Cardinal Richelieu: And the Making of France [Hardcover]

Anthony Levi (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 30, 2000

In an extraordinary drama sweeping across seventeenth-century France, this probing biography of Cardinal Richelieu explores how a man of steely intelligence and ruthless ambition not only fulfilled his dreams of social prestige, personal wealth, and political power but at the same time realized his vision of a France unified as much by its culture as by its king.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

For a man who might justifiably lay claim to being the father of the French nation, Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642), the first minister of King Louis XIII's council, was quite remarkably unpopular. His overtaxed countrymen, ever rebellious during his lifetime, lit bonfires to celebrate his death, and "it may well be true," according to his new biographer, "that it is impossible to name any historical personage in French public life who has provoked more hatred." From Richelieu's life as described by Levi (a scholar of French studies and editor of the two-volume Guide to French Literature), one might conclude that the centralization of the nation state was a morally bankrupt goal driven by the most inhumane of ideals; but Levi is circumspect in his judgments, preferring simply to observe and understand. This is a sophisticated narrative, perfectly accessible yet pervaded by gravitas and alert to the complexities of the Catholic revival movement which followed the internecine Wars of Religion. Levi's recurrent idea is that Richelieu aspired to the creation of national unity as much through cultural symbolism (creating, for instance, the French Academy and initiating a great art collection) as through strictly political means. He presents a complex man of manipulative intelligence and inexhaustible nervous energy, capable of good humor and charm as well as violent mood swings. However, he is strikingly indulgent in dealing with Richelieu's revenge on rebellious rural workers in Normandy. Levi's account provides plentiful grounds to suspect why Richelieu destroyed huge volumes of private documents, as well as a little Norman village. This sharp portrait will interest students of French, European and political history. (Dec.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

If one's view of Cardinal Richelieu is based on a reading of Alexander Dumas' The Three Musketeers, one inevitably thinks of a ruthless, cynical practitioner of power politics. Levi, a specialist in French culture, does not contradict that image. However, in this absorbing and often surprising biography, Levi gives Richelieu well-deserved credit for molding France into a modern nation-state. Under Richelieu, France became more than a mere geographic expression. He launched efforts to enforce linguistic unity and effectively fought the centrifugal tendencies of the great feudal lords. He created the French Academy, and a national theater, and initiated state domination of the educational system. Of course, in foreign affairs, his statecraft made France the greatest power in continental Europe. This is an interesting portrait of an admirable, but not very lovable, historical giant. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf / Da Capo Press (November 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 078670778X
• ISBN-13: 978-0786707782
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,951,007 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Poor history mixed with faux scholasticism, August 7, 2003

By A Customer

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This review is from: Cardinal Richelieu: And the Making of France (Hardcover)

Levi divides this book into two parts. The first half is history in the "in 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue" style that went out years ago. It is a numbing recital of: "in 16xx ABC did this; in 16xx DEF did that; and in 16xx so did GHI". This half of the book is poorly organized. Often Levi is forced to double back 10 to 20 pages in order to pick up something he forgot. Unless you have a good grasp of 17th century France and its history, you will find the wild cascade of unrelated names and places disorienting. Don't waste your time trying to follow the history. Much of it is factually debatable. I must stress: the man simply has his historical facts jumbled and in error.

Levi never even quite seems to figure out when the 30 Years War took place. One of the reasons Richelieu was so destested and hated in his time was his conduct during the 30 Years War. As a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, he made the Protestant Revolution successful in Germany and the lowlands. His support with money and troops against the Catholic Habsburg monarchy of Austria made Protestant success possible. Why did he do that? A) to weaken the Catholic Austrians vis-a-vis France, B) to destroy the populations and wealth of the German states and the lowlands as competitors to France, and C) for the power and glory of France. Levi never even mentions this critical period. It is Richelieu's greatest contribution to French history.

In part two Levi takes up the cultural side. This half of the book abandons the "in 1492" approach for some of the worst academic English you are ever going to meet. The man simply cannot construct a pointed English sentence. I quit counting the number of consecutive 50 to 70 WORD sentences. Subjects and verbs seldom seem to meet, much less agree. Only experts at diagramming sentences need apply.

Levi is clearly not in his home area. Bluntly, anyone who can dismiss Corneille, Pascal, and Descartes is simply not well grounded in this period and its follow up. The lengthy discussion of Jansenism puts Levi into a subject area he clearly does not understand. About all you can say he got right for certain is that Richelieu and the Jansenists were not on good terms.

This book is a quandary. In many respects it is a hagiographic gloss of Richelieu. As a piece of popular history it is barely skin deep. Historical accuracy and much of the religious interpretation is questionable. The political analysis is simplistic and incomplete. (Hopefully, you already understand the relations of the Habsburgs, Dutch, Swedes, Germans, and the Pope. Levi spends a lot of time wandering in the wilderness here.) The quality of writing is pretentious in the second half, and questionable throughout. When finished, you will have done little more than confirmed the preconceptions about Richelieu you brought with you, picked up some odd notions about Louis XIII, and maybe have acquired a smattering of dates.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A man of contradiction and contrast, July 31, 2003

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Alekos (Cancun, Quintana Roo Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cardinal Richelieu: And the Making of France (Hardcover)

This is a good work of popular history. As he wrote it, Levi was probably thinking of people like me who know their knowledge of French history in the 17th century is inadequate but don't want to spend months in the library filling in the gaps. The book is full of important figures like Marie de Medici, Anne of Austria, and Gaston of Orleans, but Richelieu and his career are at the center of the whole story. The author is at his best when analyzing Richelieu psychologically and morally, but he seems to value those of his subject's virtues that might place him closer to the Homeric moral universe than to ours. He praises the cardinal for his bravery, tenacity, and ruthlessness rather than looking for signs of compassion, tenderness, or justice. Of course Richelieu was intensely loyal to the king, Louis XIII, but he was equally loyal to his own quest for power, prestige, and possessions, three realms in which he met with overwhelming success. One of the interesting side issues in the book is the king's inability to relate sexually to women and his dalliances with several men, most notably with Cinq-Mars, who betrayed him. Richelieu did his best to protect the king's reputation even in this area. The more important question Levi works with is how Richelieu almost single-handedly changed France from a collection of separate areas, princedoms and duchies, with their various customs, laws, traditions and loyalties, into a modern nation-state under the absolute authority of the monarch. He also did much to promote culture, art, and literature. But he achieved all this at the cost of unendurable suffering among the common people, who were over-taxed, underfed, and who lived in general misery. Naturally, he was generally despised.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The "real" Cardinal Richelieu, March 25, 2002

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Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cardinal Richelieu: And the Making of France (Paperback)

I believe that most contemporary folks only know of Cardinal Richelieu from two sources: 1. As the scheming villain of countless "Three Musketeers" films, or 2. As the surprise witness at the parking ticket trial in the famous Monthy Python sketch. Both these portrayals, of course, are incorrect, and the author of this fine work has endeavored mightily to correct any wrong impressions we may have about this justly famous, but reviled, man. Levi's Richelieu was a churchman of true faith and belief who spent his life trying to consolidate the French people and sovereign into a modern nation state, and succeeded, more or less, by the time of his death. It is a fascinating read, marred only by the changing names of some of the players, and a light going over of French history that often leaves the lay reader confused as to what was happening where and by whom. It's worth finishing, though, to give insight into the mind and actions of a man who had a goal, and stayed with it in a single-minded way during his entire career in public service to his king and country.