The book by a professor of French history at the University of Birmingham is dedicated to the life and fate of an outstanding political figure in France in the 17th century. Cardinal de Richelieu, who played a significant role in the history of France and Europe at the beginning of the modern era. The book is written on the basis of the latest achievements of modern historical science. Published in Russian for the first time. In this edition, a bibliographical essay is omitted, mainly because most of the books included in it are inaccessible to the Russian reader.