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Cardinal Richelieu and the Making of France. - Review - book review
Contemporary Review, Feb, 2001
Cardinal Richelieu and the Making of France. Anthony Levi. Constable. [pound]20.00. 327 pages. ISBN 0-909-480190-8. Cardinal Richelieu remains one of the most pivotal men in French history. He exercised his greatest power as first minister under Louis XIII and is largely credited as one of the architects of the modem French state with its passion for uniformity and government centred on Paris.
The author also shows how Richelieu worked to create the French Academy and to establish the Sorbonne. He shows Richelieu as a builder whose structures changed the appearance of France. The author, perhaps because of his Jesuit background, also shows how important an ecclesiastical reformer Richelieu was, an achievement often overlooked. Sometimes the author's great knowledge of the period can overwhelm the reader with so much background information that the subject seems to sink from site. But readers should persevere as this must now rank as the leading biography of France's most famous Cardinal. (E.B.)
COPYRIGHT 2001 Contemporary Review Company Ltd.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group
