Jules Cardinal Mazarin

Mazarin, Jules Cardinal (1602–61), Italian-born French politician and cardinal. Born Giulio Mazarini, he strengthened the French monarchy and by successful diplomacy increased France's influence abroad. After the deaths of Cardinal Richelieu (1642) and Louis XIII (1643), he became the trusted chief minister of the regent, Anne of Austria, and educator of her son, the future Louis XIV. His policy of centralized power and his imposition of taxes provoked the revolts known as the Fronde of the Parlement (1648–53), which he eventually crushed decisively. In foreign policy he gained favorable terms in the treaties that ended the Thirty Years War (1648) and the war with Spain (1659). He was patron of the arts.