Jules Cardinal Mazarin

Jules Cardinal Mazarin, born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino (July 14 1602, Pescina, Italy – March 9 1661, Vincennes, France) served as the chief minister of France from 1642, until his death. Mazarin succeeded his mentor, Cardinal Richelieu.

Mazarin's policies for France

Mazarin continued Richelieu's anti-Habsburg policy and laid the foundation for Louis XIV's expansionism. The victories of Condé and Turenne brought the French party to the bargaining table at the conclusion of the Thirty Years War with the Treaty of Munster and Treaty of Osnabrück (Treaty of Westphalia), in which Mazarin's policies were French rather than Catholic and brought Alsace (though not Strasbourg) to France; he settled Protestant princes in secularized bishoprics and abbacies in reward for their political opposition to Austria. In 1658 he formed the League of the Rhine, which was designed to check the House of Austria in central Germany. In 1659 he made peace with Habsburg Spain in the Peace of the Pyrenees, which added to French territory Roussillon and Cerdagne in the far south and part of the Low Countries.

Related Topics:
Condé - Turenne - Thirty Years War - Treaty of Munster - Treaty of Osnabrück - Treaty of Westphalia - Alsace - Strasbourg - League of the Rhine - Habsburg Spain - Peace of the Pyrenees - Roussillon - Cerdagne - Low Countries

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Towards Protestantism at home, Mazarin pursued a policy of promises and calculated delay to defuse the armed insurrection of the Ardèche (1653) for example, and keep the Huguenots disarmed: for six years they believed themselves to be on the eve of recovering the protections of the Edict of Nantes: in the end they obtained nothing.

Related Topics:
Ardèche - Huguenot - Edict of Nantes

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Towards the pontificate of the successful Spanish candidate, Cardinal Pamphili, elected pope (15 September, 1644) as Innocent X, there was constant friction. Mazarin protected the Barberini cardinals, nephews of the late pope, and the Bull against them was voted by the Parliament of Paris "null and abusive"; France made a show of preparing to take Avignon by force, and Innocent backed down. Mazarin was more consistently an enemy of Jansenism, more for its political implications than out of theology, and on his deathbed warned young Louis "not to tolerate the Jansenist sect, not even their name."

Related Topics:
Cardinal Pamphili - Innocent X - Barberini - Parliament of Paris - Jansenism - Jansenist

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Controversy over the Cardinal's policies, and the weakness of the regency, resulted in two civil wars, known as la Fronde (1648-52). Twice, in 1651 and 1652, he was driven out of the country, by the Parliamentary Fronde and the Fronde of the Nobles. The countless abusive and satirical pamphlets called Mazarinades published against him often invoked his Italian birth. In addition, the increasing authoritarian royal power of France (a process begun under Richelieu), as well as rising taxes, such as the Taille were attacked by defenders of ancient aristocratic liberties against the growing absolutism that Louis XIV was able to exploit.

Related Topics:
Civil war - La Fronde - 1648 - 52 - Parliamentary Fronde - Fronde of the Nobles - Tax - Taille - Absolutism

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