This incisive study uses the wealth of recent research on Richelieu's career to examine the nature of his achievement and to reassess the man behind the masks. The first part of the book provides a broadly chronological survey of Richelieu's career. Thereafter, separate chapters focus on such key aspects of it as Richelieu's relations with the high nobility and with the protestants; his conduct of foreign affairs; his influence on the economy and culture of France and his part in the development of royal absolutism in France.