ABSTRACT
This chapter uses the case study of the duchy of Lorraine during the reign of Duke Léopold (1679–1729) to investigate the effects of the transnational identities of high-ranking nobles in Europe’s small states. In his efforts to rebuild his state after decades of French occupation and to establish a public sphere, Léopold successfully attracted the high nobility back to his court and re-established a degree of loyalty to his dynasty. However, private interests and established ties to other states and other dynasties gave the high nobility of Lorraine a more independent identity; these interests and ties proved to be strong counter-forces to the task of state-building.
