TALLEYRAND PÉRIGORD, Charles-Maurice, Prince of. - Bishop of Autun, diplomat and statesman, b. 2 February 1754 in Paris, d. there 17 May 1838. He entered the Seminary of St-Sulpice in 1770, received the abbey of St-Denis of Reims in 1775 and was a deputy of that province (1775).
He was ordained a priest in 1779, consecrated bishop of Autun in 1789 and elected deputy to the Estates General. He played a notable part in the events of the Revolution, proposed that the ecclesiastical patrimony be used to meet the public debt (1789), and supported the civil constitution of the clergy (1790). He participated in various ways in the activity of the republican government. By then he was a rebel against the Church because in 1790 he had sworn the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, and shortly afterwards he received the brief of excommunication, which would have been inflicted on him had he not retracted the oath within forty days. Meanwhile only the purely administrative functions of a member of the Directory of the Seine had remained to him, so that he was quite glad to accept a diplomatic mission to London (1792), with the aim of obtaining the neutrality of the English government in the event of war. Although he did not have excessive confidence in the chances of success, he nevertheless succeeded, and England promised to observe neutrality in the event of war between France and Austria. He returned once more on a mission to London after the events of 10 August. The purpose of the journey was apparently to get the English to accept the unification of the system of weights and measures and to keep them neutral. In reality T. was going to London because residing in France was becoming dangerous for him. In December 1792 he was accused by the Convention of anti-republican activity and escaped dire consequences only because he was abroad, but he was included in the lists of political émigrés (1793). The following year he went to the United States, where he stayed until 1796, the year in which he was granted permission to return to France. In 1797 he was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs by Barras and was a supporter of Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt, formulating a program whereby the Mediterranean was to become a French sea. Attacked by his political adversaries after the failure of the Egyptian campaign, he resigned and tried to justify himself with the writing Éclaircissements. He was again appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1799 by Bonaparte and left the ministry in 1807. In politics he was a supporter of the principles of legitimacy and equilibrium, and in his work as a statesman he played a notable part in the relations between Napoleon and the Pope. Convinced, together with Napoleon, of the advisability of a concession to the religious sentiment of French Catholics, he encouraged those long conversations in which there seemed to be an inevitable concession to tolerance and freedom of conscience, for purposes of internal policy, while the enthusiasm and religious fervor that the event aroused in the populations in fact confirmed for it a diametrically opposite character, demonstrating that it was truly the longed-for return of the Church among the faithful. Many projects were drawn up and only the seventh was judged satisfactory by both parties, and further concessions beyond those envisaged had to be made to Card. Consalvi. The negotiations for the stipulation of the Concordat concluded in 1801. The following year T.'s personal relations with the Church were settled, and in June 1802, through Napoleon's intercession, a pontifical brief returned him to the lay state. He could thus marry Catherine Noël Worlée civilly, but despite this, in 1804, when Pius VII came to France, he refused to acknowledge her who for the Church was still a concubine.
In June 1806 T. received from Napoleon, as a reward for his activity, the principality of Benevento, which he resold to the Pope in 1815.
He foresaw Napoleon's ruin during the Spanish campaign and opened relations with Tsar Alexander in order to prepare favorable ground for himself among those in whom he saw the future victors. He soon fell into disfavor with the Emperor because of certain comments of his on the operations in Spain and was also relieved of the office of grand chamberlain (1809). Twice more, in 1812 and 1813, he received from the Emperor the offer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; but Napoleon had already suffered defeat in Russia and T., seeing in this the confirmation of his predictions, did not wish to accept the invitation. By then he had given his support to the cause of the Bourbons and was working to that end. His skill revealed itself at the Congress of Vienna, where, although representing a defeated nation, he succeeded in ensuring that France was received among the great European powers. After the escape from Elba, Napoleon sent him an emissary, to whom he had promised an income of 200,000 francs if he succeeded in obtaining T.'s adherence to his government, but in vain, since the latter foresaw all too clearly the impending catastrophe. After the Restoration he was president of the Council, but internal opposition, sustained by Louis XVIII's activity toward him, brought it about that after a few months he resigned and moved into liberal opposition. He returned to diplomacy in 1830 and had notable successes, such as the recognition of Louis Philippe by England and the conclusion of a Treaty between England, France, Spain and Portugal, stipulated in 1834. In the same year he resigned, retiring into private life. A few hours before dying he returned to the bosom of the Church and retracted his work of the revolutionary period and his past transgressions.
Bibliography10 works
Giuseppe Coniglio