Life’s work of Manchester historian honoured

The contribution of a University of Manchester historian to the study of French history was recognised last month by the University of Paris-Sorbonne. Professor Joseph Bergin was the first-ever recipient of the silver Richelieu Medal, awarded to scholars who have contributed to promoting the values of scholarly excellence. It is the latest of a series of accolades honouring Professor Bergin's work: in February 2010 he received the 'Antiquities of France' medal from the French Academy of Inscriptions and Belles-Lettres for his most recent book, Church, Society and Religious Change in France 1580-1730. He was also made an 'officier' of the French Order of the Palmes Académiques by the French government in 2010. Although the Richelieu Medal is not itself a book prize, Professor Bergin's earliest and most original work dealt with the career of Cardinal Richelieu (1585-1642) who was in many respects France's first Prime Minister. Born into a noble family which fell on hard times during his childhood, Armand-Jean du Plessis de Richelieu managed to rise through the French church and to embark on a political career He became a cardinal in 1622 and then 'principal' minister to Louis XIII for one of the longest terms of any prime minister in history, from 1624 to his death in 1642. Richelieu was also an intellectual and a theologian, who patronised the arts, rebuilt his old college, the Sorbonne, and founded the Académie Française, which still exists and whose forty members - the 'immortals' - were originally elected to promote and embellish the French language.