Chief minister to King Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu was the architect of a new France in the seventeenth century, and the force behind the nation's rise as a European power. Among the first statesmen to clearly understand the necessity of a balance of powers, he was one of the early realist politicians, practicing in the wake of Machiavelli. Forging a nation-state amid the swirl of unruly nobles, widespread corruption, wars of religion, and an ambitious Habsburg empire, Richelieu mastered the politics of absolute power. At times cruel and ruthless, he was always devoted to creating a lasting central authority vested in the monarchy, a power essential to France's position on the European stage for the next two centuries. Jean-Vincent Blanchard's insightful new biography offers a rich portrait of a fascinating man and his era, and gives us a keener understanding of the dark arts of politics.--From publisher description.