Richelieu and Talleyrand: The Lives and Careers of the Ministers Who Shaped Modern France

“Deception is the knowledge of kings.” – Richelieu

“Politics is the systematic cultivation of hatred.” - Talleyrand

In an age where it was difficult to steer clear of a king’s wrath and keep one’s head for their entire life, Armand Jean du Plessis managed to become the power behind a king. The royal courts of 17th and 18th century France were famed for powerful and versatile Ministers like Talleyrand and the Comte de Vergennes, yet none have held as much sway like the man best known to the world today as Cardinal Richelieu.

Decades before becoming the most important person in Louis XIII’s court, Richelieu worked his way up through the Catholic Church and politics on parallel tracks, so that in a span of two years he became both a Cardinal and the king’s Chief Minister. From there, Richelieu molded the functions of his position to such a powerful extent that he is often viewed today as akin to the world’s first Prime Minister. For a generation, Richelieu literally had his hand in every important decision, forever altering the destiny of both France and Europe as a whole.

Using skillful diplomacy and behind the scenes maneuvering, Richelieu managed to accumulate and consolidate both personal power and royal power, helping root out and stamp out domestic opponents until power in France was almost fully centralized. At the same time, the Catholic Cardinal established alliances with Protestant leaders when the time called. And all the while, Richelieu helped permanently damage the Habsburg dynasty, which had established an Austro-Spanish alliance, while positioning France to hold a dominant position during The Thirty Years War. Not everyone appreciated Richelieu’s legacy, certainly not Enlightened thinkers like Voltaire who criticized the aristocratic order of 18th century France. In The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas portrayed Richelieu as a power-hungry villain who was stronger than the king he served.

The Congress of Vienna, which took place over several months during 1814 and 1815, was an attempt to resolve the numerous challenges presented by Napoleon’s expansion and his subsequent defeat. The talks have been seen as a critical moment in European history, and depending on the point-of-view, the results were either a diplomatic breakthrough or the last gasps of the continent’s conservative elites. It was also a crucial step toward German unification, although this was not clear at the time.

France, despite its turbulence, had its own influential representative there: Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Pйrigord. Known simply as Talleyrand, his name ultimately became associated with crafty, manipulative personal and political maneuvering, even in a country that suffered no shortage of such diplomats and ministers in its history.

As an adult, Talleyrand lived through the most tumultuous years of French history. In a period of little more than 40 years, France passed through five very different periods of rule, but despite the chaos these rapid changes brought, Talleyrand served in important roles in each successive new regime and, through a combination of charm, guile, intelligence, ability, and duplicity, played a leading role in undermining and destroying each.

Under the Ancien Rйgime, the social and political system by which France had been ruled since the Middle Ages, Talleyrand became a bishop. When the French Revolution tore the nation apart, Talleyrand betrayed both the church and the French Monarchy and became Foreign Minister for the Directory, the governing committee of the French First Republic. In 1799, he betrayed the Republic for Napoleon.

To this day, many wonder how Talleyrand thrived in an environment that saw so many powerful people ignored, ruined, exiled, or even killed. Naturally, the answer to that is similar to an apt description of his life and reputation – it is a complex, intriguing, and controversial one.