Mazarin,

When History, without distorting it, mingles with the novel. The author, with the first person and the present, relates the chances, imbroglios, friendships which led the most decried man of the 17^th century, Jules Mazarin, to the highest occupation of the most powerful kingdom of his time. The cardinal Mazarin built himself from the luck that he grasped in his youth. At the gates of power, he continues the cardinal Richelieu’s work. His ultimate goal: the peace consecrated by the Westphalia and Pyrenees treaties. He is loyal, stubborn, convinced, tolerant. Hi is not deceitful but diplomatic, not stingy but far-sighted. His strong personality comes from his strong conviction. He defies persons, situations, cabals to establish his authority while staying in the background to observe, decide, act. Defamed in his time, he deserves recognition for the work that he did with courage, come hell and high water, against lacks of understanding and slanders that he unfairly suffered during the eighteen years of his ministry.