Cardinal Richelieu

He died on December 4, 1642 after suffering from several ailments. He was buried at the church of the Sorbonne.

His corpse was taken out at the time of French Revolution when his mummified head was stolen. In 1796, it was found in the possession of Nicholas Armez of Brittany who exhibited it occasionally. In 1866, Napoleon III convinced Nicholas Armez’s nephew, Louis-Philippe Armez to hand it over to the government so that it can be kept with rest of the body.

Cardinal Richelieu was born as Armand du Plessis on September 9, 1585 in the family of François du Plessis, seigneur de Richelieu and Suzanne de la Porte. He was fragile and frequently fell sick since his childhood throughout his life.

His father, a courtier and a soldier, served as the grand provost or the chief magistrate under Henry III. His maternal grandfather was a councillor of the Parliament of Paris.

His father died fighting the ‘French Wars of Religion’ when he was five years old. The family faced financial crisis which was overcome through royal aids.

At 9, he attended the ‘College of Navarre’ in Paris and studied philosophy following which he took training for a career in military. In 1605, he suffered from gonorrhoea.

His family was made the bishopric of Lucon by King Henry III in recognition to his father’s service in the ‘French Wars of Religion’. The clergymen wanted the revenue thus received be used for ecclesiastical purposes. Thus to protect the revenue, his mother proposed his brother Alphonse be made the bishop of Lucan. However, his brother’s disinclination made him fill up the clergy.

After the assassination of King Henry IV in 1610, the government under queen mother Marie de Medici as regent for her son King Louis XIII went through a tumultuous phase. The system became corrupt erupting self-interest and escalating royal factions and revolt.

Bishop Richelieu’s roles as an intermediary led him represent the clergy of Poitou in the meetings of ‘Estates General’ in 1614. He faced major opposition from the ‘Third Estate’ comprising the commoners on the matter of interrelationship between the papacy and the crown. He was instrumental in convincing the ‘Third Estate’ that the conventions of the ‘Council of Trent’ should be established.

He eventually became the chaplain of the Queen Anne of Austria, wife of Louis and in 1616 he was inducted as ‘Secretary of State’.

Marie de Medici along with Concino Concini continued to govern even after Louis XIII came of age. Her poor judgement along with Concini’s dominance over the royal council and court compounded the regal weakness and resurgence of revolt and instability in regency.

In 1617, King Louis XIII, who had already achieved legal majority few years back took control over the regal authority dominated by Marie and Concini through veritable coup d'état. It resulted in reversing the pro-Habsburg policy, arrest of Marie and her exile to the Château de Blois. On April 24, Charles d’Albert de Luynes, one of Louis’s favourites assassinated Concini.