RICHELIEU, ARMAND-JEAN DU PLESSIS, CARDINAL ET DUC DE

(, (cardinal and duke of ), ) born September 9, 1585, Richelieu, Poitou, Fr. died December 4, 1642, Paris byname The Red Eminence, French L'minence Rouge chief minister to King Louis XIII of France from 1624 to 1642. His major goals were the establishment of royal absolutism in France and the end of Spanish-Habsburg hegemony in Europe. Additional reading Biographies include Joseph Bergin, The Rise of Richelieu (1991); and Robert Knecht, Richelieu (1991). Studies of particular aspects of his life and career are Carl J. Burckhardt, Richelieu and His Age, 3 vol. (194070); D.P. O'Connell, Richelieu (1968); G.R.R. Treasure, Cardinal Richelieu and the Development of Absolutism (1972), a history of his ministry; William F. Church, Richelieu and Reason of State (1973), a study of his political thought and influence; Joseph Bergin, Cardinal Richelieu: Power and the Pursuit of Wealth (1985), studying the accumulation of his fortune; and Joseph Bergin and Laurence Brockliss (eds.), Richelieu and His Age (1992), a collection of essays.