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Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
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Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (/ˈtælɪrænd ˈpɛrɪɡɔːr/; French: [ʃaʁl mɔʁis də tal(ɛ)ʁɑ̃ peʁiɡɔʁ, moʁ-]; 2 February 1754 – 17 May 1838), 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French secularized clergyman, statesman, and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he became Agent-General of the Clergy in 1780. In 1789, just before the French Revolution, he became Bishop of Autun. He worked at the highest levels of successive French governments, most commonly as foreign minister or in some other diplomatic capacity. He served as the French Diplomat in the Congress of Vienna. His career spanned the regimes of Louis XVI, the years of the French Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis Philippe I. Those Talleyrand served often distrusted him but found him extremely useful. The name "Talleyrand" has become a byword for crafty and cynical diplomacy.
Talleyrand was Napoleon's chief diplomat during the years when French military victories brought one European state after another under French hegemony. Most of the time, he worked for peace so as to consolidate France's gains. He succeeded in obtaining peace with Austria through the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville and with Britain in the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. He could not prevent the renewal of war in 1803 but by 1805 he opposed his emperor's renewed wars against Austria, Prussia, and Russia. He resigned as foreign minister in August 1807, but retained the trust of Napoleon. He conspired to undermine the emperor's plans through secret dealings with Tsar Alexander I of Russia and the Austrian minister Klemens von Metternich. Talleyrand sought a negotiated secure peace so as to perpetuate the gains of the French Revolution. Napoleon rejected peace; when he fell in 1814, Talleyrand supported the Bourbon Restoration decided by the Allies. He played a major role at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815, where he negotiated a favorable settlement for France and played a role in unwinding the Napoleonic Wars.
Talleyrand polarizes opinion. Some regard him as one of the most versatile, skilled, and influential diplomats in European history, while others believe that he was a traitor, betraying in turn the ancien régime, the French Revolution, and Napoleon.
Talleyrand was born in Paris into an aristocratic family which, though ancient and illustrious, was not particularly prosperous. His father, Count Charles Daniel de Talleyrand-Périgord, was 20 years of age when Charles was born. His mother was Alexandrine de Damas d'Antigny. Both his parents held positions at court, but as the youngest children of their respective families, had no important income. Talleyrand's father had a long career in the French Royal Army, reaching the rank of lieutenant general, as did his uncle, Gabriel Marie de Périgord, despite having the same infirmity from which Talleyrand would suffer throughout his life. His father served all through the Seven Years' War.
From childhood, Talleyrand walked with a limp, which caused him to later be called le diable boiteux (French for "the lame devil") among other nicknames. In his Memoirs, he linked this infirmity to an accident at age four, but recent research has shown that his limp was, in fact, congenital. It might have been a congenital clubfoot. In any case, his handicap made him unable to inherit his father's title, despite being the eldest surviving son. The alternative, chosen for him by his parents, was a career in the Church.
The latter held out the hope for Charles-Maurice of succeeding his uncle, Alexandre Angélique de Talleyrand-Périgord, then Archbishop of Reims, one of the most prestigious and richest dioceses in France. At eight years old, Talleyrand attended the Collège d'Harcourt, the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, while studying theology at the Sorbonne until the age of 21. In his free time, he read the works of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and other writers who were beginning to question the authority of the ancien régime in matters of church and state. As subdeacon he witnessed the coronation of Louis XVI at Reims in 1775.
He was not ordained a Catholic priest until four years later, on 19 December 1779, at the age of 25. Very soon, in 1780, he attained the influential position of Agent-General of the Clergy, and was instrumental in promoting the drawing up of a general inventory of Church properties in France as of 1785, along with a defense of "inalienable rights of the Church", the latter being a stance he later denied. In 1788, the influence of Talleyrand's father and family overcame the King's dislike and obtained his appointment as Bishop of Autun, with a stipend of 22,000 livres. He was consecrated a bishop on 4 January 1789 by Louis-André de Grimaldi. The undoubtedly able Talleyrand, though hardly devout and even free-thinking in the Enlightenment mold, was outwardly respectful of religious observance. In the course of the Revolution, however, he was to manifest his cynicism and abandon all orthodox Catholic practice. He resigned his bishopric on 13 April 1791. On 29 June 1802, Pope Pius VII laicized Talleyrand, an event most uncommon at the time in the history of the Church.
Shortly after he was consecrated as Bishop of Autun, Talleyrand attended the Estates-General of 1789, representing the clergy, the First Estate. During the French Revolution, Talleyrand strongly supported the anti-clericalism of the revolutionaries. Along with Mirabeau, he promoted the appropriation of Church properties. He participated in the writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and proposed both the Decree on the goods of the clergy placed at the disposal of the Nation in 1789 and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy that nationalized the Church in preference to allegiance to the Pope. He also swore in the first four constitutional bishops, even though he had himself resigned as Bishop following his excommunication by Pope Pius VI in 1791. During the Fête de la Fédération on 14 July 1790, Talleyrand celebrated Mass. Notably, he promoted public education in full spirit of the Enlightenment by preparing a 216-page Report on Public Instruction. It proposed pyramidical structure rising through local, district, and departmental schools, and parts were later adopted. During his 5-month tenure in the Estates-General, Talleyrand was also involved in drawing up the police regulations of Paris, proposed the suffrage of Jews, supported a ban on the tithes, and invented a method to ensure loans. Few bishops followed him in obedience to the new decree, and much of the French clergy came to view him as schismatic.
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Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (/ˈtælɪrænd ˈpɛrɪɡɔːr/; French: [ʃaʁl mɔʁis də tal(ɛ)ʁɑ̃ peʁiɡɔʁ, moʁ-]; 2 February 1754 – 17 May 1838), 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French secularized clergyman, statesman, and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he became Agent-General of the Clergy in 1780. In 1789, just before the French Revolution, he became Bishop of Autun. He worked at the highest levels of successive French governments, most commonly as foreign minister or in some other diplomatic capacity. He served as the French Diplomat in the Congress of Vienna. His career spanned the regimes of Louis XVI, the years of the French Revolution, Napoleon, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis Philippe I. Those Talleyrand served often distrusted him but found him extremely useful. The name "Talleyrand" has become a byword for crafty and cynical diplomacy.
Talleyrand was Napoleon's chief diplomat during the years when French military victories brought one European state after another under French hegemony. Most of the time, he worked for peace so as to consolidate France's gains. He succeeded in obtaining peace with Austria through the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville and with Britain in the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. He could not prevent the renewal of war in 1803 but by 1805 he opposed his emperor's renewed wars against Austria, Prussia, and Russia. He resigned as foreign minister in August 1807, but retained the trust of Napoleon. He conspired to undermine the emperor's plans through secret dealings with Tsar Alexander I of Russia and the Austrian minister Klemens von Metternich. Talleyrand sought a negotiated secure peace so as to perpetuate the gains of the French Revolution. Napoleon rejected peace; when he fell in 1814, Talleyrand supported the Bourbon Restoration decided by the Allies. He played a major role at the Congress of Vienna in 1814–1815, where he negotiated a favorable settlement for France and played a role in unwinding the Napoleonic Wars.
Talleyrand polarizes opinion. Some regard him as one of the most versatile, skilled, and influential diplomats in European history, while others believe that he was a traitor, betraying in turn the ancien régime, the French Revolution, and Napoleon.
Talleyrand was born in Paris into an aristocratic family which, though ancient and illustrious, was not particularly prosperous. His father, Count Charles Daniel de Talleyrand-Périgord, was 20 years of age when Charles was born. His mother was Alexandrine de Damas d'Antigny. Both his parents held positions at court, but as the youngest children of their respective families, had no important income. Talleyrand's father had a long career in the French Royal Army, reaching the rank of lieutenant general, as did his uncle, Gabriel Marie de Périgord, despite having the same infirmity from which Talleyrand would suffer throughout his life. His father served all through the Seven Years' War.
From childhood, Talleyrand walked with a limp, which caused him to later be called le diable boiteux (French for "the lame devil") among other nicknames. In his Memoirs, he linked this infirmity to an accident at age four, but recent research has shown that his limp was, in fact, congenital. It might have been a congenital clubfoot. In any case, his handicap made him unable to inherit his father's title, despite being the eldest surviving son. The alternative, chosen for him by his parents, was a career in the Church.
The latter held out the hope for Charles-Maurice of succeeding his uncle, Alexandre Angélique de Talleyrand-Périgord, then Archbishop of Reims, one of the most prestigious and richest dioceses in France. At eight years old, Talleyrand attended the Collège d'Harcourt, the seminary of Saint-Sulpice, while studying theology at the Sorbonne until the age of 21. In his free time, he read the works of Montesquieu, Voltaire, and other writers who were beginning to question the authority of the ancien régime in matters of church and state. As subdeacon he witnessed the coronation of Louis XVI at Reims in 1775.
He was not ordained a Catholic priest until four years later, on 19 December 1779, at the age of 25. Very soon, in 1780, he attained the influential position of Agent-General of the Clergy, and was instrumental in promoting the drawing up of a general inventory of Church properties in France as of 1785, along with a defense of "inalienable rights of the Church", the latter being a stance he later denied. In 1788, the influence of Talleyrand's father and family overcame the King's dislike and obtained his appointment as Bishop of Autun, with a stipend of 22,000 livres. He was consecrated a bishop on 4 January 1789 by Louis-André de Grimaldi. The undoubtedly able Talleyrand, though hardly devout and even free-thinking in the Enlightenment mold, was outwardly respectful of religious observance. In the course of the Revolution, however, he was to manifest his cynicism and abandon all orthodox Catholic practice. He resigned his bishopric on 13 April 1791. On 29 June 1802, Pope Pius VII laicized Talleyrand, an event most uncommon at the time in the history of the Church.
Shortly after he was consecrated as Bishop of Autun, Talleyrand attended the Estates-General of 1789, representing the clergy, the First Estate. During the French Revolution, Talleyrand strongly supported the anti-clericalism of the revolutionaries. Along with Mirabeau, he promoted the appropriation of Church properties. He participated in the writing of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and proposed both the Decree on the goods of the clergy placed at the disposal of the Nation in 1789 and the Civil Constitution of the Clergy that nationalized the Church in preference to allegiance to the Pope. He also swore in the first four constitutional bishops, even though he had himself resigned as Bishop following his excommunication by Pope Pius VI in 1791. During the Fête de la Fédération on 14 July 1790, Talleyrand celebrated Mass. Notably, he promoted public education in full spirit of the Enlightenment by preparing a 216-page Report on Public Instruction. It proposed pyramidical structure rising through local, district, and departmental schools, and parts were later adopted. During his 5-month tenure in the Estates-General, Talleyrand was also involved in drawing up the police regulations of Paris, proposed the suffrage of Jews, supported a ban on the tithes, and invented a method to ensure loans. Few bishops followed him in obedience to the new decree, and much of the French clergy came to view him as schismatic.
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