Jean François Paul de Gondi de Retz

Born in Montmirail in 1613, the future Cardinal de Retz came from the influential Gondi family and was pushed into an ecclesiastical career even though politics and action seem to have interested him just as much as religion. He rose within the French church and eventually became Archbishop of Paris.

Retz played a dramatic part in the Fronde, the series of civil conflicts that shook France in the mid-seventeenth century. He gained a reputation as an agile, sometimes dangerous political operator, opposing Cardinal Mazarin and becoming deeply involved in the struggles between court, parliament, and nobles.

His lasting literary fame rests on the Mémoires, a brilliant account of the people and power games of his age. Written with wit, psychological insight, and a keen eye for ambition, they have kept his name alive long after the battles and alliances of his own day faded.