ABSTRACT
Armand Jean du Plessis, better known as the Cardinal de Richelieu, effectively ruled the kingdom of France on behalf of King Louis XIII, whose favour he enjoyed, between 1624 and 1642. Under Richelieu, France rose to become a major European power and challenged Spain for supremacy. Like all favourites who rose to power in seventeenth-century Europe, Richelieu’s position was always precarious and depended on the continued favour of the monarch in the face of rival factions. High politics and emotions collided in an extraordinary scene as Richelieu abruptly interrupted a conversation between the Queen Mother and the King. The Queen Mother and Richelieu’s enemies initially thought that they had managed to persuade King Louis to dismiss his chief minister but, in the end, they were only fooling themselves and the French Monarch stood by Richelieu in what has become known since then as lajournee des Dupes.
