Cardinal Richelieu
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"Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal-Duke of Richelieu and of Fronsac" was a French clergyman, noble and statesman. He was consecrated as a bishop in 1607 and was appointed Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (France)/Foreign Secretary in 1616. Richelieu soon rose in both the Catholic Church and the French government, becoming a Cardinal (Catholicism)/Cardinal in 1622, and Louis XIII of France/King Louis XIII's chief minister in 1624. He remained in office until his death in 1642; he was succeeded by Cardinal Mazarin, whose career he had fostered.

The Cardinal de Richelieu was often known by the title of the King's "Chief Minister" or "First Minister". He sought to consolidate royal power and crush domestic factions. By restraining the power of the nobility, he transformed France into a strong, centralization/centralized state. His chief foreign policy objective was to check the power of the Austria/Austro-Spanish House of Habsburg/Habsburg dynasty, and to ensure French dominance in the Thirty Years' War that engulfed Europe. Although he was a cardinal, he did not hesitate to make alliances with Protestant rulers in attempting to achieve his goals. While a powerful political figure, events like the Day of the Dupes show that in fact he very much depended on the King's confidence to keep this power.

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I was excellent. Everybody loved me. I love myself, and i like bums.

Carry on any enterprise as if all future success depended on it.

Give me six lines written by the most honorable of men, and I will find an excuse in them to hang him.

Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of state.

I am massively constrained by my position at No 10.