[War & Business] Richelieu's Tolerance

Triple Portrait of Cardinal Richelieu [Image source: National Gallery, UK website / www.nationalgallery.org.uk]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Cardinal Richelieu, the French statesman who appears as the villain in Alexandre Dumas' novel "The Three Musketeers," is historically renowned as the figure who laid the foundation of modern France. At every moment, he prioritized 'national interest' above all else, boldly sacrificing personal honor to drive his strategy. He is later regarded as having set the most important benchmark for the foreign policies of all European countries.

Richelieu's fame grew starting from the Siege of La Rochelle in 1626. La Rochelle was a port city in western France where the Huguenots, Protestant groups persecuted in the Catholic nation of France, lived collectively. They took advantage of the Thirty Years' War, during which Europe was divided between Protestants and Catholics, and allied with King Charles I of England to launch a rebellion. For two years, they engaged in fierce siege warfare against the French government forces.

When the Huguenots of La Rochelle surrendered in 1628, the Catholic faction within France insisted on exterminating those remaining inside the city. Since the Huguenots had rebelled in collusion with the enemy England and were Protestants banned by the state, most French people considered their extermination natural. However, amid the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War, Richelieu decided to show tolerance to prevent further civil war.

Richelieu promised to protect their faith according to the Edict of Nantes, a policy of tolerance toward Protestants enacted by Henry IV, the predecessor of Louis XIII. This caused strong backlash from Catholics and bishops in France, who attacked Richelieu as a heretic and traitor. Even his close aides advised that if extermination was not possible, forced conversion should be imposed, but Richelieu flatly refused, saying, "Conversion is not done by the sword but by heaven."

He emphasized that for the sake of France's national interest, alliances must be made with any enemy. At that time, France was devastated by nearly 30 years of civil war between Protestants and Catholics. Moreover, it was surrounded by the Austrian Habsburg family, who simultaneously ruled Eastern Europe and Spain, posing external threats. To overcome this situation, Richelieu even established friendly relations with the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic state and enemy of all Europe. Despite numerous assassination attempts against him, he pursued his pragmatic diplomatic policy until his death. Because of this history, he remains forever a villain in popular culture, but France quickly recovered from the chaos of the Thirty Years' War and opened the path to becoming a great power in Europe.

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