[Medallion by Houdon.]
PRELATES AND THEOLOGIANS.
291*. Georges d’Amboise. Cardinal and Minister of State.
[Born at Chaumont sur Loire, in France, 1460. Died at Lyons, 1510. Aged 50.]
As Prime Minister of Louis XII. of France, acquired popularity by reforming abuses and relieving the burdens of the subject. Acquired the title of “Father of the People.” Also Archbishop of Rouen. When created Cardinal, effected great reforms in some of the religious Orders. Benevolent and charitable. Never in possession of more than one benefice, two-thirds of which he gave to the church and to the poor.
[From the statue in the Cathedral at Rouen.]
292. Cardinal Richelieu. Minister of France.
[Born in Paris, 1585. Died there, 1642. Aged 57.]
The great Minister of Louis XIII., and the actual ruler of France during that monarch’s reign. He was the third son of François du Plessis, Seigneur de Richelieu, and at first destined for the army, but renounced this career for the Church, when his elder brother gave up his ecclesiastical dignities for a monastic life. His political career commenced when he was appointed Secretary of State for the War and Foreign Departments; and it was sustained on the highest eminence, by the force of superior intelligence, unequalled craftiness, and an utter contempt for conscientious scruples. He was now the grateful protégé of the King, now his exacting master; now he was insidiously sowing the seeds of distrust and dissension amongst all the members of the Royal Family, now openly and magnanimously effecting their reconciliation. But, subtle and unscrupulous as were the means he employed, his views were vast, his political ideas profound, and he laboured strenuously to give stability to the French monarchy. He was a heartless man, but a faithful minister; jealous of interference with his control, but using his boundless influence for the welfare of the nation. He was a right hypocrite, affecting piety, which he never felt; he was perfidious, and even cruel; but we look back upon his career with an enforced respect for his skill, his strong will, and his undoubted successes. He persecuted Protestants in France, and abated the power of the French nobility.