Talleyrand, << TAL ih rand >> (1754-1838) was a French statesman famous for his diplomatic achievements under Emperor Napoleon I and at the Congress of Vienna. His full name was Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, Prince de Benevent. He was born in Paris on Feb. 2, 1754. He became a priest in 1775. In 1789, he was named bishop of Autun, a high Roman Catholic post.
Supports state above church.
Talleyrand was elected in 1789 to the Estates-General, the French parliament. He became a moderate leader of the French Revolution. He favored constitutional monarchy and signed the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. He was elected president of the National Assembly (part of the Estates-General) in 1790. Talleyrand won popularity for proposing that the government take church property to pay its debts. The pope excommunicated him (expelled him from the church) in 1791 for his part in giving control of the French Catholic Church to the state and for taking an oath to the Constitution.
Talleyrand was in England on a political mission when the revolution took a radical turn in 1792. The new French government accused him of supporting the monarchy and forbade his return to France. After two years in England, he fled to the United States, where he purchased extensive property.
Joins Napoleon.
Talleyrand was allowed to return to France in 1796. Through the influence of Madame de Stael, one of his friends, Talleyrand was made minister of foreign affairs in the new French government called the Directory. While serving his nation, he decided to rebuild his fortune. In the famous XYZ Affair in 1797, he was accused of demanding bribes of the United States representatives (see XYZ Affair ).
Talleyrand also decided to build his political future by attaching himself to Napoleon. He helped Napoleon replace the Directory, first with the Consulate in 1799, and then with the Empire in 1804. As Napoleon’s adviser and foreign minister, he led delicate negotiations, such as those producing the Peace of Tilsit with Russia in 1807.
Deserts Napoleon.
Napoleon depended on Talleyrand but distrusted him. Talleyrand came to oppose Napoleon’s conquests as harmful to France and to European peace. After 1807, Talleyrand was dismissed by Napoleon and became the center of the growing opposition to the emperor. In 1814, he helped remove Napoleon from power and put Louis XVIII, of the Bourbon royal family, on the French throne. Talleyrand’s diplomatic skill at the Congress of Vienna of 1814 and 1815 gave defeated France an acceptable peace settlement (see Vienna, Congress of ).
His last years.
After 1815, the Bourbon court excluded Talleyrand from public affairs. But in 1830, when the Bourbons lost public confidence, he helped steer a revolution toward constitutional monarchy under Louis Philippe. Talleyrand became ambassador to the United Kingdom, where he guided negotiations that made Belgium independent, and brought France and the United Kingdom into alliance. Talleyrand died on May 17, 1838.
