AHC & WI: Royaume de la Manche

Alright, so after looking at a map I thought of this.

Firstly, how could a single state comprised of the lands surrounding the English Channel come to be?

Secondly, assuming it's not created out of some revolutionary process that would fundamentally change Europe,
what would be the effects of a Royaume de la Manche* on Europe itself and on exporation and colonization?


Oh, and a map of what I'm thinking;



* It does'nt have to be French derived, Royaume de la Manche just sounded better than Kingdom of the English Channel or Channel Kingdom.

Royaume de la Manche.png
 
Iori said:
Firstly, how could a single state comprised of the lands surrounding the English Channel come to be?

Well, the first way to achieve that would be the classic Anglo-French Union. There are plenty of scenarios, and it would end with one country controlling both sides of the channel.

Besides the Anglo-French Union, I think we could see a Norman Kingdom rise in that area. After all, the Normans were given Normandy by Charles III of Western Francia. They also had Britanny under their thumb for a short while. William the Conqueror was Duke of Normandy before he became King of England. And one of his descendants, William Clito (son of Robert II of Normandy, William the Conqueror's eldest son), could have become Count of Flanders at one point. This surrounds most of the area on your map.

Another solution I can think off would be one man inheriting all the feudal lands on both sides of the channel but in early medieval times. I'm thinking of some sort of Henry II of England scenario but limited to the channel.

Iori said:
Secondly, assuming it's not created out of some revolutionary process that would fundamentally change Europe,
what would be the effects of a Royaume de la Manche* on Europe itself and on exporation and colonization?

First, unless it is realized by an Anglo-French Union, you will get weaker Kingdoms of France and England. However, given its position, the Royaume de la Manche will probably be influenced by the events in both Kingdoms.

Second, with the Channel being in the total control of the Royaume de la Manche, it could be a source of income for that Kingdom. That would probably affect naval trade in the area.

On colonization, there is a good chance that this Royaume de la Manche becomes a colonial power given its position.

Iori said:
* It does'nt have to be French derived, Royaume de la Manche just sounded better than Kingdom of the English Channel or Channel Kingdom.

Well, that Kingdom has good chances of speaking French. The Normans ended up talking French when they got Normandy and most of the lands in Northern France spoke French or French-derived languages. As for Southern England, it is close enough to France to be under a linguistic influence, especially in a scenario where the Channel is controlled by the same country.

Of course, you could also end up with a new language. Some sort of Anglicized French or Frenchified English.
 
Well, the first way to achieve that would be the classic Anglo-French Union. There are plenty of scenarios, and it would end with one country controlling both sides of the channel.

Probably should've mentioned that I was looking at it primarily NOT controlling much more territory in Europe than is shown in the map, so no Anglo-French Union.


First, unless it is realized by an Anglo-French Union, you will get weaker Kingdoms of France and England. However, given its position, the Royaume de la Manche will probably be influenced by the events in both Kingdoms.

Hm, I wonder if it might act as a mediator between the two if they have any disputes then.


Second, with the Channel being in the total control of the Royaume de la Manche, it could be a source of income for that Kingdom. That would probably affect naval trade in the area.

How importan would this end up being, I'm not sure of how fast or expensive it would be to go all the way around Britain, but for along while I'd assume it would be alot cheaper to go through the Channel, even with moderately high er transit taxes (I'm not sure of the term).


Of course, you could also end up with a new language. Some sort of Anglicized French or Frenchified English.

I was thinking a Hybrid of Old English and Normand myself, either way would be interesting linguistically.
 
How about Henry V living longer and being more successful in holding down France north of the Loire, but failing to break Orleans?
 
An incomplete Norman Conquest might be doable, with Norman territories being nibbled away on both sides until this is all that's left.
 
This is basically a Greater Normandy. with William's conquest not so total..thus a Saxon kingdom remains to the north ( or perhaps its Hardrada instead having defeated Godwinson). France is not so centralized at that point such that this could occur later either through lliance or conquest, Flanders and Brittany are conquered or made vassals to forstal the expansion of the French kingdom in later centuries... France may not be centralized in the same way as we saw OTL and some of the older duchies may remain as independents. Technically north of the Straits of dover it is not the english channel but the North Sea, so East Anglia and much of Flanders really doesn' t need to be included
 
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This is basically a Greater Normandy. with William's conquest not so total..thus a Saxon kingdom remains to the north ( or perhaps its Hardrada instead having defeated Godwinson). France is not so centralized at that point such that this could occur later either through lliance or conquest, Flanders and Brittany are conquered or made vassals to forstal the expansion of the French kingdom in later centuries... France may not be centralized in the same way as we saw OTL and some of the older duchies may remain as independents. Technically north of the Straits of dover it is not the english channel but the North Sea, so East Anglia and much of Flanders really doesn' t need to be included

They do in order to fully control the Strait and to add a level of strategic depth, hence why I added them.
 
Iori said:
Hm, I wonder if it might act as a mediator between the two if they have any disputes then.

For sure it could. However, Anglo-French tensions and disputes might be rarer if there is a "buffer state" between them. After all, in this scenario, it is harder for the French to get to the coasts of Britain north of the Royaume de la Manche. The English will also have harder access to France since the First French port they could reach would be south of Britanny (who's under control of the Royaume de la Manche in your scenario).
 
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