[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":27},["ShallowReactive",2],{"hreflang:/en/zoom/p8ch1z2-richelieu-portrait-of-a-statesman":3,"zoom:p8ch1z2:en":7},{"fr":4,"en":5,"es":6},"/zoom/p8ch1z2-richelieu-portrait-dun-homme-detat","/en/zoom/p8ch1z2-richelieu-portrait-of-a-statesman","/es/zoom/p8ch1z2-richelieu-retrato-de-un-hombre-de-estado",{"period":8,"chapter":17,"zoom":20},{"id":9,"title":10,"titleEn":10,"titleEs":11,"range":12,"rangeEn":12,"rangeEs":12,"covers":13},"p8","Ancien Regime","Antiguo Régimen","1610 → 1789",[14],{"filename":15,"url":16},"A Stag Hunt at Versailles","https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Martin%2C_Jean-Baptiste_%E2%80%94_A_Stag_Hunt_at_Versailles_%E2%80%94_c._1700.jpg",{"id":18,"title":19},"p8ch1","Louis XIII and Richelieu: the assertion of absolutism (1610-1643)",{"id":21,"title":22,"chapterId":18,"html":23,"hasEn":24,"isFallback":25,"seoDescription":26},"p8ch1z2","Richelieu, portrait of a statesman","\u003Cp>Behind the all-powerful minister described in the eight sections of this chapter lies a man whose personal trajectory, personality, and intimate relationship with Louis XIII deserve to be examined in their own right.\u003C/p>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Ch2>⛪ A vocation under constraint\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>Born on 9 September 1585 in Paris into a family of the noblesse de robe — his father had been captain of the guards of Henry III —, \u003Cstrong>Armand Jean du Plessis\u003C/strong> was at first destined for a military career. It was the premature death of his elder brother, intended for the bishopric of Luçon, that upended this trajectory: to preserve the income attached to this family benefice, Armand agreed to take on the office in his place, studied theology at the Sorbonne, and was consecrated Bishop of Luçon in 1607, at twenty-two, through a dispensation of age granted by Rome. It was as a representative of the clergy of Poitou at the estates-general of 1614 that he first drew attention, before serving, for a time, under Concini’s ministry.\u003C/p>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Ch2>🎭 Character and relationship with the king\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cp>Tall and slender, his pale face with fine features marked by frequent migraines, Richelieu cultivated an exceptional intelligence coupled with an inflexible will; his calculating coldness, which betrayed little of his emotions, contrasted with an unfailing loyalty to the State and to the king. His relationship with Louis XIII, a complex one, rested on a scrupulous respect for the royal office: “I submit this thought, like all others, to Your Majesty,” he wrote, signifying that he never claimed to govern in the sovereign’s place. This formal deference did not prevent, over the years, the flowering of a sincere mutual esteem, attested by the praise Louis XIII himself gave his minister: “Cardinal Richelieu is the greatest servant France has ever had.”\u003C/p>\n\u003Cp>A political cardinal before he was a pastor, Richelieu found in a few passions a counterpoint to the austere exercise of power: literature, which he practised himself as a writer and supported as a patron, the arts, which he collected and had built, and even a well-known fondness for cats, several of which he kept by his side. This private side of the statesman, left in the shadow of his political work, found its final echo on his deathbed: asked whether he forgave his enemies, he replied, on 4 December 1642, that he had “no enemies but those of the State” — a formula that sums up, better than any other, the principle that had governed his entire career.\u003C/p>\n\u003Chr>\n\u003Ch2>🧠 Key takeaways\u003C/h2>\n\u003Cul>\n\u003Cli>Destined for a military career, Armand du Plessis became Bishop of Luçon in 1607 out of family necessity, before drawing attention at the estates-general of 1614 and then serving under Concini’s ministry\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>A man of exceptional intelligence and inflexible will, he always professed scrupulous respect for the royal office, which did not prevent the flowering of mutual esteem with Louis XIII, who called him the “greatest servant France has ever had”\u003C/li>\n\u003Cli>A man of letters, patron of the arts and lover of cats, he died on 4 December 1642, declaring he had “no enemies but those of the State”\u003C/li>\n\u003C/ul>\n",true,false,"Behind the all-powerful minister described in the eight sections of this chapter lies a man whose personal trajectory, personality, and intimate relationship",1786625746154]