Jacques-Victor-Albert, Duc de Broglie

French statesman and historian, b. at Paris, 13 June, 1821; d. there 19 January, 1901. After a brief diplomatic career he resigned his post to devote himself to literature. His work, “L’Église et l’Empire romain au IVe siècle” (6 vols., 1856), won for him Lacordaire’s seat in the French Academy (1862). In 1871 he was appointed ambassador to England, but was recalled in 1872 and, taking his seat in the Assembly, soon became the leading spirit of the opposition to the Republic and M. Thiers. Twice President of the Council (1873 and 1877), the Duke de Broglie was finally defeated in his own district and withdrew from public life.

Besides editing the “souvenirs” of his father (1886), the “Mémoires” of Talleyrand (1871), and the letters of the Duchesse Albertine de Broglie, he published a series of works on the diplomacy of Louis XV, which placed their author in the first rank of historians.