I've read that Louis XV's wife, Maria Leczinska was choosen from a list of 99 eligble princesses of Europe, do we know who was on this list, or has it been lost to time?
If the full list exists, it's in the box K 139 B (Monuments Historiques series, "Boxes of the Kings") at the Archives Nationales, possibly attached to a report by count de Morville, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who had been ordered by the Duke of Bourbon to compile a list of eligible potential brides for 15-year-old Louis XV, after his engagement with Infanta Mariana Victoria of Spain had been broken. Authors who have read the box's contents repeatedly allude and quote Morville's report of 31 October 1724 (K139 B N°2468) but whether the full list is there is unclear: one should go to the Archives Nationales and check it.
The list was evaluated in a series of meetings of high-ranking officials. The number of princesses is either 99 or 100. It included twenty-five Catholics, three Anglicans, thirteen Calvinists, fifty-five Lutherans and three Greek Orthodox (total: 99). It was then reduced by eliminating 44 candidates aged 24 and over, 29 aged 12 and under, and ten princesses who were too poor or from lower branches, leaving 17 potential candidates (total: 100) whose personal qualities, religious status, family background and geostrategic importance were thoroughly examined:
Marie-Barbara, daughter of the King of Portugal, 14, Catholic. Marrying her after dismissing the Infanta was likely to offend Spain. Bad blood ran in the family, and her face had suffered from smallpox.
Theodora of Hesse-Darmstadt, a Lutheran. It was said that her mother gave birth alternately to "a girl and a hare". Bad blood too then.
Elisabeth Thérèse de Lorraine, 13. Her mother was an Orléans, and the Duke of Bourbon did not agree to that.
Elizabeth and Marie Petrovna, daughters of Czar Peter the Great. The former's mother was of low birth and the later was already engaged to Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp. No good.
Frederica Augusta, Princess of Prussia. Engaged to the elder son of the Prince of Wales and thus unsuitable.
Two nieces of the Margrave Albrecht, Calvinists. Meagre political advantage.
Charlotte Amélie, Princess of Denmark, Lutheran. Unprofitable alliance.
Charlotte Wilhelmina, Christine Wilhelmina of Saxony-Eisenach, Sophie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Lutheran. Too poor.
Henriette de Modène. Small house that had done too many misalliances.
Anne and Amélie, daughters of the Prince of Wales.
Henriette Louise, Demoiselle de Vermandois and Elisabeth Alexandrine, Demoiselle de Sens, sisters of the Duke of Bourbon.
The latter four were seriously considered. Bourbon did not want to be accused of self interest, so he chose the English princesses. However, the fact that they were Anglican raised many difficulties in England and France, and their grandfather Georges I turned down the offer.
Marie Leszczynska, daughter of former Polish King Stanislaus I Leszczynski, who was living in exile in Alsace, was poor, 6 years older than Louis XV, and not particularly pretty. She had been barely considered in the first round and quickly eliminated, but as time was running out and with no better candidate, her situation was reconsidered, and being a Catholic princess from a unthreatening background suddenly made her a good candidate.
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