Cardinal de RichelieuPrice, Eleanor C. (Eleanor Catherine)
History
Cardinal de Richelieu
Price, Eleanor C. (Eleanor Catherine)
France -- History -- Louis XIII, 1610-1643; Richelieu, Armand Jean du Plessis, duc de, 1585-1642
So far the _Gazette de France_. With every mark, as it seems, of
outward respect, the gleaming cavalcade made its way through the
darkness of the city. They carried him over the Pont Neuf, where
Henry’s statue commanded Paris and the Seine, and up the hill, through
the old University quarter for which he had done so much, and laid
him in the vault he had prepared for himself and his family under the
stately new Church of the Sorbonne. His funeral ceremonies extended
for weeks, far into the following year, with grand state services at
Notre Dame and solemn requiems in all the churches of Paris. A long
and flattering epitaph, engraved on copper and fastened to the wall of
the crypt where he lay, was meant to keep his fame alive till France
herself should be no more. It began: “Icy repose le grand Armand-Jean
du Plessis, Cardinal de Richelieu, Duc et Pair de France: Grand en
naissance, grand en esprit, grand en sagesse, grand en science, grand
en courage, grand en fortune, mais plus grand encore en piété....”
After describing the hero’s fine deeds and wonderful qualities, his
genius, grace, and majesty, the epitaph--said to have been composed
by Georges de Scudéry--went on to announce that “il est mort comme il
a vécu, grand, invincible, glorieux et pour dernier honneur, pleuré
de son Roi; et pour son éternel bonheur, il est mort humblement,
chrétiennement et saintement....”
It was not till towards the end of the century that the marble tomb by
Girardon was placed above the vault in the Church of the Sorbonne.
By his will, made at Narbonne, the Cardinal confirmed the promised
gift he had made to the Crown in 1636 of the Palais-Cardinal, most of
his magnificent gold and silver plate, diamonds, and a large sum of
money. He divided his lands, châteaux, and other property between his
nephew and great-nephews and Madame d’Aiguillon, leaving the lion’s
share with his name and title, as has been said, to Armand de Vignerot,
who was also entrusted with his precious library. Many of his artistic
treasures and all his remaining jewellery went to Madame d’Aiguillon.
With the most particular care and in the strongest words he guarded
against any future dismemberment of the estates he left to his family.
Fortunate for him that his fame and honour did not depend on the
châteaux, the gardens, the forests, the collections and possessions of
every kind which had so long shared his thoughts with France and her
glory.
The legacies to his servants and humbler friends showed the Cardinal
in his pleasantest light, as a just and generous master. Not one was
forgotten, from his chaplains, officers and gentlemen, his secretaries
and _le petit_ Mulot, secretary’s clerk, to cooks, grooms, muleteers,
and footmen. The smallest legacy was six years’ wages. That he did
not forget past benefits was shown by a legacy to a M. de Broyé, the
necessitous nephew of that Claude Barbin who had helped him to his
place in the Ministry in the days of the Maréchal d’Ancre.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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