R2217th

The shift in social structures from hierarchical orders to modern social classes to the changing distribution of wealth and poverty The Royal Council in 1624 After Armand Jean du Plassis de Richelieu was appointed to the royal council of ministers in April 1624, he intrigued against the chief minister, Charles duc de La Vieuville. In August of the same year, La Vieuville was arrested on charges of corruption, and Cardinal Richelieu took his place as the King's principal minister. Cardinal Richelieu's policy involved two primary goals: centralization of power in France and opposition to the Habsburg dynasty (which ruled in both Austria and Spain). Shortly after he became Louis's principal minister, he was faced with a crisis in the Valtellina, a valley in Lombardy (northern Italy ). In order to counter Spanish designs on the territory, Richelieu supported the Protestant Swiss  canton of Grisons, which also claimed the strategically important valley. The Cardinal deployed troops to Valtellina, from which the Pope's garrisons were driven out. Richelieu's decision to support a Protestant canton against the Pope won him many enemies in predominantly Catholic France. "Cardinal Richelieu." // New World Encyclopedia //. 2 Apr 2008, 15:24 UTC. 22 Apr 2009, 07:14 <[] >.