Louis XIII, son of Henry IV, reigned with Marie de’ Medici then with Cardinal Richelieu, who strengthened royal authority against the nobility and the Habsburgs.
Regency and rise of Richelieu
After Henry IV’s assassination, the regency was turbulent. From the mid-1620s Richelieu became the king’s chief minister.
State and war
Siege of La Rochelle (1627–1628), containment of princely revolts, entry into the Thirty Years’ War. The monarchy that Louis XIV inherited was already more centralised. See the Grand Siècle.