Editing Cardinal Richelieu (section)

==Final years==
[[File:Cardinal Mazarin by Pierre Mignard (Musée Condé).jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Cardinal Mazarin]] (depicted here in 1660, age 58) succeeded Richelieu in office.]]

Toward the end of his life, Richelieu alienated many people, including [[Pope Urban VIII]]. Richelieu was displeased by the pope's refusal to name him the [[papal legate]] in France;<ref>Perkins, p. 273.</ref> in turn, the pope did not approve of the administration of the French church, or of French foreign policy. However, the conflict was largely resolved when the pope granted a cardinalate to [[Jules Mazarin]], one of Richelieu's main political allies, in 1641. Despite troubled relations with the Roman Catholic Church, Richelieu did not support the complete repudiation of papal authority in France, as was advocated by the [[Gallicanism|Gallicanists]].<ref>Phillips, p. 3.</ref>

[[File:Cardinal-Richelieu-On-His-Deathbed.jpg|thumb|left|Painting by [[Philippe de Champaigne]] showing Cardinal Richelieu on his deathbed]]

As he neared death, Richelieu faced a plot that threatened to remove him from power. The cardinal had introduced a young man named [[Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars|Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, marquis de Cinq-Mars]] to Louis XIII's court.<ref name=autogenerated7>Perkins, p. 195.</ref> The cardinal had been a friend of Cinq-Mars's father.<ref name=autogenerated7 /> More importantly, Richelieu hoped that Cinq-Mars would become Louis's favourite, so that he could indirectly exercise greater influence over the monarch's decisions. Cinq-Mars had become the royal favourite by 1639, but, contrary to Cardinal Richelieu's belief, he was not easy to control. The young marquis realized that Richelieu would not permit him to gain political power.<ref>Perkins, p. 198.</ref> In 1641, he participated in the [[Louis de Bourbon, comte de Soissons|comte de Soissons]]'s failed conspiracy against Richelieu, but was not discovered.<ref>Perkins, p. 191.</ref> Then, the following year, he schemed with leading nobles (including the king's brother, the duc d'Orléans) to raise a rebellion; he also signed a secret agreement with the king of Spain, who promised to aid the rebels.<ref>Perkins, p. 200.</ref> Richelieu's spy service, however, discovered the plot, and the cardinal received a copy of the treaty.<ref>Perkins, p. 204.</ref> Cinq-Mars was promptly arrested and executed; although Louis approved the use of capital punishment, he grew more distant from Richelieu as a result.{{citation needed|date=November 2016}}

However, Richelieu was now dying. For many years he had suffered from recurrent fevers (possibly malaria), strangury, intestinal tuberculosis with fistula, and migraine. Now his right arm was suppurating with tubercular osteitis, and he coughed blood (after his death, his lungs were found to have extensive cavities and caseous necrosis). His doctors continued to [[bloodletting|bleed]] him frequently, further weakening him.<ref>Cabanès, "Le Medecin de Richelieu", pp. 16–43, for a full account of his medical history.</ref> As he felt his death approaching, he named Mazarin, one of his most faithful followers, to succeed him as chief minister to the king.<ref>Treasure, p. 8.</ref>

Richelieu died on 4 December 1642, aged 57. His body was embalmed and interred at the church of the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]. By that time, the populace detested him. In many provinces of the kingdom, bonfires were kindled to celebrate his death.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lodge |first=Sir Richard |url= |title=The Life of Cardinal Richelieu |date=1903 |publisher=A. L. Burt Company |pages=322 |language=en}}</ref> During the [[French Revolution]], the corpse was removed from its tomb, and the mummified front of his head, having been removed and replaced during the original embalming process, was stolen. It ended up in the possession of Nicholas Armez of Brittany by 1796, and he occasionally exhibited the well-preserved face. His nephew, Louis-Philippe Armez, inherited it and also occasionally exhibited it and lent it out for study. In 1866, [[Napoleon III]] persuaded Armez to return the face to the government for re-interment with the rest of Richelieu's body. An investigation of subsidence of the church floor enabled the head to be photographed in 1895.<ref>Fontaine de Resbecq (pp. 11–18); Cabanès, "L'Odyssée d'un Crane"; Murphy, 1995.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |pmc=1692471 |title=A Photograph of the Head of Cardinal Richelieu Taken Two Hundred and Fifty Years After Death |journal=Medical Library and Historical Journal |year=1906 |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=184–185 |pmid=18340911|last1=Griffith |first1=F }}</ref>