Cardinal Mazarin

Cardinal Jules Mazarin, born Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino (1602-1661) was a French cardinal and statesman who controlled the French government while Louis XIV was young. He was born in Pescina, Italy on July 14, 1602. He was educated by Jesuits at Rome and was named papal envoy of France in 1634. There he met Cardinal Richelieu and secretly aided him in the Thirty Years' War against Austrian and Spanish Hasburgs. Mazarin was made a cardinal by the pope as a reward for his service to France from King Louis XIII. After the death of Richelieu in 1642, Mazarin succeeded him as the Prime Minister of France. In 1643, the cardinal became chief minister and tutor to the young Louis XIV after the death of Louis XIII.