The amnesty not withstanding, Concini, through Queen Marie, has Henry II arrested on September 3, 1616.

This is done on the advice of Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu, Bishop of Luçon, who in 1614 had at the age of 29 been elected by the clergymen of Poitou as one of their representatives to the States-General.

Here, Richelieu had been a vigorous advocate of the Church, arguing that it should be exempt from taxes and that bishops should have more political power.

He is the most prominent clergyman to support the adoption of the decrees of the Council of Trent throughout France; the Third Estate (commoners) is his chief opponent in this endeavor.

At the end of the assembly, the First Estate (the clergy) chooses him to deliver the address enumerating its petitions and decisions.

Soon after the dissolution of the States-General, Richelieu had entered the service of King Louis XIII's wife, Anne of Austria, as her almoner.

Richelieu has advanced politically by faithfully serving Concini.

Made Secretary of State in 1616, he is given responsibility for foreign affairs.

Like Concini, the Bishop is one of the closest advisors of Louis XIII's mother, Marie de Medicis.

However, her policies, and those of Concini, have proved unpopular with many in France.

As a result, both Marie and Concini have become the targets of intrigues at court; their most powerful enemy is Charles d'Albert, Duke of Luynes, the favorite of King Louis.

The first son of Honoré d'Albert (d. 1592), seigneur de Luynes, who had served the three last Valois kings and of Henry IV of France, Charles had been brought up at court and attended the dauphin.

The king shares his fondness for hunting and has rapidly advanced him in favor.

He had in 1615 been appointed commander of the Louvre and counselor, and the following year Grand Falconer of France.

The accession of Richelieu to the Regent’s councils has strengthened her policy, but her son Louis XIII, at sixteen already several years into his legal majority, asserts his authority in 1617.

Incited by Charles d'Albert, duc de Luynes, the king overturns the pro-Habsburg, pro-Spanish policy by ordering the assassination of Concini, who maintains a personal army of seven thousand soldiers and important supporters and contacts among the aristocrats of France.

The baron de Vitry, Nicolas de L'Hospital, head of the royal guards, receives in the king's name the order to imprison him.

Concini, apprehended on the bridge of the Louvre on April 26, is killed by guards after allegedly calling out À moi! ("To me!") for help, which is interpreted as resistance.

After his murder, the Queen Mother is ordered to retire to the Château de Blois.

Concini's wife, Leonora, is arrested, imprisoned in Blois and accused of sorcery.

She is beheaded and her body subsequently burned at the stake on July 8 of the same year in Place de Grève, Paris.

The Concinis' chattels and estates, in particularly the castle of Lésigny and the palace of Rue de Tournon are confiscated by King Louis XIII and given to the Duke of Luynes.

Luynes is in the same year appointed captain of the Bastille and lieutenant-general of Normandy, and marries Marie de Rohan, daughter of the duke of Montbazon.

Richelieu, his patron having died, also loses power; he is dismissed as Secretary of State, removed from the court, and appointed to his bishopric.

Many rumors, fake news items, and pamphlets have been distributed in Paris throughout 1618 to justify Concini’s murder.

Luynes employs extreme measures against the pamphleteers of the time, but seeks peace in Italy and with the Protestants.

King Louis, still suspicious of the Bishop of Luçon, had in 1618, banished him to Avignon, where Richelieu has spent most of his time writing, composing a catechism entitled L'Instruction du chrétien.

The queen mother had in February 1619 escaped from her confinement in the Château de Blois, becoming the titular leader of an aristocratic rebellion headed by Louis's younger brother Gaston d'Orleans, which Louis's forces easily disperse.

The King and the Luynes recall Richelieu, believing that he will be able to reason with the Queen, an endeavor in which he is successful, mediating between her and her son.

Complex negotiations led by Luynes bear fruit when the Treaty of Angoulême is ratified on August 10; Marie de Médicis is given complete freedom, but will remain at peace with the King; she is allowed to hold a small court at Angers.

The duc de Luynes is made governor of Picardy in 1619.

In his attempts to remedy the formal distance between Louis and his queen, Luynes has sent away the Spanish ladies and replaced them with French ones, notably the princesse de Conti and Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, his wife, and organizes court events that bring the couple together under amiable circumstances.

Anne has begun to dress in the French manner, and in 1619 Luynes presses the King to bed his Queen: some affection develops, to the point where it is noted that Louis is distracted during a serious illness of the Queen.

Luynes’s rapid rise to power has made him a host of enemies, who look upon him as but a second Concini.

In order to justify his newly won laurels, Luynes has undertakenan expedition against the Protestants, but on December 15, 1621, dies of a fever in the midst of the campaign, at Longueville in Guienne.