Father Joseph, "gray eminence" of Richelieu (part 1)

At the time of his ascension, Cardinal Richelieu spoke regularly with another clergyman, much more discreet: Father Joseph.

In this new episode of the Europe 1 Studio podcast "At the heart of history", Jean des Cars tells you how these two men with very different characters will end up linking their careers and their destinies. 

The autumn of 1630 was not a happy period neither for the King of France Louis XIII, nor for his minister Richelieu, nor for Father Joseph, the cardinal's negotiator at the Diet of Regensburg, the Parliament of the Holy Empire. 

The summer had not already been very bright: after the victories in Italy, in particular the capture of Pignerol, in Piedmont, epidemics had struck the royal armies.

They are generally referred to as "the plague".

In fact, it was measles and typhus that brought the war to a standstill. 

On the other hand, many cities in France are agitated, burdened with taxes.

There were riots in Caen in May, in Lyon in June, in Laval and Angers in July… And above all, the king's health is not good!

His chronic enteritis woke up.

Louis XIII's condition worsened seriously on August 22, in Lyon.

He was planning to go to war in Italy but he is no longer in a position to do so ... 

On September 21, he was resumed by fever and severe pain.

On Friday 27, his 22nd birthday, he is at its worst.

He confesses and takes Communion.

Marie de Médicis, the Queen Mother, who could no longer support Cardinal Richelieu because his influence could distance him from power, tries to wrest from her dying son the dismissal of His Eminence.

The king resists. 

On Sunday the 29th, he was thought to be lost when, after a great deal of bloodletting, on the 30th, the patient had a "great bloody and blackish evacuation", the hard and tense stomach immediately collapsed.

The abscess is pierced.

The patient is saved!

The king is out of danger.

The cardinal breathes: he is still a minister.  

An "unbearable" treaty 

At the same time, Father Joseph, Richelieu's occult advisor, accompanied by another negotiator named Charles Brûlart, was on a mission in Regensburg.

The Diet, the Parliament of princes-electors, met at the request of Emperor Ferdinand II, who wanted to ensure the election of his son to his succession. 

Richelieu's advisor negotiates with the Catholic princes, Maximilian of Bavaria in particular, to prevent this election.

The operation is a success. 

But Father Joseph is also there to find out what conditions the Emperor would place on the recognition of the Duke of Nevers as Duke of Mantua, the Austrians supporting the Guastalla.

This is the reason for Louis XIII's war in Italy ...  

The Emperor agrees to give them satisfaction at the cost of a general peace, not only in Italy but in Germany and Lorraine.

However, at that time, Father Joseph had no direct instructions from Richelieu, the king being dying in Lyon.

Brûlart and he therefore signed the Treaty of Regensburg on their own initiative on October 13.

Ferdinand promises to give the Duke of Nevers the investiture of the Duchy of Mantua and to leave Pignerol and Suse, in Piedmont, to France.

On the other hand, France undertakes not to bring assistance to any enemy of the Emperor, Lorraine included. 

When he hears the news to Roanne, Richelieu is horrified!

At that time he was on good terms with the Reformed.

The signing of this agreement amounts to abandoning its Protestant allies in the open and depriving itself of all freedom of maneuver in Germany.

He sends his emissaries a very severe letter.

And to Marshal Schomberg, he wrote of the extreme sorrow he felt at the fault that Father Joseph had committed in passing an "unbearable" treaty.

Louis XIII is just as severe.

A counter-draft treaty is sent to the Emperor.

He is immediately rejected.

In the absence of ratification, the Treaty of Regensburg will remain a dead letter.

Jean-Christian Petitfils, in the biography he devotes to Louis XIII, writes: "In memory of the services rendered by the active and devoted Capuchin, Richelieu avoided severe punishment. He let him purge his disgrace in his convent Parisian, before calling him back a few days later and finally passing the sponge on the biggest blunder of his career. "

But who is this "father Joseph" to whom Richelieu, despite his wrath and the embarrassment in which he has put him, so easily forgives the fault?

Father Joseph, a committed Capuchin

François-Joseph Le Clerc du Tremblay was born in Paris in 1577. His father, President of Parliament, was also Ambassador to Venice.

At the age of 20, the teenager first joined the army and then left it to study brilliant theology.

He entered the order of the Capuchins, under the name of "Father Joseph". 

In 1603, he left the seminary and was appointed master of philosophy in Paris.

His religious commitment coincides with the renewed vitality of French Catholicism, after the disaster of the wars of religion.

He will devote himself first to the reform of his order.

In 1606, he founded the Daughters of Calvary.

Then he went to Italy, made himself known in the Vatican and ardently preached a crusade against the Turks, not only in Rome but also in Florence and Turin. 

In France, he will ally himself with Charles de Gonzague, Duke of Nevers.

This turbulent character, whom Jean-Christian Petitfils qualifies as "a soldier of God and Don Quixote of feudal chivalry" founded, in 1617, the order of the Christian Militia intended for the reconquest of the Holy Land.

Father Joseph supported him in the creation of this militia.

This is, of course, a fantasy that will not come true. 

The Capuchin also preaches a mission in Le Mans, Angers and Saumur.

Its purpose is to send religious to Canada and Turkey, to try to convert the local populations.

He also worked, in various provinces, for the conversion of Protestants.

His pastoral activity brought him to notice at the court of Louis XIII.

We can then say that he is an important figure in a movement that will later be called the Counter-Reformation.

He also founded a house of his order, the Capuchins, at the royal abbey of Fontevraud, at the crossroads of Anjou and Touraine.

It modernizes the rules.

In this enterprise, he associated the bishop of the diocese of Luçon.

This is the confessor of Antoinette d'Orléans, coadjutrice, that is to say administrator, of the abbey.

However, the bishop of Luçon is called Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu ...

Who is Richelieu? 

Armand Jean du Plessis was born in Paris in 1585. He is therefore eight years younger than Father Joseph.

He is the son of François du Plessis de Richelieu, captain of the Guards of Henri III and Henri IV then Grand Provost of France, a very high office.

His father died in 1590, at the age of 42, of illness and exhaustion.

Covered in debt, he had embarked on uncertain maritime and commercial ventures.

Armand was then 15 years old.

He was struck by the destitution of his family, which explains the taste for business and for the enrichment of the future Cardinal de Richelieu… Taste which he will explain moreover that it is not contradictory with the intransigent service of the Crown . 

His elder brother, Alphonse, was to receive the bishopric of Luçon which was part of the family heritage, safeguarded thanks to the energy of their mother, Suzanne.

But he gave it up to join the Carthusians in 1605. Armand then gave up the career of arms he had undertaken to keep the episcopal benefit for his family.

However, he will always be marked by his military training. 

He was appointed Bishop of Luçon by Henry IV in 1606, then consecrated in Rome by the Pope the following year.

He administers his diocese remarkably, which he describes as "the dirtiest in France".

He then encouraged the parish missions of Capuchins and Oratorians who worked for the conversion of Protestants.

He does not know him yet, but he has the same ambition as Father Joseph.

The new bishop of Luçon is ambitious: his brilliant intelligence deserves better than a provincial bishopric!

After the assassination of King Henry IV in 1610, his widow, Marie de Médicis, was appointed regent of the kingdom because the little king Louis XIII was only 9 years old.

After the first revolts of a few great figures, including the Prince de Condé, she decided to convene the States General in 1614. Armand du Plessis succeeded in being elected as a delegate of the clergy of Poitou.

He will take this opportunity to get noticed ...

During the closing session of the States General, it is he who speaks on behalf of his order.

His brilliant speech is above all an ode to the regent, Marie de Médicis: "Happy the King to whom God gives a mother full of love for His person, zeal for the State and experience for the conduct of his affairs! Among an infinity of graces, which Your Majesty has received from Heaven, one of the greatest for which you are indebted to him is the gift and preservation of such a mother; and among all your actions, the most worthy and the most useful for recovery of your state is that which you will have made by committing the charge to it. "

Obviously, the regent is in heaven!

But Richelieu will have to wait for the king's marriage to get closer to power.

Indeed, in order to appease the difficult relations with Spain, Marie de Medici decided to marry her son to Anne of Austria, eldest daughter of the King of Spain Philippe III.

It is about an "exchange of princesses" since Elisabeth, the eldest daughter of Henri IV and Marie de Médicis, is promised to the prince of Asturias, the heir to the throne of Spain. 

"The exchange of princesses" takes place on the banks of the Bidassoa, on the Franco-Spanish border.

The marriage of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria was celebrated on November 25, 1615 in Bordeaux.

The bride and groom are both 14 years old.

It was after these celebrations that Richelieu obtained his reward: he was appointed chaplain to the young wife of Louis XIII. 

His rise began: on November 30, 1616, he was appointed Secretary of State.

Very quickly, he became the second strongman of the Council after Marshal d'Ancre, Concini.

He takes charge of foreign affairs and war.

At that time he spoke frequently with Father Joseph in Fontevraud. 

It is the meeting of two brilliant intelligences who share the same religious ideal.

Richelieu is aware of Father Joseph's experience and political sense, but also of the latter's desire never to be on the front line, nor to take the light.

For his part, Father Joseph was not shocked by the immense ambition of the Bishop of Luçon.

These two men will soon be working together.

Father Joseph saves Richelieu from disgrace

If Richelieu is the second strong man of the Council of Regency, the first is the favorite of the queen, an Italian who arrived with her from Florence, Concini, who had married the preferred maid of honor of Marie de Medici, Leonora Galigaï. 

Since the king's death, the couple have taken power.

However, Louis XIII hates his mother's favorite.

He decides it's time for him to take power.

Advised by the Duke of Luynes, he will organize the arrest of Concini.

The man was arrested and murdered in the courtyard of the Louvre on April 24, 1617. His wife was condemned to death as a witch, beheaded and burned.

As for the Queen Mother, she was forced into exile at the Château de Blois.

She escaped from there on the night of February 22, 1619 and reached Angoulême where she entered into resistance against her son.

Close to the queen, Richelieu was logically sent back to his bishopric of Luçon. 

But the king has regrets, he would like to calm relations with his mother.

Father Joseph then advised him to appeal to Richelieu.

He gives the disgraced bishop the letter from the king asking him to be his intermediary with the Queen Mother.

Richelieu leaves immediately for Angoulême.

Thanks to the Capuchin, here he is again at the heart of power.

A political couple has just been formed.

He will embody the rest of the reign of Louis XIII.

Bibliographical references:

Jean-Christian Petitfils,

(Perrin, 2008)

Arnaud Teyssier,

(Perrin, 2014)

Richelieu, Art and Power

(Catalog of the Exhibition of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2003)

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"At the heart of history" is a Europe 1 Studio podcast

Author and presentation: Jean des Cars 

Production: Timothée Magot

Director: Jean-François Bussière

Distribution and editing: Clémence Olivier

Graphics: Europe 1 Studio