At the early age of sixteen he attained one of the highest dignities of the order, being made grand prior of France.
The duma, or council, still attended to all the details of the administration; the old boyars still retained their ancient offices and dignities.
Dalberg's subservience, as a prince of the Confederation, to Napoleon was specially resented since, as a priest, he had no excuse of necessity on the ground of saving family or dynastic interests; his fortunes therefore fell with those of Napoleon, and, when he died on the 10th of February 1817, of all his dignities he was in possession only of the archbishopric of Regensburg.
Whether he subsequently regarded the victory of the monarchy and its corollary, the admittance of the middle classes to all offices and dignities, as a satisfactory equivalent for his original demands; or whether he was so overcome by royal favour as to sacrifice cheerfully the political liberties of his country, can only be a matter for conjecture.
His principal works (1 579, 1 599) treat of Gaulish and French antiquities, of the dignities and magistrates of France, of the origin of the French language and poetry, of the liberties of the Gallican church, &c. A collected edition was published in 1610.
