Nel’s Reviews > Éminence: Cardinal Richelieu and the Rise of France > Status Update

one chapter left. its quite a short book, all things considered.

“As [Louis] heard of his brother’s tantrum, he rushed to the cardinal’s house and tried to reassure the minister as best as he could. Richelieu once again offered to resign.”

richelieu: here is my resignation notice #3466543
louis: the boars in Versailles wont hunt themselves, you know. denied!

“Louis [...] chose to go back to Paris at this point, but it was not without a stern reminder from Richelieu that instead he should be carrying his duties to the end and not abandon his minister. Louis first felt angry and resentful, then he hurried to assure the cardinal of his deep gratitude and affection as soon as he left: “I will love you until death!”

lowkey love their dynamic.
louis: imma bounce but luv ya!

“Richelieu, meanwhile, on horseback and wearing his finest armor..."

check out the drip. sir cardinal was quite the fashionista.

“The queen [Anne] still, as when she married, had quite ravishing features.”

this is kinda funny bcs i just finished a book on buckingham and i remember queen anne described as not very attractive. so which is it?? given she was a Habsburg i kinda lean towards the first version. sorry the jawline family but its what it is.

'Richelieu approached, intending to declare himself a loyal servant. [...] But Louis called out to him loudly and brutally, in front of everyone.
"Well, Luçon, finally I am free from your tyranny!”
The king then told his mother’s protégé to decamp from the Louvre.'

well this is awkward.

“Whatever the roots of this ambivalent sense of selfhood, Louis grew up to pursue a series of relationships in which he sought the exclusive attention of an attractive man. The passion he had at an early age for Charles d’Albert de Luynes, a handsome Provençal gentleman whom Henri had hired for the royal hunting staff, is one early example”

louis xiii seems like a mix of king james and his son charles

“The Venetian ambassador reported that [Louis XIII] was “proud, ardent and agile, he loves already and with predilection arms and horses, and speaks often of wars, of captains, soldiers, and fortresses.”

the venetian ambassador strikes again.

“When the crowd carrying Concini’s body reached the bridge, they strung him up by his feet. Someone cut off his nose, his ears, and gouged his eyes out. A man tore off his genitals. Another one managed to rip out the corpse’s heart and licked his fingers with mad delight. Soon the heart was cooked over charcoal, offered in bits, and eaten in a communion of revenge.”

is it safe to eat a dead man's heart thou?..