His Red Eminence by Laurel A. Rockefeller Book Tour and Giveaway :)
His
Red Eminence
Armand-Jean
du Plessis de Richelieu
by
Laurel A. Rockefeller
Genre:
Historical Fiction
Priest.
Lover. Statesman.
From
the author of the best-selling “Legendary Women of World History”
series ...
Cardinal
Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu is one of the most famous --
or infamous politicians of all time. Made a villain in the popular
Dumas novel, "The Three Musketeers," the real man was a
dedicated public servant loyal to king and country. A man of logic
and reason, he transformed how we think about nations and
nationality. He secularized wars between countries, patronized the
arts for the sake of the public good, founded the first newspaper in
France, and created France as the modern country we know
today.
Filled
with period music, dance, and plenty of romance, "His Red
Eminence" transports you back to the court of King Louis XIII in
all its vibrant and living color.
Includes
eight period songs, plus prayers, a detailed timeline, and extensive
bibliography so you can keep learning.
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Ten minutes later, Armand-Jean heard singing coming from the drawing room, “Viens tot me secourir ou me faudra mourir. Viens tot me secourir ou me faudra mourir.” Following the sound, Armand-Jean gazed in wonder at the singer whose voice he never thought he would hear again, “Pourquoi fuis tu, mignarde, si je suis pres de toi? Quand tes yeux je regarde je me perds dedans moi. Car tes perfection changent mes actions. Car tes perfection changent mes actions.” Waiting for her to finish the second verse, Armand rushed up to her and kissed her lips furiously, “Anne! My Anne!” Stepping back slightly he looked in amazement at the perfection of her body in her lavender and pale blue gown, “You are the most beautiful creature in all the world! I thought I would never see you again, let alone hear you sing? When have you been able to sing like that?” “I have always sung like that. Bishop du Plessis was always too busy to listen!” “Forgive me, Anne I—” Anne put her finger on his lips, “Armand, wait!” Armand-Jean looked up from Anne and followed her gaze. Standing discretely at the back of the room stood the Seigneur de Richelieu. Finally noticed, Henri crossed the room to them, “Clearly I guessed correctly about you two.” “What have you told him, Anne?” asked Armand defensively. “When he asked me about us, I told him that you would say a gentleman does not kiss and tell. He knows no more than he’s witnessed in person or guessed by virtue of being your brother,” explained Anne. “This is why I stopped you just now—well that and the great likelihood that many of the ‘servants’ here are not here to serve us.” “The way you looked at her just now spoke volumes, Petit Frère! Thankfully it is just the three of us exiled here, though it is possible Alphonse too may join us so that both Marie de Medici and the crown can spy on us. It would seem the confidence the crown once held for house du Plessis died with Good King Henry. We will never see the likes of him again!” Henri stepped to a side-table onto which several decanters of wine and some light aperitifs waited for them. Pouring two glasses of red wine and a glass of white for Anne, Henri offered up a toast, “To Good King Henry! May his son find the wisdom he needs to rule as well as he did!” “To the king!” agreed Anne and Armand as they raised their glasses and drank in unison. Armand took Anne’s hand and caressed the ring finger on her left hand as if a wedding band rested upon it, “You never told me you prefer white wine.” Anne met his eyes, “You never asked.” Armand chewed his lip nervously, “Does the king know my feelings for her? I can understand imprisoning the sons of François du Plessis—but why Anne? What has she done wrong?” “They told me it was an act of mercy, that the king knows you are often ill and require the services of a trusted friend properly trained to deal with your weak constitution. The king expresses his sympathy for your health and is said to share in many of the same afflictions that pain you,” explained Henri. “She is not under arrest then?” “Not in the same way, no. But for the duration of your exile and arrest she is compelled to follow the same rules you do or she will be considered a spy working on your behalf.” Armand took another sip of his wine, “Well then, I least we know where we stand.” “Yes, we do,” agreed Anne. “Can I assume those are your things in the same bedroom as mine?” “Yes.” “Good. I realize exile is supposed to feel like punishment for losing the king’s trust, but right now I cannot help but to feel happy that I am not alone here, that I have two of the people who matter most to me joining me for the duration. God has blessed me and blessed us!” Crossing himself, Bishop du Plessis knelt and prayed, “Pater noster, qui es in cælis, sanctificetur nomen tuum…” Anne knelt with him and took his left hand, praying in unison, “…adveniat regnum tuum; fiat voluntas tua ,..” Henri put his hand on his brother’s shoulder and joined them, “…sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra, sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris; et ne nos inducas in tentationem. Sed libera nos a malo. Amen.”
Born,
raised, and educated in Lincoln, Nebraska USA Laurel A. Rockefeller
is author of over twenty books published and self-published since
August, 2012 and in languages ranging from Welsh to Spanish to
Chinese and everything in between. A dedicated scholar and
biographical historian, Ms. Rockefeller is passionate about education
and improving history literacy worldwide.
With
her lyrical writing style, Laurel's books are as beautiful to read as
they are informative.
In
her spare time, Laurel enjoys spending time with her cockatiels,
attending living history activities, travelling to historic places in
both the United States and United Kingdom, and watching classic
motion pictures and classic television series.
The Downton
Abbey Effect
Cottages and
Palaces in “His Red Eminence”
By Laurel A. Rockefeller
“Downton Abbey.”
Few period dramas have earned the critical acclaim and popularity as
the story of its Crawley family as they navigate the dramatic changes
faced in the early 20th century. Featuring lavish estates
and stories centred on both the upstairs nobles and downstairs
servants, it can be no wonder so many of us are excited about the
September 2019 release of a theatrical film that continues the
stories of these beloved characters.
Important to
Downton Abbey’s appeal stems from its window into how the upper
classes live and how they interact with the servants whose labours
empower their lifestyle. It’s a time gone by for nearly all of us,
a culture few of us experience or understand. A culture that was very
much part of life in 17th century France.
In “His Red
Eminence, Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu” we are taken through
the good cardinal’s entire adult life, starting at the age of
twenty when he was a student at his beloved Sorbonne. Along the way,
he lived in everything from a spartan dormitory to modest cottages to
palaces. Each of these held a very different lifestyle. Each of them
enlightened by watching “Downtown Abbey.” Let’s take a look at
his homes.
Du Plessis
Manor/Château Richelieu – Poitou (1585-1594, intermittent
thereafter)
The cardinal’s
childhood home was the medieval manor built by his ancestors and
resided at for centuries. The 16th century Wars of
Religion which ultimately claimed the life of Armand’s father
François in 1590 bankrupted the family, forcing Armand’s mother
Suzanne de la Porte to cut what few
staff they had before. Odds are the frugality Suzanne de la Porte
imposed on her household meant Armand grew up with few if any of the
luxuries normally enjoyed by the nobility, a simplicity in lifestyle
he maintained for the rest of his life.
Upon the death of his father in 1590, eldest brother Henri du Plessis
became Seigneur de Richelieu. Through political skill and the
kindness of King Henri IV, Henri improved the du Plessis fortunes by
convincing the king to appoint Armand as Bishop of Luçon and with
it, a yearly income of 15,000 livres for his brother and, by
extension, the family.
(engraving of the Château Richelieu before its demolition in 1805.)
As Armand’s career improved over
the years, he invested in the family home, transforming it in the
Château Richelieu built by architect Jacques Lemercier, and
employing a proper household staff to attend him whenever he or other
family members stayed there. From footmen to housemaids, valets, and
lady’s maids, the château scenes in chapter twelve are modelled
closely after those in Downton Abbey and the many adventures of those
who lived there, both upstairs and downstairs.
Dormitory at the
Sorbonne (1606-1607)
Like most students,
Armand-Jean lived simply in a bedroom that served as bedroom,
library, office, and beyond. He probably shared both a kitchen and
lavatory with others living in the same building. It is the style of
life most familiar to us today and therefore most relatable.
Bishop’s
Mansion – Luçon (1608-1614)
More spacious than
his dormitory, ordination as a priest and investiture as a bishop was
a step up for His Excellency, Bishop du Plessis. As bishop he lived
in a parsonage where he lived, maintained an office complete with a
secretary, and entertained. No less than a cook and a housekeeper
maintained the residence and probably other servants as well, though
likely fewer than ten altogether. Though the sizes of bishop mansions
varied with the wealth and important of individual dioceses, the
mansion in Luçon probably maintained at least five guest bedrooms in
addition to the master bedroom the bishop occupied and those reserved
on the top floor for residential staff.
Mansions –
Blois and Avignon Exiles (1617-1620)
Historically
speaking, we know essentially nothing about where exactly Bishop du
Plessis lived during his years in exile in Blois and Avignon created
by his service to Marie de Medici. As a civil servant, he most likely
lived in the same home as the dowager queen while in Blois. Given
Marie de Medici was essentially running a quasi-independent, rival
French government, it is logical to deduce that she and her staff (du
Plessis included) lived in a modest mansion sufficiently sized to
accommodate a household of at least thirty and probably closer to
sixty. Upon being ordered away from de Medici in the form of being
sent to Avignon, Bishop du Plessis and those exiled with him probably
experienced a more scaled down version of his life in Blois with a
smaller mansion-prison and fewer staff, but still attended somewhat
by cooks, housekeepers, and perhaps a footman or two whose real
function was to enforce the house arrest while spying on the
prisoners.
Parisian
Cottages (1614-1617, 1620-1629)
In September, 1614
Bishop du Plessis arrived in Paris as a delegate from Poitou
representing its clergy at the meeting of the Estates-General in
Paris. Though we know nothing about how or where the bishop was
housed, it was most likely a modest cottage not unlike Crawley House
in Downton Abbey. The bishop probably had a cook and a housekeeper to
look after him. Upon being appointed to the large stream of
government positions showcased in “Eminence” that staff level
would have slowed increased, but rarely exceeding more than five or
ten total servants plus or minus the red guards who protected his
person. These cottages probably looked and felt a great deal like
Crawley House, modest but comfortable, but better suited to city life
than the rural-centric Crawley House.
Apartment at the
Louvre (intermittent, 1622-1629)
Living at the
Louvre was a special honour granted as a reward to favourite
courtiers. It was also given to those ministers the king wanted kept
close to him—either because he wanted him closely watched and/or
because he needed that minister available to him at all hours of the
day and night.
As seen in
“Eminence,” Richelieu most likely divided his residency between
an apartment in the Louvre and a nearby cottage. While staying at the
Louvre, housemaids would have kept his apartment tidy and cooks would
have provided him with his meals. Footmen summoned him into the royal
presence.
Following his 1628
success at La Rochelle, King Louis XIII gifted him with his own
estate mere metres from the Louvre which Richelieu designed with
architect Jacques Lemercier, the Palais Cardinal, a grand home that
survives to this day as the “Palais Royal.”
Palais Cardinal
(1629-1642)
In 1629 Jacques
Lemercier completed the Palais Cardinal, the ultra-modern palace
estate which became Cardinal Richelieu’s principle residence from
1629 until his death on 4 December, 1642. The Palais Cardinal
featured Paris’ first theatre at which the many plays Richelieu
penned were performed. Though the cardinal maintained the simple
lifestyle one expects of a parish priest, he spent generously on a
massive household staff at the Palais Cardinal. With an income
exceeding two million livres per year at the end of his life, he
could afford it. But as with everything else, his spending was far
more about the principle than his own needs or interests. In
patronizing the visual, dramatic, and musical arts at the Palais, he
fostered French culture in ways he believed were essential to the
longevity of the State. In offering employment to a far larger
household staff than he needed, he invested in his community.
In the end,
Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal and duc de Richelieu was not the
mean-spirited and heartless villain of the Dumas novels, but rather
the kind, extremely generous, and far-sighted statesman who invested
in people, in the arts, in long-term diplomacy, and in a strong,
unified France. Instead of using his income from government service
for his own creature comforts and agendas, he invested in the French
people, in French culture, and in the French State.
The fictional Earl
of Grantham considered himself the custodian of Downtown Abbey. The
very real Cardinal Richelieu made himself the custodian of France
itself. Few ministers have done more or served better than His Red
Eminence, Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu.
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