Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French secularized clergyman, statesman, and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he became Agen
Portrait by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon (1817)
The oath of La Fayette at the Fête de la Fédération, 14 July 1790. Talleyrand, then Bishop of Autun, can be seen at the extreme right. French School, 18th century. Musée Carnavalet.
Detail of a caricature of Napoleon I's coronation, depicting Talleyrand (left) and his wife Catherine (right) by James Gillray (1805)
Portrait of Talleyrand as Grand Chamberlain of France by Pierre-Paul Prud'hon, 1807
XYZ Affair
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The XYZ Affair was a political and diplomatic episode in 1797 and 1798, early in the presidency of John Adams, involving a confrontation between the United States and Republican France which led to th
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord
…with England, and of colonization as a way of renewing the nation, he became Foreign Minister in July 1797. He was behind the demand for bribes in the XYZ Affair which escalated into the Quasi-War, an undeclared naval war with the United States, 1798–1800. Talleyrand saw a possible political career for Napoleon…
A British political cartoon depicting the affair: The United States is represented by Columbia, who is being plundered by five Frenchmen, three of whom are wearing French cockades, one wearing the Phrygian cap – symbols of revolutionary, republican France. The figures grouped off to the right are other European countries; John Bull, representing Great Britain, sits laughing atop the white cliffs of Dover.
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney headed the American commission.
French Foreign Minister Talleyrand
Elbridge Gerry