Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers - Cardinal Richelieu
100 Days of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers June 1 - August 31, 2024
100 Days of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers
June 1 - August 31, 2024
All for One and One for All: "The Three Musketeers" at 180
June 6
Historical post 7 of 10
Those of you who just joined us - welcome!!! Please read ALL of my earlier Three Musketeers notes in the order of posting!!! ALL the historical notes are essential for a deeper understanding of the novel!!! Three rules: no spoilers, write your contemplations in the comment sections of my posts, AND please don't read the introduction to your edition of the novel - it gives away the plot!!!
Please catch up with the history posts!!! Chapter 1 commentary on June 11!!!
It took me forever to sort through the key facts of Cardinal Richelieu’s eventful life - especially since I just finished his brilliant biography by Jean-Vincent Blanchard - I can’t recommend it enough!!! Blanchard stresses that Richelieu, along with Charlemagne and Napoleon, are not just historical French figures, but civilizational. Despite its constantly raging internal contradictions, France has remained a unified country for the past 1,000 years, which is unprecedented in Europe. Richelieu contributed tremendously to this territorial and structural unity.
Born on September 9, 1585 with the most gorgeous French name - Armand Jean du Plessis - IN PARIS - Richelieu is the quintessence of Parisian French Frenchness!!! His father, who came from minor nobility in the West of France, severed at Court and married the daughter of a Parisian bourgeois - with an enormous fortune!!! Thus Richelieu’s aristocratic manners and solidly bourgeois common sense!!! His father died young and the widow with 5 children decided to sell the Parisian home and move to her husband’s distant and provincial ancestral estate at - yes, you guessed it - Richelieu, France!!! I visited it last week - will post photos over the weekend!!!
As a third child, Armand Jean du Plessis did not stand a chance in the rigid aristocratic structure of the day - the oldest boy inherited the title and the fortune - the second son was destined for priesthood, and, in best circumstances, could become a bishop, or even a cardinal. But the second son of the Richelieu family decided to join a distant monastery in the Alps, and so Armand Jean du Plessis, instead of being trained for the army, began his church career!!!
In his early teens he was educated at the College of Navarre in Paris where he received the most splendid aristocratic education available - complete with equestrian skills, fencing, dancing, and gallant demeanor!!! Sorbonne classes followed to get him ready for the holy orders when he inherited the title of a bishop at 21!!! The minimum age for bishops of France was 26 - he travelled to Rome and impressed everyone with his impeccable manners, superb knowledge, and flawless Latin - and received the Pope’s permission to assume the title of the Bishop of Luçon on France’s Atlantic coast in 1607.
The place was just devastated by yet another round of Wars of Religion - the cathedral was severely damaged, the bishop’s palace in ruins - the memory of French disunity he witnessed first hand at his first religious posting will forever remain lodged in his mind - La Rochelle is Luçon’s neighbor on the Atlantic coast - Richelieu’s involvement in the siege will be the result of these early days of contemplation on the consequences of national discord.
The dazzling career of the l'Éminence Rouge or "the Red Eminence" was the result of hard work, constant vigilance, understanding of history and people, and unwavering loyalty to the King of France, Louis XIII. Eventually Richelieu, who was elevated to the rank of Cardinal in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV, served France as Governor of Brittany, Grand Master of Navigation, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Secretary of State for War, AND, most importantly, First Minister of State - a post he assumed on August 12, 1624 - thus our upcoming August 12 commemoration of the 400th anniversary!!! He held this post till his death at 57… His health was undermined by the grueling work schedule he kept up all his adult life…
When Cardinal Richelieu died on December 4, 1642, he was buried in Paris at the Chapel of the Sorbonne - the institution he financed and supported as a stronghold for the dissemination of knowledge and the foundation of a strong French state. He steered France through the catastrophic decades of the Thirty Years’ War which witnessed everyone fighting everyone in Europe, left 1/3 of its German speaking population dead, and resulted in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. Here, the foundation of Modern Europe as a continent of sovereign states was set up - a Europe governed by laws and with international treaties and peace conferences as possible conflict resolution mechanisms. Richelieu did not live to see this triumph, but it became the fulfillment of all of his efforts as a statesman.
France emerged out of this conflagration strong and united - and the 18th century became the French century - hugely due to another accomplishment of Richelieu - the establishment of the Académie Française as an institution responsible for the development and cultivation of the French Language in all the arts!!! AND if you look at the map of Canada and see a lot of places named after Richelieu - he supported Samuel de Champlain and the establishment of New France through the foundation in 1627 of French institutions to govern French provinces in the New World… Yes, Quebec still speaks French as a consequence of this decision by Cardinal Richelieu… And yes, Iowa, where I live, has so many French names, as a consequence of this decision by Cardinal Richelieu…
For his service to France, he was created Duke of Richelieu in 1629. Marking his tremendous importance in French history, one of the three wings at the Louvre Museum - the largest museum in the world - is named after him, Richelieu!!!
The other two are named after:
Sully
Maximilien de Béthune Sully, 1st Prince of Sully, minister of Louis XIII’s father King Henry IV of France, a statesman who also contributed to administrative centralization and the strengthening of French unity.
Denon
Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon, diplomat in the service of Louis XIII’s successors, Louis XV and Louis XVI, who became the first director of the Louvre Museum, appointed by Napoleon Bonaparte!!! Founder of Egyptology, he participated in Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign, together with the father of Alexandre Dumas, General Thomas-Alexandre Dumas!!! Yes, EVERYTHING is connected!!!
Done with Richelieu - on to the Scottish - AND English - Stuarts!!!
Triple Portrait of Cardinal de Richelieu, by Philippe de Champaigne (c. 1642), National Gallery, London. It was first created as a sketch for a bust commissioned from the greatest sculptor of the age, Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), which was completed in 1641 and now is housed at the Louvre!!! I will introduce it in one of my posts this summer!!!
