| Amiens War | |||||||||
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 Charles IV rallies the French army at Lens, a Romantic 19th century work by Alexandre-Évariste Fragonard (Galerie des Batailles, Palace of Versailles) |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 France
Supported by:
|  Lotharingia
Supported by: |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Charles IV
| Godfried II
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The Amiens War, also known as the Franco-Lotharingian War, or sometimes the Alsace War, refers to multiple concurrent conflicts around the disputed city of Amiens and other border territories in northeast France. Prior to the war the city of Amiens had been claimed by Lotharingia since the 1489 Treaty of Kales, however, this was disputed by France as well as the Kingdom of Arles-Burgundy. After negotiations failed, in 1547 Arles invaded southern Lotharingia, and was joined by the Duchy of Habsburg and the Messin Republic. As a third claimant to Amiens, France under Charles IV invaded Lotharingia the following year, creating a second theatre to the conflict around Artois.
Although both invasions proved initially successful, capturing their intended goals and more, both France and Arles would experience several setbacks over the course of the war. Infighting with Arles' alliance and careful diplomacy from Lotharingia managed to turn the largely Jungist Alsace League, led by the Archbishopric of Trier, away from the leadership of the Catholic Habsburgs. France would become plagued with sectarian violence in the south of the nation, at the instigation of Spain, while Lotharingian and English fleets controlled the seas around France. As both Arles and France sought the territory occupied, conflict between the two co-belligerents proved inevitable.
Despite this, France managed to hold southern Artois against Lotharingian counterattack, negotiating a favorable peace by June 1551. The former allies in the Lorraine region would soon become embroiled in a conflict along religious and political lines, which eventually developed into an imperial civil war in the Holy Roman Empire. The support to France by the French king's brother, Emperor Henry X, as well as his support for an antipope in Zephyrinus II, would be major factors in the election of an antiking in Leopold II, one of the indisputable leaders and beneficiaries of the Amiens War. The war would end with a brief conflict between Arles and France, which ultimately saw Arles retake the territory it captured from Lotharingia, but lose its claim to Amiens, as well as other territories, to the French.
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