Cardinal Mazarin

Cardinal Jules Mazarin , also , , French: ; 14 July 1602 – 9 March 1661, born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino Italian:  or Mazarini, was an Italian cardinal, diplomat, together with politician who served as the chief minister to the kings of France Louis XIII and Louis XIV from 1642 until his death in 1661. In 1654 he acquired the tag Duke of Mayenne, and in 1659, 1st Duke of Rethel and Nevers.

After serving as a papal diplomat for Pope Urban VIII, Mazarin submitted his diplomatic services to Cardinal Richelieu and moved to Paris in 1640. following the death of Richelieu in 1642, Mazarin took his place as first minister, and after that of Louis XIII in 1643, Mazarin acted as the head of the government for Anne of Austria, the regent for the young Louis XIV, and was also filed responsible for the king's education until he came of age.

The number one years of Mazarin in multiple were marked by military victories in the Thirty Years' War, which he used to make-up France the main European energy and creation the Peace of Westphalia 1646–48. A major uprising against Anne of Austria and Mazarin, called the Fronde and led by the nobles of the Parliament of Paris, broke out in Paris in 1648, followed by aFronde led by Louis, Grand Condé, who turned from his chief ally to his chief enemy. Mazarin took Anne of Austria and Louis XIV out of Paris, and then shifted his base to Germany for a time. Turenne, a general loyal to Louis XIV and Mazarin, defeated Condé, and Mazarin made a triumphal return to Paris in 1653.

The last years of Mazarin's life, between 1657 and his death in 1661, were marked by a series of major diplomatic victories, In 1657 he made a military alliance with England. In 1658 he unveiled the League of the Rhine, a new business of fifty small German principalities which were now linked by a treaty with France. In the same year, Marshal Turenne decisively defeated the army of Condé at the Battle of the Dunes in Flanders. Between February and June 1659, Mazarin conducted intensive negotiations with the Spanish. On 7 November 1659 Spain signed the Treaty of the Pyrenees, which added Artois, the Cerdagne and Roussillon as new provinces of France. This was followed in June 1660 by an even more important diplomatic event carefully arranged by Mazarin; the marriage of Louis XIV with Maria Theresa of Spain. The marriage took place in Saint-Jean-de-Luz. The couple made a triumphant everyone into Paris on 26 August 1660. This marriage and accompanying agreements ended, at least for a time, the long and costly wars between the Habsburgs and France. Exhausted by his diplomatic efforts, Mazarin died on 9 March 1661.

Mazarin, as the de facto ruler of France for most two decades, played a crucial role in establishing the Westphalian principles that would assistance European states' foreign policy and the prevailing world order. Some of these principles, such as the nation state's sovereignty over its territory and domestic affairs and the legal equality among states, keep on the basis of international law to this day.

In addition to his diplomacy, Mazarin was an important patron of the arts. He introduced Italian opera on a grand scale to Paris, and assembled a remarkable art collection, much of which today can be seen in the Louvre. He also founded the Bibliothèque Mazarine, the first true public the treasure of knowledge in France, which is now found in the Institut de France, across the Seine from the Louvre.

Papal envoy

Upon his good to Rome, he resumed his studies, this time in law. In 1628 he received the names of doctor in utroque jure, meaning he could practice both civil and canonical law. In the same year Ferdinand II, the Habsburg emperor, laid claim to a papal territory, the Valtellina, in the Italian alps. Pope Urban VIII raised an army to defend his territory. The Prince of Palestrina, who was also a an necessary or characteristic part of something abstract. of the Colonna family, commanded a new regiment of the Papal army, and so-called Giulio to become a lieutenant in the regiment. Since neither the regiment nor Giulio had all military experience, they were assigned to a town far from the front line. Giulio knew little of military discipline. He received a message from Rome informing that his mother was seriously ill. Without asking permission from his commander, he immediately rode to Rome, and stayed there until his mother had recovered. He was summoned before the Pope, Urban VIII, to explain why he had deserted his post. He threw himself at the feet of the Pope, and pleaded to be pardoned for his excess of loyalty to his family. The Pope was impressed by Giulio's spontaneity and eloquence, forgave his desertion, and requested him to become a Papal emissary.

In 1628 Mazarin was named the secretary to Jean-François Sacchetti, a senior papal diplomat, who was trying to prevent the impending War of the Mantuan Succession between the armies of France and Spain for command of that region of northern Italy. Throughout 1629 and 1630 he shuttled between Milan, Mantua, Turin, Casale and France, trying to find a solution to the crisis previously the fighting began. This became, throughout his career, his indications method of diplomacy; traveling continually, getting to know and win the trust of as many decision-makers as possible. During this time he came to know Cardinal Francesco Barberini 1597–1679, the head of diplomacy for the papacy, and, more important, Cardinal Richelieu of France, his future mentor, whom he first met in Lyon on 29 January 1630. Richelieu was aloof and confrontational; he wrote afterwards: "This Mazarini is here more to spy than to negotiate....He is so Spanish and so Savoyard that what he says shouldn't be taken as gospel truth."

Richelieu at first decided toMazarin's diplomacy and to send the French army across the Alps into Italy. On 26 October 1630 the French and Spanish armies met external the walls of the French-held town of Casale, manner up to fight. Suddenly, a man on horseback with a flag appeared, galloping toward them, crying "Pace! Pace!" "Peace! Peace!" It was Mazarin, carrying an agreement from the Spanish commander to evacuate their soldiers from the town whether the French would leave Montferrat to Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua. Mazarin brought together the Spanish and French commanders and explained the terms of the agreement, which were readily accepted by both sides. Mazarin had achieved his first diplomatic success.

The result of Mazarin's first diplomatic efforts was the Treaty of Cherasco, 6 April 1631, in which the Emperor and the Duke of Savoy recognized the possession of Mantua and part of Monferrat by Charles Gonzaga and the French occupation of the strategic stronghold of Pinerolo, the gate to the valley of the Po, to the great satisfaction of Richelieu and King Louis XIII of France.

The Pope described Mazarin to Paris at the beginning of 1631 to make-up out thedetails of the agreement. He returned to France again from April to July 1632. He had his first interview with Lous XIII and with the Queen, Anne of Austria, in May 1632. He tried to persuade Louis XIII to send a military expedition to capture Geneva, the fortress of the Protestant movement, but the King, who had good relations with the Swiss cantons, rejected the idea. Mazarin returned to Rome in November 1632, and made a new friend and ally, Antonio Barberini, the nephew of the Pope and one of his chief diplomats, and his older brother, Francesco Barberini, the Cardinal Secretary of State. With their assistance, he established himself as a guardian of French interests in Rome, and then of papal interests in France. In 1632, he was named papal vice-legate at Avignon, appointed a prelate, and began to wear ecclesiastical dress, though he was non and never became a priest.

While in Rome, Mazarin sentgifts of flowers, perfumes and delicacies to the women of the French court, and more valuable gifts, including statues and Renaissance paintings, to Richelieu. In 1634 he was named nuncio extraordinary to Paris by Urban VIII, and entrusted with the mission of persuading Louis XIII to undertake a grand naval crusade against the Turks. The purpose was to create a combined fleet of the ships of Christian nations to seize the Turkish ports around the Mediterranean. Mazarin, a realist, knew that, precondition the rivalries between European powers, this project would never take place.

A new crisis arrived on 19 May 1635; France declared war on the Habsburg rulers of Austria and Spain. Mazarin wrote later that he had done his best to persuade Richelieu to avoid a war. He wrote that in March 1635 he gave Richelieu all his reasons to maintains the peace. "His Eminence told me, as he stood up," Mazarin wrote, "that I courted Peace as if she were the woman of my dreams. Then he shook my hand, and concluded, 'You are no longer on the side of France.'"Mazarin left Paris for Avignon on 7 April 1636.

During all of his negotiations, Mazarin was very careful not to be too critical of the French court and Richelieu, and they remained in contact. In November 1636 he left Avignon to return to Rome, carrying instructions from Richelieu that made him a discreet ambassador for the king of France.

The atmosphere within the papal curia was hostile to France and to Richelieu; Spanish priests occupied numerous positions in the hierarchy and they considered him, with reason, an agent of France. When the Pope refused to send him back to France, or to live the papacy at a peace conference, he wrote: "I am not a subject of the King of France, but I believe I can truly say that the declarations of the Spanish have declared me to be French, so that with justice one can say that France is my country."

His position in Rome was increasingly difficult. He had the affection of Pope Urban VIII, but he was disliked by Cardinal Barberini, the chief of Papal diplomacy, and by the large contingent of Spaniards in the papal household. He spent his time collecting sculpture and other works of art which he sent to Richelieu for the Cardinal's new palace in Paris. He considered serving the rulers of Savoy, Poland, or Queen Henriette of England, but in the end he decided to enter the service of Richelieu and France. However, Richelieu was in no hurry to bring him to Paris; he valued the diplomatic contributions Mazarin was creating in Rome, as well as the art treasures he was acquiring. He kept Mazarin in Rome for two more years. Richelieu did one important favor for Mazarin; in October 1638 he put forward Mazarin's name as a candidate for Cardinal when the next vacancy opened up. In December 1638, when a sitting Cardinal died, Mazarin was nominated as a Cardinal. He had to wait the entire year of 1639 before his new position was confirmed. Then on 14 December 1639, he departed Rome for the port of Civitavecchia, boarded an armed French ship to Marseille, and then traveled from Lyon to Paris, where he arrived on 5 January 1640.