Richelieu

270 Pages·2000·14.779 MB·English

by  Robert J. Knecht

Richelieu
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R. J. Knecht
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LONDONAND NEWYORK
Firstpublished1991byPearsonEducationLimited
Published2013byRoutledge
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CONTENTS
Preface Vll
CHAPTER 1 Richelieu's rise to power (1585-1624) 1
CHAPTER 2 Richelieu as Chief Minister 18
The ChiefMinister and the King 19
Richelieu's power base 23
CHAPTER 3 Richelieu's triumph 31
The Day ofDupes 34
Richelieu the man 41
CHAPTER 4 Richelieu and the high nobility 49
CHAPTER 5 Richelieu and the Huguenots 64
CHAPTER 6 Richelieu's foreign policy (1624-35) 84
The Valtelline Crisis 88
The Mantuan War 90
The Swedish Alliance 94
CHAPTER 7 Richelieu and war (1635-42) 105
The army under Richelieu 110
The turn ofthe tide 114
CHAPTER 8 Richelieu, taxation and popular unrest 119
The sinews ofwar 119
Opposition 125
Suppression 129
V
CHAPTER 9 Richelieu and absolutism 135
Parlements and estates 135
Office-holders and intendants 141
CHAPTER 10 Richelieu and the economy 149
The navy 155
Trade 159
Industry 165
CHAPTER 11 Richelieu as a propagandist 169
CHAPTER 12 Richelieu as patron of letters
and the arts 190
Patron ofletters 190
Richelieu asbuilder 195
Richelieu as patron ofthe arts 200
Richelieu as art collector 205
Epilogue 211
Bibliographical essay 222
Glossary 232
List ofdates 236
Map 1: France in 1630 240
Map 2: Central Europe c. 1618 242
Index 245
VI
PREFACE
Cardinal Richelieu shares with Bismarck the distinction of
being the only foreign statesman to have become part ofthe
store of knowledge ofthe average educated English person.
Why that should be is a matter for speculation. His achieve
ment in itself is not a sufficient explanation: though sub
stantial, it was no more important than those ofsome other
statesmen whose fame has remained confined to their own
countries. Nor did Richelieu's career impinge particularly
on England's history. His role in defeating Buckingham's
expedition to the lIe de Re hardly justifies the exceptional
place he occupies in English historical thinking. Far more
significant perhaps was the cardinal's assiduous cultivation
of his own posthumous reputation. By commissioning his
torians to glorify his achievement and by committing his
political ideas to paper, he did everything possible to ensure
that he was not easily forgotten or underrated. But that
begs a further question. Until the mid-twentieth century
the cardinal was seen by Englishmen less as a hero than
as a villain. Machiavelli, in their perception, was his closest
cousin: a devil and a popish one at that. How did this come
about?
The cardinal's popular reputation in nineteenth-century
England probably owed more to fiction than history. In 1826
Alfred de Vigny, one ofthe pioneers ofthe romantic move
ment in France, published his historical novel, Cinq-Mars,
in which Richelieu was portrayed as a cruel tyrant. Among
English readers of Cinq-Mars was Edward Bulwer-Lytton,
who was inspired to write a play in blank verse, called
Richelieu or the Conspiracy. The author was not entirely
hostile to Richelieu. He saw him as France's dictator but
VB
also herbenefactor; a manwith a dual characterat once witty
and sinister. He captured the interest of the famous actor
Macready and tried to make him see Richelieu's dramatic
potential with 'one leg in Comedy, the other in Tragedy'.
Actors in those days took history seriously. Macready read
Cinq-Mars and, on learning that de Vigny was in England,
arranged to see him. <'He will be splendid in Richelieu,' de
Vigny prophesied, 'and I will have much to tell him about
this man whose intimate enemy I was during the time I was
writingCinq-Mars.' On 24 February 1838 Macreadyreported
to Bulwer-Lytton: 'Count de Vigny gave me more than two
hours on Thursday and brought the man Richelieu directly
before me.' The instruction served Macready well. When
Bulwer-Lytton's playwas stagedat CoventGardenin 1839in
the queen's presence it was much acclaimed. Frequent reviv
als ensued, and Henry Irving presented it at the Lyceum no
less thanfour times. Thus did Richelieubecomea well-known
stage villain in England. He also became known to a wider
public through the popular novels of Alexandre Dumas,
particularly The Three Musketeers. In 1896 he reappeared in
Stanley Weyman's popular novel Under the Red Robe, which
was successfully dramatised at the Haymarket theatre. In the
face ofso much publicexposureisit surprisingthat Richelieu
became almost a household name this side of the Channel?
In recent years Richelieu has become known to sixth
formers and undergraduates less for his dramatic persona
than on account of his frequent appearances among exami
nation questions on early modern European history. Past
generations ofhistorians have presented him as the restorer
of France's greatness following her disastrous civil wars and
as the founder of that absolute monarchy which reached its
zenith under Louis XIV. That picture remains broadly true,
but modern research has toned it down in various ways. The
attention ofa new generation ofhistorians has been focused
on a number of hitherto neglected aspects: the nature of
absolutism, the effectiveness ofroyal power in the provinces,
the impactofthe Thirty Years Waron taxation, the causes of
social unrest. Among the more notable contributions made
in these fields are several studies of popular risings ~under
Richelieu by French scholars. The nature of absolutism
has been hotly debated by Porchnev, Mousnier and Beik.
William Church has examined Richelieu's concept of'reason
Vill
ofstate'. The role of the intendants and the varying fortunes
ofthe royal treasury have come under scrutiny from Richard
Bonney. New light has been shed, notably by David Parker,
on the revolt of La Rochelle and on the Huguenots in
general.JosephBerginhas shownthatthebasisofRichelieu's
authority was more than the king's trust: it also rested on
the systematic building up of a vast personal fortune, much
of it comprising lands and offices in western France. The
present work tries to incorporate these recent findings into
a reassessment of Richelieu.
In presenting Richelieu to a readership mainly of sixth
formers, students and teachers, I feel that it is important to
concentrate on his ministerial career: that is to say, his rise to
power, the opposition he encountered, his aims and policies
at home and abroad, his interest in the navy and overseas.
trade, his methods of government and the patronage of
learning and the arts. To be concise and effective such a
treatment must necessarily depart from the conventionally
chronological and narrative treatment. Clearly, some obser
vance ofchronology is necessary, but this isdone within each
analytical section. The first three chapters oughtto introduce
Richelieu to those readers who are as yet unfamiliar with
him. In preparing this book I have been much helped by
Joseph Bergin, who has given me advice and lent me books
not easily accessible. His recent book on Richelieu's private
fortune has been an inspiration and his current research
on the cardinal's rise to power will doubtless prove equally
illuminating. I am most grateful to Keith Robbins for kindly
inviting me to write this 'profile' and for much helpful ad
vice; also to I A Shapiro and Susan Brock for their theatrical
guidance. My greatest debt, as always, is to my wife for
allowing Richelieu to take precedence over matters of even
greater urgency.
Birmingham
3 February 1990
IX