Alternative History

Kingdom of France
Royaume de France
987 – 1682 Secretariat France Flag Morte
Royal Standard of the King of France Grand Royal Coat of Arms of France & Navarre
Flag Coat of arms
Motto
Montjoie Saint Denis!
Capital Paris
Languages
Latin, French (official)
Breton, Franco-Provençal, Occitan, Norman, Picard, Champenois, Angevin, Gallo, Burgundian, Poitevin, Basque, Alsatian
Religion
Roman Catholicism (987-1521)
Gallicanism (Official from 1521)
Mainstream Jungism
Wagnerism
Government Feudal absolute
monarchy
Monarch
 -  987–996 Hugh Capet
 -  1180–1223 Philip II
 -  1364–1380 Charles V
 -  1477-1517 William II
 -  1517-1544 Jaromir
 -  1603-1634 Louis XII
Legislature Estates General
(1302–)
Historical era Middle Ages / Early modern
 -  Established 987
 -  Disestablished 1682
Currency Livre, Livre parisis, Livre tournois, Denier, Sol/Sou, Franc, Écu, Louis d'or

The Kingdom of France (Old French: Reaume de France, Middle French: Royaulme de France, French: Royaume de France) was a medieval and early modern monarchy in Western Europe. It was among the most powerful states in Europe and a great power since the High Middle Ages. It was also an early colonial power, with possessions around the world.

France originated as West Francia (Francia Occidentalis), the western half of the Carolingian Empire, with the Treaty of Verdun (843). A branch of the Carolingian dynasty continued to rule until 987, when Hugh Capet was elected king and founded the Capetian dynasty. The territory remained known as Francia and its ruler as rex Francorum ("king of the Franks") well into the High Middle Ages. The first king to call himself Roi de France ("King of France") was Philip II, in 1190. France continued to be ruled by the Capetians and their cadet lines until the death of Joan I in 1537, after which France was ruled by the Přemyslid Dynasty.

France in the Middle Ages was a de-centralised, feudal monarchy. In Brittany and Catalonia (now a part of Spain) the authority of the French king was barely felt. Lorraine and Provence were states of the Holy Roman Empire and not yet a part of France. Initially, West Frankish kings were elected by the secular and ecclesiastic magnates, but the regular coronation of the eldest son of the reigning king during his father's lifetime established the principle of male primogeniture, which became codified in the Salic law. During the Late Middle Ages, rivalry between the Capetian Dynasty, rulers of the Kingdom of France and their vassals the House of Plantagenet, who also ruled the Kingdom of England, resulted in many armed struggles. The most notorious of them all are the series of conflicts known as the Hundred Years' War in which the kings of England laid claim to the French throne.

History[]

Reign of William II (1477-1517)[]


Rubens apostel johannes grt

William II would be the last French monarch from the direct House of Capet, and would lay the foundation for the Gallican Church.

William II, who reigned from 1477 to 1517, would become one of the most consequential kings of the early modern period, overseeing France’s emergence as a unified and powerful state, and ruling during the early years of the Protestant Reformation. Coming to the throne in 1477, William II’s early reign was characterized by frequent conflicts with the nobility, most notably William’s uncle Francis of Berry, and his foreign-backed faction the League of the Public Weal. William II was initially disinterested in administration and matters of war, instead showing a passion for the arts and entertainment, and was plagued by rumors regarding his sexuality and eccentric behavior. Nonetheless, following a fallout with Francis of Berry the king instituted widespread reforms hoping to centralize the nation and modernize its army, laying the groundwork for a larger and more efficient fighting force. By the middle of the 1480s William’s new army had begun to crack down on roaming mercenaries and independent-minded forces that threatened the nation’s integrity, growing the professional army from 6,000 to 20,000 strong, much to the chagrin of France’s historical enemies.

This military build up would lead to covert support for rebellion across France from the likes of the Swiss Confederacy and the Spanish. As the face of the League of the Public Weal and a potential claimant to the throne itself, Francis of Berry was accused of being a part of a conspiracy to overthrow William II. He would be imprisoned and died soon after, although a rebellion was sparked known as Berry’s Rebellion, largely led by Francis’ son Victor. The rebellion dramatically tested William’s new fighting force, expanding the French army to one of the most well equipped in terms of firearms and cannons, the latter becoming renowned across the continent. After the Battle of Rugles personally led by William the rebellion subsided, with many of the supporters of Victor of Berry being granted clemency. The discovery of Swiss intervention in the conflict, both indirectly and directly, worsened tensions with the Swiss. After the declaration of the Lenzburg-Premyslid War by Henry VIII the French also declared war on the Swiss.

1838 François-Édouard Picot - The Siege of Calais

French forces storming the city of Geneva.

The conflict with the Swiss Confederacy would see France face invasion from the Spanish as well as the Kingdom of Arles and the Kingdom of Lotharingia. Due in part to Spanish influence in the Papal States, William II would be excommunicated by the Pope, although this would not be the last time this would occur. The war would prove particularly devastating, although the French were largely successful. The Swiss would be repulsed from France and forced to flee into the interior of the Swiss Confederacy, allowing the French to successfully besiege and capture Geneva. The primary theatre for the French would be along the Franco-Spanish border, with the French eager to reclaim lost territory north of the Pyrenees. William proved an intelligent and inspiring commander much to the surprise of the nobility based on his feminine stereotypes. While personally leading soldiers on the frontline, William encountered numerous near death experiences, but his presence managed to propel the French army to victory across the south of the nation. When Spanish efforts caused a revolt near Bordeaux in 1490, the King personally rode up to one rebel army, unarmed and by himself, and shouted, “Here I am. Kill your King, if you wish.” Instead the soldiers responded, “Long live the King” and arrested their rebel lord instead.

Despite William’s heroisms, France found itself increasingly indebted, low on manpower, and highly strained by the conflict. His insistence on victory led many in France to abandon him, and prolonged warfare, especially in the south near the border with Spain, caused widespread devastation. At the start of 1489 the Kingdom of Lotharingia launched its offensive into northern France, despite initially signing a non-aggression pact with the French. This forced William to rush north with a portion of his army, leaving the Spanish border at a standstill. The crucial Battle of Compiègne defeated the Lotharingians and pushed them over the border, while their ill timed attempts to seize Aachen simultaneously only turned a coalition of German states against them. Thus the Lotharingian intervention accomplished little, and within a year Lotharingia was forced to make peace and relinquish Jülich and other minor territories. William made plans for a final offensive that year to push the Spanish behind the Pyrenees, but with France’s resources spent and the introduction of Portugal to the Spanish alliance, he finally settled with the annexation of only a part of Spain’s northern territories.

Truce of Nice 1538

The Concordat of Bologna, which marked a truce between France and the Papal States.

Following the war with Spain relations with the Papal States only deteriorated, beginning a decades long religious feud. Devastation brought on by the recent wars, and the feud with the papacy led to William II pursuing a policy of breaking from papal authority. A series of rebellions broke out throughout the 1490s, known collectively as the War for Peter’s Pence, which was directly brought about by William II’s taxation policies against Catholic properties and his feud with the papacy over ultimate religious authority in France. This corresponded with the proliferation of widespread humanist ideas; by the end of the century France had one of the most robust printing press industries, spurring the spread of religious and ideological treatises. A lapse in government authority broke out especially in the south, which coincided with the rise of discontent in the Catholic church. With the church embroiled in costly feuds elsewhere, most notably the Florentine Wars and the Henrician Civil War, Pope Pius III signed a truce with William II that lifted his many excommunications and allowed the king to appoint clergy and collect taxes and income from church lands, in what became known as the Concordat of Bologna. In exchange William II lifted support for rebels in the Italian peninsula, sent a small contingent of soldiers to aid in combating heretical sects in Thuringia, and allowed a multinational inquisition in southern France.

The treaty with the Papacy further consolidated control of the country under the king and helped to keep the nation financially afloat. The foundation would be laid for the Gallican Church, a Roman Catholic state church built on the theory that the power of monarchs was independent of the power of popes, and that the church of each country should be under the joint control of the pope and the monarch. Later in life following the commencement of the Protestant Reformation, William II sowed the seeds of a Jungist church in France, although he never claimed to be anything but Catholic himself. Under William II the French would also begin exploration and colonization of the wider world. In the early 1500s French merchants negotiated a favorable trade agreement with the nation of Mali, which eventually evolved into a limited alliance of opportunity against the Portuguese of Spanish. He also sponsored the first French voyages to the New World, making contact with the nation of Vinland, which became a de facto French puppet for a brief period after a war with the Celtic Confederacy and its allies.

Battle of Castillon

The 1490 Battle of Perpignan during the Franco-Spanish War proved a decisive demonstration of the military reforms of William II.

William II would develop the military strategy which would dominate French foreign policy for the next two centuries. Following the Lenzburg-Premyslid War, which made France appear to be completely surrounded on all sides by the likes of Spain, Arles, Lotharingia, and England, France pursued a policy of aligning with the powerful Premyslid dynasty of Bohemia, who most often than not ruled as Holy Roman Emperor. This allowed most of France’s enemies to be surrounded themselves; Lotharingia would face the French to the west and the German states to the east after the Aachen Crisis, as would Arles and its territory in Burgundy, while the Spanish territories in Italy were effectively surrounded in the subsequent Italian Wars. This proved highly advantageous, allowing France to thwart future coalitions and expand eastward, most notably in the Amiens War.

As part of this strategy William had one of his close relatives, Joan of Berry, married to the grandson of Henry VIII, later known as Jaromir I, initially without much notice. However, William II never produced any heirs himself, and it soon became a real possibility that a personal union could emerge between Bohemia and France. After a brief and unhappy marriage to Beatrice of Savoy which lasted until 1490, William never again married and never had any children. With the near extinction of the House of Berry after their frequent rebellions, this seemingly left no remaining male heirs in the House of Capet, and as such William named his niece Joan of Berry as his heir. The last two decades of his life would be spent attempting to legitimize this in the eyes of the French nobility and the rest of Europe, to partial success. The French nobility would be forced to sign oaths pledging fealty to Joan prior to William’s death, while French laws were reexamined to permit such a succession. Jaromir adopted French customs and titles himself and spent years in France proper. It was settled that both would be crowned as ruling monarchs shortly before William II’s death.

Rise of the Přemyslids[]


Charles V and Empress Isabella of Portugal, by Peter Paul Rubens

The twin monarchs Jaromir and Joan, who ushered in the Přemyslid period of French history.

Despite William II’s preparations, the succession of Joan and Jaromir as rulers of France did not go without opposition. The couple would face the Wars of the French Succession, which saw numerous rebellions in favor of most distant claimants to the French throne, such as Charles the Affable of La Marche, often with the support of Spain or other foreign powers. With Jaromir’s ascension to the Holy Roman Empire in 1522, he effectively became the most powerful monarch in Europe, ruling over France, Bohemia, and much of Germany. With this power came considerable difficulty and personal cost, and France became increasingly relied upon to quell various rebellions and fight wars across Europe. Jaromir I would champion the Catholic side during the early Reformation in an effort to keep the Holy Roman Empire and his authority intact, a strategy he inherited from his father Ottokar I. To this end he fought numerous wars against the newly formed Rätian Union. France’s interest in such affairs was lackluster, especially given Joan’s sympathy toward the Jungist cause. Following her death in 1537 the country was briefly ruled by Jaromir solely, although he relied almost completely on French ministers to govern the territory for him. With his abdication and later death in 1544 the thrones of Bohemia and France were split.

While Bohemia became ruled by Henry X, France came to be ruled by his younger brother Charles IV. During his reign the nation of France continued to become invested in the New World and the subjugation of Vinland. During a widespread Irish rebellion against the Celtic Confederacy, France sent a costly expedition to Ireland to aid in the rebellion, which proved unsuccessful. During the Kerpen War of 1541-1547, which saw a Catholic-backed theocracy in northern Germany ransack France’s ally the Hanseatic League, limited support was given against the forces of Henry von Kerpen. With the Roman Catholic Church subsequently becoming damaged and divided following the conflict, with an antipope in Germany being declared, the French Gallican Catholic Church grew considerably throughout the early 1500s, although the church soon became internally divided among Catholics and those wishing to reform the church further. In 1548 this would spill over into the Bishops’ War, a brief rebellion primarily in Occitania involving Catholic dissenters following the king’s acquiescence to the reformers.

War of Affirmation (Sacred Accord)

Charles IV rallies the French army at Lens during the Amiens War.

The largest conflict of Charles IV’s reign would prove to be the Amiens War, which saw France invade the Kingdom of Arles-Burgundy. This created a diplomatic crisis in the House of Přemyslid, as Holy Roman Emperor Henry X did not approve of increased foreign invasion of the empire, but was hesitant to act against his brother. The war would ultimately see France make territorial gains at the expense of Burgundy, despite intervention on the part of Lotharingia and England. Henry X’s support for this outcome, as well as his support for antipope Zephyrinus II, would lead to a papal-backed election of an antiking in Leopold II of the Duchy of Habsburg, greatly harming the Franco-Bohemian side. Following the War of the Three Henrys, Bohemia effectively converted to Jungism in 1560.

The throne passed to Henry II in 1565, which saw France’s involvement in the ongoing Lotharingian Civil War increase. France became an early ally and defender of Belgica, the breakaway federal republic modeled after the reformed teachings of Richard Wagner. Henry II’s religious policy would see France adopt more Jungist teachings in the Gallican Church, fully severing ties to Catholicism in France. Despite this numerous Catholic rebellions would take place over the century, including the Bishops’ War of 1548, the Foix War of 1551-1553, the Wars of Religion of 1568-1576 and 1603. These wars became increasingly regionalized in southern France, where the last strongholds of Catholicism remained and where supply from Spain or Italy was most favorable.

Forty Years’ War[]


Young man in armor, by Peter Paul Rubens

Louis XII, nicknamed "The Young Achilles", became the unexpected champion of France during the turbulent Forty Years' War.

Prior to the Forty Years' War the nation of France had formally adopted the Gallican Church, a French-branded Protestant sect, as the state religion of the nation, which included France toward the side of Protestants in Germany. However, France was also in a dynastic union with the Přemyslid realms of Bohemia and Livonia, which often placed it tacitly on the side of Catholic nations during the reign of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. France additionally intervened on the side of Belgica during the Hundred Years' War of the Lowlands, until a ceasefire was established with the 1590 Treaty of The Hague. The final years of the reign of Henry III left France in an inadequate position for a major war.

The events of several recent wars in the New World and the British Isles, notably a failed armada against the Celtic Union, and other ambitious projects strained the nation's treasury, compounded by lingering tensions from the partial protestantization of the nation. The mountainous regions of France, where support from Navarre and Spain was plentiful, refused to give up Catholicism or support the endeavors of the French king. New taxes levied by the government, such as the paulette tax, and well as the increased sale of offices to make up this difference antagonized the nobility across the board. Opposition was also mounted to foreign advisors and artisans that Henry III employed from Italy and Germany, many of which were Catholic. When Henry III died in 1603, the throne passed to his thirteen year old son Louis XII, and the country was governed by a series of unpopular regents appointed by his mother.

The Queen Mother and her favorite, Peter Jeannin, quarreled with other members of the court, such as Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, and in late 1603 Bourbon raised an army with the support of several dissatisfied nobles, nearly prompting a civil war. However, the two armies never came to blows and instead a meeting of the Estates General was called to address the grievances. These negotiations accomplished little, and all the while French Catholics became increasingly defiant to the crown, eventually boiling over into full rebellion. One of the Queen's ministers, the Duke of Luynes, as well as Puritan military leader Noël Brûlart, likely intentionally inflamed the situation in the hopes of instigating a crackdown against French Catholics by military force, however, this backfired when Luynes persuaded the crown to attack the Catholic stronghold of Bordeaux, only to be defeated in combat. Upon his next birthday, Louis XII intervened to have Luynes replaced by the Duke of Lesdiguières in what became a bloodless coup in the royal palace. His mother was sent into exile in Blois, two of the palace's Italian advisors were executed, a third was tried for witchcraft, and several others were imprisoned or exiled.

As king Louis XII placed power in some unlikely hands, favoring merit over the prestige of those he promoted. The Grand Falconer Gédéon Vivonne, Archbishop Raoal Després, and Nicholas Hytholoday, a descendant of the famed explorer Raphael Hytholoday, made up the core of his cabinet, while Lesdiguières was made First Minister. However, fearing the duke's ambitions, the king had Lesdiguières placed in command of securing Brittany to keep him away from the capital. The king aligned with the Puritans at court, taking advantage of the loyalty of the famed New Model Army, a puritan wing of the French military famous for its zealotry and discipline, to lead a counterattack against French rebels in the south. Moving quickly into the Occitan region, this rapid campaign took the French Catholics by surprise. Louis XII would see his first battle near Limoges that October, defeating an army under the command of Charles d'Albert. The war would continue into 1605, becoming one of the bloodiest in the long French Wars of Religion, and ultimately culminated in the Sack of Montauban. Negotiating from a position of power, Louis XII received the submission of the Catholic nobility in exchange for reassurances that their religion would be tolerated as had been done previously. Under this arrangement, several fortifications were razed, and the French Catholic nobility was to supply France with soldiers and taxes once more. The king was also reconciled with the Duke of Bourbon, who proved an important ally later in the Forty Years' War.

The peace would last for the majority of Louis XII's reign, affording him the ability to look outside France and in the ensuing crisis in Germany. The success of the Catholic League thus far threatened to further surround France, as now France was cut off from many of its Jungist allies in western Germany by the Habsburg-Palatinate alliance which essentially dominated the entire Rhine from Switzerland to the North Sea. France's historic ally the Hanseaitc League, which was often pursued as a counter to the Lowland states, had been dismantled, and France was now surrounded on three sides by the House of Luxembourg, who ruled the United Kingdom, England, and Spain simultaneously. France's intervention in the war would therefore be on the side of the Protestant alliance, although it began in slow order. During the final days of his campaign on the continent, George II of Denmark received minor subsidies from the French crown, a practice that became intensified with Sweden throughout most of the war.

Footnotes[]

This article is part of Merveilles des Morte.