AHC: French HRE

There was a discussion about this not too long ago, although that was more of a WI than a AHC. @LSCatilina could give you a more informed and detailed opinion on this, I'm sure.

The bare minimum requirements involve regular French control of Rome. That doesn't mean constant or strong control - Lord knows there were many periods in the early/high Middle Ages in which the Holy Roman Emperor's power there was pitifully meager - but the French monarchy must have at least a modest amount of sovereignty over the Kingdom of Italy, which necessarily implies at least an equal degree of control over Aquitaine and Burgundy/Provence.

Your 962 cutoff makes this extremely difficult. Otto is emperor (as you must already know, since you picked the year of his coronation as your cutoff) as well as King of Italy, and while Burgundy is not quite yet a German possession it is under the later Welfs, who were Ottonian clients. The French Carolingians, meanwhile, are nearing their historical demise, and IOTL will soon be replaced by the Capetian kings who early on had only the feeblest influence over the south of France, let alone Burgundy (and forget Italy entirely). An Ottonian-screw is not sufficient; the German state has natural geographic advantages in controlling Italy, and even if the Ottonians collapse utterly, anyone who takes their place will have the same interests and be in much the same position to exert themselves in Italy. You also need, I would think, to rescue the late Carolingians from their fate, because losing the prestige and place of the Carolingians makes the imperial project orders of magnitude more difficult for whoever succeeds them.

I'm mulling it over, but I find it extremely difficult to imagine a concise POD that could accomplish this in the period I know the most about, the early-high Middle Ages (962-1200, in this case). My suspicion is that you would have better luck either much later when "foreign" monarchs stood a chance of being elected (Francis I winning the election of 1519 somehow, for instance), or by breaking your cutoff and having a much earlier POD in which the Ottonian imperium is averted entirely.
 
If you avert the Capetian takeover and the French had the only surviving Carolingian monarchs then I think you might be able to get the HRE title to pass to them even if it's only a de jure title with Germany and Italy being ruled by a German dynasty of "Emperor's of Germany"
 
I'm mulling it over, but I find it extremely difficult to imagine a concise POD that could accomplish this in the period I know the most about, the early-high Middle Ages (962-1200, in this case). My suspicion is that you would have better luck either much later when "foreign" monarchs stood a chance of being elected (Francis I winning the election of 1519 somehow, for instance), or by breaking your cutoff and having a much earlier POD in which the Ottonian imperium is averted entirely.

That's what I thought. Thanks.

What earlier POD could have avoided the Ottonian dynasty and led to a French-speaking monarch being crowned Imperator by the Pope?
 
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