Shifting between Religious and Economic Leadership.

This article looks how eighteenth century rulers shift back and forth between ecclesiastical and worldly leadership to obtain their goals. The setting is the small ecclesiastical and abbatial Principality of Stavelot-Malmédy during the election of its prince-abbot in 1787. This principality became increasingly entangled in the geopolitical-ecclesiastical rivalries between the Austrian Netherlands and the Prince-bishopric of Liège. Although this election has been studied before, little attention was given to the way leadership was influenced and how it reacted to these ecclesiastic and economic constraints. The archival sources can be found in the Archives générales du Royaume in Brussels (Conseil des Finances), Archives de l'état à Liège (États du Pays de Liège et du Comté de Looz, Abbaye de Stavelot-Malmédy, Principauté de Stavelot-Malmédy) and the Österreichisches Staatsarchiv in Vienna (Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]