Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France Best Download || [Jean-Vincent Blanchard] - Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France, minence Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France 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 Among the first statesmen
- Title: Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France
- Author: Jean-Vincent Blanchard
- ISBN: 9780802717047
- Page: 284
- Format: Hardcover
Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France Best Download || [Jean-Vincent Blanchard], Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France, Jean-Vincent Blanchard, minence Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France 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 Among the first statesmen to clearly understand the necessity of a balance of powers he was one of the early realist politicians practicing in the wake of Niccol Machiave Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France Best Download || [Jean-Vincent Blanchard] - Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France, minence Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France 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 Among the first statesmen
- Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France Best Download || [Jean-Vincent Blanchard]
284Jean-Vincent Blanchard

This is a biography of Cardinal Richelieu that focuses on his rise to power and the period when he was the powerful minister to King Louis XIII It is a fascinating story of a supremely talented man in precisely the right place at the right time to make the most of his talents The focus is clearly on Richelieu and his career, with less attention paid to the broader historical context or to the longer term impacts of his rule It is also largely a descriptive account, worrying about what the facts [...]
This is my second time through this book The first time I read it, this time I listened to it It is by far one of my two favorite books on Cardinal Richelieu French History is a passion of mine and the Cardinal is my favorite to read about I have read countless books on Louis XIII and Richelieu and it never gets old Cardinal Richelieu is an extremely complex person to write about Why Because it s easy to make him a hero or a villain depending on the agenda of the author Blanchard s book does a g [...]
An impressive history of an interesting and mysterious man.Most impressions of Richelieu are from Dumas and The Three Musketeers a powerful, conniving, grey eminence who was powerful than the King of France Dumas had plenty to work with Richelieu was a colorful figure who restored a centralized French government, fought wars and allied with Protestant nations in equal turns, and paved the way for the raw power of Louis XIV a shewd political animal, indeed.This biography gives a strong impressio [...]
Not a bad book, but clearly biased in favor of His Red Eminence The good It is very interesting to see how the first modern government sorta come to become Cardinal Richelieu was the first modern Prime Minister, running the government while the Head of State in this case Louis XIII, and, while he was too young to rule, his mother as regent was free to banquet and hunt and chase favorites The book also did a good job explaining how Cardinal Richelieu s decision to ally with the Protestant Swedes [...]
Mixed feelings, as usual I m aware Richelieu is not the mustache twirling villain Dumas would like us to believe he is though now that I say that, I am absolutely certain he twirled his mustache , and so I was hoping for a human look at him Instead I got glimpses of him and a lot of 17th century European history, which, if you are not aware, is the worst It s endless wars fought by infinite factions which may or may not be religious and which will be different two weeks later Difficult to keep [...]
Interesting biography history of the career of Cardinal Richelieu of Three Musketeers fame I was pleasantly surprised that the conspiracies mentioned in the Three Musketeers were for the most part true, but of course without D Artagnan.I listened to the book on audio and it held my interest The constant scheming and plotting between King Louis, his brother, his wife, and his mother was fascinating There are 3 particularly gruesome executions described the executioners unfortunately were fill ins [...]
I couldn t connect well with this biography, despite enjoying the subject The writing style seemed a bit stilted, and the biography itself read like a string of dates with corresponding events Perhaps this is a great work of history Blanchard certainly respects his primary sources Not a terrible book, but nothing very spectacular either.
An excellent biography very well written and easy to read, as well as informative and thoughtful I d highly recommend this book as a biography or an easy window into the time when France developed into a prominent European power.
A triumph A smart, unbiased treatment of one of most misunderstood people in French history Indeed it presents amazing insights into Louis XIII and his court, especially his mother Marie de Medici A most read for those interested in 16th century history.
3.5 stars.While I did learn something interesting information about a period I know not much about at all, at times I really struggled with this Something about Blanchard s writing style meant that every now and then a sentence or a paragraph jarred my reading experience, or just didn t make sense Often, I d read things twice for understanding Sometimes even then an over simplified explanation still didn t really clear things up, or people who seemed to be of political importance kept randomly p [...]
If I am interested in this particular era and parts of this history, I would have read it faster minence is definitely one of the best biographic and history 1600 1700 in France The kingdom of God is the principle of government, and, indeed, it is such a necessity that without this foundation, no prince can ever reign well and no state can be happy The piece is definitely an important part of French history since Cardinal de Richelieu and King Louis XIII changed many fate of Parisian and also E [...]
A good book on Richelieu, but not a great one It condenses Richelieu s life, but I don t feel this does anything to expand our understanding of the man or his era.
Well, towards the end of the book, I was pretty much willing him to die already.This is my first, and for a long time likely only, dive into French history, and boy what a doozy For two physically ailing individuals, Louis XIII Richelieu sure loved war making I have to say I slightly gave up on the war related who with whys somewhere in the last quarter of the book Trying to keep up with all the court royal family intrigue was enough.I suppose I expected less of that and of Richelieu as a perso [...]
Eminence tells the story of the man that was made infamous by Dumas in the Three Musketeers This very readable biography gives a nice overview of the Cardinal Richelieu s life and his ability a politician and statesman He had a rocky career balancing himself between the Queen Mother and the King eventually becoming a chief statesman His list of victories from crushing the Hugenots but providing them a way out with religious tolerance in exchange for taking down their defenses to forming treaties [...]
My habit, lately, has been to randomly snag promising looking books from the New shelves at my library Having enjoyed The Three Musketeers while in high school, I got very excited to see this on the shelf Of course, it had to come home with me This is an interesting, highly readable, examination of the cardinal s life It skips back and forth a bit in the beginning of the book, and it is unclear how Richelieu came to power sometimes, it was simply a matter of being in the right place at the right [...]
Have to admit, shamefully, that most of my direct knowledge of Richelieu came from Dumas While that picture isn t wrong, it s not as complete as it might be The portrait here is of a man with a strong drive to power and prestige perhaps prestige first, with power as the avenue to achieve it , who was not, as Kissinger said, the father of diplomacy, for he was often short sighted and mistaken in his diplomacy, succeeding in making enemies of all but his king For this reader, the man who emerged f [...]
My recent reading of The Three Musketeers led me to this book as I wanted to find out how much of the Cardinal s and other s portrayals was somewhat accurate This is part of history that I know very little both the time and the place French history has never been something that attracted me for some reason It turns out from this and other sources that it is unsurprisingly quite interesting indeed It helps the context of things that in the last few years I have also learned a fair amount about ch [...]
You have to be into history to love this book I liked it because Richelieu is such a fascinating figure, religious and Machiavellian at the same time, a man who was forced to walk the very narrow ledge on the brink of disaster and almost stepped off many times through civil wars, bloody religious wars, machinations of jealous courtiers, etc, etc If you ve ever loved The Three Musketeers, Richelieu is one of the major characters, and the history in this book gives the background of that novel.
A thorough overview of the architect of modern France that is hard to find in engish The footnotes are outstanding and add quite a bit to an already interesting subject I enjoyed it and while its not exhaustive it does give a very well done primer It touches on some of the controversies of his tenor as well as mentions other historians points of view, while saying that this is a very positive review of the man and tends to defend him a bit Well worth reading if your interested in the 30 year war [...]
Eminence was good, but not quite as good as I was hoping it would be Rather than providing a snapshot of French history, or of the Thirty Years War, Blanchard simply provides an account, year by year, of Cardinal Richelieu s life and career It s exactly what the book promised, but I was still a little disappointed This book is not an entry level introduction to the topic you re better off ignoring it unless you have some preexisting knowledge, or an interest in Cardinal de Richelieu.
Didn t know much about Richelieu before reading this so it was useful on several different levels I am not sure whether the author is the best person to write this, however, and felt it lacking in several ways Also the conclusion, especially the last sentence, is totally lame if you are going to do that, just leave the sentence out Better to leave the reader wanting than wanting less.
Interesting take on one of the most powerful men in French history Well researched and sourced, but I couldn t help have a feeling the author was trying to paint him as a victim almost, doing what he had to survive That said it was fairly even in its portrayal of Richelieu and Louis XIII good for an insight into that monarch, and his horrible mother Marie Medici.
Extraordinary view of the famous statesman and Cardinal Not the villain portrayed by Dumas in his novels Gripping Also, written by an astute academic, the book is unexpectedly very readable and never overly erudite Really enjoyed every page, hard to put down Insightful implementation of Machiavelli s The Prince.
This is a once over lightly, but for the general reader, it s a slog There is a lot on the Cardinal s military career conflict here and how he dispatched with his rivals, but little on how he earned his reputation for statecraft.
The audience for this book is definitely a reader who knows a lot about 17th century European history than I do It was interesting but I found myself constantly lost in the politics Blanchard does seem to assume a lot of prior knowledge.
Interesting history of the cardinal and of France during this time period Was an easy read, which is unusual for history books.
The book is a bit dissapointing,it is fun to read but that is all.
Not really the villain of the Three Musketeers but of a Walsingham to Louis XIII.
Reviewed by Foreign Affairs
Short and one sided the book still provided some interesting facts and stories about Richelieu s personal and political life Still I would recommend reading his memoirs over this.