The recorded history of Lorraine dates back to the medieval period. The land was originally an independent kingdom, created in 843, when the Carolingian empire was divided between the three sons of Louis the Pious. Named after the new ruler, Holy Roman Emperor Lothar, the area and other territories controlled by Lothar became known as Lotharingia. In France, this became known as Lorraine, while in Germany, it was known as Lothringen. For this reason, the name Lotharingia (land belonging to Lothar) is found on most of the medals of the Dukes and Duchesses of Lorraine.

The newly created kingdom covered a wide strip of land from the North Sea coast southwards to Italy, and included present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany west of the river Rhine, the French provinces of Alsace, Lorraine, Burgundy and Provence, Switzerland and parts of northern Italy. In 959, the duchy was divided into Upper and Lower Lorraine. The dukes of Upper Lorraine gradually came to be known simply as the dukes of Lorraine, as Lower Lorraine disintegrated into several smaller territories.

Over the years, Lorraine gradually lost status and territory, especially after the rise of the comtes de Bar to the west of the duchy (the territory Bar is also frequently referred to on the medal legends). Lorraine gradually assimilated into the French sphere of influence, an event hastened by a number of marriages of the Dukes of Lorraine into French royal families. However, formal French acquisition of the territory of Lorraine did not begin in earnest until the mid-17th century, and the duchy was only finally annexed by the kingdom of France in 1766 after the death of Stanislas Leszczinski Duke of Lorraine, who was the father-in-law of King Louis XV. (See medal of Stanislas Leszczinski by Marie Anne de St. Urbain, the daughter of Ferdinand de St. Urbain).

by Ferdinand and Claude Augustine Saint Urbain

The medals of the Dukes and Duchesses of Lorraine (The Lothringer Suite), constitute a series chronicling the royalty of this powerful medieval duchy. They were ordered by Duke Leopold I of Lorraine and were made jointly by Ferdinand de Saint Urbain and his son Claude Augustin between 1708 and about 1720. The collection consists of 37 medals, all but one of which is about 47 mm in diameter (the Title medal, which was made by Claude Augustin is 70 mm in diameter), and were struck in gold, silver, bronze, pewter and lead. The bulk of them (31) show the bust of the Duke on the obverse and his consort on the reverse; the remainder have either an inscription or symbolic devices on the reverse.

Many dukes of Lorraine married Austrian duchesses, which is not surprising as both dynasties are thought to have common ancestries, going back to the 10^th century. As most of the medals depict visages of personages long gone, the images likely were taken from paintings, sketches or the imagination of the artists.

In addition to the series shown here, only a small number of complete sets of these medals are now extant, one being in the Vienna Cabinet, another in the Paris Cabinet and perhaps one or so in private collections (see Mirnik, 2007).

SERIES OF THE DUKES AND DUCHESSES OF LORRAINE

Numbers in the list refer to those of Ivan Mirnik and (Leonard Forrer)

1. (18) Hugues, founder of the dynasty
2. (19) Eberhard
3. (20) Adalbert
4. (21) Albert
5. (22) Gérard
6. (23) Gérard of Alsace, first Duke of Lorraine; Rev. Hadruide of Namur
7. (24) Thierry; Rev. Gertrude of Flanders
8. (25) Simon I; Rev. Adelaïde of Querfort
9. (26) Mathieu I; Rev. Bertha of Sweden
10. (27) Simon II; Rev. Ida of Vienna
11. (28) Ferry I; Rev. Ludomilla of Poland
12. (29) Ferry II; Rev. Agnes of Bar
13. (30) Thiébault I; Rev. Gertrude of Asbourg
14. (31) Mathieu II; Rev. Catherine of Libourg
15. (32) Ferry III; Rev. Marguerite of Navarre
16. (33) Thiébault II; Rev. Isabelle de Roumigny
17. (34) Ferry IV; Rev. Isabelle of Austria
18. (35) Raoul; Rev. Marie of Blois
19. (36) Jean I; Rev. Sophie of Württemberg
20. (37) Charles II; Marguerite of Bavaria
21. (38) René I of Anjou; Rev. Isabelle of Lorraine
22. (39) Jean II of Anjou; Rev. Marie of Bourbon
23. (40) Nicolas of Anjou
24. (41) Ferry I., Count of Vaudemont; Rev. Marguerite de Joinville
25. (43) Antoine, Count of Vaudemont; Rev. Marie d’Harcourt
26. (44) Ferry II, Count of Vaudemont; Rev. Iolande of Anjou
27. (45) René II; Rev. Philippe of Guelders
28. (46) Anthoine; Rev. Renée de Bourbon
29. (47) François I; Rev. Christiana of Denmark
30. (48) Charles III; Rev. Claude of France
31. (49) Henry II; Rev. Marguerite of Gonzaga
32. (50) François II; Rev. Christienne of Salm
33. (51) Charles IV, Rev. Nicole of Lorraine
34. (52) Nicolas François; Rev. Claude of Lorraine
35. (53) Charles V; Rev. Eleonora Maria of Austria
36. (54) Leopold I; Rev. Madame Elizabeth Charlotte of Orleans
37. (55) Title medal of the series. Arms of Dukes of Lorraine; Inscription

See also: A bewitched duchy: Lorraine and its dukes, 1477-1736     by E. William Monter (from Google books )