The master of political survival: Talleyrand, the cunning foreign minister of Carême
In the early 19th century, a gifted and divisive figure from France became a political giant in Europe – and it wasn’t Napoleon. Jonny Wilkes explores the extraordinary career of Talleyrand, who served kings, revolutionaries and emperors
In the 41 years between 1789 and 1830, France went from monarchy to revolution to republic to empire to monarchy again. And added to that, political instability was rife amid the near-constant wars with most of the other nations of Europe.
As each regime rose and fell, political survival became less an act of skill and strayed more into the miraculous. That might be the most apt word to describe the career of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord.
Talleyrand not only made it through this period intact, but held on to his position as one of the continent’s leading diplomats.
He was a mixture of scheming, self-serving opportunist willing to change sides and discard principles, and resolute statesman dedicated to his country and peace – no matter who was in charge. In later life, he claimed that he always aimed to be “the man of France”.
Now, he is set to be a key figure in Apple TV+ drama, Carême, about the world’s first celebrity chef who worked for many years for Talleyrand.
Why is Talleyrand famous?
Talleyrand served multiple times as France’s foreign minister through a particularly tumultuous time, including under Napoleon. He was the ultimate political survivor.
The debate continues over his legacy: was he nothing more than an amoral traitor focused on personal gain through deceit and corruption? Or was his malleability as a negotiator an asset in protecting France’s interests?
The revolutionary figure Mirabeau said that Talleyrand “would sell his soul for money and he would be right, for he would be exchanging dung for gold”. Today, his name is synonymous with skilful, if cynical, diplomacy.
Was Talleyrand really a priest?
Born 2 February 1754, Talleyrand came from an ancient aristocratic family, but a diminished one with little wealth or status. He wanted to go into the army, but his club foot – possibly a congenital condition or the result of falling off a chest of drawers as a toddler – prevented that career route.
Instead, he was destined for the church and, in 1770, entered the seminary of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. He never really had the inclination for this spiritual calling, preferring philosophy to ecclesiastical study and earning a reputation as a notorious womaniser.
Yet, with help from his uncle Alexandre, archbishop of Reims, Talleyrand quickly became an abbot, got his theology degree and by 1779, aged 25, he had been ordained. The following year, he was appointed Agent-General of the Clergy, becoming the main representative of the church to the government.
Initially, he acted as an ardent spokesperson, dynamically defending the church’s rights and privileges. That led to him being made bishop of Autun in 1788.
Talleyrand during the French Revolution
Talleyrand’s first act of political survival came with the outbreak of the French Revolution. In 1789, the Estates General – an assembly of the three estates of France (clergy, nobility and commoners) – was held for the first time since 1614, with Talleyrand as a delegate. He immediately went against every argument he had made defending the church’s rights.
By calling for the confiscation of church property to fund the new government and supporting the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which made the church subordinate to the state, he emerged as a key revolutionary leader. This led to his excommunication by the Pope.
Turning his back on his ecclesiastical career, Talleyrand went into politics. By 1792, he had been sent to England to negotiate their neutrality in any upcoming war between France and the other European powers. The volatile situation back home, however, scuppered his chances and threatened his new-found reputation.
With the abolition of the monarchy and the September Massacres – the murders of more than 1,000 prisoners of the revolution in Paris – Talleyrand sought refuge in England, leading the National Convention (the governing assembly of the Revolution) to issue a warrant for his arrest. The English, meanwhile, were preparing for war with France and so were unwilling to harbour him.
In the end, Talleyrand travelled to the United States, where he lived for a time with Aaron Burr (yes, the divisive politician who killed US Founding Father Alexander Hamilton in a duel) and made a small fortune in financial deals.
It was in 1794 that the situation in France changed – with the downfall of Maximilien Robespierre, architect of the Reign of Terror – and he could return to Paris, which is did in 1796.
Talleyrand during the Directory
By now, the First French Republic founded after the revolution was being governed by the Directory, and Talleyrand became its foreign minister.
His modus operandi soon revealed itself: extortion. When it came to light that his agents had attempted to secure hefty bribes from three American envoys, the fallout drove the US and France to the brink of war.
This did not seem to concern Talleyrand too much, who was already looking beyond the Directory. Having allied himself with the young and brilliant military officer, Napoleon Bonaparte, he resigned and prepared for a change in regime.
Talleyrand’s relationship with Napoleon
Following Napoleon’s coup in 1799, Talleyrand was returned to the post of foreign minister straight away. In 1802, his excommunication was also lifted.
Swapping bribes for negotiation, he set about consolidating the French gains made by Napoleon and restoring peace in Europe, and got off to a good start by securing treaties with the European powers.
But Talleyrand’s priorities were at odd with Napoleon’s, who was committed to greater conquest and his dominance on the continent – and this drives much of the politicking we see in Apple TV+’s Carême.
As France’s foreign minister, Talleyrand opposed the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, when Napoleon sold 828,000 square miles of American territory to the US, and was powerless to stop the resumption of war.
For now, at least, Talleyrand remained a faithful ally, though, and even acquiesced to Napoleon’s demand that Talleyrand marry his long-time mistress, Catherine Grand; it was believed his womanising threatened another scandal.
Although he may have had several children with his many lovers, no legitimate offspring resulted from the marriage and the two eventually separated.
Napoleon also demanded that Talleyrand buy a suitable place to hold diplomatic functions, and Talleyrand chose a manor called Château de Valençay. There, he hosted numerous dignitaries and eased the diplomatic proceedings with the culinary delights of his chef, Marie-Antoine Carême.
Talleyrand during the French empire
After Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor in 1804, Talleyrand was appointed grand chamberlain with an annual income of 500,000 francs. Good fortune kept coming: he received the title of Prince de Bénévent and profited immensely – through bribes and corruption – from Napoleon’s reorganisation of German lands.
Still, Talleyrand’s opposition to the emperor increased, especially objecting to Napoleon’s treatment of his defeated foes, and he eventually resigned in 1807. Here, however, he performed two impressive acts of political survival.
The first was that he remained in Napoleon’s council, even helping to arrange the emperor’s second marriage to Habsburg archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria in 1810, and continued as a diplomat. In that role, he started covertly corresponding with France’s enemies, including Russia and Austria, over the possibility of selling secrets.
This led to the second act: Napoleon found out, and yet Talleyrand escaped punishment. The emperor simply declared that he “could break him like a glass, but it’s not worth the trouble”.
Soon Napoleon’s empire crumbled in the aftermath of the disastrous campaign in Russia. Talleyrand survived again: he began to work for the restoration of the monarch, with the House of Bourbon.
Talleyrand during the Bourbons
Talleyrand manoeuvred so skilfully that, with Napoleon’s downfall in 1814, he hosted Tsar Alexander I during his visit to France and became president of the provisional government that recalled Louis XVIII. His reward was to be appointed, yet again, as foreign minister.
His first act was as France’s representative at the Congress of Vienna, which reshaped Europe in the wake of Napoleon.
Playing Austria, Russia, Prussia and Britain off against each other, he secured an agreement that France could keep its boundaries from before 1792 and did not have to pay reparations. The fact that he achieved any advantageous terms at all, with the other major European powers out to punish France, is considered by many to be a monumental achievement.
His successes were soured with the Hundred Days – Napoleon’s brief return, which ended with the battle of Waterloo – and Talleyrand’s reputation in France worsened as many wanted him, a former figurehead of the Revolution, out of the way. Talleyrand had to resign again. Seemingly reaching the end of his mercurial career, he withdrew into retirement to write his memoirs.
Talleyrand’s later life and death
There would be one twist for Talleyrand, however, in this era of political instability in France. In 1829, now in his mid-70s, he became a vocal opponent of the Bourbons and sided with the July Revolution of 1830, which put the Orleanist candidate, Louis-Philippe, on the throne.
In this so-called July Monarchy, Talleyrand became ambassador to London and, in one last diplomatic achievement, secured a vital alliance for France with Britain, Spain and Portugal.
On 17 May 1838, Talleyrand died at the age of 84, and was buried close to the chateau at Valençay. Willing to switch sides to the very end, he managed to arrange a late reconciliation with the church – and received the last rites reserved for a bishop.
Authors
Jonny Wilkes is a former staff writer for BBC History Revealed, and he continues to write for both the magazine and HistoryExtra. He has BA in History from the University of York.