Anna Cavanaugh, age 15, of Freeport, I11., for her question:

WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT CARDINAL RICHELIEU?

Cardinal Richelieu was an important French statesman who receives the credit for laying the foundation for the country's 17th Century grandeur. His full name was Armand Jean du Plesis, Duc de Richelieu. Here's how you pronounce that last name: rish e loo.

Richelieu was the son of a noble and he wanted to be a soldier. But his parents urged him to become a priest and with their influence, he became the bishop of Lucon when he was only 21 years old.

Richelieu was extremely bright and very ambitious. He was chosen as a representative to the States General, the representative branch of the French government. He immediately won the favor of Marie de Medici, the mother of young Louis xIII.

Marie made Richelieu a member of her Council of State. Louis wasn't happy with his mother's rule so when he was 16 he seized power. The queen was sent away from court and Richelieu was sent back to Lucon.

Seven years later the king changed his mind. Now a cardinal, Richelieu was brought back as a minister of state. He soon became chief minister.

France was having problems within the country and abroad when the cardinal came into power. But he convinced the king that the power of the great nobles had to be broken, the political and military might of the Huguenots had to be destroyed and the prestige and authority of the king had to be strengthened.

The nobles often used their powers to lead rebellions against the king. The cardinal quickly crushed the leaders and put an end to this threat.

Thanks to the cardinal, the French Protestants, called Huguenots, lost their special political rights but kept their freedom. of religion.

During his long service to the king, the cardinal brought many needed changes to strengthen France. He also started the French Navy. With his interest in literature, the cardinal also founded the French Academy in 1635.

The cardinal was always more interested in France in dealing with foreign affairs than in the protection of the Roman Catholic religion. This made him an excellent administrator.

France was bordered on the south by Catholic Spain and on the east by the Catholic Holy Roman Empire. Both the Spanish king Philip IV and the Emperor Ferdinand II were members of the powerful Hapsburg royal family.

Because the Hapsburg family alliance threatened France, the cardinal sought to weaken Spain by helping the Dutch Protestants who were rebelling against Spanish rule in the Netherlands.

The cardinal also aided Sweden and the German Protestant princes in their straggle against the emperor.

The cardinal was successful. At the end of the Thirty Years War, as these conflicts came to be called, France was the strongest state in Europe.