Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642), is known to millions of readers from the novels of Dumas. But the real appearance of one of the largest statesmen in France is very different from that created by the writer. The first minister of King Louis XIII ruled the country during the difficult period of the formation of absolutism, France’s struggle for hegemony in Europe, and the birth of a new culture breaking with the heritage of the Middle Ages. The outstanding role of Richelieu in all these processes is clearly shown in the book of Professor Francois Bluche (born 1925), the most famous French historian, author of dozens of monographs and reference books on the history of France in the 17th–18th centuries. His biographical study summarizes the facts of the life and work of Richelieu himself and his contemporaries, sums up the scientific discussions concerning the complex and controversial figure of the “great cardinal.”