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The murder of Concini appears to have served as the inaugural event for Louis XIII’s reign. While the Italian adventurer became for many an embodiment of a public enemy, his elimination also enabled the young monarch to assert his royal authority, which was still shaken after religious wars that had barely ended—and was weakened by those mighty enough to hope that they could share power or at least win recognition of their right to intervene in the affairs of the kingdom. The torture of Concini’s corpse at the hands of Parisians had, in this respect, all the characteristics of a popular endorsement of the decision of a king who then dramatically reinforced the structures of the absolute monarchy.