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Setting the scene
Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, became chief minister to Louis XIII of France on April 29, 1624, after years of political maneuvering. Born in 1585 to a minor noble family, he became Bishop of Luçon in 1607 and entered royal service. He served as Secretary of State in 1616-1617 but fell from favor when Louis XIII exiled his mother Marie de' Medici. Richelieu reconciled mother and son in 1620, and Marie secured his cardinal's hat in 1622. By 1624, Louis, needing a strong minister to counter Habsburg power, recalled him.
What happened
Richelieu's policy had two goals: make the king absolute at home, and make France dominant abroad. Domestically, he crushed the Huguenot (French Protestant) political and military power, besieging La Rochelle (1627-1628) and ending their fortified towns, though allowing religious freedom per the Edict of Nantes. He broke the power of rebellious nobles, executing conspirators like the Duke of Montmorency (1632) and destroying their castles. He created intendants—royal agents who bypassed local nobles to enforce royal will, centralizing the state.
Why it still matters
Abroad, Richelieu pursued raison d'état—state interest over religion. Though a cardinal, he allied Catholic France with Protestant Sweden and the Dutch Republic against the Catholic Habsburgs in the Thirty Years' War, entering the war directly in 1635. He subsidized enemies of Habsburgs and worked to encircle them. Richelieu died in 1642, having made France Europe's dominant power and the monarchy absolute. His policies laid the foundation for Louis XIV's absolutism but also created the centralized state that would be overthrown in 1789. He remains the archetype of the ruthless, effective statesman.
Background
He fought Habsburgs abroad and nobles at home. Even centuries later, this episode remains a reference point for how empires rise, fracture, and transform.