Leopold Joseph (September 11, 1679 – March 27, 1729), was Duke of Lorraine from 1697 to 1702, and again, from 1714 to his death. In between, the region of Lorraine was under by France. He was the son of duke Charles IV of Lorraine, exiled in the Austrian court, and archduchess Eleanor Maria Josepha of Austria (1653-1697), daughter of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor.
Leopold recovered Lorraine in 1697, lost by his father to Louis XIV of France under the dispositions of the Treaty of Ryswick, which returned Lorraine and the Duchy of Bar to the ducal family.
Leopold was born in Vienna, a third son, and was at first educated for the priesthood, but the theological studies to which he was forced to apply himself are believed to have influenced his mind in a way unfavourable to the Church.
Leopold was too purely a politician not to be secretly pleased at the destruction of the power of France and of her influence in Europe by her internal disorders.
Leopold had sixteen children, the eldest of his eight sons being his successor, the emperor Francis II.
Joseph was born in the midst of the early upheavals of the War of the Austrian Succession.
Where Joseph differed from great contemporary rulers, and where he was very close akin to the Jacobins, was in the fanatical intensity of his belief in the power of the state when directed by reason, of his right to speak for the state uncontrolled by laws, and of the sensibility of his rule.
Joseph II married twice, first Isabella, daughter of Philip, duke of Parma, to whom he was attached.
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