Charles-Maurice de, Prince of Bénévent (Paris, February 13, 1754 - id., May 17, 1838).
Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, commonly known as Talleyrand, was a French politician and diplomat, born February 2, 1754 in Paris, died in the same city on May 17, 1838.
Heir to a large family, lame, he was deprived of his birthright and was oriented towards an ecclesiastical career, becoming a priest and then a bishop. He abandoned the clergy during the Revolution and led a secular life, going so far as to marry. Occupying positions of political power for most of his life, he was General Agent of the Clergy under the Old Regime, Deputy and Ambassador during the French Revolution, Minister of External Relations under the Directory, Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Consulate, Minister of Foreign Affairs under the First Empire, Ambassador and President of the Council of Ministers under the Restoration and Ambassador under the July Monarchy, attending four coronations.
Acting most of the time as a man of influence, diplomat or adviser, he is renowned for his wit and intelligence, leading a life between the old regime and the 19th century. Having been described as the "lame devil", a traitor, full of vice and corruption, or as a man of enlightenment faithful to France, concerned with harmony and reason, he was admired or hated by his contemporaries, arousing many portraits and comments afterwards.
Origin and youth
His family claims to descend from Wilgrim, named Count of Périgord in the 9th century by Charles the Bald, and from Adalbert, Count of Périgord, supporter and vassal of Hugh Capet in 990. He is therefore from a family of high nobility , which is attested by royal letters patent of 1475, 1613, 1688 and 1735. His parents, Charles-Daniel, Count of Talleyrand-Périgord and Alexandrine de Damas d'Autigny, held important positions during the reign of Louis XV. He is the nephew of Alexandre Angélique de Talleyrand-Périgord (1736-1821), who was Archbishop of Reims, Cardinal and Archbishop of Paris.
He was born on February 2, 1754 at 4, rue Garancière, in Paris. Baptized the same day, his uncle Alexandre is his godfather[4]. He was immediately handed over to a nanny who kept him for four years at her home in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques, which was not the case for his brothers. According to his memoirs, he would have been the victim of a fall at the age of four:this infirmity caused him not to be able to access military functions and to be stripped of his birthright by his parents who then destined him to an ecclesiastical career. His younger brother Archambaut takes his place (the eldest son having died in infancy).
In his memoirs, Talleyrand “evokes his parents with a surprising antipathy”, according to Franz Blei:
“This accident influenced all the rest of my life; it was he who, having persuaded my parents that I could not be a soldier, or at least be without disadvantage, led them to direct me towards another profession. This seemed to them more favorable to the advancement of the family. Because in the big houses, it was the family that we loved, much more than the individuals, and especially than the young individuals that we did not yet know. I don't like dwelling on this idea... I leave it. »
Memoirs of Talleyrand
Other biographers, such as Jean Orieux, give reason to Talleyrand, who suggests that his parents did not love him, not tolerating that he was "simultaneously clubfoot and Talleyrand". For Blei, if it is true that he "did not have a paternal home full of security and affection", it is unfair to his mother who only followed the customs of education of the period, before the fashion of Émile by Jean-Jacques Rousseau; his parents also had very demanding offices at court.
His relegation, for the benefit of his brother, may explain why, during a tribute in honor of Mirabeau on the day of his death, delivered to the rostrum of the Assembly, Talleyrand chose to speak on the equality of distribution of heritage and therefore the abolition of the birthright.
After having stayed from 1758 to 1761 with his grandmother in the Périgord, a stay of which he has fond memories, he was sent to the college of Harcourt (future Lycée Saint-Louis) from 1762 to 1769, then to his uncle, archbishop, where encouraged him to take up an ecclesiastical career; he complies.
Ecclesiastical career
In 1769, aged fifteen, he entered the Saint-Sulpice seminary, where he worked in a bad mood and in solitude. This did not prevent him from ostensibly dating an actress from the Comédie Française, Dorothée Dorinville, with whom he walked under the windows of the seminary:
"Her parents had brought her into the comedy; I was in the seminary despite myself. [...] Thanks to her, I became, even for the seminary, more amiable, or at least more bearable. The superiors must have had some suspicion [..] but Father Couturier had taught them the art of turning a blind eye. »
Memoirs of Talleyrand
On May 28, 1774, he received minor orders. On September 22, 1774, he obtained a baccalaureate in theology at the Sorbonne, acquired thanks to his birth rather than his work:his thesis supervisor at the Sorbonne, M. Mannay, wrote his thesis[11], at least in part; he obtains an age exemption which allows him to present it at 20 instead of the required 22. At the age of 21, on April 1, 1775, he received the first orders, despite his warnings:"I am being forced to be a churchman, we will repent of it", he says.
On June 11, 1775, he attended the coronation of Louis XVI, in which his godfather participated as coadjutor of the consecrating bishop; three months later, he received an annuity from the Abbey of Saint-Rémy de Reims.
In the spring of 1778, he visited Voltaire who blessed him in front of the audience. On December 18, 1779, the morning of his ordination, his friend Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier discovered him prostrate and in tears. The latter insisted that he give up but Talleyrand replied:“No, it is too late, there is no longer any backing down. No member of his family is present for the ordination, but his parents attend his first mass. He is 26 years old.
The following year, in 1780, he became, thanks to his uncle, agent general of the clergy of France; he is responsible for defending the property of the Church against the financial needs of Louis XVI. Thanks to this function, he becomes aware of the exact extent of the wealth of the clergy. He frequents and animates liberal salons close to Orléans and builds many relationships. Based in rue de Bellechasse, his neighbor was Mirabeau:the two men bonded politically. He was then close to Charles Alexandre de Calonne, unpopular minister of Louis XVI; he participated in the negotiation of the commercial treaty with England concluded in 1786.
Because of his dissolute and libertine life (his taste for gambling and luxury, his many mistresses) which shocked the king, he was disappointed in his hopes of obtaining a bishopric as his financial needs grew. From 1783 to 1792, Talleyrand had, among others, for mistress (and lived almost as a husband with) the Countess Adélaïde de Flahaut, who, in broad daylight, gave him a child in 1785, the famous Charles de Flahaut.
On November 2, 1788, he was appointed bishop of Autun, thanks to the request that his dying father addressed to Louis XVI:"this will correct him", the king is said to have declared when signing the appointment. He was consecrated on January 14, 1789, by Mgr de Grimaldi, bishop of Noyon. Ernest Renan recounts, speaking of one of his teachers at Saint-Sulpice:
"M. Hugon had served as an acolyte at the coronation of M. de Talleyrand at the chapel of Issy, in 1788 It seems that, during the ceremony, the behavior of the Abbé de Périgord was most indecorous. Mr. Hugon related that he accused himself, the following Saturday, in confession, “of having formed rash judgments on the piety of a holy bishop.” »
Ernest Renan, Memories of Childhood and Youth
Three weeks later, elected deputy of the clergy to the Estates General, Talleyrand left the town of Autun for good.
Revolution
During the Estates General, he joined the Third Estate; on July 14, 1789 (renewed on September 15), Talleyrand was the first member appointed to the constitution committee of the National Assembly, where he played a very important role. He was also a signatory of the constitution presented to the king and accepted by him on September 14, 1791; he is the author of article VI of the declaration of human rights which serves as its preamble:
“The law is the expression of the general will. [...] It must be the same for all, whether it protects or punishes [...]"
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789
On October 10, 1789, he proposed to the Constituent Assembly to use “great means” to bail out the state coffers:the confiscation of Church property. According to him:
"The clergy are not owners like other owners since the goods they enjoy and which they cannot dispose of have been given not for the interest of the people but for the service of functions »
Defended by Mirabeau, the project was voted on on November 2. On December 4, 1789, he proposed granting citizenship status to the Jews. On February 9, 1790, he was elected President of the Assembly with 373 votes against 125 in Siéyès.
Federation Day
Talleyrand proposed to the Constituent Assembly on June 7, 1790 the principle of a celebration celebrating the unanimity of the French. The king appointed him, and on July 14, 1790, he celebrated the mass which took place on the Champ de Mars during the Fête de la Fédération. Having had the opportunity to celebrate a mass only a handful of times (including his first as a priest and his first as a bishop), Mirabeau, who followed the mass when he was in prison, the guide in his rehearsals. Mass takes place in front of 300,000 people.
On December 12, 1790, he proposed the adoption of the system of unification of measurements.
On December 28, 1790, he took the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy and then resigned from his episcopal office. He was responsible for consecrating the first two constitutional bishops (Expilly, Bishop of Finistère, and Marolles, Bishop of Aisne), also called “talleyrandists”. On March 10, in the brief Quod aliquantum of March 10, 1791, then Caritas of April 13, 1791, Pope Pius VI expresses his pain at this schismatic act and takes into account Talleyrand's resignation from his office.
During the year 1791, helped by Pierre-Simon Laplace, Gaspard Monge, Nicolas de Condorcet, Antoine Lavoisier, Félix Vicq d'Azyr, Jean-François de La Harpe etc., he wrote an important report on public education, " with the most complete gratuity because it is necessary for all”. One of the consequences of this report is the creation of the Institut de France, at the head of an educational system intended for all layers of society, the embryo of National Education.
At the beginning of 1792, Talleyrand was sent on a diplomatic mission to London. He returned there with François Bernard Chauvelin in order to reassure the British monarchy on French policy. Despite the hostile atmosphere, they obtained British neutrality on May 25. He returned to Paris on July 5, but, anticipating the Terror, he quickly left for London with a mission order torn from Danton on September 7 (after a month of requests), under the pretext of working on the extension of the system of weights and measures, which allows him to claim that he did not emigrate:"my real goal was to get out of France, where it seemed useless and even dangerous for me to stay, but where I only wanted to go out with a regular passport, so as not to close the doors to me forever”.
On December 5, a decree of accusation was brought against the “ci-devant bishop of Autun” after the opening of the iron cabinet; being careful not to return to France, Talleyrand was put on the list of emigrants.
Expelled from Great Britain in 1794 (the alien bill or “law on foreigners, is applied to him in January of this year), where he suffered at the same time from the lack of money and the hatred of the emigrants, he takes refuge in the United States, where he worked as a real estate prospector in the forests of Massachusetts, then as a commodity broker.
He returned in September of the year IV (1796) following the lifting of the decree of accusation of the Convention against him, Benjamin Constant having made a speech to this effect (with the support of Germaine de Staël with whom Talleyrand corresponds)[ref. necessary]. He was removed from the list of emigrants and returned to France under the very young Directory.
Management Board
Shortly after his arrival, Talleyrand entered the Institut de France (he had been elected to the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences even before his departure from the United States, on December 14, 1795) and published two essays on the new international situation , based on his travels outside France. He entered the Constitutional Circle, a republican, despite his Orléanist friendships and the hostility of the members of the Convention who saw him as a counter-revolutionary
On July 17, 1797, Madame de Staël - whose lover he is [ref. necessary] - intercedes on his behalf with the most influential of the five directors, Barras. The latter, seduced by Talleyrand (he met him when he was devastated by the death of his aide-de-camp), obtained for him, despite the hostility of some of the directors, the Ministry of External Relations, replacing Charles Delacroix appointed Ambassador to the Batavian Republic.
There is a doubt about the paternity of the painter Eugène Delacroix:according to his contemporaries and some historians, his father would be Talleyrand [ref. necessary]. There are several reasons for this idea:
* Talleyrand was Madame Delacroix's lover at this time (he therefore took both his wife and his ministry from Charles Delacroix);
* Charles Delacroix suffered until six months before the birth of 'Eugene, of a tumor in the testicles;
* Eugène Delacroix has a certain physical resemblance, according to his contemporaries, with Talleyrand;
* Talleyrand protects him during his career.
Talleyrand is said to have said when he was appointed:“we hold the place, we must make an immense fortune there, an immense fortune”. In fact, and from that moment on, he got into the habit of receiving large sums of money from all the foreign states with which he dealt.
“Mr. de Talleyrand himself assessed even at sixty millions what he could have received in all from the powers great or small in his diplomatic career”
Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, New Mondays
As soon as he was appointed, Talleyrand wrote to Napoleon Bonaparte:
“I have the honor to announce to you, General, that the Executive Directory has appointed me Minister for Foreign Affairs. Rightly frightened by the functions of which I feel the perilous importance, I need to reassure myself by the feeling of what your glory must bring in terms of means and ease in negotiations. The name of Bonaparte alone is an auxiliary which should smooth everything out. I will hasten to forward to you all the views that the Directory will instruct me to transmit to you, and fame, which is your ordinary organ, will often deprive me of the happiness of telling it how you have fulfilled them. »
Letter from Talleyrand to Napoleon Bonaparte
Seduced by the character, Bonaparte wrote to the Directory to tell him that the choice of Talleyrand "does honor to his discernment". An important correspondence follows. In reality, Bonaparte did as he pleased in Italy:the Treaty of Campo-Formio was signed on October 17, 1797 and Talleyrand congratulated him. The two men meet as Bonaparte returns covered in glory from the Italian campaign. On January 3, 1798, Talleyrand gave a sumptuous party in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Hôtel de Galliffet, where the ministry was located. He supports the Egyptian expedition, while refusing to get actively involved in it.
For the rest, the Directory, which mistrusted Talleyrand, dealt with important matters itself and used him as an executor. Talleyrand's policy, which sometimes even goes against that of the directors, aims to reassure the European states and to obtain balance and peace; he expressed his reservations about the policy of "liberation" of the conquered countries. He sets up the administration of Foreign Affairs (organization completed at the beginning of the Consulate) which he fills with hardworking, discreet and loyal men. He also perfects his network of influence.
On July 13, 1799, following several scandals, he resigned from the ministry. He devoted himself to preparing the coup d'etat of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799) by conspiring against the Directory with Napoleon Bonaparte and Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès.
Napoleonic period
“The destruction of the French gunboats” or “little Boney and his friend Talley in great joy”, British caricature showing Napoleon, seated on the shoulder of “Talley”, peering joyfully (through a large document rolled up in a spyglass called "Talleyrand's plan to invade Britain") the English Channel, where the French fleet was destroyed by shells from British ships.
"The Destruction of the French Gunboats" or "Little Boney and his Friend Talley in Great Joy", British cartoon showing Napoleon, seated on "Talley's" shoulder, gazing happily (through a large, long-rolled document) view called "Talleyrand's plan to invade Britain") the English Channel, where the French fleet is destroyed by shells from British ships.
After the coup, he returned to his role as minister and concluded the important treaties that crowned Bonaparte's conquering policy.
The treaties of Mortefontaine and Lunéville were concluded almost without his intervention, the young First Consul leaving little room for others to conduct foreign policy. Talleyrand is not offended by this and even approves, as a whole, of these two treaties. During the concordat, after sharp disagreements, the pope agrees to turn a blind eye to the situation of Talleyrand, who considers himself to have officially returned to secular life.
In the year X (1801), following the injunction to marry or leave one of his mistresses, Talleyrand married Catherine Noël Worlee (or Verlee), divorced from Georges-François Grand, whom he knew for three years. She is a native of the Danish Indies, of Breton origin. Her contemporaries say of her that “she was Beauty and the Beast united in one person”. He certainly had a daughter, born in 1799, declared of unknown father, whom he adopted in 1803 and married around 1815 to Baron Alexandre-Daniel de Talleyrand, his first cousin.
The same year, he bought the castle of Valençay, again on the orders of Bonaparte but with his financial assistance [ref. necessary]. He later lodged there the infants of Spain, prisoners of the emperor. The castle estate is approximately 120 km², making it one of the largest private estates of the time. Talleyrand stays there regularly, especially before and after his spa treatments at Bourbon-l'Archambault.
In 1804, faced with the increase in the number of attacks perpetrated by royalists against Bonaparte, Talleyrand played a role (the importance of the involvement of each other remaining obscure) in the execution of the Duc d'Enghien[ ref. necessary]. He was appointed Grand Chamberlain on July 11, 1804 and attended the coronation of Napoleon on December 2, 1804.
In 1805, after the brilliant Austrian campaign and the crushing defeat at Trafalgar, Talleyrand reluctantly signed the Treaty of Presburg, which he had not drafted.
In 1806, he was named "Prince of Bénévent", a small principality confiscated from the Pope. On July 12 of the same year, he signed the treaty creating the confederation of the Rhine, still on the orders of Napoleon, with whom he was still just as influential, but who cared little for Talleyrand's projects for European harmony. Initiating criticism of Napoleon's war policy without daring to challenge him, he began to communicate information to Tsar Alexander I via his friend Dalberg. In 1807 he negotiated and signed the Treaty of Tilsit and certainly took the decision on this occasion to resign from his post as minister on his return from Warsaw, a resignation effective August 10, 1807.
Talleyrand gradually distanced himself from the Emperor:in September 1808, in Erfurt where the latter sent him to prepare the ground for an alliance with Russia, he went so far as to advise the Tsar not to ally himself with Napoleon, asserting that “the French people are civilized, their sovereign is not; the ruler of Russia is civilized, his people are not.” It was the “treason of Erfurt” which earned him the future enmity of the Bonapartists; at the time Napoleon did not understand her but was surprised at the failure of his initiative with the Tsar.
While there was no news of the Emperor from Spain where the guerrillas were raging and the rumor of his death was spreading, Talleyrand, who was the host at Valencay of the princes of Spain, still prisoners of the emperor, intrigue in broad daylight with Joseph Fouché to offer the regency to the empress, seeking the support of Joachim Murat. From Spain, Napoleon learned of the conspiracy and rushed to Paris. On January 28, 1809, he insulted Talleyrand before a restricted council (“you are shit in a silk stocking”[33]), accused him of treason and withdrew his position as Grand Chamberlain. He does not hide his opposition:
"Napoleon had had the awkwardness (and we will see the consequence of this later) to water with disgust this personage so slender, of such a brilliant mind, of a taste so exercised and so delicate, which, moreover, in politics had rendered him as many services at least as I had been able to render him myself in the high affairs of the state which concerned the safety of himself. But Napoleon could not forgive Talleyrand for having always spoken of the Spanish Civil War with disapproving freedom. Soon, the salons and boudoirs of Paris became the scene of a secret war between Napoleon's adherents on the one hand, Talleyrand and his friends on the other, a war whose epigram and good words were artillery, and in which the ruler of Europe was almost always beaten”
Memoirs of Joseph Fouché
Threatened in his life or by exile with his sidekick, he was ultimately not worried, kept his other posts and the emperor always consulted him. For Jean Orieux, it is for Napoleon "unbearable, indispensable and irreplaceable" [ref. necessary]. In 1813, he refused the post of Minister for Foreign Affairs again offered to him by the Emperor.
In 1814, taking advantage of the fall of the Empire, he skilfully maneuvered to deliver Paris to the allies and to Louis XVIII.
First Restoration
In March, the allies enter Paris. On April 1, 1814, he was elected by the Senate “president of the provisional government”. He signs the armistice agreement with the allies and installs Louis XVIII on the throne, who appoints him to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the principality of Benevento is returned to the Pope but he retains the title. Despite the fashionable counter-reaction, Louis XVIII, with whom he got on well, asked him to represent France at the Congress of Vienna.
On September 16, 1814, the Congress of Vienna began, and although France was not admitted to the negotiating table, Talleyrand succeeded in participating. He succeeded, by bringing into play the many allied divisions, to limit the sanctions against France and even to strongly influence decisions [ref. necessary] having more to do with the European balance than with France. Allied with Austria and the United Kingdom, he opposes Prussia and Russia:the first does not obtain Saxony and the views of the second on Poland are thwarted. On the other hand, Talleyrand could not prevent Prussia from obtaining a border with France (which biographers see as the cause of future Franco-German wars). He signed the final act of the congress on June 9, 1815.
Following the congress, France retains its conquests of 1792, but Napoleon returns from the island of Elba and is carried triumphantly by the French, which ruins the opinion that the allies have of them. Talleyrand follows Louis XVIII into exile during the Hundred Days, declaring:"it's a matter of weeks, he [Napoleon] will soon be worn out". Then comes the Battle of Waterloo and Louis XVIII regains his throne. Talleyrand retained his post, and on July 9, 1815, he was appointed President of the Council of Ministers.
"Then I went to His Majesty's house:introduced into one of the rooms preceding that of the King , I found no one; I sat down in a corner and waited. Suddenly a door opens:Vice enters silently leaning on the arm of crime, M. de Talleyrand walking supported by M. Fouché; the infernal vision passes slowly in front of me, enters the king's study and disappears. Fouché came to swear faith and homage to his lord; the feudal regicide, on his knees, placed his hands which caused the head of Louis XVI to fall into the hands of the brother of the martyr king; the apostate bishop was surety for the oath. »
François-René de Chateaubriand, Memoirs from Beyond the Grave
Pushed by the Ultras, Louis XVIII forced Talleyrand to resign and appointed him Grand Chamberlain of France on September 24, 1815. For the first time since his return from the United States, he was not in power. He is officially in disgrace and separates from his wife.
His political activity was limited to a few speeches in the chamber (including opposition to the Spanish expedition, against François-René de Chateaubriand), memoirs, speeches and contacts with the Liberals and Orléanists. It was at this time that Adolphe Thiers introduced himself to him by praising the young Eugène Delacroix. Talleyrand spent much of his time in Valencay with Dorothée de Courlande, married by him to his nephew Édmond, who was probably his mistress and whose daughter Pauline was probably from Talleyrand
July Monarchy
In July 1830, Louis-Philippe became king after the Trois glorieuses who drove out Charles X. He then appointed Talleyrand ambassador to London, in order to guarantee England's neutrality vis-à-vis - vis-à-vis the new regime[35]. Barely arrived in the English capital, Talleyrand meets Wellington, who evokes "the unfortunate revolution of July". Immediately, the ambassador raised the formula and declared to the Prime Minister that this revolution was not a misfortune either for France or for the other States with which the new regime wanted to have the best relations. A little later, he replaced the Princess de Lieven, wife of the Russian ambassador, who was indignant at a “flagrant usurpation”:“You are quite right, Madame. Only, what is to be regretted is that it did not take place fifteen years earlier, as desired and wanted by the Emperor Alexander, your master! »
Talleyrand contributes to the independence of Belgium and works on the project that has been close to his heart for a long time:the rapprochement of the United Kingdom and France. His refinement and his skill became famous in London even if his reputation was at its lowest in France:
"the prince saved France from being dismembered, he was owed crowns, he was thrown mud »
It was indeed at this time that the generalized hatred of the parties against him began. He becomes "the lame devil", the one who betrayed everyone. He regularly receives Alphonse de Lamartine and maintains good relations with his friend Wellington and the entire cabinet.
Talleyrand remained in office until August 1834 when he left the public scene and retired to his castle in Valençay. He receives Honoré de Balzac and puts the finishing touches to his memoirs.
In 1837, he left Valençay, returning to settle in his hotel in Saint-Florentin in Paris.
As death approached, he made a return to religion and his family entrusted Abbé Dupanloup with the task of convincing him to sign his retraction, which he did not sign until four hours before his death, enabling him to receive extreme unction and viaticum. When the priest must, in accordance with the rite, anoint his hands with holy chrism, he declares:"Do not forget that I am a bishop" [ref. nécessaire] (car on devait en pareil cas l’oindre sur le revers des mains et non sur les paumes), reconnaissant ainsi sa réintégration dans l’Église. L’événement, suivi par le tout-Paris, fait dire à Ernest Renan qu’il réussit « à tromper le monde et le Ciel »
Apprenant que Talleyrand est mourant, le roi Louis-Philippe décide, contrairement à l’étiquette, de lui rendre visite. « Sire, murmure le mourant, c’est un grand honneur que le roi fait à ma maison. » Il meurt le 17 mai 1838, à 15h50[
Des funérailles officielles et religieuses sont célébrées le 22 mai. Il est enterré dans une chapelle proche du château de Valençay, où son corps est ramené le 5 septembre, puis enterré dans la crypte familiale de la chapelle. La plaque de marbre qui recouvre le cercueil porte l’inscription suivante :« Ici repose le corps de Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord, prince duc de Talleyrand, duc de Dino, né à Paris le 2 février 1754, mort dans la même ville le 17 mai 1838. »
Regards contemporains et postérité
* Gustave Flaubert :« Talleyrand (Prince de) :s’indigner contre » (Dictionnaire des idées reçues);
* Honoré de Balzac :« Certain prince qui n’est manchot que du pied, que je regarde comme un politique de génie et dont le nom grandira dans l’histoire »[réf. nécessaire];
* Alphonse de Lamartine :« L’opulence, pour M. de Talleyrand était autant une politique qu’une élégance de sa vie »[réf. nécessaire];
* George Sand :« Une exception de la nature, une monstruosité si rare que le genre humain, tout en le méprisant, l’a contemplé avec une imbécile admiration. »;
* Napoléon :« De la merde dans un bas de soie ». (Après la rupture suite au complot) auquel Talleyrand dira « dommage qu’un si grand homme soit si mal élevé »
* Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve :« Le problème moral que soulève le personnage de Talleyrand, en ce qu’il a d’extraordinaire et d’original, consiste tout entier dans l’assemblage, assurément singulier et unique à ce degré, d’un esprit supérieur, d’un bon sens net, d’un goût exquis et d’une corruption consommée, recouverte de dédain, de laisser-aller et de nonchalance. »
Talleyrand était surnommé « le diable boiteux » en raison de son infirmité et par la haine que lui vouaient certains de ses ennemis, en particulier au sein des factions :« ultras » (pour qui il était un révolutionnaire), Église catholique (qui se souvenait de la confiscation des biens de l’Église), jacobins (pour qui il était un traître à la Révolution), bonapartistes (qui lui reprochaient la « trahison d’Erfurt »), etc. Plusieurs mémorialistes, comme François-René de Chateaubriand[40], expriment dans leurs ouvrages tout le mal qu’ils pensent de lui.
Le XXe siècle a vu, dans l’ensemble, une « réhabilitation » de Talleyrand, en particulier par ses nombreux biographes, qui, en général, ont vu une continuité dans la vie du personnage, en tant que serviteur de « la France ».