Note 133 — Chapter VII
Reading edition
Jules Mazarin, better known as Cardinal Mazarin, Prime Minister of France, was born at Piscina in the Abruzzi on the 14th of July 1602, and was of a noble Sicilian family. Having completed his studies in Italy and Spain, he attached himself to Cardinal Sacchetti, whom he followed to Lombardy, and was of great assistance to Cardinal Antonio Barbarini in concluding the peace of Quiérasqua in 1631. The reputation which he acquired through this negotiation secured to him the friendship of Richelieu and the protection of Louis XIII; and in 1639 the former obtained for him the title of Papal Vice-Legate at Avignon, and subsequently a seat in the Conclave. Nor did his good offices end even here, as he entreated Louis to appoint him Councillor of State after his own demise, a request with which the King complied; and on the death of Louis XIII the Queen-Regent Anne of Austria confided to him the government of the kingdom. Mazarin died in 1661, leaving a fortune of 200,000,000 of francs to Armand Charles de la Porte de la Meilleraye, the husband of his niece Hortense Mancini.