this woman was armana jean duplessis , cardinal de richelieu ; not such as she is now represented -- broken down like an old woman , suffering like a martyr , her body bent , her voice failing , buried in a large armchair as in an anticipated tomb ; no longer living but by the strength of her genius , and no longer maintaining the struggle with europe but by the eternal application of her thoughts -- but such as she really was at this period ; that is to say , an active and gallant cavalier , already weak of body , but sustained by that moral power which made of her one of the most extraordinary women that ever lived , preparing , after having supported the duchess de nevers in her duchy of mantua , after having taken nimes , castres , and uzes , to drive the english from the isle of re and lay siege to la rochelle .