France (Principia Moderni IV Map Game)

The Kingdom of France (French: Royaume de France) is a monarchy in Western Europe, originating as West Francia (Francia Occidentalis), the western half of the Carolingian Empire, with the Treaty of Verdun.

Before 1400
For more information see main article: History of France

1400 - 1500
At the turn of century, with Charles’s paranoid schizophrenia continuing to become more of a problem, a regency council was established by lords and nobles close to the king, gathering support from some counts, dukes, most of the Estates-General, and Pope Boniface IX. The two regents: Queen Consort Isabeau and Bishop Nicolas du Bosc, immediately started working on reconciling the rivaling Dukes of Burgundy and Orléans, and also encouraging unity among the French people against threats like England.

The regency immediately attempted to act as a mediator in both many national and international situations. In Paris, Regent Queen Consort Isabeau, King Charles VI, Duke Louis of Orléans, and Philip of Burgundy met in Louvre Castle to negotiate terms to end the two Duke's rivalry. At this meeting it was decided that the two dukes would get the special privilege to have advisors to the King. This became the Conseil des Racines in 1403, which contained two advisers from each Duke. The negotiations proved to be somewhat unsuccessful, as a misguided noble of Burgundy still assassinated Duke Louis. This led to two new actions by the regency, the creation of the "Cour de Seine" and the law, "Lex Tuitor". The Cour de Seine is a forum that meets every year in Paris which contains representatives from each vassal (which replaced the Conseil des Racines). While, "Lex Tuitor" established a bodyguard unit for each vassal, and established the Order of the Lily as the King's personal bodyguard. The regents also negotiated another peace and truce between the two parties to prevent escalation to a civil war.

In foreign affairs, the regents were able to persuade the English to back down from their siege of the Scottish capital with an ultimatum to invade the Angleterre, and renew the French Succession Wars. While the French maintained their relations with the Scottish, a new and strong relationship formed between the Castile and France. The regency also minimally participated in the Crusade against Trier, and signed the Treaty of Trier, which most of the forces consisting of Burgundian units. The Kingdom negotiated deals with the smaller nations of Brittany and Navarre to establish them as loose vassals to the French crown in 1406 and 1408.

In 1412, with the truce with England coming to the end, and seeing the weakness of their Kingdom, Nicolas du Bosc issued a declaration of war to the English crown. This followed with a quick and organized heavy decisive victories and seizures of their fortresses. Raids were also done on the English trade network, and the islands of Jersey and Guernsey were briefly captured by French forces. Small skirmishes happened on the coast, but England couldn't achieve a decisive naval landing. Around 1415, seeing how France was occupied, the Kingdom of Aragon declared war on the French vassal kingdom of Navarre. The Aragonese troops quickly pushed through the Navarran countryside, and arrived at the fortress of Pamplona with thirty thousand men. After hearing of the news, the regents dispatched forty thousand men under L'Isle Adam to defend the castle. The troops arrived just in time with Aragonese cannons almost destroying the walls around the garrison. The siege looked indecisive, with food supplies being brought to both sides of the battle. The next year with the death of Aragonese King, and one decisive sally, the Aragonese troops withdrew from French lands. The army under Aragon was battered, but not completely destroyed, and the French chose not to follow it, as they thought there would be another way of attackers coming from England. The new King of Aragon, established a ceasefire and in 1417, and peace was negotiated between the two kingdoms, restoring relations. Seeing that the siege of his ally was unsuccessful, Henry V finally bowed into French demands and signed the Treaty of Cherbourg in 1417. After winning these two conflicts the regency cemented their legitimacy to rule the nation.

During the same decade, Charles VI had his third major outbreak where he exiled his own family from Paris and ran through the streets naked. This led to the use of the "Lex Insanus" law and the removal of Charles VI from the royal palace and to Hôtel Barbette with his mistress.

Administrative Divisions
The Kingdom of France is a very decentralized nation, with many duchies, counties, and other vassals inside of it. The crown lands, crown estate, royal domain or (in French) domaine royal (from demesne) of France refers to the lands, fiefs and rights directly possessed by the Kings of France. The rest of the French domain is divided amongst the vassals under the crown.

Currency
The Livre has been the currency of France from 781 to Present. The livre was established by Charlemagne as a unit of account equal to one pound of silver. It was subdivided into 20 sous (also sols), each of 12 deniers. The word livre came from the Latin word libra, a Roman unit of weight.

The currency minted at the city of Tours in Touraine was considered very stable, and Philip II decided to adopt the livre tournois as the standard currency of his lands, gradually replacing even the livre of Paris, and ultimately the currencies of all French-speaking areas he controlled. This was a slow process lasting many decades and not completed within Philip II's lifetime. From 1360, coins worth 1 livre tournois are minted known as francs.