The Political Testament of Cardinal Richelieu: The Significant Chapters and Supporting Selections

by Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Henry Bertram Hill (Translator)

“Hill has prepared an excellent translation of the more important parts of the Political Testament; his notes are clear, concise, informative, and accurate, and his short introduction will provide students who wish to delve into the French original with an indication of the road that is open to them.  .  .  .  Offers a window to the mind of the redoubtable Richelieu.”— American Historical Review

Genres: History, Politics, France, Nonfiction, Philosophy, College, Biography

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 29, 1961

About the author

Cardinal and politician Armand Jean du Plessis, titled duc de Richelieu as chief minister of Louis XIII, worked to strengthen the authority of the monarchy and directed France during the Thirty Years' War from 1618.

Louis XIII, king from 1610, relied heavily on Armand Jean du Plessis, his adviser, in his struggles with Spain, the Huguenots, and the Habsburg family.



This clergyman, noble, and statesman, consecrated as a bishop in 1607, later entered as a secretary of state in 1616. He quickly rose in the Church and the state in 1622 and 1624.

People sometimes consider him the first prime of the world in the modern sense of the term. He sought to consolidate royal power and crush domestic factions. He restrained the power of the nobility and thus transformed France into a strong, centralized state. His foreign objective checked the power of the dynasty of Habsburg family in Austria and Spain. He hesitated not to make alliances with Protestant rulers in attempting to achieve this goal. The Thirty Years' War engulfed Europe and marked his tenure.

Upon his death, Jules Mazarin succeeded him in office.

Reviews

[Kienie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wisdom from Under the Red Robe * – ideas and advice by a 17th century French priest/politician, as understood and interpreted by a 21st century American paralegal/English major: **

1. If your boss fucks up, tell him about it in private. Or write a series of unpublished letters in which you address him, knowing your labors will go unappreciated because he will never read them.

2. Too much education interferes with agriculture, soldiering, commerce, and other important jobs, and should be reserved for the few. On top of that, many of the teachers suck, and many of the students lack the aptitude to learn. Limit most schools to 2-3 years to raise people from complete ignorance and single out the talented ones. Also, keep the rivalry between the Universities and the Jesuits, because competition means they'll check each other.

3. The Nobles can be assholes to those below them, so make sure to punish them severely if they abuse their power. It's your job to protect the weak.

4. Dueling needs to stop. Executing the offenders hasn't been enough of an incentive; even taking away their land and titles isn't always effective. They band together to hide the evidence, so we should arrest them immediately upon suspicion and investigate with them safely behind bars. Also, punish the Seconds just as severely as the principles. They'll thank you for it later.

5. The Judiciary is corrupt, but there isn't much we can do about it. The king should use his influence and show favor to the good Judges. We could appoint people of good, solid character as judges, but that would never work.

6. Tax collectors get too rich too quickly. Confiscate the money. They probably got it through abuse of power anyways.

7. Common people get restless when life's too good. They're uneducated, so if they're not preoccupied with survival they have nothing to do but fight each other. Tax them, but not too hard, we’re not monsters.

8. The king needs to be more decisive and follow through with his plans. He needs to be firm and not allow his private concerns to interfere with his duty to the people and the state. And he needs to support his ministers so they can do their job. He cannot faff about instead of making important decisions while ignoring his ministers' reports.
The needs to get his shit together and stop being ruled by his emotions. No more tantrums over every little offense! Be patient, this governing thing takes time. If something doesn't work out, don't take it out on your ministers.
His majesty really isn't taking this whole thing seriously enough.

9. REASON! Let REASON rule you, and rule with REASON. A REASONABLE king should always be guided by his council. Favoritism should not be the basis of filling any office; merit and experience should be the chief considerations. Churchmen are preferable, especially for the highest offices. If appointments are guided by whim, people will become disillusioned and everyone will slack off on the job.
People on the council should have moderate education, good judgment, and a decent grasp of history and political organization. There shall be NO physical requirements for a political appointment (yes, my health is still terrible). Most importantly, these ministers need to be HUMBLE and MODEST. People with authority who are in love with their own opinions and won't listen to advice are intolerable.

10. On a related note, have confidence in your council, and SHOW it. Show it not just to them, but to your whole court. Empower them! Everyone hates them when they're only doing their job, so a little appreciation would be nice. Liberal rewards also go a long way to sooth the pain.

11. But being nicer to people wouldn’t hurt. Stop being so mean! You’re just like your mom. Do you want to be like your mom? You know, the one we exiled? Didn’t think so.

12. Also, not to sound like your dad(who was cool and you should be like him), but clean your damn room! Take better care of your stuff! Your horses are terrible, and I don't like your friends! They're all social climbers and they make you look bad in front of the neighbors.

13. A king should not let his male and female favorites rule him. It’s detrimental to the proper running of government, because a king ruled by passion might as well be blind. Also, unrelated FYI: all your favorite boy-toys are probably lying to you. Probably about me. Don't listen to them.

14. Women especially cannot be trusted. Their cooties make their religious faith less deep, they can't keep secrets, and they are too emotional. They're unsuited for government because they're ruled by neither reason nor judgment. There are always exceptions to this rule, but on the whole you need to keep them away from public life. Women are also sexy, and that’s, as I’ve said, distracting to kings.

15. Work on winning your people's love instead of asserting your authority and demanding things. Hearts and minds, not iron fist. Though fear based on awe and respect for the king can be good, especially abroad. The key to this is good reputation, good-sized army, good-sized treasury, and of course the love of one’s subjects.

16. If a project isn't panning out don't get stuck on it. Put it aside and move on. Maybe you'll get inspired and come back to it later. And maybe you won't. It's OK to cut your losses sometimes.

17. We fuck up so much and so quickly and in such varied ways that our enemies don't get the chance to adapt to each fuck-up and profit from our failures.

18. Foresight is key. If we can anticipate an issue, we can also take our time to find the best solution. Sleep on it, as it were, though actually I sleep very little. Those dedicated to this task spend many sleepless nights in their government's service to ensure the safety and security of many. So, so many sleepless nights—

19. Punishment is a more powerful tool for deterring future evil than reward is for promoting future good. Especially in relations to crimes against the state. Rewards, especially in overabundance, lose their value, and those who receive them become ungrateful. Unless they’re your ministers.
The king should not be lenient, especially if the offender is a favorite or has performed some service in the past. In such cases leniency allows that person to live and plot another day rather than dissuade them from evil. Exile is not nearly severe enough, but it’s a first step. Unfortunately, leniency necessitates a harsher punishment when the offense is repeated at a later date.
Also, if the end goal is to uncover a plot or foil a cabal, one can rely on circumstantial evidence because national security is at stake. We want to prevent plots before they are realized. Of course this system is vulnerable to abuses, but you can’t make an omelet etc.

20. One’s reputation with the Pope is very important, as it reflects one’s standing in the world. It’s a flaky political jungle in Rome.

21. When negotiating, you have to talk to people on their level of understanding. Sometimes that means dealing with idiots. That’s the sacrifice one has to make, because continuous negotiations are paramount. In picking negotiators, look for someone who knows the weight and meaning of words, and who will not be easily deceived. But they shouldn’t stoop to deceiving others.

22. Marriage. It’s a good way to create an alliance, but it doesn’t always work out.

23. When entering into Leagues and United Nations, the more powerful nation has to remember that the weaker nations will probably pull out of the agreement and not fulfill their end of the bargain. After all, they’ve got nothing to lose, while the powerful nation has its reputation to think about. And reputation is EVERYTHING. A powerful king would rather harm himself and the state than break his word. He’d rather DIE than lose his honor.

24. The French suck. We suck at war, so fortifications are our only hope. We suck at winning and at losing. We’re blinded by success and disheartened by failure. We’re whiny, impatient, frivolous, undisciplined, and unaccustomed to fatigue. I’m literally surprised we haven’t been conquered about a billion times already.

25. You can be a good person and still be shitty at your job. And God will punish you for it. You hold power, you’re fucking accountable.

Richelieu is also very fond of metaphors involving doctors. Doctors do this, but they don’t do that and the other. He probably had to deal with a lot of doctors throughout his life, as did Luis, so it could’ve been a common point of reference. Or he was a just weirdly obsessed with doctors, who knows.

Regarding Richelieu’s sexism: don’t know if this attitude is typical for the period. Since the letters are addressed to Louis he’s probably implying, but doesn’t name, specific favorites. He also likely means to limit the powers of Louis’ wife Anne. But this is his political advice, so however he treated his sisters and nieces, he probably genuinely believes what he’s saying.

*Kudos to Mr. Weyman for the original novel, and thank you Kaion for suggesting this variation.

** And translated into English by Henry Bertram Hill, and as I don’t read French I’m limited in my access.

[Nora Vasilescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you expect a philosophy book, this is not. The Cardinal Duc was a man of action and this text is a concrete plan of government he offers to his king. The text goes into such detail that one may find the best field method to feed an army with bread, pros and cons of using chariots versus wagons.
Obviously, when conceiving it, the author had never fostered any intention of abstract ruling principles. But that shouldn’t stop us from perceiving their breath under each practical proposition Richelieu makes to his king. And they - these guessed principles - cannot but leave the reader amazed to come in touch with such an unusual brain.
Under each tax reform, under each debate regarding the religious, under the vast discussion about the France’s ports and coasts, sits a thick layer of information this unusual minister had never considered beyond him to learn.

Only a fabulous memory doubled by an insatiable thirst for knowledge may have led to such an ample, highly detailed plan for his country.

But again, Richelieu’s solutions don’t come in intellectual, abstract principles. This text is targeted. It was made for the eyes of Louis XIII, not for some debate with Descartes’. It’s a strategic plan of action including as much tactics as possible.

Beyond this, and in inevitable hindsight, Richelieu’s text emanates a feeling of sadness. Two flavors of sadness, I’d say to mimic a bit the Cardinal’s mannerism of counting reasons:
- a personal one. Richelieu was just too clever not to realize that, bereft of his minister, Louis XIII would never have the authority, the courage, or the energy to follow his ambitious economic reform that would have reduced by 50% the people’s taxes while at the same time, enrich the state.
While writing this testament, albeit aware of his progressively failing body, the Cardinal cannot help but hope that he’ll be allowed to finish his work himself: “Je sais bien qu’on dira qu’il est aisé de faire de tels projets, semblables à ceux de la République de Platon qui, belle en ses idées, est une chimère en effet. Mais j’ose dire que ce dessein est non seulement si raisonnable, mais si aisé à exécuter que, si Dieu fait la grâce au Roi d’avoir bientôt la paix et de la conserver à ce Royaume, avec ses serviteurs, dont je m’estime l’un des moindres, au lieu de laisser cet avis par testament, j’espère de le pouvoir accomplir.”
His hope was not granted. But judging by other signs, I dare say that it might have been for the best. Richelieu died at the peak of his power and success. The King had no time to disappoint or betray him. Envy had no time to rip him apart. Had he survived, there was a good chance to end like Johan de Witt in Holland, or even worse, end his days in la Bastille.

- and a generic one. If Richelieu’s dreamed economic reform had been brought to fruition, perhaps the French Revolution didn’t explode with the virulence it did, limiting itself to modernize the state. But then again, Louis the XIVth would be still there, squashing the timeline between Richelieu’s genius mind, and the “deluge.”

Once again, this text is a specific governing plan, lied in plain, clear, factual terms, ready to be deployed. An engineer algorithm. To the 21st century reader, it gives an unusually matter-of-fact insight into the fabric of the state of the 17th century, its fundamental structural vices, and the way a solid state-man’s brain can embrace them. It is also an unusual insight in Armand Jean de Richelieu’s method of persuasion. And, at the end of the day, it is also a letter from a dying man to his decades-long friend.

[Diogo Jesus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Big disappointment. Hoping for a book of rules on how to govern plus his experience and own impressions. Instead, a dated set of prescriptions good only for his time. Although it gives us historical information of taxes and the situation of different parts of that world of Louis XIII. He always talks about reason and enlightment. I highly doubt he wrote this present Testimony

[André Morais · Rating 4 out of 5]

Um bom livro, mas que, a certa altura, se torna algo monótono, por entrar em demasiado detalhe das questões políticas coevas (em que o livro reveste uma natureza mais “programática”).
Ainda assim, é uma obra essencial da aplicação política de alguns princípios que Maquiavel inaugurou e pioneira no reforço e defesa da centralização do poder do Estado, face à fragmentação herdada da época medieval e antecipando o Estado-nação que dealbaria no século XIX.

[Андрій Гулкевич · Rating 5 out of 5]

Заповіт кардинала Ришельє є цікавою працю як для істориків, так і для правників. Кардинал написав його для короля Людовіка 13 і цей заповіт радше настанови для молодого правителя. У заповіті описана ситуація у Фанції та її економічні, військові можливості. Ришельє, спираючись на потуги держави, написав королю поради, які у випадку виконання, зміцнять королівство та зробить його найпотужнішою силою Європи. Також у заповіті відображене кардиналове розуміння права та держави.

[Miszor · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok źródło

[Alphonse Meltz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le testament politique de Richelieu nous permet de partager les pensées d'un grand homme d état français. Les conseils dispensés dans le livre sont loins des clichés sur l'exercice du pouvoir qu'on peut parfois entendre. Richelieu prône en toute situation l'intelligence politique, la probité et la modération, je pense que la majorite de la sagesse de ce livre reste d'actualité aujourd'hui !
Tous ces précieux conseils sont cependant très contextualisé et donc parfois obscur pour un lecteur comptemporains qui ne connaît pas finement le contexte de l'époque ( j'ai du sauter le 1/3 du livre trop spécialisé sur des problèmes concret du 17eme siècle)
Le français du testament est également assez complexe et ma donné des maux de tête

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was used in one of the history courses I TA’ed for in graduate school, and served as a sort of contrast to Machiavelli, in terms of introducing students to pre-democratic political thought and theory. There are definite similarities between them, even though Richelieu, as a Cardinal, is decidedly more interested in religious matters than Machiavelli was. Both of them were writing to a specific ruler, attempting to give advice. In Machiavelli’s case, “The Prince” was, famously, a kind of job application that failed, whereas Richelieu was already the chief advisor to Louis XIII, but seems to have intended this book as a safeguard against his early death, that he might continue to influence the King even afterward. Unlike Machiavelli, Richelieu is largely concerned with immediate issues, not examples from classical antiquity Nonetheless, he does generalize somewhat from his theory and advise that rulers must avoid many of the kinds of weaknesses that Machiavelli warns against. He hints that Louis is too emotional, too easily influenced by flattery, and too reluctant to mete out harsh punishment by nature, and advises the King to guard against these tendencies. Similar to Machiavelli, he generally believes that failing to reprimand or punish a minor offense opens the door to far worse offenses and to loss of authority.

It may surprise some that Richelieu advocated for rights for the Huguenots and was largely responsible for France’s entry into the Thirty Years War on the “Protestant” side, despite his Catholicism. These are further evidence of his belief that political expediency trumps religious convictions, and speaks to the secularization of European politics in the Seventeenth Century. On personal level, Richelieu speaks little of himself, but one gets a sense of a man very much alone in the world, with many enemies in the court and the world at large, who never felt that he received adequate recognition or recompense for the services he provided his King. Richelieu was a powerful man, it seems, but also one who never felt there was enough power to satisfy his needs.

[Laurel Rockefeller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Political Testament takes you deep into the mind of Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu. This book formed the core of "His Red Eminence" and is a must read for anyone interested in Bourbon France.

[he chow]

苦口婆心黎希留。

【翻譯】：
紅衣主教黎希留政治遺言｜II 第六章 外交中持續談判的必要性（全）
https://manjuorg.wordpress.com/2024/1...

各個國家但凡謹慎進行談判，他們可以從不間斷的對外談判中獲得如此之多的好處，這若不是經驗之談，的確難以置信。我要承認，這是我在受聘於您的政務管理，五、六年之後才意識到的真相。我現在如此確信這一點，我膽敢斷然地說，為了國家的繁榮（well-being）需要持續不斷地進行談判，無論是公開的秘密的、在所有地方，甚至是在不會開花結果的場合也要談判，更要在那些看起來就像是沒有未來前景的地方進行談判。我可以誠實地說，在我有生之年，我見證了法蘭西和其他基督教國家的政務在本質上發生了根本的轉變，那正是因為在國王的授權下，我將這一談判原則訴諸實踐——這些事情在我國本來是完全被忽視的。

[mar ౨ৎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

parte preferita quando elenca tutti i difetti dei francesi e poi se ne esce con va beh ma comunque sono capaci di tutto🎀

[Diego PULIDO · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent, visionnaire, très actuel !

[Diogo Jesus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not written by Richelieu. Obvious and probably could be formally disprooved. Still interesting. The part about defenses and military is dated and could be passed if only interested on the political content.

[Kevin Bell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating man. He was tremendously talented, and it shows. He's not much of a writer, but he was able to practice the administration of state affairs at a high level for a long time. This book is designed as an attempt to cajole the king into being a great man, even if it must be done while Richelieu was in the grave. Nothing shocking here, but the cardinal was a master administrator and a master of court intrigue. That alone makes this quite interesting.

[Mark Singer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Words of wisdom from one of the most formidable men in European history. This book is a selection of Richelieu's wise advice to his monarch, Louis XIII of France.

[Douglas Reyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very arbitrary writer that has well thought out sentences. The sentences,however, were lengthy and were moutfuls of oration but great insights nonetheless.