Cardinal Mazarin

Jules Mazarin, born Giulio Mazzarino (1602–1661), was an Italian cardinal who ruled France as chief minister to Louis XIII and Louis XIV. He entered Richelieu's service in 1640, became a cardinal in 1641 and succeeded him as first minister in 1642, governing for Regent Anne of Austria from 1643.

His ministry saw victory in the Thirty Years' War and the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, then the Fronde revolt led by his former ally Condé; Mazarin fled Paris, returning in 1653 after Turenne's victory. The Treaty of the Pyrenees followed in 1659, adding three provinces, and in 1660 arranged Louis XIV's marriage to Maria Theresa of Spain.

He brought Italian opera to Paris and founded France's first public library, the Bibliothèque Mazarine. Told he had two months to live, he answered, ‘That's enough.’ He died at Vincennes in 1661, leaving the bequest that founded the Collège des Quatre-Nations.