Princes of Benevent - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord (Paperback)

Chapters: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 23. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, 1st Prince de Benevente (French pronunciation: 2 February 1754 17 May 1838) was a French diplomat. He worked successfully from the regime of Louis XVI, through the French Revolution and then under Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe. Known since the turn of the 19th century simply by the name Talleyrand, he is widely regarded as one of the most versatile and influential diplomats in European history. He has been nicknamed "the Prince of Diplomats." Talleyrand was born into an aristocratic family in Paris. A congenital leg limp left him unable to enter the expected military career. Deprived of his rights of primogeniture by a family council, which judged his physical condition incompatible with the traditional military careers of the Talleyrand Counts of Perigord, he was instead directed to an ecclesiastic career. This was considerably assisted and encouraged by his uncle Alexandre Angelique de Talleyrand-Perigord, then Roman Catholic Archbishop of Reims. It would appear that the family, while prestigious and ancient, was not particularly prosperous, and saw church positions as a way to gain wealth. He attended the College d'Harcourt and seminary of Saint-Sulpice until the age of 21. He was ordained a priest in 1779. In 1780, he became a Catholic-church representative to the French Crown, the Agent-General of the Clergy. In this position, he was instrumental in drafting a general inventory of church properties in France as of 1785, along with a defence of "inalienable rights of church," a stance he was to deny later. In 1789, because of the influence of his father and family, the already notably non-believ...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=48542