Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 5 January 2023

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Three Musketeers paints a picture of King Louis XIII of France as a rather weak monarch controlled by his powerful chief minister Cardinal Richelieu. Louis’ reign is generally thought of as being the beginning of the “age of absolutism” when ministers like Richelieu were in the ascendancy and the power of the court and courtiers declined. But was this really the case?

In this episode of Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb talks to Dr. Marc Jaffré, who believes it’s time to revise the conventional view of this significant period in French history.

This episode was edited by Thomas Ntinas and produced by Rob Weinberg.

For more Not Just The Tudors content, subscribe to our Tudor Tuesday newsletter here >

If you'd like to learn even more, we have hundreds of history documentaries, ad free podcasts and audiobooks at History Hit - subscribe today! To download, go to Android > or Apple store >

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	If you have read the three musketeers or watched one of its film or TV adaptations, you
0:09.8	all have come across the King of France, Louis XIII, who is painted as a rather weak monarch,
0:15.3	eclipsed by his all-powerful chief minister, Cardinal Rissella, who died 380 years ago this
0:21.7	month.
0:22.7	Indeed, Louis XIII's reign, which lasted from 1610 to 1643, is regarded by some as the
0:29.8	beginning of the age of absolutism, meaning that the state and government ministers became
0:35.4	more powerful, along with the monarch, while the church and mobility, including the Royal
0:39.4	Court and Courtiers, became less powerful.
0:42.4	This score of thought has found less to say about Louis, but plenty to say about ministers
0:47.4	like Rissella, who became powerful thanks to their administrative abilities.
0:52.6	The picture of this paint is that absolutism meant of the court and courtiers who had grown
0:56.6	powerful because of their favour from the King, were in decline, and the ever-reaching
1:00.8	machine-rear state run by ministers, managing the kingdom, was in the ascendancy.
1:06.2	But did the power of courtiers and court really decline under Louis XIII?
1:10.4	Did ministers like Rissella ascend while courtiers fought it, and what in this context does
1:16.1	the Thirty Years War, or the fight with the Huguenots, or the creation of the Academy
1:20.4	process tell us about Louis and his court?
1:23.6	Is it time not the words to revise our view of Louis XIII?
1:28.7	Dr Mark Rjeffre, lecturer in early modern European history at Durham University, certainly
1:33.9	thinks so.
1:34.9	He's motivated by an interest in understanding the relationship between human experience
1:39.5	and the state.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from History Hit, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of History Hit and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.