Cardinal Richelieu: Power and the Pursuit of Wealth [Paperback]

Dr. Joseph Bergin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 11, 1990

Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) did more than anyone else to lay the foundations of French hegemony in Europe and of absolute monarchy in his own country. He was a spokesman for power politics, the idea of raison d'etat, and the right of rulers to the unquestioning obedience of their subjects. He was, in addition, one of the richest men in the entire history of France. Joseph Bergin's study of his wealth-the first full-scale analysis of the fortune of a leading political figure of the ancien regime-reveals the multiple connections that existed at that time between the tenure of political office and the accumulation of individual and family wealth. "Bergin's study of Richelieu's fortune achieves the unexpected feat of adding substantially to our knowledge of one of the most important figures in French history, largely through the exploitation of a group of hitherto unused documents. . . . Well-constructed and elegantly written. . . . The book's great virtue is . . . that it places Richelieu within the social and economic context of his time."-Times Literary Supplement "Here is a vivid and fascinating guide to the financial basis of high society in Louis XIII's France, and a precise account of how Richelieu gained and maintained his position in government. . . . A meticulous and scholarly examination of the fortune accumulated by one man, it sheds much light on the more general topic of the nature and means of noble wealth and influence in the early seventeenth century."-Roger Mettam, History Today "A brilliant, fascinating, and elegantly written book."-American Historical Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 350 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (March 11, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300048602
• ISBN-13: 978-0300048605
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,370,814 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I was born in Rathkyle, which is near Castlecomer in County Kilkenny, Ireland. I went to secondary school at Rockwell College, near Cashel in County Tipperary, finishing my studies there in 1966. I took a BA and then an MA in History in University College Dublin in 1970 and 1972 respectively, followed by a Ph.D from the University of Cambridge in 1977. I lectured in St Patrick's College, Maynooth, Ireland from 1976 to 1978, when I moved to the University of Manchester, where I have taught since and where I have been a full professor since 1996. My field of study is early modern European history (Renaissance to the French Revolution), with a special focus on 17th century France, on which I have written six books and numerous essays and articles. I have lived in France at various times, as both a student and as an academic on sabbatical leave, and I once played rugby (as outside-half) for the Paris rugby club, Stade Francais, which proved an unusually interesting entree into many things French. My wife, Sylvia, is French (and Armenian), and we have two adult children who are fully bi-lingual. I spent a year in Berlin in 2006-07, and was captivated by the city with its troubled and ever-changing history. My most recent book, Church, Society and Religious Change in France 1580-1730 (Yale UP, 2009), was largely written in Berlin, which provided ideal conditions for the job. I imagined as I arrived there that I would be fluent in German, but alas it did not quite happen - too many years of neglect are probably to blame for that!

Customer Reviews

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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Readable and educational, February 9, 1997

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This review is from: Cardinal Richelieu: Power and the Pursuit of Wealth (Paperback)

I love to read history - especially biographies, and more especially about French history. I found Bergin's book very readable, containing interesting incites into the age, not only economically but also giving me legal facts I had not known before. The main obstacle in the book is that the author assumes that his reader can read 17th century French! I read French, but sometimes the old spellings make it difficult for me to understand. If he had translated the passages in his footnotes, it would have given me a choice - decipher it myself, or read the footnote. This would have improved the book with little effort