ABSTRACT
This chapter will examine one of the greatest heiresses of seventeenth-century France, Marie de Lorraine, Mlle de Guise, who was presented with an opportunity to preserve her family's name and reputation as she came to the end of her life. She was thus faced with the option, like a Roman emperor, to choose her successor based on a set of criteria that was important to her, and which we can identify as a Guisard dynastic identity. The author argues that the twin poles of this identity, foreign princely status and Catholic orthodoxy, both helped and hindered Mlle de Guise's attempts to secure the transferral of her family's 'property' to the most suitable heir. The central issue Marie de Lorraine grappled with was survival of a name and its 'renown', more than merely material concerns such as estates, buildings and movable wealth.
