Broglie, Jacques-Victor-Albert de

BROGLIE, JACQUES-VICTOR-ALBERT DE. - French politician and historian, b. in Paris on 15 May 1821 and d. there on 9 Jan. 1901. In 1843 he began his political career as a secretary, subsequently at the embassies of Madrid, London and Rome. Shortly afterwards (1848) he began to publish his first articles on foreign and ecclesiastical politics with the intention, which was also that of his brother, the apologist Auguste-Théodore-Paul, of reconciling modern and liberal ideas with the Catholic faith, traditional in the family. An opponent of Napoleon III, he remained in the background during the Second Republic and the Empire (1848-70). He instead took a leading place on the political scene, presiding twice over the ministry (1874 and 1877) in the subsequent period of transition. He afterwards returned to private life (1878), though attempting, but in vain, to hinder the growing anticlericalism of the left-wing governments.

In the two long periods of retirement (1848-70 and 1878-1901) he devoted himself to study, especially in the historical and literary-critical field. Besides his numerous articles for Le Correspondant and the Revue des Deux Mondes, besides his political and literary speeches, he left works of lasting value. His masterpiece remains L'Eglise et l'Empire romain au IVe siècle (6 vols., Paris 1856-59; 3rd ed., ibid. 1867-68), in which he describes the contrast between the contemporary breaking-up of the material unity of the Roman world and the establishment of the moral unity of the Christian world.

Ireneo Daniele