Armand Jean Duplessis Richelieu, cardinal and duke de, a French statesman, born in Paris, Sept. 5, 1585, died there, Dec. 4, 1642. He was first destined to the career of arms, and began his military education as marquis du Chillon; but his elder brother having resigned the bishopric of Luçon, he decided to take holy orders in order to succeed to that office. He studied theology, and was consecrated bishop on April 16, 1607. In 1614 he was one of the deputies of the clergy to the states general, and ingratiated himself with Maria de' Medici, assisted by Barbin, then comptroller of the treasury, and by Marshal d'Ancre. He was appointed almoner of the queen mother, and in November, 1616, he entered the council as secretary of state. When, after the murder of Marshal d'Ancre, Maria de' Medici was exiled to Blois, Richelieu accompanied her, actuated less by gratitude than by self-interest. His efforts to bring about a reconciliation between the king and his mother resulted only in his own banishment to his diocese of Luçon, which was followed in 1618 by a removal to Avignon, where he produced among other works one entitled De la perfection du Chrétien, a book of exalted asceticism. When Maria de' Medici was recalled to the court, she reinstated Richelieu in favor. From that period his credit constantly increased.

Having strengthened his position by the marriage of his niece with the nephew of the duke de Luynes, constable of France, he received the cardinal's hat (1622), reëntered the state council, and soon after, in spite of the unabated dislike of Louis XIII., rose to the premiership. His policy comprised three principal designs for the consolidation of the monarchy and the greatness of France: 1, the consummation of the work of Louis XL by the extinction of the last remains of feudalism, and the full subjection of the high nobility to the royal power; 2, the subjugation of Protestantism in France, where it had assumed a character as much political as religious; 3, the abasement of the house of Austria, by crushing its ambition for universal domination, and consequently the elevation of the power of France abroad. As a preliminary step, he took from Austria the passes of the Valtellina, and secured them by treaty (1626) to Switzerland; and in the same year he set on foot the war against the Protestants and England, which extended to them her protection. Richelieu determined to strike at once a decisive blow, by taking from the Protestants their most important stronghold.

The siege of La Rochelle was begun, and prosecuted with an activity to which the presence of the cardinal himself added a new impulse. The besieged made so desperate a resistance that the population of the city was reduced by war and famine from 30,000 to 5,000 souls, when they surrendered on Oct. 28, 1628. This event, followed by the treaty of Alais and the edict of Nîmes, put an end to the political power of Protestantism in France, and one of Richelieu's designs was accomplished. The other, against the high nobility, had already been attained by the imprisonment in the castle of Vincennes of the marshal d'Ornano, confidant and favorite of Gaston of Orleans, brother of the king. On hearing of that bold measure, the lords hastened to Fontainebleau, and there laid the first plot against the life of the cardinal, who, being informed of it, decided at once to make such an example as would strike terror into the hearts of his enemies. The count de Chalais of the house of Périgord, a giddy young man, led away far more by his love for the duchess de Chevreuse than by any political hatred, was arrested and imprisoned in the castle of Am-boise. It is said that he was there seduced into disclosures against the queen by promises of mercy, but he was beheaded in 1626, his accomplices being either detained in prison or dispersed.

But Richelieu meant to bring the nobility to practical obedience and submission to the royal power. In order to stop a bloody mania which threatened to deprive the country of the flower of its young noblemen, the penalty of death had been proclaimed against those who should fight duels. In defiance of the ordinance, in 1627 François de Montmorency, seigneur de Bouteville, and the count des Chapelles, young nobles of the highest rank, fought in Paris, in the Place Royale itself, and both paid the penalty with their lives. The consolidation of the government at home did not divert the cardinal from carrying out his plans abroad. Charles de Gonzague, duke of Nevers, legitimate heir to the duchy of Mantua, without any help but the protection of France, was maintained in possession of his inheritance by force of arms. This war set at variance for the first time the cardinal and Maria de' Medici, who now joined Anne of Austria in opposition to the prime minister. The misunderstanding soon. became a deep hatred. The queen mother determined to destroy her former favorite, and the cardinal was informed of his dismissal. There was great exultation at court, but Richelieu went to Versailles, where Louis XIII. had gone to hunt, and in a brief interview fairly frightened him into a reconciliation.

This event is known under the name of la journée des dupes. Richelieu, more powerful than ever, took revenge at once upon his declared opponents. Marillac, who had been selected as his successor, was exiled to Lisieux, while his more important brother, the marshal de Marillac, was imprisoned and afterward put to death. Maria de' Medici did not yet consider herself defeated, and with the assistance of Gaston of Orleans laid new plots against the cardinal. This proved her ruin; she was exiled from France in 1631, while her partisans either shared her fate or were cast into prison, and for years she wandered about, pursued by the implacable resentment of Richelieu. In 1631, the year when Richelieu was elevated to the dukedom and peerage, her former associate the duke of Orleans and the marshal duke of Montmorency organized a new rebellion, but were overthrown at Castelnau-dary, and Montmorency was executed. The thirty years' war was then raging in Germany. Richelieu did not hesitate to side with the Protestants against the house of Austria, and assisted Gustavus Adolphus by subsidies. The power of Richelieu had now attained its highest prosperity at home and abroad, both his domestic and foreign policy being crowned with success.

While the power of Germany was assailed through the sword of the king of Sweden, the revolution was at the same time encouraged in England, whose court had been a refuge for Maria de' Medici. "When Gustavus Adolphus fell at Lutzen (1632), Richelieu contrived to secure to France new possesions on the left bank of the Rhine, and the services of the duke of Saxe-Weimar with his army. He now declared war against Spain, and was present at the capture of Perpignan (1642). At last Austria was humiliated, Portugal was separated from Spain (1640), French influence predominated in Catalonia, England was in full revolution, and France quiet and prosperous. Still, the administration of Richelieu was again threatened by intrigues at court or treason in the camps. An attempt, based upon a passion of Louis XIII. for Mlle, de Lafayette, had no result but the retirement of the intended mistress to the convent of Chaillot, and the dismissal of the king's ordinary confessor. Nor was the rebellion of the count de Soissons, prince of the blood, any more successful, its leader being killed in his first battle against the royal troops at Sedan (1641). The last of these conspiracies of the nobility was the secret treaty of alliance concluded with Spain by the dukes of Bouillon and Orleans. The young marquis de Cinq-Mars, although indebted to Richelieu for the high favor and the high offices that he enjoyed at court, was one of the first among the conspirators.

He was executed at Lyons, with his friend De Thou, Sept. 12, 1642. After this last vindication of. his power, Richelieu, an invalid, returned to Paris in triumph, carried on a litter by his guards, escorted by an army, and surrounded by the utmost pomp. Two months after, his unrivalled fortune being at its very zenith, he died. Richelieu was the founder of the French academy. He also founded the jardin du roi, now the jardin des plantes, and enlarged the Sorbonne. He wrote two plays, Mirame, a comedy, and La grande pastorale, neither of any value. He is regarded as the author of Mémoires du cardinal de Richelieu, first published complete by Petitot in his collection of memoirs relating to French history (Paris, 1823); of the Testament politique du cardinal de Richelieu (2 vols., 1764); and of the Journal du cardinal de Richelieu, qu'il a fait durant le grand orage de la cour (2 vols., Amsterdam, 1649). The Lettres, instructions diplomatiques, etc., of Richelieu have been edited by Avenel (6 vols., Paris, 1853-'68). See also Martineau, Le cardinal de Richelieu (1865 et seq.). - The cardinal's elder brother, Alphonse Louis Duplessis, who had resigned the bishopric of Luçon to retire to a Carthusian convent, was reluctantly compelled to resume high offices in the church.

Archbishop of Aix in 1626, archbishop of Lyons in 1629, grand almoner of France in 1632, he died in 1653, 71 years of age. Richelieu had two sisters, of whom Françoise, the elder, married René de Vignerod, and had a son who died in 1646, leaving two sons, the elder of whom, Louis FranÇois Armand Duplessis, known as the marshal de Richelieu, born March 13, 1696, succeeded to the dukedom of his great-uncle, commanded in the seven years' war, was one of the most notorious roués and worthless characters in French history, and died Aug. 8, 1788. His grandson, Armand Emmanuel Duplessis, duke de Richelieu, born in Paris, Sept. 25, 1766, was active as an agent of the French royal family during the revolution, entered the Russian civil service, was governor of Odessa, which he embellished, under Alexander L, refused to serve Napoleon, and was prime minister under Louis XVIII. He succeeded in procuring from the great European powers, at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818), terms much less severe than they had required from the French government in 1815. Though poor, he refused a national recompense from the chambers, and, when a pension of 50,000 francs was conferred on him, gave it to found a hospital at Bordeaux. He died March 16, 1822, and was succeeded in his titles by his sister's son, Armand François Odet de Chapelle de Jumilhac.