In recent years scholars have increasingly challenged and reassessed the once established concept of the 'crisis of the nobility' in early-modern Europe. Offeri

In recent years scholars have increasingly challenged and reassessed the once established concept of the 'crisis of the nobility' in early-modern Europe. Offeri

Examining the societies of the hundreds of small states that made up most of Europe before the 19th century, this text takes as its focus the Duchy of Lorraine.

This decisive contribution to the long-running debate about the dynamics of state formation and elite transformation in early modern Europe examines the new mon