How did Cardinal Richelieu’s family rise from minor feudal origins?

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Full-length portrait of Cardinal Richelieu by Philippe de Champaigne, showing him in red clerical robes holding a red book, standing beside a balustrade with a draped curtain behind. — Cardinal Richelieu As both statesman and churchman, Cardinal Richelieu was the acknowledged architect of France's greatness in the 17th century. In 1640, when this full-length portrait was painted (likely by Philippe de Champaigne), he was embroiled in a dispute with the pope and other religious controversies along with many other consequences of expanding French power across Europe. He would die two years later, facing conspiracies against his life and suffering ill health.

The family of Cardinal Richelieu, known as the du Plessis de Richelieu, rose from insignificant feudal origins to prominence primarily through strategic intermarriage with the legal and administrative classes.1

This upward mobility allowed the family to acquire the seigneury of Richelieu in the region of Poitou. The cardinal’s father, François du Plessis, served as the grand provost (chief magistrate) to Henry III, while his mother, Suzanne de la Porte, was the daughter of a councillor of the Parlement of Paris, the supreme judicial assembly of the time.1