ABSTRACT
Membership in the Assembly mirrored longstanding social relations, the examples of earlier assemblies guiding the selection of Notables in 1787. To historical precedent the controller general Calonne added political considerations to assure an assembly with neither "frondeurs" to wreak havoc on the Crown's plans, nor courtiers to impugn its integrity. The president of the Parlement of Lorraine, Coeurderoy, age forty-nine, seemed little disposed in his earlier years to the role he would play in the future. A political "handmaiden" of the royal government before 1787, he became, in the Assembly of Notables, a vocal opponent of the Crown and during the Revolution changed his family name from Coeur-de-roi to Coeur-de-loi. The convening of the Assembly of Notables helped to accelerate change and sharpen attitudes. From February to May 1787, the Notables gave form under the pressure of their work to a collective consciousness which, they and contemporaries had not been fully aware of, but which gained resonance in the public.
