Another of Richelieu’s critics, Mathieu de Morgues, accused the Cardinal of manipulating religion “as your preceptor Machiavelli showed the ancient Romans doing, shaping it… explaining it and applying it as far as it aids the advancement of your designs.”11 De Morgues’s criticism was as telling as that of Jansenius, and as ineffective. Richelieu was indeed the manipulator described, and did use religion precisely in the manner being alleged.
