vetenskapochupplysning

Cardinal Richelieau was appointed Prime Minister in year 1624 by King Louis XIII. The King had noticed his intelligence during his time in the church, therefore he was appointed Prime Minister of France. One other important reason for his rise to power is that he made peace between King Louis XIII and his mother Marie de Medici. Catholicism had been the official state religion in France since 1516, but that started to change when Cardinal Richelieau in 1624 became Prime Minister, he began to separate the power between the state and the church in France. Cardinal Richelieau wished to reign over France with Absolute power, an entirely undisputed, unchallenged, and unquestioned might, he considered the church is a “state within a state”, a separate republic that threatened his power just as much as any rival European nation did. To give an example of what he did to separate the power, in 1628 there was a struggle between the state and church on the subject of taxes, he then forced the church to give up their rights to own properties in France. This is one example of what he did to force the church to give up their power to the state. Cardinal Richelieau has removed the church’s influence over state politics and insured the monarch's dominance for the next several centuries. Absolutism had, however, begun resulting in the social, economic, and political decline of the French nation.

/Daniel S Wong