ELISABETH CHARLOTTE D'ORLEANS: (1676-1744) Duchess consort of Lorraine 1698-1729 and Princess of Commercy 1737-44. Mother of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. L.S., Elisabeth Charlotte, two pages, folio, Commercy, 14^th March 1738, to le Comte de Spada, in French. The Princess writes concerning the vacant position of Abbess of Remiremont which her son, the Grand Duke of Tuscany (the future Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor), has agreed by Royal attestation to grant to his sister, Princess Anne Charlotte of Lorraine, although explaining that as she is not yet thirty years of age de Spada should 'aussitot la presente recue et sans perte de temps, vous vous donnerez tous les mouvements necessaires pour obtenir de notre St. Pere le Pape, un bref de dispense d'age d'eligibilite a la susditte dignite d'abbesse de l'abbaye de Remiremont, que vous demanderes et solliciter au nom de mon fils, Grand Duc de Toscane, cette elant sa volonte que je vous intime' (Translation: 'as soon as this is received and without loss of time, you will take all necessary steps to obtain from our Holy Father the Pope, a writ of dispensation from the age of eligibility for the above-mentioned dignity of Abbess of the abbey of Remiremont, that you request and solicit in the name of my son, Grand Duke of Tuscany, this being his will that I intimate to you') and further urging that the matter be handled with the most prompt exactitude as the election for the new Abbess will take place on the 9^th May and concluding by explaining that if a copy of the Princess's baptism certificate is required then it will be sent immediately. With blank integral leaf. Some light age wear, otherwise about VG

Princess Anne Charlotte of Lorraine (1714-1773) Abbess of Remiremont and Mons 1738-73. With all proposals of marriage being either ignored or declined, the Princess was made the Abbess of the prestigious Remiremont Abbey on 10^th May 1738. Remiremont had previously been the 'property' of her elder sister Elisabeth Charlotte (who died from smallpox at the age of ten, before Anne Charlotte was born) who was the titular Abbess of Remiremont. Anne Charlotte's new title caused irritation between certain sovereign princes because the abbey, composed solely of ladies of high nobility and of which the temporal domain included a large number of towns, answered only to the authority of the pope.

Clement XII (1652-1740) Pope of the Catholic Church 1730-40.