Eminence; Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France

New York, N.Y.: Walker & Company, 2011. First U.S. Edition [stated]. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Ves Pitts (Author photograph). vi, [2], 309, [3] pages. Illustrations (color). Includes Introduction, Conclusion, Acknowledgments, Map of France in 1630, Chronology, Principal Characters, Louis XIII's and Richelieu's Family Trees, Notes, Bibliography, and Index. Chapters include The Rise; The Testing, The Passion, and Conclusion. Jean-Vincent Blanchard is an associate professor of French and politics at Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Born in Canada and raised in Europe, he earned his Ph.D. from Yale University in 1997. He is a specialist on pre-Revolutionary France, and has published on a broad range of subjects in politics, history, and the arts. Blanchard gives Cardinal Richelieu a tremendous depth of character through the re-creation of key, decisive moments over the course of his courtly career. He writes that Richelieu "allowed his countrymen to think of a grand future for themselves," thus laying the foundation for the Sun King's subsequent reign of glory (and profligacy). The author demonstrates that the cardinal's power grew out of his dependence on and loyalty to the king. Richelieu allowed his countrymen to think of a grand future for themselves, thus laying the foundation for the Sun King's subsequent reign of glory (and profligacy). Chief minister to King Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu was the architect of a new France in the seventeenth century, and the force behind the nation's rise as a European power. Among the first statesmen to clearly understand the necessity of a balance of powers, he was one of the early realist politicians, practicing in the wake of Niccolò Machiavelli. Truly larger than life, he has captured the imagination of generations, both through his own story and through his portrayal as a ruthless political mastermind in Alexandre Dumas's classic The Three Musketeers. Forging a nation-state amid the swirl of unruly, grasping nobles, widespread corruption, wars of religion, and an ambitious Habsburg empire, Richelieu's hands were always full. Serving his fickle monarch, he mastered the politics of absolute power. Jean-Vincent Blanchard's rich and insightful new biography brings Richelieu fully to life in all his complexity. At times cruel and ruthless, Richelieu was always devoted to creating a lasting central authority vested in the power of monarchy, a power essential to France's position on the European stage for the next two centuries. Richelieu's careful understanding of politics as spectacle speaks to contemporary readers; much of what he accomplished was promoted strategically through his great passion for theater and literature, and through the romance of power. Eminence offers a rich portrait of a fascinating man and his era, and gives us a keener understanding of the dark arts of politics.