52 minSeason 1 • Episode 6
LatestThe Thirty Years’ War brought France significant territorial gains, but within the country the tax burden increased, deepening poverty and popular discontent. Richelieu also provoked strong opposition among the nobility, whose privileges he greatly reduced by strengthening the king’s absolute authority. Several plots were directed against him. The Cinq-Mars conspiracy, led by a royal favourite who had in fact been promoted by Richelieu himself, was the final attempt to overthrow him, but it failed. Richelieu died at the height of his power on December 4, 1642, of natural causes. Mazarin, also a cardinal, succeeded him.
In a France fractured by court rivalries and personal ambitions, Richelieu moves without ornament. No flourish, no glory — only the cold machinery of power. Caught between a hesitant king, a nobility dreaming of defiance, and enemies multiplying on every front, the cardinal enforces his line: centralize, control, crush resistance. The series follows a strategist who doesn’t hide behind morality. He acts to keep the State standing, even if it means breaking those who stand in his way. Espionage, secret negotiations, decisive strikes… Richelieu plays a game where mistakes are fatal, and the survival of the kingdom rests on one man willing to go further than all the others
Acting
Perrin's Henri IV balances bombast and vulnerability
Production
Decourt squeezes epic scope into intimate chamber drama
Costume
Silks and ruffs that whisper wealth and whisper louder danger
Creators
Philippe Erlanger, Jean-François Chiappe
Marco Perrin
Henri IV
Maryvonne Schiltz
Léonora Galigaï
Mireille Audibert
La jolie dame de Paris
Georges Descrières
Bellegarde
Michel Bertay
Tisserand
Hans Caninenberg
Ferdinand II
Jan Hendriks
Butler
Werner Kreindl
Illo
Alexander Kerst
Gallas
Jean-Pierre Bernard
Maréchal Concini
Pierre Vernier
Armand du Plessis de Richelieu
Marie-Christine Demarest
Anne d'Autriche
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
1970s French television treated historical miniseries as national heritage projects—this was prestige before 'prestige TV' existed.
Georges Descrières later voiced Arsène Lupin; his Bellegarde charm was practice for gentleman-thief perfection.
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