The chief early biographies of Descartes and more recent studies are discussed in part 1 of this work. Additional details are to be found in the notes. But while many English-language readers with further questions will these days understandably look to Wikipedia for information, anyone looking for richer, more reliable narratives of this period might like to turn to a few older or encompassing introductions to people and events:
Batiffol, Louis. The Duchesse de Chevreuse: A Life of Intrigue and Adventure in the Days of Louis XIII. Translated by Carrie Chapman Catt. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1914. First published in 1913.
Burckhardt, Carl Jacob. Richelieu and His Age. 3 vols. Translated by Edwin Muir, Willa Muir, and Bernard Hoy. London: Allen and Unwin, 1967. First published in 1891.
Pardoe, Julia. The Life of Marie de Medicis, Queen of France, Consort of Henry IV, and Regent of the Kingdom under Louis XIII. 6 vols. New York: James Pott, 1905. First published in 1852.
Parker, Geoffrey. Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2013.
Tapié, Victor-L. France in the Age of Louis XIII and Richelieu. Translated by D. McN. Lockie. London: Macmillan, 1974. First published in 1967.
Wilson, Peter H. The Thirty Years War. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.