A Glorious Exception: James V Survives

It soon became apparent that when Charles Valois had marched north towards the Battle of Orleans he had brought more with him than men and weapons, for outbreaks of the sweating sickness were reported to be occurring throughout the northern Catholic area of France along the route by which the pretender had come. By early February the disease reached epidemic levels in the north and on February 24th, 1546 it entered the city of Paris. Panic spread throughout the streets as more and more people fell ill to the disease and neither noble nor peasant was spared. The most important death however, would occur in early March for on March 5th, the young Prince Henry Valois, the son and heir of Henry II, caught the sickness. His mother Catherine, who was heavily pregnant at the time and set to give birth within weeks, was barred from seeing her son during his final hours despite pleads from both mother and child, as was the boy's father because many feared for the King to fall ill. After several days of suffering the heir to the French throne, Prince Henry, died coughing and ill on the morning of March 11th. Both Catherine and Henry were devastated.

Losing his heir would have been bad enough for the French King, but as fate would have it the physician set to deliver the Queen's baby fell ill likely due to attending to Prince Henry and was unable to assist when Catherine de Medici went into labor on March 13th, 1546. It soon became clear to her attendants that something was gravely wrong. When a girl was given birth to the Queen still showed signs of labor. She was pregnant with twins. The second child however was lodged wrong and both mother and the unborn child began to fade away. Catherine, upon realizing what was occurring, ordered physicians to attempt to remove her child in any way possible and, with the consent of the King, there was an attempt to cut the child from her. Initially it was successful and the piercing screams of another girl were soon heard echoing through the chambers. But those screams would suddenly fade away as the child gave into a fit of coughing and suffocated to death due to an inability to breathe. In the meantime Catherine de Medici, the formidable Queen of France and the daughter of the famed Medici family, bled to death in her bed, leaving a disappointed husband and one surviving daughter. The surviving twin, the one which was born first, was christened Catherine in honor of her deceased mother and baptized in the Cathedral of Notre Dame with a ceremony fitting her as the Princess of France and the closest thing her father had to an heir. Days later a funeral worthy of the finest Queen in Europe would be held for Catherine de Medici in the exact same spot, despite fears of the plague. 8 people were reportedly killed in the stampede to see the Queen off.

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Catherine De Medici, the Queen of France (1519-1546)

Henry II's brother Charles meanwhile, had much better fortune in the months following the Battle of Orleans, despite the fact it had ended in defeat. The Spanish Navy secured numerous ports along the northern and southern coasts of France and forced them either to join Charles' cause or be heavily occupied. Meanwhile Spanish troops were reinforcing Charles' army which had been defeated at Orleans and during February and March the pretender led campaigns which subdued the majority of Aquitaine, in which there was little resistance due to the headway that Calvinism had been making.

Factions would soon emerge in the cause supporting the elevation of Charles as King, between Catholics and Protestants. The would-be Queen, Mary Hapsburg led the Catholics among the supporters of Charles and advocated for an end to the harsh penalties towards the Protestants, but the continuation of Catholicism as the state religion. The Protestants meanwhile, led by Jeanne of Navarre, advocated for a full break with Rome, equal rights for Calvinists (but not necessarily other Protestants) and also for the ending of religious orders within the country. Charles attempted to please both sides during the war, but knew should he emerge victorious, the possibility for another civil war remained extremely high. For while Protestants remained a significant minority, they were making major headway in the lands controlled by Charles and there were even some reports of iconoclasm and clashes between the Catholics and Calvinists in the cities of Lyon and Bordeaux.

Emperor Charles V ended his campaign in Northern Germany in early April 1546, viewing it as a success due to the capture of many of the major leaders of the Protestant alliance against him. Despite this however, the original goal of the campaign remained unfulfilled for the majority of the population remained Lutheran and hostile to Rome despite the Emperor's best attempts at full conversion without all out bloodshed. Regardless Charles V did march back south with numerous prisoners and the dissent towards him coming from that region of the Empire remained muted for the rest of his reign.

In Spain there would also be good news for Charles V. For on May 9th, 1546 Philip, the only son of Charles, and his wife Maria Manuela of Portugal were blessed with the birth of a son, Charles. It was bittersweet though for while both mother and child were to survive the child was sickly and many thought him to be weak which was something no potential King wanted to hear said about themselves, no matter how young.

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Prince Charles, the Grandson of Charles V at the age of 4 years

In England, Seymour and his allies at Court realized that, should Charles Valois ascend to the throne in France, England would be surrounded by enemies for Scotland would remain hostile and the whole of Europe would be against them. The Council therefore decided to look east to Scandinavia to find a power strong enough to ward off Hapsburg attempts to return England to the Catholic fold and place Mary on the throne. Denmark-Norway was ruled out by many due to the fact that they were overshadowed by their rising, and much more powerful neighbor, Sweden.

Gustav Vasa had followed a path of similar, continued confrontation with the Papacy to that of Edward VI's father, Henry VIII. With this often reminded to the Lutheran Swedish King the Regency Council formally proposed that Sweden and England form a "Protestant Alliance" to ward of the powers of "Charles, France, and the Papacy". While initially reluctant to negotiate with a power so far to the West, Gustav would finally consent on one condition, that his daughter Catherine marry Edward VI when both came of age in order to ensure continued friendship and to prevent England from going back on its word. Seymour, viewing this as a bargain, accepted and almost immediately (on July 11th 1546) requested that Catherine be sent to England to be educated on the customs of her potential subjects and in order to meet her future husband. Gustav would accept and by the end of summer Catherine, a mere girl of seven, would be en route to England with her substantial Swedish retinue including maids, musicians, and Lutheran priests, for one point of the Treaty also highlighted that the Princess would be allowed to keep her faith so long as she was content to allow her potential children to be raised in the Church of England.

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Gustav Vasa, Edward VI's potential father-in-law and ally

In Scotland meanwhile, during the early months of 1546, James V would receive news of the death of Prince Henry of Valois, who had been betrothed to his daughter Mary. While this was disappointing to the Scottish King, worse news would follow days later when word finally reached Scotland that the Spanish fleet had seized much of the ports along the Northern French coast, preventing any chance Scotland had of getting an army to Henry II. James V, apparently deeply frustrated, scrapped his plans for a landing days later and resigned himself to waiting out the War of the Two Charleses, as the conflict was becoming known in France. In hindsight the fact that the King was unable to move men out of Scotland and down south was actually a blessing, for the Earl of Arran and the other Protestants in hiding in Scotland had been planning to organize a rebellion once the bulk of the Scottish troops had left which would've set James' son up as James VI, with Arran as his regent, and turned the realm towards Calvinism. With the plot unknowingly prevented by the Spanish however, Arran would go back to his estates and quietly bide his time until he could strike once more and regain his pride which had been seized by the King during his forced reconversion.

The Papacy would react cautiously to the events of the War of the Two Charleses, well aware that supporting Henry II too much risked alienating Charles and pushing France into Calvisinist hands. Whereas during the early days of the Reformation the Papacy would have had little trouble excommunicating Charles Valois, not caring about the consequences, it had learned from its mistakes. For the policy of excommunication was nowhere near as effective as it had once been and furthermore served to cut all ties of countries with Rome, often permanently. Instead, while the Church stated it recognized Henry II as the legitimate heir to Francis, envoys were sent to Charles Valois with the assistance of Mary Hapsburg, and they promised him the Church would not excommunicate him if he should seize the throne and furthermore reminded him that the realm of France was majority Catholic and the Prince could not hope to govern as a Protestant in such a place. Paul III was refusing to put all of his eggs in one basket.

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Pope Paul III

At the Council of Mantua, in the early 1546 session, the main issue which took center stage was the War of the Two Charleses. For the French delegation expressed hopes that the Council be postponed until peace was once again established so they could actually be able to attend instead of being holed up in war torn France, but the Spanish delegation was almost as equally persistent that the Council continue regardless of the continued French presence or not. The Spanish Cardinals then won over the Italian delegations and by a majority vote it was determined that the Council would continue as scheduled. The French were not to be outdone however, and knowing that many of the Cardinals would be unable to return for the 1547 session if the war continued, it was resolved that a select few remain in the city of Mantua so France would be able to maintain its voice in the upcoming sessions. This proved to be the only issue during the 1546 session and it adjourned with very little completed, thereby giving Martin Luther a platform to continue publishing dissent towards it.

Since the start of the Council of Mantua, Martin Luther had been largely quiet, dealing with the invasion of Charles V instead of religious matters but with Charles' retreat in 1546 the former monk was free to publish once more. Proving that Protestantism was not a united, cohesive force Luther denounced Charles Valois and his attempts to seize the throne of France, just as he had lambasted Henry VIII during his attempted to divorce Catherine of Aragon many years prior. Luther called Charles Valois and the Calvinists behind him phonies and decried them for throwing aside established precedent for succession in order to get better Calvinist rights, something which he scoffed at. From denouncing Charles Valois and Charles V, Luther would also go on to attack the Calvinist faith, the Papacy, the Jews, and Islam all in his final work, published in late 1546. Following this the long time leader of the Lutheran movement put down his pen for the final time on the afternoon of September 3rd, 1546. Luther was dead, but his followers remained still devout and still determined to continue the Reformation which they had started.

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Martin Luther (1483-1546)
 
I actually feel pretty solid about the plausibility of the last update. IOTL Catherine de Medici was pregnant with twins and nearly died with only one of the two children surviving, it was a girl who lived for about a month.
 
It was no secret that the Church of England remained extremely diverse in the beliefs of both its members as well as its clergy and this was a large threat to both Cranmer and Seymour, as was evidenced by the attempt by the Catholics to try Cranmer as a heretic just years prior. Therefore in August 1546 the regency council, in the name of the King, called a Convocation of the English bishops in order to standardize both the rituals and the positions of the Church of England. Cranmer was to preside over the first, and what many hoped would be the only, session of the meeting and was given extensive powers by the Council in order to ensure a Protestant agenda was enforced. He was given the right to veto positions put forward by the bishops that he found incorrect or too conservative, something which caused many Catholic bishops to avoid attending all together, with them instead announcing a separate council to be held at Winchester but were prevented from actually organizing the event by the personal intervention of Seymour, who declared such an act would be treason and those who went forward would be arrested and executed.

Among the biggest opponents of the Convocation was Mary Tudor who immediately began correspondence with both the Emperor as well as her cousin James V. Initially her plan was to escape the Kingdom, but she was persuaded against doing so by Charles V, who feared that if Mary left the Catholic cause in England would receive a severe blow and she would forfeit her claim. Therefore Henry VIII's eldest daughter remained on her estates quietly biding her time and waiting for the Protestants to slip up.

Catherine Vasa landed in England just mere days after the annunciation of the Convocation, coming ashore near Ipswich. The Swedish Princess was then paraded through the English countryside alongside her tutors, Lutheran priests, and ladies-in-waiting. Catherine, despite being extremely young, was almost as devout as her future husband Edward VI, except unlike him she adhered to Lutheranism, viewing it as one piece of home she was able to keep when all else had been taken away from her and she'd been forced to come to England. This naturally gave her a disdain for both the English people as well as her betrothed, the King. She viewed his beliefs as heretical and too radical and reportedly took badly to him from the beginning. Edward, likewise, did not like his bride much either, and attempted to push her into converting to the Church of England the very first time they met in London, causing the Princess to stormily refuse and start crying. Needless to say it became clear to Seymour the couple would have to be raised separately if he was to retain any favor from his nephew and so after a week at court Catherine Vasa and her entourage were sent to stay with Edward's younger sister Elizabeth. The Swedish diplomats would view this as an insult, as Elizabeth was legally a bastard, but Catheirne would take well to her future sister-in-law, and reportedly even influenced Elizabeth to consider joining the Lutheran Church. It was Elizabeth, not Edward, with whom Catherine would find friendship within England.

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Landing of Catherine Vasa at Ipswich (1546)

The death of the Dauphin and the Queen was a huge blow to not only to Henry, but also to the cause of the Legitimists (what Henry's supporters called themselves). It was whispered by many nobles that the deaths in quick succession of the King's spouse and then heir, along with the fact he had twin daughters and not sons, was the divine intervention of God himself as a way to show the people of France to join Charles' cause for the throne. The city of Orleans, the primary title of Henry's younger brother, declared its loyalty to Charles and overthrew the Henrican "Legitimist" troops in bloody riots and impromptu executions. Hearing of this caused Charles to march north with quick pace and he arrived in Orleans, the city where he had been dealt one of his biggest defeats months prior, without bloodshed or incident.

The news of Charles' movements forced Henry to act once more. The King sent envoys to Poland, England, and various Lutheran princes in the Holy Roman Empire asking for the hands of the rulers' daughters or sisters in marriage. Mary Tudor, one of the potential brides, refused to even see the envoy and reaffirmed her loyalty to her cousin, the Emperor. In Poland however, the envoys would receive the consent of the old King Sigismund for Henry to marry his daughter Catherine. Instead of a dowry, Poland would join the war against the Hapsburgs and would form a permanent alliance with France. Henry had little choice but to accept the offer and Catherine was whisked through northern Germany in secret to marry her husband to be. In the meantime news throughout France was spread by the Legitimists that Henry was looking for an Italian bride in order to distract the Hapsburgs and "Reformes" while Poland prepared for war.

On August 14th, 1546 Catherine Jagiellon arrived in Paris quietly and was married to the King in a secret ceremony presided over by the Cardinal of Guise. Henry then performed his marital duties before rejoining his men late in the evening and marching off to expel his brother from Orleans.

Sigismund, true to his word, launched a surprise attack on Bohemia from Poland with his fresh and newly mobilized men and took much of the northern half of the country. This stunning and surprising action threw the Hapsburgs into a tailspin as their homelands were suddenly being raided. Charles V immediately moved out of France upon hearing the news and began the long winter trek west to free Bohemia in October 1546. Many of the lands abandoned by the Holy Roman troops in the autumn of 1546 immediately professed their loyalty to Henry once more and enacted the systematic murder of Protestants in the cities they controlled. While they may have been loyal to Henry II, the cities were governed by either mob rule or anarchy, and not by the King himself. Troyes fell into chaos and Nancy saw a group of local clergy set up a theocratic city state in the name of the King.

Charles and Henry fought each other in the city of Chartes as the Duke of Orleans moved to take Paris. Henry was expecting to fight in Orleans oand was caught off guard by his brother's movement out of the city thereby immediately giving him a disadvantage. The battle was brief and although the Legitimists roughly had 2,000 more men than the Duke of Orleans, they were routed by 11 in the morning. Henry II himself was forced to retreat with only a small contingent of guards while the remainder of his forces, and nobles, were crushed. The King fled towards Brittany, which was staunchly in favor of Catholicism and Henry, in shame while his brother marched on Paris in December 1546.

When the people of Paris heard of the defeat at the Battle of Chartes, they resolved to be besieged rather than give the throne up to Charles, who they feared would implement Protestantism in France. Catherine Jagiellon was sent to her husband several hours prior to the enemy's arrival and surrounding of the city. The siege of Paris was officially underway with Charles Valois himself commanding the starvation of the city and Henry's hold on the throne seemed to be at an end. For roughly 73 days the people of Paris remained firm in closing the gates but an attack in mid February finally saw Charles' men climb upon the walls and open the gates. The city fell into anarchy as the clergy, refusing to crown Charles, barricaded themselves within the Cathedral of Notre Dame alongside the most devout of the citizens while the city was lightly sacked. Charles entered the city in triumph and upon reaching Notre Dame and, seeing that it was barricaded, ordered his men to assault and take the Cathedral, telling them to spare neither clergy nor layperson. The sack of Notre Dame was both bloody and insulting to the Church with cardinals, priests, and citizens who had sought refuge in the church massacred by the Valois men. This would be just one of many hamfisted political moves undertaken by the impulsive and easily influenced Valois brother.

Upon seeing the Cathedral emptied Charles had one of his wife's chaplains crown him and her the King and Queen of France in the Cathedral where blood still stained the walls. He was now Charles IX, the King of France, and had gained the upper hand in the Civil War which was swiftly coming to a close. Although the Northern half of France remained heavily resistant, with the fears of a Protestant King seemingly verified by the sack of Notre Dame, the King was able to subdue Normandy and then Champagne in quick succession by defeating the House of Guise in the battles of Rouen and Reims, the latter which saw the Duke of Guise himself slain.

The House of Guise came to heel following the death of Claude, their leader, and with their surrender the only area of France still outwardly loyal to Henry II was Brittany. Henry sent his wife and mistress to Poland to ensure their safety and assembled an army consisting of peasants and prisoners near Brest. Charles IX, now commanding thousands more men than this brother was eager to end the war and unite the Kingdom and so moved with haste towards Henry, meeting the onetime King near Nantes where they did Battle.

The Battle of Nantes was a slaughter as the weak troops of Henry II proved to be no match for his brother's seasoned forces. Henry himself was killed in an attempt to break the lines of his brothers men at around midday and as word of his death spread, his men began to rout. Charles IX ordered his cavalry to run down those retreating and within weeks moved towards Brittany, receiving the province's loyalty on January 11th, 1547. Henry II was dead and now Charles was universally recognized as the King of France. The rest of the country soon came to heel and the King was officially crowned in a repaired an undamaged Reims Cathderal in a ceremony which noticeably omitted several Catholic aspects, causing confusion and worry, most prominently by the Queen, Mary Hapsburg.

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Capture of Paris by Charles IX (1547)

The Council of Mantua, along with Pope Paul III, would react with horror over the actions of Charles IX during the sack of Paris and the brutal seizure of Notre Dame. All of those killed in the Cathedral were beatified in a clear political move by Paul while the Council (French cardinals included) condemned the attack officially and requested Charles to do an act of penance such as donating to the Church or perhaps giving some of his land to it, something which the proud and stubborn new King refused to do. This would alienate even Charles V, the man who had arguably put Charles IX on the throne, and the brief period of reconciliation between France and the Hapsburgs was ended despite the fact Mary Hapsburg remained the Queen of France and was once more pregnant with what many thought would be a second son for Charles IX and another grandson for Charles V.

In Scotland, with the defeat of Henry II, it was widely agreed that Charles IX was not to be trusted and it was clear Scotland was now had no allies and a big enemy to the south. Envoys were sent to Charles V upon hearing of his rift with his son-in-law over the sack of Notre Dame, but this was mainly posturing by James V in order to prevent an English attack on Scotland. In the meantime the King began to sow seeds of dissent in Ireland, and quietly funded rebels against Edward VI as another way to keep English attention off Scotland, although this would prove to be an unnecessary measure as England remained focused on religion and domestic policy, not on diplomacy and foreign relations.

A surprise would come to Stirling when it became clear Marie d'Guise, despite several years without pregnancy and rumors of infertility, was with child once more. The pregnancy was publicly announced on December 6th, 1546 and went relatively smoothly. When Marie went into labor her children the Princess Mary (now 4) and Prince James (3 years old) were sent to their father. The labor, unlike the pregnancy however, was rather difficult and after 6 hours it became clear that something was wrong. Marie would remain in labor throughout the entire night before finally giving birth to another child, a girl, who was named Margaret, in honor of her grandmother. James, while disappointed, comforted his wife in person and Marie recovered soon enough although it would soon become clear to all at court that there was something "off" with the newborn princess who had clearly lacked oxygen during a portion of her birth.
 
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Hi!

Excellent Timeline!

Still, I have one objection... The traditional place of crowning the Kings of France was Reims and with very few exception, all the kings were annoyed there. I suggest that the second crowning to be there.

Also, why Charles are so suborn to not make peace with the clergy ? I do not find any reasonable reason... :cool:

Please continue!
 
Hi!

Excellent Timeline!

Still, I have one objection... The traditional place of crowning the Kings of France was Reims and with very few exception, all the kings were annoyed there. I suggest that the second crowning to be there.

Also, why Charles are so suborn to not make peace with the clergy ? I do not find any reasonable reason... :cool:

Please continue!

Where the Kings were coronated was the one thing I didn't look up, I guess I can't assume anything :rolleyes:

Thanks for your guys' support, knowing people are actually reading this makes it so much more fun to write and keeps me motivated. :)
 
Just found this, and caught up today.

It seems very solid. I caution against anything cute and dramatic; as Hemingway advised other authors, "Kill your babies."
 
Very interesting timeline. However:

As planned the Duke and his wife quietly left Paris on the morning of July 2nd, 1545 headed for the Duchy of Bourbon. They arrived 3 days later and immediately Charles declared himself to be Charles IX, the King of France. The area of Bourbon was chosen by the Emperor as it was not only close to the Protestant population of France,

1. On which grounds does Charles claim the crown of France? The common opinion at the time is that the crown of France is only transmitted by divine right, and the only claim Charles could have on the crown would be proclaiming the illegitimacy of his elder brother - something quite implausible given the reputation of Francis I. And it needs, at least, some coalition of powerful nobles and royal family (for the legitimacy bit), not something likely to go under the radar for long.

If he really wants more power, the traditional way to do this for cadet princes would be to claim some smaller European state (it is always possible to claim a dynastic connection here, involving eithere Charles or his wife) and go conquer it (or, more plausibly, get killed on the way).

If he really, really, really wants to become King, then the best bet is either hiring some Italian chemist (we're in the middle of the XVIth century, are we not) or engineering a late-night encounter with some violent Réformés. But regicide is probably a huge psychological barrier - especially as the precedent it sets would endanger himself!

The only dynastic dispute in XVIth century was the “War of the Three Henris” and it was because, Henri III of Navarre being Protestant, the ultra-Catholics had a plausible claim that he had thus removed himself from the legitimate line to the “eldest daughter of the Church”.

2. Bourbon does not belong to him. Bourbon belongs to the Navarre family. This is important because Charles de Valois is not going to have any support (as in: troops, or money!) here. Instead, he is extremely likely to retreat to his estates in Orléans (or Chartres).

3. In a later post, you have him besieging Paris. Sieges at the time did extremely rarely involve a total surrounding of the city, especially for such a huge place as Paris, especially in a civil war were everybody has family on both sides.

4. As we saw OTL in the last phases of the wars of Religion, entry of troops led by a foreign power, be it England or Spain, on any side of the French civil war are a guarantee of loss by this side. The Hundred Years war was not that far away and proto-nationalism already quite strong. (But foreign *mercenaries* such as Eidgenossen or Landsknechte or Condottieri or Swiss, are OK).
 
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