THE ERA OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR 283 unpalatable to the nobles who profited by them. Plots were formed for his overthrow, in which the Queen Mother and other members of the royal family participated. Still, the cardinal retained his influence over the king, and although it seemed for a moment that his enemies had triumphed, he was able to turn the tables upon them, and many of them fled over the border. Richelieu's hostility to the house of Hapsburg might have brought Hapsburg troops to the support of his enemies, if Gustavus Adolphus had not very opportunely opened that series of successes which gave the Germans more than enough occupa- tion in their own territories. But Richelieu aimed at diminishing the large powers still possessed by provincial governors in France, and concentrating them in the hands of the central government. The Domestic Governor of Languedoc allied himself with the con- Rule - spirators against Richelieu's power, and revolted. The revolt was suppressed with no undue harshness, but the Governor was sent to the scaffold. The cardinal's position was further strengthened when the birth of an heir, afterwards Louis xiv., destroyed the hopes of the king's brother, hitherto heir-presumptive and one of Richelieu's most persistent enemies. Richelieu's domestic victories set him free to reap benefits for France out of the German war. His primary object was to cripple Spain, which, under a capable government, Foreign might recover its old power if it could establish the Pol icy- connection by land between Italy and the Spanish Netherlands. That connection would be practically secured if the Imperialists held possession of the Rhine valley, since Imperial territory was in effect at the service of Spain. By getting Alsace and Lorraine into his own hands, Richelieu was able completely to sever all land communication between Spain and the Spanish Netherlands. When Richelieu died in 1642 the Spanish hold on Italy was weakened; Portugal had broken away from her, Catalonia was in revolt, and she could not reach the Nether- lands; while France had extended her own frontier in the Rhine provinces. W T ithin France itself, he had succeeded in establish- ing a central despotism, beneficent in its aims, at the expense of the power of the nobles whose minor despotisms had not as a
