François Leclerc du Tremblay (4 November 1577 – 17 December 1638), also known as Père Joseph, was a French
Capuchin friar
The Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (; postnominal abbr. OFMCap) is a religious order of Franciscan friars within the Catholic Church, one of three " First Orders" that reformed from the Franciscan Friars Minor Observant (OFMObs, now OFM), the ot ...
, confidant and agent of
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...
French
French may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France
** French people, a nation and ethnic group
** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices
Arts and media
* The French (band), ...
term ("grey eminence") for a powerful advisor or decision-maker who operates secretly or unofficially.
Biography
Leclerc was the eldest son of Jean Leclerc du Tremblay, president of the chamber of requests of the
Parlement of Paris
The ''Parlement'' of Paris () was the oldest ''parlement'' in the Kingdom of France, formed in the 14th century. Parlements were judicial, rather than legislative, bodies and were composed of magistrates. Though not representative bodies in the p ...
, and of Marie Motier de Lafayette. As a boy he received a careful classical training, and in 1595 made an extended journey through Italy, returning to take up the career of arms. He served at the
siege of Amiens Siege of Amiens may refer to:
*, between France and Burgundy
*Siege of Amiens (1597)
The siege of Amiens ( French: Siège d'Amiens) was a siege and battle fought during the Franco-Spanish War (1595–1598), as part of both the French Wars of Rel ...
in 1597 and then accompanied a special
embassy
A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...
to London.
On 2 February 1599, he entered the Capuchin
Novitiate
The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...
under the name of Joseph; on 3 February 1600, he renounced the world and entered the Capuchin priory of
Fontevrault
The Royal Abbey of Our Lady of Fontevraud or Fontevrault (in French: ''abbaye de Fontevraud'') was a monastery in the village of Fontevraud-l'Abbaye, near Chinon, in the former French Duchy of Anjou. It was founded in 1101 by the itinerant preach ...
, and he wrote a manual of devotion for the nuns. His proselytizing zeal led him to send missionaries to the centers of the
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
movement. In 1617, he received a papal brief from Rome that officially confirmed his establishment of the reformed Benedictine nuns at Notre Dame du Calvaire, a movement to which he dedicated himself as a preacher and reformer of religious orders. Benedictine nuns initiated significant kindness, inspiring new governance.
He entered politics at the
. There, as the confidant of the queen and the papal envoy, he opposed the
Gallicanism
Gallicanism is the belief that popular secular authority—often represented by the monarch's or the state's authority—over the Catholic Church is comparable to that of the pope. Gallicanism is a rejection of ultramontanism; it has something ...
advanced by the Parlement of Paris. He succeeded in convincing the princes that the stance harbored schismatic tendencies and they abandoned their initial support. In 1612, he established those personal relations with Richelieu that established his reputation—and the phrase—''
'', though historical research has not been able to document his supposed influence on the latter. The description drew on the grey friar's cloak that Père Joseph wore and the title "eminence" conferred on Richelieu as a cardinal.
In 1627, Père Joseph was present at the
siege of La Rochelle
The siege of La Rochelle (, or sometimes ) was a result of a war between the French royal forces of Louis XIII of France and the Huguenots of La Rochelle in 1627–1628. The siege marked the height of Huguenot rebellions, the struggle between ...
. A purely religious reason also made him Richelieu's ally against the
Habsburgs
The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...
. He had a dream of arousing Europe to another
crusade
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
against the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
and believed that the Habsburgs were an obstacle to making this possible. For Richelieu, he maneuvered at the Diet of Regensburg to thwart the aggression of the Habsburg emperor, and then recommended the intervention of
Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...
, and the Protestant armies, thereby maintaining a balance of power.
He became a war minister, and, though maintaining a personal austerity of life, devoted himself to
diplomacy
Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of State (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international syste ...
and politics. He died in 1638, just as he was to be made a cardinal. The story that Richelieu visited him when on his deathbed and roused the dying man by the words, "Courage, Father Joseph, we have won
Breisach
Breisach am Rhein (, ; formerly Alt-Breisach, , in contrast to " New Breisach"; Low Alemannic: ''Alt-Brisach''), commonly known as Breisach, is a town with approximately 16,500 inhabitants, situated along the Rhine in the Rhine Valley, in the di ...