Editing Cardinal Richelieu (section)

==Legacy==
{{More citations needed section|date=August 2020}}
[[File:Cardinal de Richelieu.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait by [[Philippe de Champaigne]], {{circa|1633–1640}}]]

Richelieu's tenure was a crucial period of reform for France. Earlier, the nation's political structure was largely [[Feudalism|feudal]], with powerful nobles and a wide variety of laws in different regions.<ref>Collins, p. 1.</ref> Parts of the nobility periodically conspired against the king, raised private armies, and allied themselves with foreign powers. This system gave way to centralized power under Richelieu.<ref>Collins, p. 1{{snd}}although Collin does note that this can be exaggerated.</ref> Local and even religious interests were subordinated to those of the whole nation, and of the embodiment of the nation – the king. Equally critical for France was Richelieu's foreign policy, which helped restrain Habsburg influence in Europe. Richelieu did not survive to the end of the Thirty Years' War. However, the conflict ended in 1648, with France emerging in a far better position than any other power, and the [[Holy Roman Empire]] entering a period of decline.

Richelieu's successes were extremely important to Louis XIII's successor, King [[Louis XIV]]. He continued Richelieu's work of creating an [[absolute monarchy]]; in the same vein as the cardinal, he enacted policies that further suppressed the once-mighty aristocracy, and utterly destroyed all remnants of Huguenot political power with the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]]. Moreover, Louis took advantage of his nation's success during the Thirty Years' War to establish French [[hegemony]] in continental Europe. Thus, Richelieu's policies were the requisite prelude to Louis XIV becoming the most powerful monarch, and France the most powerful nation, in all of Europe during the late seventeenth century.[[File:Dionysos Louvre Ma87 n2.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|The ''Richelieu Bacchus'' continued to be admired by [[Neoclassicism|neoclassical artists]], ([[Louvre Museum]])<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=22021 |title=Louvre Museum |publisher=Cartelen.louvre.fr |access-date=14 October 2010 |archive-date=7 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110607032850/http://cartelen.louvre.fr/cartelen/visite?srv=car_not_frame&idNotice=22021 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]Richelieu is also notable for the authoritarian measures he employed to maintain power. He censored the press,<ref>Phillips, p. 266.</ref> established a large network of internal spies, forbade the discussion of political matters in public assemblies such as the [[Parlement]] de Paris (a court of justice), and had those who dared to conspire against him prosecuted and executed. The Canadian historian and philosopher [[John Ralston Saul]] has referred to Richelieu as the "father of the modern [[nation-state]], modern centralised power [and] the modern [[secret service]]."

His legacy is also important for the world at large; his ideas of a strong nation-state and aggressive foreign policy helped create the modern system of international politics. As a statesman and churchman, Richelieu played an important role in shaping France's prominence in the 17th century and influencing the secularization of international policies during the Thirty Years' War.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Armand-Jean du Plessis, cardinal et duc de Richelieu {{!}} French Statesman, Cardinal & Politician {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Armand-Jean-du-Plessis-cardinal-et-duc-de-Richelieu |access-date=2023-07-15 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

His pioneering approach to French diplomatic relations using ''raison d'etat'' vis-a-vis the power relationship at play were first frowned upon but later emulated by other European nation-states to add to their diplomatic strategic arsenal.<ref>Kissinger, pp. 62–63</ref>

A less renowned aspect of his legacy is his involvement with [[Samuel de Champlain]] and the fledgling colony along the [[St. Lawrence River]]. The retention and promotion of [[Canada (New France)|Canada]] under Richelieu allowed it – and through the settlement's strategic location, the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes gateway into the North American interior – to develop into a French empire in North America, parts of which eventually became modern Canada and Louisiana.

Richelieu is known as the inventor of the [[table knife]]. Annoyed by the bad manners that were commonly displayed at the dining table by users of sharp knives (who would often use them to pick their teeth),<ref>{{cite book |last=Downie |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aX1EDgAAQBAJ |title=A Taste of Paris: A History of the Parisian Love Affair with Food |date=2017 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-1-25-008295-4 |location=New York |page=93 |quote=In Richelieu's day it was common for everyone, especially the quarrelsome menfolk, not merely to disdain the forks and napkins bequeathed by Henri III, but to pick their teeth at table with their knives – or stab tablemates. Richelieu abhorred coarseness and petty violence, especially if it stained his table linens. |access-date=23 June 2023}}</ref> in 1637 Richelieu ordered that all of the knives on his dining table have their blades dulled and their tips rounded. The design quickly became popular throughout France and later spread to other countries.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Long |first1=Tony |title=May 13, 1637: Cardinal Richelieu Makes His Point |url=https://www.wired.com/2011/05/0513cardinal-richelieu-invents-table-knife/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220515193958/https://www.wired.com/2011/05/0513cardinal-richelieu-invents-table-knife/ |archive-date=15 May 2022 |access-date=14 April 2022 |magazine=Wired}}</ref>