Conclusion: the Cardinals in Retrospect

Abstract

The public careers of Richelieu and Mazarin are integral to the political history of France from the early 1620s to the beginning of the 1660s. The two cardinal-ministers, more than any other individuals, shaped and manipulated the historical forces which have provided much of the subject matter of this book. How may we summarise and assess the historical significance of their careers? One comment must be that Richelieu and Mazarin were central to the evolution of Bourbon monarchy in France during its first few decades. The last Valois king, Henri III, was assassinated in 1589. Henri IV, the first Bourbon King of France, faced formidable difficulties in the immediate aftermath of that tragedy, but as he brought the Wars of Religion to an end and began the daunting task of national recovery, he relied heavily on the assistance and guidance of Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de Sully¹. Sully may even be seen as a prototype of the new-style ministers; the close collaboration in which Sully, Richelieu and Mazarin engaged with their respective monarchs was instrumental to the shaping of an early Bourbon pattern of government, which paved the way to the personal rule which the mature Louis XIV assumed in 1661.²