Talleyrand(-P�rigord), Charles Maurice de, Prince of Benevento 1754-1838
French politician

He was born in Paris, son of the Comte Talleyrand de P�rigord (1734-88). He was educated for the Church and cultivated the character of a rake and a cynical wit. Abbot of St Denis (1775) and agent-g�n�ral to the French clergy (1780), he was nominated Bishop of Autun by Louis XVI (1788), elected to the Estates General (1789), and was one of the members of the Assembly selected to draw up the Declaration of Rights. He took a cynical delight in attacking the clergy to which he still nominally belonged, and proposed confiscating the landed property of the Church. In 1790 he was elected President of the Assembly. In 1791 he consecrated two new bishops, declaring at the same time his attachment to the Holy See, but, excommunicated, he gave up his clerical career. Early in 1792 he was sent to London, but failed to conciliate William Pitt, the Younger; in December he was placed on the list of �migr�s. He remained in exile, until January 1794, when the Alien Act drove him to the USA. After the fall of Robespierre he returned to Paris (1796), attached himself to the Comte de Barras, and was made Foreign Minister under the Directory (1797). He recognized the genius of Napoleon I and established friendly relations with him. He was greatly instrumental in consolidating the power of Napoleon as consul for life (1802) and as emperor (1804). For a time he was in disgrace for his willingness to sell his services towards a treaty between Great Britain and the USA. Under the Consulate he was restored to his post, was privy to the kidnapping and murder (1804) of the Duc d'Enghien, and disrupted the European coalition against France initiated by Great Britain (1805). He shared responsibility with Napoleon for the organization (1806) of the Confederation of the Rhine. After being created Prince of Benevento (1806), he withdrew from the ministry. He was opposed to the invasion of Russia and on this basis deserted Napoleon in 1814. As far back as Tilsit (1807) he seems to have been in communication with Great Britain. At Erfurt (1808), he had revealed state secrets to Russia and he had mortally offended Napoleon, after the disasters in Spain, by making, with Fouch�, tentative arrangements for the succession. He led the anti-Napoleonic faction, and through him communications were opened with the allies and the Bourbons. He dictated to the Senate the terms of Napoleon's deposition, and became Minister of Foreign Affairs under Louis XVIII. He negotiated the treaties by which the allies left France in possession of the boundaries of 1792, and at the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) he established France's right to be heard. After the second Restoration, he became Prime Minister for a short time, but he was now neither popular nor influential. He was Louis Philippe's chief adviser at the July Revolution, for which he was partly responsible, went to London as ambassador and reconciled the British ministry and court to France. He retired into private life in 1834.

Bibliography: Jack F Bernard, Talleyrand (1973)