Richelieu, Education, And The State

Abstract On his death Richelieu bequeathed an unspecified, but modest portion of his fortune to endow a new collége de plein exercice at the University of Paris. On first sight the cardinal’s limited generosity seems scarcely worthy of comment, all the more since the mooted college was never established. After all, it had long been common for princes and prelates to curry favour with posterity and appease the wrath of their God by leaving money for educational purposes. Arguably, Richelieu was merely acting within a hallowed tradition. Indeed, the cardinal had little choice in the matter for the bequest was not so much a gift as a debt repaid. In the late 1620s another Parisian college de plein exercice, the College de Calvi, had been pulled down in order to enlarge the Sorbonne and construct the magnificent college chapel in which the cardinal intended to deposit his bones.