RICHELIEU, ARMAND JEAN DII PLESSIS, Cardinal. Due de, was b. of a noble but impoverished family at Paris, Sept. 5, 1585, and was educated for the military profes sion at the college de Navarre. On the retirement to a religious life, however. of his elder brother, who held the bishopric of Lucon, Richelieu, with a view to succeeding to this preferment, betook himself to ecclesiastical studies, and underwent the preliminary examination for his degree at the Sorbonne. In 1607 he was consecrated bishop of Luqon at Rome by cardinal de Givry, in presence of pope Paul V., and for some time devoted himself zealously to the discharge of his duties in his diocese. At the states general in 1614, being appointed one of the representatives of the clergy, he attracted the notice of the queen-mother by an address which he delivered in the presence of the young king, Louis XIII.; and by his appointment in 1616 as secretary at war and foreign alfairs,,the way seemed opened to his success in political life; but in one of the vicissi tudes of state intrigue common at that period, he soon found it necessary to withdraw from court, and return to his diocese. Meanwhile a rupture occurred between the queen-mother and the king, and Richelieu, through the agency of a very remarkable man—the celebrated Capuchin father Joseph—whose fortunes thenceforward were inseparably united with those of Richelieu, succeeded in effecting their reconciliation (hug. 1620). and the restoration of the queen to her position at court. The foundation of Richelieu's influence in consequence was solidly laid; but lie appears to have acted with much tact and patient forbearance. He formed an alliance with the powerful favorite, the due de Luynes, and 1622 was named cardinal, and two years later, 1624, he was made minister of state—a position which, although frequently menaced, and constantly, beset by every variety of court intrigue, he. retained to the end of his life. His first important measure was the conclusion of the alliance with England, by the marriage of Henrietta, sister of the king. with Charles. then prince of Wales, in 1624. his successful conduct of the war of the Valteline, an affair of much delicacy for a car dinal, as presenting the pope himself as the antagonist of France, tended still more to strengthen his power. His enemies, however, were constantly on the watch for oppor tunities of undermining his influence, and even of bringing about his death. The queen
withdrew her favor. and the king, while he trusted him implicitly, never ceased to fear him. The crisis of the struggle took place Dec. 11, 1630, when Richelieu himself believed that his fate was inevitable. His disgrace, indeed, had been decided; the king fearing to meet him face to face, had refused him an audience. Ills attempts to force an entrance to the king at the Luxembourg were defeated; but Louis, in his weak fear vf Richelieu having withdrawn to Versailles, the cardinal there succeeded in obtaining an audience, and having once effectually overborne the weakness and alarmed the fear of the sovereign, his supremacy remained from that day firmly and irrevocably established. This famous day is known as Le Jou•nee des Dupes.
The administration of Richelieu forms an epoch in the history of the constitution of the kingdom of France, as well as of her relations with other countries. It is memorable for several great measures, or series of measures, through which the posture of affairs underwent a complete and permanent change. Of these, the first and the most lasting in its results was that by which the absolute authority of the sovenlign was established. From the tnedixval period the power of the French kings had been controlled and, in many cases overridden by the feudal privileges of the nobles; and in the stormy con flicts of the 16th and of the beginning of the 17th centuries, the power of the crown had often been reduced to a cipher. By a succession of vigorous and energetic and, it nmst be added, not unfrequently unscrupulous measures. Richelieu succeeded in break ing down the political power, and subduing the arrogant assumptions of the great families; the heads of several among which were brought to the scaffold, while not a few were condemned to life-long imprisonment. Among his most inveterate and most powerful adversaries was Gaston, duke of Orleans, brother of the king; but Richelieu triumphed over him, and even the queen-mother, Maria de 11edicis, was obliged to bow before the unbending spirit of Richelieu, and to withdraw into exile at Cologne; and Richelieu, at the close of his career, delivered up the royal authority, which he had wielded for 18 years, almost without a single constitutional check upon its absolute exercise.