Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

French diplomat (1754-1838)

  • Fame65.1
  • Momentum0.3
  • Wikipedia48.3K
Source-basedStable
Lived 1754–1839, aged 85France
France flagFrancePoliticiansPublic Official
  • Wikipedia
    68 languages
    Cross-language footprint
  • Era
    1754–1839
    Aged 85
  • Awards
    21
    recognised works
Summary
Updated 2026-06-21

He served Louis XVI, the Revolution, Napoleon, the restored Bourbons, and two more kings after that — outlasting every regime by switching sides at the perfect moment. The name Talleyrand became shorthand for diplomatic cunning so fluid it looked like betrayal.

Biography

About

Born in 1754, he studied theology and rose to Agent-General of the Clergy in 1780, then Bishop of Autun in 1789 just as the Revolution began. He became Napoleon's chief diplomat, brokering the 1801 Treaty of Lunéville with Austria and the 1802 Treaty of Amiens with Britain, working mostly for peace to lock in French gains. By 1805 he opposed Napoleon's fresh wars against Austria, Prussia, and Russia; he resigned as foreign minister in 1807 but kept the emperor's trust while secretly conspiring with Tsar Alexander I and Austrian minister Klemens von Metternich to undermine him. When Napoleon fe…

Voice

In their own words

Sourced, dated quotes from Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
said
The tricolour flag, symbol of revolution, was raised on the cathedral's towers and the bells rang to the frantic acclamation of the crowd. 'Listen to the tocsin!
"The July monarchy: a political history of France, 1830-1848" (1988) by H. A. C. Collingham, ‎R. S. Alexander. Pg 9.
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
saidundated
To succeed in the world, it is much more necessary to possess the penetration to discern who is a fool than to discover who is a clever man.
Reported in, C.N. Douglas, comp. Forty Thousand Quotations: Prose and Poetical. (1917).
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
saidundated
There is no sentiment less aristocratic than that of nonbelief.
Reported in, Bernard, J. F., Talleyrand: A Biography. (1973), p. 605
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
saidundated
Financiers flourish only when nations decline.
Reported in, Bernard, J. F., Talleyrand: A Biography. (1973), p. 592
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
saidundated
Accessibility on the part of rulers ends by inspiring love rather than respect, and love evaporates at first sign of trouble.
Reported in, Bernard, J. F., Talleyrand: A Biography. (1973), p. 592
Where to find them

Platforms

No platforms connected yet.

By the numbers

Score breakdown

The six component signals behind the Fame score, and their ranks across the leaderboards.

Fame
Stable
65.1
Composite of search demand, mentions, audience & graph footprint.
Score components
Momentum0.3
Historical25.7
Now attention1.7
Source confidence60.0
Completeness70.0
Global rank
Country rank
Category rank
Receipts

Sources

  • Wikipedia
    wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org
    High confidence
  • Wikidata
    wikidata · wikidata.org
    High confidence
  • Pantheon 2.0
    database · pantheon.world
    High confidence