Western Civilization II / Unit 1 WC2 0004 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Raison d'État: A Cardinal Backs Protestants and Turks
Captions available
The idea
Richelieu, the anchor says, worshiped the state. He backed Protestants in the Thirty Years' War and the Ottomans against the Habsburgs, because France's interest outranked his church's. Historians call that reason of state, raison d'état.
In practice
A cardinal funding Lutherans and Muslims against a Catholic monarchy.
Where people slip
Reason of state is the anchor's theory of absolutism, not divine right. Video 0015 adds Bossuet.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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