A priest, he served Cardinal Richelieu, the de facto ruler of France. As a cardinal, Richelieu was L'Eminence Rouge, hence Joseph's appellation, which came into the English language as an eminence grise, meaning a power behind the scenes.
| 1519–1589 | Catherine de' Medici |
| 1580–1660 | St. Vincent de Paul |
| 1626–1696 | Madame de Sévigné |
| 1585–1642 | Armand Richelieu |
| 1614–1679 | Cardinal de Retz |
| 1626–1700 | Armand Rancé |
| 1588–1665 | Catherine de Vivonne Rambouillet |
| 1628–1703 | Charles Perrault |
| 1623–1662 | Blaise Pascal |
| 1627–1693 | Anne Montpensier |
| 1533–1592 | Michel de Montaigne |
| 1622–1673 | Molière |
| 1638–1715 | Nicolas Malebranche |
| 1555–1628 | François de Malherbe |
| 1635–1719 | Françoise Maintenon |
| 1638–1715 | Louis XIV |
| 1620–1705 | Ninon de Lenclos |
| 1610–1674 | Jean de Labadie |
| 1613–1680 | François La Rochefoucauld |
| 1621–1665 | Jean La Fontaine |
| 1550–1588 | Henri Guise |
| 1592–1655 | Pierre Gassendi |
| 1596–1650 | René Descartes |
| 1510–1588 | Jean Daurat |
| 1616–1680 | Antoinette Bourignon |
| 1627–1704 | Jacques Bossuet |
| 1636–1711 | Nicolas Boileau |
| 1530–1596 | Jean Bodin |
| 1528–1577 | Remy Belleau |
| 1636–1705 | Pierre Beauchamp |
| 1612–1694 | Antoine Arnauld |
