Chief Minister of France
His residence in Rome did not last long, as he returned to Paris in December 1642, after the death of Richelieu, succeeding him as Chief Minister of France.
King Louis XIII died in 1643. His successor, Louis XIV, was only five years old at the time and his mother, Anne of Austria, ruled in his place until he came of age. Mazarin helped Anne expand her power from the more limited power her husband had left her. Mazarin functioned essentially as the co-ruler of France alongside the queen during the regency of Anne, and until his death in 1661 at Vincennes, Mazarin effectively directed French policy alongside the monarch. His modest manner contrasted with the imperiousness of Richelieu, and Anne was so fond of him and so intimate in her manner with him that there were long-standing rumors that they had been secretly married and that the Dauphin was their offspring.
Read more about this topic: Cardinal Mazarin
Famous quotes containing the words chief, minister and/or france:
“On the whole, yes, I would rather be the Chief Justice of the United States, and a quieter life than that which becomes at the White House is more in keeping with the temperament, but when taken into consideration that I go into history as President, and my children and my children’s children are the better placed on account of that fact, I am inclined to think that to be President well compensates one for all the trials and criticisms he has to bear and undergo.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And with some sweet oblivious antidote
Cleanse the fraught bosom of that perilous stuff
Which weighs upon the heart?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“It is not what France gave you but what it did not take from you that was important.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)