1585–1642 · Armand Jean du Plessis, chief minister to Louis XIII of France
Cardinal Richelieu (1585–1642) ran France for Louis XIII for eighteen years, broke the political power of the Protestant towns and the great nobles, and founded the Académie française. He also built the machinery this saying describes — intercepted letters, special commissions, prosecutors like Laubardemont and Laffemas who could be relied on for a verdict. That is exactly why the line sticks to him: it is the right idea about his government attached to the wrong mouth. Dumas finished the job. The Richelieu most people picture is the villain of The Three Musketeers, and villains get the good lines.