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Jules Mazarin (in Italian: Giulio Mazarino ), (1602 - 1661), better known under the name of Cardinal Mazarin was a skilful diplomat and politician, initially with the service of the Papauté, then kings of France. It succeeded Richelieu.

Life

Its origins

The cardinal Mazarin, Giulio Mazarini, was born the July 14th 1602 with Pescina (then under Spanish domination), in the the Abruzzi, in the south-east of the Italy. In fact, his/her parents lived with Rome where it passed its childhood. His/her father, Pierre Mazzarini, had habit to go from time to time in his brother-in-law, the Buffalini abbot. At the time of this voyage in 1602, his wife being pregnant, overpowering heat made so painful the pregnancy, that his/her mother was not in a position to return to Rome. The historians of the time teach us that his Hortensia mother, was confined of her first born, well named Jules, who was born capped and with two teeth (one thought then, whom that prejudged a high fortune). Later, the cardinal often prevailed himself about it.

The father of the cardinal, Pierre, wire of Jules, had been born in Sicily with Manor house-Mazarino, from where the nickname came to him from Mazarin. The grandfather of the cardinal was easy craftsman (certain historians say that it went bankrupt), which enabled him to send his/her Pierre son to the school. This last made such progress there that it became enough erudite to follow the occupation of notary and to plead some small causes. After the death of his father, it sold his pieces of furniture and left for Rome, provided with letters of introduction for the Connétable Colonna. Extremely of these recommendations, he requested an employment. Pierre rained with the constable, who did it Chambellan, then entrusted to him the management of some of his fields. By its skilful and careful control, increasingly liked of its Master, Pierre could put his family in a great ease. He was always grateful besides towards this Colonna family, in spite of the bright fortune of his son, the Mazarin cardinal, always repeating that its fortune had come to him from the favor of this house.

The constable held so that its servants were married. He gave to Pierre, who had decided to take woman, Hortensia Buffalini, his goddaughter, pertaining to a noble family of Città di Castello in Ombrie. The young girl was beautiful and very virtuous. She was largely equipped. They had two wire and four girls. The elder one, Jules, cardinal future, carried the first name of his/her grandfather.

With the service of the Pope

In 1627, in margin of the War Thirty Year old, bursts in Italy of north the conflict called War of succession of Mantoue which opposed on the one hand, the emperor Ferdinand II, the duke of Savoy Charles-Emmanuel I {{er}} and Ferdinand II of Guastalla, candidate gibelin with the duchy and, on the other hand, the king of France Louis XIII come to help Charles Gonzague, duke of Nevers, the candidate Guelfe . The pope Urbain VIII also sent troops in the Valteline. Jules sent packing his books and benefitted from it to take a commission of captain of infantry. He made, with his company, some stays with Lorette and Ancône. He knew art of the war only what one of known as in the books; however, it showed in the performance of its duties the superiority of its spirit and a great talent to discipline the soldiers.

At that time, Anna Colonna, girl of the constable, married Taddeo Barberini, nephew of the pope Urbain VIII. On this occasion, his/her brother, Girolamo, old main from Mazarin, accepted the archbishop's palace of Bologna with purple. When one sent it in the Montferrat, in the capacity as papal legate, to treat peace between France and Spain, it obtained that Jules is attached to legation under secretary.

On the two sides, one was ready for the battle. The apostolic legate however negotiated peace with great zeal. Mazarin, as secretary, went from one camp to the other, to hasten the concluding of a treaty. It did not take a long time to realize only the Marquis de Santa-Cruz, who represented the crown of Spain, had a violent fear to lose its army, and a burning desire to arrive at a compromise. Including/understanding all the party which it could draw from this weakness, it pressed the Spanish general, representing to him with exaggeration the force of the French.

The negotiations of Mazarin led the April 6th 1631 to the Traité of Cherasco by which the emperor and the duke of Savoy recognized the possession of Mantoue and part of Montferrat with Charles Gonzague and especially the French occupation of the fortified town of Pignerol, valley of the Po carries. They brought to Louis XIII and the Cardinal of Richelieu such a satisfaction that this one looked at of it the author like an inexhaustible man in resources, fertile in tricks and military stratagems and that it conceived the keen desire of it to know it personally. It manda in Paris, where Jules went with an inexpressible pleasure. Richelieu accommodated it with great demonstrations of affection, engaged it by the fair promisess, and a gold chain with the portrait of Louis XIII made him give, the jewels and a sword of a considerable value.

Its first contacts with France

He is initially vice-legate of Avignon (1634), then nuncio in Paris (1634-36), he displeased by his French sympathies in Spain, which made it return in Avignon (1636) and which prevented it, in spite of the efforts of Richelieu, to become cardinal.

Richelieu, feeling overpowered by the age, although it was untiring with work, thought that Mazarin could be the man whom it sought to help it to carry the government. As of its return in France, after a short voyage to Rome, it retained it close to him and entrusted several missions to him whose Mazarin discharged extremely honourably, then presented it to the king who liked it much. It is established then in the royal palace.

Always very skilful to the play, one day that it gained much, one ran as a crowd to see the gold mass which it had piled up in front of him. The queen itself was not long in appearing. Mazarin risked all and gained. It allotted its success to the presence of the queen and, to thank it, offered fifty thousand ecus of gold to him and gave the remainder to the ladies of the court. The queen refused initially, then ends up accepting, but a few days afterwards, Mazarin accepted much more than it had not given. From this day, it is strengthened in the favor of the king, of all the court of France, but especially of the queen who, a few years later, will become the regent.

Mazarin sent to his/her father, in Rome, a large amount of money and a cassette of jewels to equip his/her three sisters and is strengthened in the idea to serve the Crown, of which the favor he thought was the surest means of obtaining the crimson, constant object of its ambition since its youth. But Richelieu, which liked it much and considered it worthy of the cardinal's hat, was not in a hurry to fill it. One day, it offered a évêché to him with thirty thousand ecus of revenue. Mazarin, which aspired to more, did not want to run the risk to stop its fortune there and refused pleasantly. It waited still a long time then, tired to wait, returned to Italy in 1636, thinking that in Rome, with the service of the Antonio cardinal, nephew of the pope, it would be more able to have purple.

With the service of Kings de France

In April 1639, it is naturalized French and sets out again for Paris. It enters to the service of France and is placed at the disposal of Richelieu. In December 1640, it makes a happy beginning by gaining with the French cause the princes de Savoie; one year later, the pope granted the cardinal's hat to him. At the time of the conspiracy of Five-March and duke of Bubble, this one obtained its grace only by delivering the Principauté of Sedan; Mazarin signed convention and occupied Sedan.

The December 5th 1642, shortly after died of Richelieu, Mazarin was named Principal Minister for the State, like had recommended it Richelieu which saw in him its worthy successor.

Between the death of Richelieu and that of Louis XIII, Mazarin proceeded so that one would call today a campaign of Lobbying. Indeed, he contacts all the religious entourage of the queen and is presented in the form of a worthy successor of Richelieu. So that, when pious Anne of Austria will request council around it from the moment of the choice of its Prime Minister, it will have the same answer near all its advisers: the Mazarin Cardinal!

Thus, starting from 1643, with died of Louis XIII and as Louis XIV is yet only one child, the regent Anne of Austria appoints Mazarin Prime Minister. In March 1646, he becomes also “superintendent with the government and the control of the person of the king and of that of Mister the duke of Anjou”.

Hardly with the capacity, it had to face the hostility of “Large” in the business of the Cabale of Important the (1643) where a plot to assassinate it was thwarted.

In spite of military and diplomatic successes finally putting a term at the War Thirty Year old (Treated of Westphalia - 1648), the financial problems worsened, making the heavy tax measures of Mazarin increasingly unpopular. It was one of them which started the first Fronde , the Parliamentary Sling (1648). Paris is besieged by the royal army, which devastates the villages of the Paris region by plunderings, fires, rapes… Not obtaining the tender of the capital, the parties conclude the Paix from Saint-Germain (April 1st, 1649). It was only one respite.

The Sling of the princes (1650-1652), started by the avid arrest of Cop of rewards for him and his customers, and being thus opposed to the appetites of the Cardinal, succeeded to him. Mazarin was obliged to exile itself twice (1651 and 1652), while continuing to control via Anne of Austria and faithful collaborators like Hugues de Lionne (1611-1671) and Michel Tellier (1603-1685). The Paris region was again devastated, by the armies and an epidemic of Typhoïde spread by the soldiers, in a torrid summer, which involved at least 20 % of losses in the population. Its lassitude and its exhaustion facilitated the return of the king, acclaimed in Paris thus subjected, then later, that of Mazarin.

Criticisms against Mazarin related to its Italian and obscure origin partly, but especially the finishing of the absolute monarchy which resulted in particular in the formidable increase of taxation like the Taille to carry out the wars in Europe (Flandres, Catalogne, Italy). Having broken all the oppositions, there remained Prime Minister until his death with the Château of Vincennes, the March 9th 1661 of the continuations of a long illness.

Two days before its death, it makes call the three Ministers for the Council, Michel Tellier, Nicolas Fouquet and Hugues de Lionne, and warmly recommends them to the king. But the following day, takes care of its death, on the councils of Colbert, it reconsiders its remarks relating to Fouquet considered to be too ambitious and advises with the king to be wary and choose about it Colbert like Intendant of finances.

Personal enrichment

At the beginning of its government, Mazarin grows rich enormously by confusing the cases by the State with its personal case. It perceives many “bribes” in exchange of loads and benefits from the bankruptcy of banking friends to cheaply reconstitute his library dispersed during the Sling and to enrich its collection by works of Titien, Caravage or Raphaël, of statues, medals, jewels.

Its fortune is such as it engages Jean-Baptiste Colbert to manage it as well as possible.

The Mazarinades, sheets of information of some pages and any origines (those inspired by Condé are among most daring against monarchy), but also lampoons erudite and ironic (the cardinal of Retz made some of them) very often attacked it under this angle.

Its end

Mazarin dies the March 9th 1661 by leaving a Europe in peace. The sling has then been finished for more than 8 years (1653).

Heritage

In addition to the political heritage, the Mazarin cardinal left a fortune of 35 million books, including 8 million in cash (either the equivalent of boxes Bank of Amsterdam, banks most important of the world at the time). He had very lost during the Fronde, he had thus accumulated these richnesses between 1652 and his death, that is to say in less than nine years, while being made allot by the queen-regents civil loads and ecclesiastics (to see the impressive list of it p 50-51 of the the Sling of Hubert Méthivier, PUF, 1984), while speculating in the government stocks, while exploiting the value of the currencies and their withdrawal (what caused for example in 1659 the revolt of the “Sabot-makers” of the Sologne, country poor wretches raised against the withdrawal of the Liard S, which constituted their thin monetary reserves), in growing rich via men of straw on the supplies with the armies… Under the Old Mode, no heritage reached this level, highest being those of the cardinal of Richelieu (16 Nets million) and of Charles Gonzague (5,5 million in 1637). To prevent that an inventory of its goods is not made, and thus of its intrigues, it bequeathed all its goods to the king, which hesitated three days before accepting them, then, having done it, left them with its heirs, operates traditional in these times to avoid the searchs for justice. Its rapacity was such as it even thought, him which was never ordered priest, to become archbishop of one of the rich person lately conquered territories, but the pope opposed a zeal if interested.

By will, Mazarin made carry out the Collège of the Four-Nations (become the Institut of France).

Family connections

The richness of the Mazarin Cardinal and the will of the cardinal to bind to the high aristocracy by the advantageous marriages of his/her nieces (means for the Large ones of profiting from the royal pardons) created a dynasty.

The sisters Olympe, Marie, Hortense and Marie Anne Mancini were famous for their beauty, their spirit and their released loves.

Marie Mancini was the great (and platonic) young love of Louis XIV, which renonça with it to marry his/her cousin Marie-Therese of Austria.
Hortense married on March 1st 1661 Armand-Charles of the Door, duke of Mayenne and Meilleraye. It is one of the large characters of the history of Mayenne. It bought the duchy in May 1654. Then, by successive alliances, the duchy passed in other families until falling to Louise d' Aumont, wife of Honore IV of Grimaldi, prince of Monaco, ancestor of the current sovereign of the principality Albert II de Monaco.
Olympe Mancini, countess of Soissons, was the mother of the famous Prince Eugene, passed to the service of Habsbourgs, and so much of time winner of the armies of Louis XIV.

Their Philippe brother married Diane de Thianges, niece of Madam de Montespan; they were the grandparents of the academician Louis-Jules Mancini-Mazarini and also of the ancestors of current the Grimaldi.

It is by telling the loves of the nieces with Louis XIV that Abraham de Wicquefort was found enbastillé.

The question of knowing if Mazarin itself secretly married Anne of Austria is discussed. Some have analyzed their correspondence of such way that they believed to be able to prove a connection, which remains hypothetical, between the man of the church and the queen-mother.

Blasonnement

Weapons of the Mazarin Cardinal:

Of azure to the beam of dependant money gold lictor, the axe of same, with the fasce of mouths stitching on the whole charged with three gold stars.

Portrait

The Cardinal of Retz, celebrates enemy of Mazarin, draws up of him a portrait to vitriol in its memories :

Its birth was low and its ashamed childhood. With leaving Colisée, he learned with piper, which attracted to him blows of sticks of a goldsmith of Rome called Moreto. He was captain of infantry in Valteline; and Bagni, which was its general, me has said that it did not pass in his war, who was only three months, that for a swindler. He had extraordinary nonciature in France, by the favor of the Cardinal Antoine, which was not acquired, in this time, by good means. It rained with Chavigny by its tales libertines of Italy, and by Chavigny with Richelieu, which made it cardinal, by the same spirit, so that one believed, who obliged Auguste to leave in Tibère the succession Empire. Purple did not prevent it from remaining servant under Richelieu. Queen it having chosen fault of other, which is true no matter what one says some, it appeared initially the original of Trivelino Principe. Fortune having dazzled it and all the others, it set up and one set it up in Richelieu; but it had only the impudence of the imitation of it. It was made shame of all that the other had been done of the honor. He made fun of the religion. He promised all, because he wanted nothing to hold. He was neither soft neither cruel, because he ressouvenait himself neither of the benefits nor of the insults. He liked too much, which is the naturalness of the loose hearts; it was feared too little, which is the character of those which do not have a care of their reputation. It envisaged the evil rather well, because it was often afraid; but it did not cure proportion it, because it did not have as well prudence as of fear. It had spirit, insinuation, joviality, manners; but the unpleasant heart always appeared with through, and so much so that these qualities had, in the adversity, all the air of the ridiculous one, and did not lose, in greatest prosperity, that of cheating. It carried the filoutage in the ministry, which never arrived but at him; and this filoutage made that the ministry, even happy and absolute, did not seyait to him well, and that the contempt slipped there, which is the most dangerous disease of a State, and whose contagion is spread most easily and most promptly of the chief in the members.

Literary work

Breviary of the politicians, work published in the Arléa editions, presented by Umberto Eco which indicates that the first publication goes back to 1684. U. Eco indicates that Dumas has to intend some to speak and to have only one summary of this breviary, which would explain the character of which it traced the portrait in Twenty years after.

Literature

Alexandre Dumas the met in scene in Twenty years after . D' Artagnan as Porthos becomes its creatures. Athos and Aramis slips on the side of the princes, opposed to the cardinal.

Dumas the met also in scene in the Viscount of Bragelonne , in which Mazarin separates Louis XIV from Marie de Mancini and the Marie with the infante of Spain, Marie-Therese and finally dies in 1661.

Note and references

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