Armand-Jean du Plessis, Duke and Cardinal Richelieu

Armand-Jean du Plessis, the Duke and Cardinal of Richelieu (1585-1642) was the minister-favourite of Louis XIII, King of France (1601-1643) from 1624 until his death. Destined to the ecclesiastical state (he became Bishop of Luçon in 1607 and Cardinal in 1622), Richelieu proved to be possibly the greatest statesman of his time, capable of making France the principal power in Europe to the detriment of Spain and the Habsburgs and of saving the Kingdom from its profound political and religious divisions. The conquest of the fortress of La Rochelle (1628), after 14 months of siege, signalled the end of the power of French Calvinists, called Huguenots, while the entrance into the Thirty Years‘ War (1635) marked the beginning of open conflict and ultimately victory against Spain. He used an iron fist against the great nobility which was against the recognition of the superiority of the king and in general during the government of Richelieu the bases of what would be absolutism in France from Louis XIV (1638-1715) onwards. The vast opposition which his policies met with were the source of the various attempts made on his life which all failed.