189 France and Cardinal Richelieu
Learning Objective
- Identify Cardinal Richelieu’s main goals and his successes and failures in achieving them
Key Points
- Cardinal Richelieu was a French clergyman, nobleman, and statesman, serving as King Louis XIII’s Chief Minister (sometimes also called First Minister) from 1624. He sought to consolidate royal power and strengthen France’s international position.
- Although initially Richelieu was closely affiliated with Marie de Médicis, Louis XIII’s mother, and did not enjoy the king’s trust, his role as a successful mediator in the power struggle between Louis and Marie helped him reach the position of the king’s principal minister.
- Cardinal Richelieu’s policy involved two primary goals: centralization of power in France and opposition to the Habsburg dynasty.
- Richelieu’s decisions to suppress the influence of the feudal nobility and levy taxes targeted mostly at the commoners made him a hated figure among both the nobility and the peasantry.
- Richelieu was instrumental in redirecting the Thirty Years’ War from the conflict of Protestantism versus Catholicism to that of nationalism versus Habsburg hegemony, which allowed France to emerge from it as the most powerful state in continental Europe.
- Richelieu’s tenure was a crucial period of reform for France. At home, local and even religious interests were subordinated to those of the whole nation and the king. Internationally, France triumphed over declining Spain and the Holy Roman Empire. Richelieu’s successes were extremely important to King Louis XIV’s absolute monarchy.
Terms
Thirty Years’ War
A series of wars in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648. Initially a war between various Protestant and Catholic states in the fragmented Holy Roman Empire, it gradually developed into a more general conflict involving most of the great powers.
Battle of Lens
A 1648 French victory against the Spanish army in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648). It was the last major battle of the war and was critical to the eventual triumph of the French over the Spanish Habsburgs.
Council of Trent
Council held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent and Bologna, northern Italy. It was one of the Roman Catholic Church’s most important ecumenical councils. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation, it has been described as the embodiment of the Counter-Reformation.
It issued condemnations of what it defined to be heresies committed by Protestantism and, in response to them, key statements and clarifications of the church’s doctrine and teachings.
Peace of Alais
A treaty negotiated by Cardinal Richelieu with Huguenot leaders and signed by King Louis XIII of France in 1629. It confirmed the basic principles of the Edict of Nantes, but differed in that it contained additional clauses, stating that the Huguenots no longer had political rights and further demanding that they relinquish all cities and fortresses immediately. It ended the religious warring while granting the Huguenots amnesty