Episode 2

Mazarin governs alongside Anne of Austria, continuing the authoritarian policies inherited from Richelieu. The great nobles, frustrated at being pushed aside, gather in secret and fuel popular discontent. The Parlement, already hostile, joins the critics and strengthens the opposition. Aristocratic salons become centers of intrigue against the cardinal. This part establishes a climate of political suffocation in which the “princes in a cage” search for a way out.