Petrarch and Talleyrand

Abstract

IN the fourteenth century a pope, a prince, or a poet might have written enough himself, or had enough written about him, to provide sufficient material for the composition of a real biography. There are few cardinals of the time, however, for whom this could be done. Sources giving us any insight into the personality or character of even such important figures as these remain relatively few. In the case of Talleyrand de Perigord, cardinal bishop of Albano, we are fortunate in that his friendship with Petrarch, much of whose correspondence has been carefully preserved, allows us a glimpse, at least, into the nature of an Avignonese cardinal. It does more. It provides us with another aspect of Petrarch's relations with that court which he damned without cease. Talleyrand's career may be reviewed briefly. Born in 1301, sometime between 12 September and 10 October, he was the third son of Count Elie VII of Perigord and the somewhat notorious Brunissende of Foix. He was baptized Elie, and as such he is met with in earlier documents; but it was as Talleyrand that he would come to be known. In his youth he studied civil law, and by the age of twentythree had become bishop of Limoges (10 October 1324). Because of his youth, he was not consecrated until, at the age of twenty-six, he was translated (4 January 1328) to the considerably richer see of Auxerre. In 1331, pressed by King Philip VI of France, Pope John XXII made Talleyrand cardinal priest of St Peter ad Vincula. He became cardinal bishop of Albano in 1348. In the college of cardinals Talleyrand exerted a considerable and growing influence. Giovanni Villani describes his role in the election of Benedict XII; Petrarch bears witness to his power in the curia; his intercession was sought by heads of states and princely houses; and his reputation was remarked by several contemporaries. In 13692 he became a leading candidate for the papal throne. Although much of his life as a cardinal was spent in Avignon, the period 1356-1359, when he attempted to negotiate peace between France and England, was an important episode in his career. He was on the battlefield of Poitiers in September 1356 when John II became the prize of the Black Prince; he was at Metz over Christmas of the same year, officiating at the various ceremonies attendant upon the great occasion of the promulgation of Charles IV's Golden Bull; he spent more than a year in England, where he finally succeeded in arranging a settlement between John II and Edward III, only to see it collapse, however, in 1359. There seem to have been many facets to his personality. Though an active man of affairs, he had a marked intellectual curiosity. Simon de Phares, late in the fifteenth century, lists him with many another astrologer worthy of remembrance. More than this, the cardinal even wrote a book, now unfortunately lost, entitled Flos planetarum. He loved greatly, we are told, the science of the stars, and it was because of his astrological knowledge that he was made a cardinal by John XXII. The man of science, however, was also a man of God. He had