I will get to propaganda, but first a progress update. I’ve carried out a lot of research, but I feel I should actually be writing book 5 of the Sir Anthony Standen Adventures. I have read biographies of Louis XIII, Cardinal Richelieu and Marie de Medici. The term “favourite” plays a significant role. Leonora and Concino are Marie’s favourites. The french nobility and people detest them.
The young King Louis XIII also has a favourite, Charles d’Albert duc de Luynes. Julia Pardoe paints a very unforgiving portrait of Charles d’Albert in her biography of Marie. She depicts Charles as the evil mastermind turning the young Louis against his mother. Meanwhile, the nobility were in conflict with Marie.
Something has been nagging at me about my research. I wanted to know more about Charles. So I started a search on JSTOR. I didn’t find very much about my quarry, Charles, apart from a book review. The book is Power and Reputation at the Court of Louis XIII: The Career of Charles d’Albert, Duc de Luynes (1578–1621) by Sharon Kettering. This is a quotation from the book review: “The duc de Luynes, Louis XIII’s favourite, never got a fair press until now. Kettering offers a balanced, fascinating, and insightful portrait of Luynes’s life and role at court.” It goes on to say: Perhaps worst of all was Richelieu’s account of him, who, Kettering said, “worked arduously to destroy his reputation’’. In other words Richelieu waged a propaganda war against him both while he lived, and after Charles d’Albert’s death.
I had been so excited about introducing Cardinal Richelieu to my series, that I had overlooked a central conflict. Charles was principal advisor to Louis, and Richelieu was principal advisor to Marie. But Richelieu was manoeuvring to be the principal advisor to Louis. Perhaps I have overlooked the biggest conflict of all, the conflict between Charles d’Albert and Cardinal Richelieu. The conflict would have been subtle, and propaganda based.
Amazon have dispatched Kettering’s book, and it is due to arrive on Sunday. I can’t wait to dive into it and, hopefully, complete my research.