Il m’a fait trop de bien, pour en dire du mal. Il m’a fait trop de mal, pour en dire du bien.
He has done me too much good, to say anything bad about him. He hurt me too much, to say anything good about him.
So wrote the playwright, dramatist and creator of Classical French Tragedy, Pierre Corneille, about one of his greatest inspirations and benefactors – Armand-Jean de Plessis, Duc de Richelieu – known to history as Cardinal Richelieu.
Chief minister to King Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu was the architect of a new France in the seventeenth century, and the force behind the nation’s rise as a European power. He was one of the early realist politicians, practicing in the wake of Niccolò Machiavelli. Truly larger than life, he has captured the imagination of generations through his portrayal as a ruthless political mastermind in Alexandre Dumas’s classic The Three Musketeers.
Jean-Vincent Blanchard’s rich and insightful new biography brings Richelieu fully to life in all his complexity. At times cruel and ruthless, Richelieu was always devoted to creating a lasting central authority vested in the power of monarchy, a power essential to France’s position on the European stage for the next two centuries.
Éminence offers a rich portrait of a fascinating man and his era, and gives us a keener understanding of the dark arts of politics in seventeenth century Europe.
Produced by Wooster Studio for Bloomsbury Publishing Éminence is coming soon to Audio!
