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Le personnage méconnu de Tercier, qui, parti de rien, est arrivé, sans intrigues et sans appuis, à diriger la diplomatie secrète de Louis XV, tout en menant une carrière d’érudit et de savant, mais aussi en assumant ses fonctions lourdes de premier commis, en inventant un système de chiffrement qui lui survivra pendant deux siècles, tout en étant également historien et censeur royal, et en révélant des qualités d’intelligence, de cœur et de labeur dans toutes ses fonctions, méritait une monographie qui lui avait été refusée jusqu’à présent.

Though there has so far been no monograph on Tercier, this unrecognized figure would definitely deserve to have one. Starting from nothing, he ended up at the head of King Louis XV’s secret diplomacy without the help of any intrigues or support. He was also a scholar and a scientist, took on a heavy workload as a senior clerk, invented a ciphering system which was to last two centuries, and also worked as a royal historian and a censor, proving to be intelligent, noblehearted and hardworking in all the functions he took on.

Este artigo conta-nos a história de Tercier, personagem desconhecida que, do nada, sem intrigas nem apoios, chegou a chefiar a diplomacia secretas de Luís XV. Ao mesmo tempo que seguia uma carreira de erudito e que ascendia aos mais altos cargos políticos, inventou um sistema de codificação utilizado durante dois séculos. Historiador e censor régio, revelando inúmeras qualidades intelectuais e afectivas em todas as funções que desempenhou, a sua vida mereceria certamente uma monografia que lhe foi, até agora, negada.