Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu, 1585 - 1642
Portrait by Philippe de Champaigne, April 1637
Born: 9 September 1585, Paris, France
Died: 4 December 1642, Paris, France
The youngest of three sons in a family of minor nobility at Richelieu, Poitou, France, his father François du Plessis died in 1590. The family was supported by a royal grant due to the father's military service. At nine he entered the College of Navarre at Paris, with expectation of a military career, but when his older brother refused to become Bishop of Luçon Armand changed course. Five years too young to hold the office, he went to Rome ask for papal compensation to take the post. He caught the attention of Marie de Medici, mother of and regent for Louis XIII, and held a position in the court of Anne of Austria, the young wife of the king. As Marie's political power rose and fell, du Plessis was sometimes an advisor to her, at other times an advisor to the king, and occasionally an intermediary as mother and son clashed and made peace. As the principal advisor to the king he was both opposed to the Protestant minority, the Huguenots, and waged war against them, but was also willing to ally with other Protestant powers, notably in Germany and Sweden, against the Habsburgs. He set out to eliminate the power of the traditional aristocracy and build the first significant central government. He played a key part in the treaties that forged the Peace of Westphalia, an event that can be said to have been the genesis of the modern national state. He was a sponsor of Samuel de Champlain, who settled and governed Quebec, and established the Académie française, the literary society that is still the final authority on the French language. As his health failed in the last year of his life, Richelieu reconciled with Pope Urban VIII and arranged for a trusted follower to become Jules Cardinal Mazarin and to succeed him, both as cardinal and advisor to the king.
Biography from Wikipedia and the Catholic Encyclopedia
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu quotes:
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- Artifice is allowable in deceiving a rival; we may employ everything against our enemies. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - Carry on any enterprise as if all future success depended on it. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - Had Luther and Calvin been confined before they had begun to dogmatize, the states would have been spared many troubles. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - Harshness towards individuals who flout the laws and commands of the state is for the public good; no greater crime against the public interest is possible than to show leniency to those who violate it. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - I have never had any [enemies], other than those of the state. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - I have the consolation of leaving your kingdom in the highest degree of glory and of reputation. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - If one would give me six lines written by the hand of the most honest man, I would find something in them to have him hanged. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - Never write a letter and never destroy one. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - Nothing so upholds the laws as the punishment of persons whose rank is as great as their crime. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - One must believe neither the people of the palace, who ordinarily measure the power of the king by the shape of his crown, which, being round, has no end, nor those who, in the excesses of an indiscreet zeal, proclaim themselves openly as partisans of Rome. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - Reason must be the universal rule and guide; all things must be done according to reason without allowing oneself to be swayed by emotion. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of the State. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - To know how to dissimulate is the knowledge of kings. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu - War is one of the scourges with which it has pleased God to afflict men. permalink
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duc de Richelieu
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