‘wretched head’. By Lent 1608 he had recovered sufficiently to accept an invitation to preach at court, but he found it less immediately receptive of his talents than he had hoped, so he retired to his diocese. Since 1583 the Richelieus had drawn income from the see without giving anything in return. Their three successive episcopal nominees had been non-resident and the cathedral and episcopal palace had fallen into disrepair.⁷

Richelieu began by giving himself a home worthy of his status. He acquired servants, furniture and plate, and within a few months boasted of being taken for a man of substance. In the meantime, he was formally installed as bishop and promised to serve his flock faithfully. More important was his revitalization of the diocesan clergy in accordance with the rules laid down at the Council of Trent. A synod held at Luçon produced a series of ordinances reminding the clergy of their duties. They were to stay away from fairs and abstain from trade and from games of chance. All were to be tonsured and decently dressed. They were to show respect when administering the sacraments and observe strictly the liturgy of the mass. This was to be celebrated at times convenient to the faithful. Taverns were to be closed during services. Every Sunday parish priests were to teach the catechism and recite the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments in French, not Latin, so that everyone could understand. The faithful were to be encouraged to take communion once a month or, at least, on the four main feast-days of the Christian year.

Richelieu made great efforts to revive religious devotion in his diocese. He wrote a small book, called Instruction du Chrétien, which aimed to present the Christian truths intelligibly to all.⁸ Although largely untouched by the more ascetic aspects of the Counter-Reformation, his beliefs were none the less sincere. ‘He devoutly believed in the Roman Church’s great mission and repeatedly sought to improve its institutional functioning and to abet its religious purposes.’⁹ The Instruction du Chrétien, published in 1618, was widely read in France and translated into several languages.

As bishop of Luçon, Richelieu carried out many pastoral visitations. These were more than routine inspections. The clergy were required to prepare for his coming by organising sermons and prayer meetings. In his concern to improve the quality of his diocesan clergy Richelieu carefully controlled new appointments. He was among the first French prelates to take seriously the Tridentine directive for the creation of seminaries. In 1609 he bought a house next to his cathedral for use as a seminary. Although seminaries existed elsewhere in France, they did not become numerous till after 1650.¹⁰

Richelieu, then, was a model bishop, but running a poverty-stricken see could not satisfy his ambition. It was but a stepping-stone from which he hoped to return to Paris and the royal court at an appropriate moment. The assassination of Henry IV on 14 May 1610 gave him a chance of escape from his provincial backwater. The king’s son and heir, Louis XIII, was only nine at the time and, therefore, too young to rule. The queen mother, Marie de’ Medici, was appointed regent until Louis reached the age of majority, fixed at thirteen for a French king. The change of regime was viewed apprehensively by the French, many of whom remembered only too vividly the civil wars that had followed in the wake of Francis II’s minority and the regency of Catherine de’ Medici. In June 1610, as provincial governors prepared for a possible renewal of unrest, Richelieu returned to Paris. He called on members of the administration, doubtless in a bid to win favour, and preached in a few Parisian churches. But no one seemed interested in employing him. Sully and other ministers of the late king still ran the government and the time was not yet ripe for newcomers.¹¹ So Richelieu returned to his diocese, whence he kept in touch with events in the capital and tried to ingratiate himself with people in high places by offers of assistance and cringing professions of loyalty.

Late in 1613 Richelieu returned to Paris and made contact with the regent’s Italian favourite, Concino Concini, who had just become a marshal of France. He and his wife, Leonora Galigaï, were among the earliest recipients of the many pensions and offices that Marie had showered upon her entourage following her husband’s death. Within a few months Concini had become marquis d’Ancre, governor of Péronne, Roye and Montdidier, lieutenant-general of Picardy and first gentleman of the bedchamber. His meteoric rise was extremely unpopular among the French nobility, but Richelieu was careful to conceal any contempt he may have felt for the Italian upstart. ‘Monsieur’, he wrote to Concini, ‘as I always honour those whom I have promised to serve, so do I confirm my assurances to you; for I would rather demonstrate the reality of my affection on important occasions than offer you merely its appearance at other times.’¹²

Marie de’ Medici, it has been claimed, was a more effective ruler than past historians have suggested, and tried as far as possible to continue the policies of Henry IV.¹³ Such a view is difficult to uphold in face of the factual evidence. She was a devout Catholic and a friend of Spain, and her policies proved so unpalatable to Henry IV’s chief minister, Sully, that he resigned from office in January 1611. He was replaced by a commission of three ‘greybeards’ – Brûlart de Sillery, Villeroy and Jeannin – who, as members of the noblesse de robe, lacked the authority needed to keep the upper nobility in order. Sully’s fall was followed by ‘a loosening of the purse strings, an outpouring of pensions and gifts that was unprecedented since 1594’.¹⁴ Between 1610 and 1614 the regent spent nearly 10 million livres bribing the magnates. What made the situation even worse was the control exercised over her patronage by Concini’s wife, Leonora. The regent’s generosity to the great nobles may have bought four years of domestic peace, but in 1614 this ceased to be true. The government had to face a series of aristocratic rebellions, which began with the revolt of Henri, prince of Condé. He argued in a manifesto that only a meeting of the Estates-General could save the state from collapse. During the negotiations that followed, Condé objected not only to Concini’s control of patronage but also to the regent’s policy of marrying her son, Louis XIII, to the Spanish infanta, Anne of Austria. To counter the threat of open revolt, the government came to terms with Condé at St Menehould (15 May 1614). The Spanish marriage was deferred till the king’s majority, the Estates-General were summoned to Sens in August and Condé received 450,000 livres to cover the cost of his rebellion. Richelieu’s Memoirs indicate that he did not think highly of either side in the crisis. ‘This was such a wretched time,’ he writes, ‘that the great nobles who were regarded as the ablest were those who were busiest in stirring up trouble; and the disorders were such . . . that the ministers looked to saving their own skins rather than ensuring the good of the state’.¹⁵

Control of the elections to the Estates-General was crucial to the survival of the regency. Royal letters sent to the governors early in June required them to summon the three estates of their respective areas. Cahiers were to be drawn up and deputies chosen from men of integrity and intelligence, sincerely interested in the well-being of the king and his subjects. Such a man was the bishop of Luçon. On 24 August he was chosen as one of two representatives of the clergy of Poitou. During the following weeks he helped to draft the clergy’s cahier de doléances which in its completed form was to reflect many of his opinions, notably on the need for decorum in religious services, obedience to the Tridentine decrees, an improved education for priests and a ban on duelling.¹⁶ By late September the government had postponed the meeting of the Estates-General until after the king’s majority and moved its venue to Paris.

Louis XIII’s majority was proclaimed at a lit-de-justice on 2 October with Condé and most of the other disaffected nobles in attendance. The first act of the new king was to renew edicts condemning blasphemy, protecting the Huguenots, banning duels, outlawing leagues and decreeing the pacification of the kingdom. Meanwhile, the deputies to the Estates-General had begun to arrive in Paris. Some idea of the issues facing them may be gathered from the many pamphlets that circulated at the time. Those produced by the clergy were aimed primarily at refuting arguments regarding the power of the king a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Dedication
• Chapter 1. Richelieu’s rise to power (1585–1624)
• Chapter 2. Richelieu as Chief Minister
• Chapter 3. Richelieu’s triumph
• Chapter 4. Richelieu and the high nobility
• Chapter 5. Richelieu and the Huguenots
• Chapter 6. Richelieu’s foreign policy (1624–35)
• Chapter 7. Richelieu and war (1635–42)
• Chapter 8. Richelieu, taxation and popular unrest
• Chapter 9. Richelieu and absolutism
• Chapter 10. Richelieu and the economy
• Chapter 11. Richelieu as a propagandist
• Chapter 12. Richelieu as patron of letters and the arts
• Epilogue
• Bibliographical essay
• Glossary
• List of dates
• Map 1.: France in 1630
• Map 2.: Central Europe c. 1618
• Index