Customer Reviews

Richelieu: A Study

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One (among many) of the unfair knocks against Belloc is that in his later years he lapsed into writing potted biographies in order to fund his living expenses. The riposte: so what? Eminent Victorians is a collection of potted biographies but no one is beating Strachey over the head with that stick because of the literary ingenuity that went into the construction of that forever-fresh classic. The same is true of Richelieu.

This is arguably the best of Belloc's biographies--so start here to discern whether you have a taste for this sort of thing. Richelieu is, as with anything written by Belloc, full of wit and wisdom (plus composed in that sparkling, fluid style). The construction, however, is what makes this book stand out from a number of other Belloc biographies (with the exception of, perhaps, Danton). Simply put, the book is well made. If anything, it reminds me of the kind of scaffolding one finds with an Ackroyd biography (another wonderful author).

Armand Jean Du Plessis, Cardinal et Duc de Richelieu (9 September 1585-4 December 1642) was a French clergyman, noble, and statesman.

Consecrated as a bishop in 1607, he later entered politics, becoming a Secretary of State in 1616. Richelieu soon rose in both the Church and the state, becoming a cardinal in 1622, and King Louis XIII's chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642; he was succeeded by Jules Cardinal Mazarin.

As chief minister, the Cardinal de Richelieu sought to consolidate royal power and crush domestic factions. By restraining the power of the nobility, he transformed France into a strongly centralised state. His chief foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austro-Spanish Habsburg dynasty; although a Roman Catholic cardinal, he did not hesitate to make alliances with Protestant rulers in attempting to achieve this goal. His tenure was marked by the Thirty Years' War that engulfed Europe.

Military expenses put a considerable strain on the King's revenues. In response, Cardinal Richelieu raised the gabelle (a tax on salt) and the taille (a tax on land). The clergy, nobility, and high bourgeoisie were either exempt or could easily avoid payment, so the burden fell on the poorest segment of the nation. To collect taxes more efficiently, and to keep corruption to a minimum, Richelieu bypassed local tax officials, replacing them with intendants-officials in the direct service of the Crown. Richelieu's financial scheme, however, caused unrest amongst the peasants; there were several uprisings between 1636 and 1639. Cardinal Richelieu crushed the revolts violently, and dealt with the rebels harshly.

This is but a taste of this ignominious man's life story. Belloc delves into it all with verve and passion. A great read!

There are those who have taken the position that this is best of Belloc's many great books. Certainly, that is a bold statement, as this peerless and prolific historian wrote countless excellent and important books. In any case, this particular work is certainly unique.

Within the pages of his aptly styled study, Belloc describes the character of the Cardinal, the scene on which he played out his particular part in the powerful play, and the huge impact that Richelieu had. It is this impact, which is most important to the student. For Belloc argues conclusively that Richelieu was largely responsible for the shaping of modern Europe, in the shape that Belloc percieved it in the first half of the twentieth century.

Richelieu succeeded in elevating the French crown to primacy in Europe in an era where her supremacy was greatly threatened by the bicephalous realms of Hapsburg Austria and Spain. In this, Richelieu can be seen as the consummate politician and strategist, yes, even in the military sense of the word. Richelieu was not, as Warren Carroll styled him, a "Cardinal Against the Church". He was, rather, a most effective advocate of French policy and polity, who left as dramatic a mark on Europe as any actor until at least the time of Bismarck.

Is this Belloc's best work? We can hardly venture to assess that. It is, in any case, hugely worthwhile and a rip-roaring fun ride through the pages of history with "Old Thunder". Pick it up, and give it a read.

Belloc's study of Richelieu is an interesting read, well written, but with one overriding point to push which is very much open to debate. Belloc (writing during the rise of Nazism) effectively blames Richelieu and Bismarck for the "decline" of European civilisation - and by this he means its failure to be reunited under the mantle of Catholicism. He takes the view that Richelieu was, more than any other single person, responsible for turning the Thirty Years' War into a political rather than a religious conflict and preventing the triumph of Catholicism under the House of Habsburg. It never seems to occur to him that countries have the right to determine their own futures and that Protestantism is as legitimate an expression of European Christian culture as Catholicism, and that the supposed "natural" return he longs for would only have been achieved - if it could, which seems unlikely - by fire and sword and Inquisition.
This is another of those books where the description of events is beautifully written at times (eg the description of the invasion of Savoy in 1629), but the interpretation is weak or simply seriously outdated (eg attributing to Richelieu the desire to restore France's "natural frontiers"). Bearing this and the peculiar religous bent in mind, I give it a cautious recommendation, but suggest that it is best read if you already have a good grounding in more current interpretations of the period.