Mazarin, Jules, Cardinal

▪ French cardinal and statesman

Introduction

original Italian in full  Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino, or Mazarini 

born July 14, 1602, Pescina, Abruzzi, Kingdom of Naples [now in Italy]

died March 9, 1661, Vincennes, France

 first minister of France after Cardinal de Richelieu's death in 1642. During the early years of King Louis XIV, he completed Richelieu's work of establishing France's supremacy among the European powers and crippling the opposition to the power of the monarchy at home.

Service as papal diplomat.

      Born a papal subject at Pescina, in the Abruzzi, near Rome, Giulio Mazzarino spent his childhood in a region whose temperament, ways of thought, and Roman Catholic outlook were to permeate his whole existence. His father, Pietro, was a Romanized Sicilian in the household of the constable Filippo I Colonna; his mother, Ortensia Bufalini, of a noble Tuscan family, was related to the Colonna house by marriage. From the beginning Mazzarino recognized the benefits of having powerful patrons and learned to exploit them to his advantage. Thus, in spite of financial difficulties and the expenses of a large family (another son, who became a monk, and four daughters), the Mazzarinos were able to send Giulio to the Jesuit school in Rome, where he was an excellent student.

      Accompanying a young member of the Colonna family to Spain, he completed his education at the university at Alcalá de Henares (now the University of Madrid), where he studied law and then returned to Rome eager to learn more about aristocratic ways of life and secular affairs. From the Colonna he obtained a captaincy in the papal army in 1624, and, while serving in Loreto, on Christmas night 1625 he underwent an unusual mystical religious experience, or “tranquility of soul,” which was to exert a certain influence on his life. He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See and in 1628 was appointed secretary to the papal legate of Milan, G.F. Sacchetti; in this post he had his first opportunity to play an active political role.

      In January 1630, during the war between Spain and France over the succession to the crown of Mantua, Sachetti's successor, Antonio Cardinal Barberini, sent Mazarin to France to negotiate with the great cardinal de Richelieu (Richelieu, Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal et duc de). The young man was fascinated by the powerful minister: “I resolved,” he wrote, “to devote myself to him entirely.” Soon afterward the young secretary acquired an international reputation when he dramatically galloped between the two opposing armies about to do battle at Casale (Casale Monferrato) in Monferrato on Oct. 26, 1630, shouting “Peace, peace!” as if peace had been concluded. For the rest of his life he would be remembered as the intrepid knight who risked his life between two armies in order to stop the fighting. Though the Spaniards raised their siege at Casale, much remained to be done in order to bring about a general settlement. By the Treaty of Cherasco (June 19, 1631), negotiated by Mazarin, the French candidate was installed in Mantua, but the agreement settled only the differences between France and Savoy.

      Mazarin's resolution to devote himself to Richelieu did not prevent him from also obtaining the patronage of Cardinal Barberini, the youngest nephew of Pope Urban VIII. After Mazarin's return to Rome in 1632, Barberini included him in a circle of artists, painters, and musicians, before obtaining for him a mission as extraordinary nuncio (ambassador) to the French court in 1634. There, at Richelieu's side, Mazarin acquired the favour of those in power and became devoted to the French nation, whose “openness of heart and of mind” impressed him. He did not forget his mission, however, which was to negotiate the peace between Spain and France sought by Urban VIII; hence it was with despair that he watched Richelieu bring France openly into the Thirty Years' War in May 1635.

      Recalled to Avignon in his capacity as legate, then to Rome (December 1636), he continued to exert an influence on French politics through his correspondence with Richelieu and his adviser, Father Joseph. With his friends cardinals Barberini, Nicholas Bagni, and Alessandro Bichi, Mazarin directed the French faction within the papal court. Louis XIII of France rewarded his efforts by recommending him as the royal candidate for a cardinalate in 1638, gave him ecclesiastical pensions and benefices (in order to be eligible for them Mazarin was granted French naturalization papers in 1639), and finally invited him to return to Paris, where he arrived on Jan. 5, 1640. Disappointed because his ambitions in Rome had been frustrated by the Spanish faction, Mazarin left the papal service to enter the service of France. It was to France and, in particular, to Richelieu that he owed the cardinal's hat bestowed upon him by the Pope on Dec. 16, 1641, though Urban VIII had himself been favourably impressed by the efforts his former subject was making in favour of the general peace.

Career as first minister of France.

      Mazarin's ambition was to put an end to the rivalry between the Catholic powers of Europe. On Richelieu's death, however (Dec. 4, 1642), and especially after that of Louis XIII (May 14, 1643), he became first minister of France, an office that the regent, Anne Of Austria, entrusted to his experience and his ability in the name of the child Louis XIV. Mazarin used this new power to promote the peace negotiations that opened at Münster, in Westphalia, on April 10, 1644, although he now had to subordinate his ideal of peace to French foreign policies and ambitions. He was aided by a good diplomatic team, over which he exercised firm control, and by extremely competent generals, Louis II de Bourbon, prince de Condé (Condé, Louis II de Bourbon, 4e prince de), and Henri de Turenne (Turenne, Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de). Their brilliant victories over the Spanish and imperial troops helped bring about the Peace of Westphalia (Westphalia, Peace of) (October 1648), a general European settlement that established peace in Germany.

      As the war between France and Spain still continued and as grave issues were developing in the north and east, Germany could easily have been involved again in a general war. No one believed in the power of the Emperor to safeguard the empire from this danger. Mazarin took advantage of the weakened imperial power of the Habsburgs to organize a defensive alliance between France and the German states closest to the French frontier (the League of the Rhine, August 1658). Spain, however, encouraged by the defection of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, who had signed a separate peace in January 1648, refused to agree to the peace. In order to force Spain to make a settlement, Mazarin continued the war and formed an alliance with England (March 23, 1657), surrendering to the English the fort of Dunkirk, which had been captured from the Spaniards after the Battle of the Dunes (June 14, 1658).

      Peace with Spain was finally negotiated in a general treaty signed on Nov. 7, 1659, at the Pyrenees frontier. Mazarin completed this settlement by arbitrating the “northern peace” (the treaties of Oliva and of Copenhagen (Copenhagen, Treaty of) on May 3 and May 27, 1660) and by returning Lorraine to its duke (Treaty of Paris, Feb. 28, 1661). Thus, at his death, the former diplomat of the Holy See could rejoice at having “returned peace to Christendom.” He would have liked to have seen Europe take advantage of this peace by uniting in a crusade against the Turks and, above all, to have “let these peoples enjoy the fruits of the tranquility” they had regained now that fighting had ended in their home territory.

      France, indeed, needed a rest. Mazarin therefore had to limit his activities within the realm to thwarting intrigues at court and multiplying financial expedients to meet war expenditures. The new taxes imposed upon leading Parisians contributed to the discontent that precipitated the revolts known as the Fronde (Fronde, the). These rebellions, which lasted more than five years, originated in the judicial oligarchy of the Parlement of Paris; they spread to the upper nobility and soon found popular support even in the provinces largely because of “Mazarinades,” inflammatory pamphlets written against the Cardinal. Mazarin was obliged to leave the court twice and was only able to maintain his post because he was in favour with Anne of Austria and the boy king Louis XIV, whose education he had carefully directed.

      The Fronde was finally suppressed in 1653, and Louis XIV was crowned the following year. Mazarin increasingly involved the young sovereign in affairs of government, encouraging him to stand firm against the Parlement and helping him train a staff of great administrators for his reign: Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Nicholas Fouquet, Hughes de Lionne, and Michel Le Tellier. He reestablished the role of the intendants (intendant) or commissaries of the king, who administered the provinces; they gradually assumed the power of the provincial governors who had shown themselves to be unreliable during the rebellions. He thus succeeded in sustaining order through a policy of moderation, which he applied even to popular revolts such as the peasant uprising of Sologne in 1658.

Reputation and character.

      Mazarin's enemies reproached him for his greed. He had accumulated offices and benefices and had sometimes confused royal income with his own. Yet, on several occasions, when the state faced desperate financial situations, he put his own fortune at its disposal. A lover of the arts, he acquired fine collections, decorated his Parisian mansion (today the home of the Bibliothèque Nationale (Bibliothèque Nationale de France)) with works by Italian artists, and brought the Roman opera into favour in France. His library remains in the palace (now called the Institut de France) that he ordered built to house the College of the Four Nations, intended for the education of young men from the four provinces that had been acquired by France during his ministry: Alsace, Roussillon, Flanders-Artois, and the region of Pinerolo. He founded the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (1648) and gave pensions to several men of letters.

      According to the Roman tradition of nepotism, Mazarin offered rich dowries and arranged noble marriages for his nephews and especially for his Mancini and Martinozzi nieces. Yet he did not allow his affection as an uncle to win out over political considerations; thus, he thwarted the desire of Louis XIV, who by treaty was bound to marry the Spanish infanta, to marry Marie Mancini. Anne of Austria felt a strong attraction for him: he was a handsome man, eloquent and charming; devoid of political experience herself, she accepted his advice unquestioningly. The “Mazarinades” accused them of having an illicit relationship, but the evidence is conflicting. The hypothesis of a secret marriage between the Regent and her minister is also unlikely, for the cardinalate, even that of a layman, implied the obligation of celibacy. Mazarin was not an ordained priest (in 1632 he had received only minor orders), though he thought of entering the priesthood on several occasions, especially in 1651 and even in 1660 shortly before his death. Faithful to the Catholicism as he had practiced it in his youth, he had defended Roman orthodoxy against the heterodox Jansenist movement, yet without advocating persecution of the Jansenists.

Georges Dethan

Additional Reading

Mazarin's correspondence while minister was published by Adolphe Chéruel, Lettres du Cardinal Mazarin pendant son ministère, 9 vol. (1872–1906); this monumental edition is supplemented by fragmentary publications, the most important of which are those of M. Ravenel, Lettres du Cardinal Mazarin à la Reine . . . en 1651 et 1652 (1836), and the letters of the young Mazarin, translated from the Italian, as an appendix to Georges Dethan, Mazarin et ses amis (1968; The Young Mazarin, 1977). The Carnets, or notebooks, in which Mazarin wrote brief reflections and guides for his conduct at court and his relations with the Queen, have only been published in incomplete form by Victor Cousin in Journal des Savants (1854–56).Standard works on Mazarin include: Victor Cousin, La Jeunesse de Mazarin (1865); and especially Adolphe Chéruel, Histoire de France pendant la minorité de Louis XIV, 4 vol. (1879–80), a monumental work; Histoire de France sous le ministère de Mazarin (1651–1661), 3 vol. (1882). Recent works of synthesis include: Mazarin (1959), a collective work with articles by Georges Mongrédien, Pierre du Colombier, Maurice Schumann, and Georges Dethan; Mazarin (1961), the catalog of the Exposition Mazarin of the Bibliothèque Nationale; and Georges Dethan (op. cit.). The chief works in English are Arthur Hassall, Mazarin (1903); and James B. Perkins, France Under Mazarin, 2 vol. (1886).

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