Cardinal Jules Mazarin, who served as the chief minster to Kings Louis XIII and XIV, was a powerful figure in seventeenth-century France. He was chief minister from 1642 until his death in 1661. Originally hailing from Italy, he relocated to France years before and his two sisters followed him there. After having amassed so much power, he sought to consolidate it and create a legacy for himself. He possessed no children of his own because he was a Roman Catholic clergyman of high rank. So, he turned to his two sisters, Laura Margharita, wife of Count Girolamo Martinozzi, and Girolama, wife of Baron Lorenzo Mancini.