Here's a challenge: make France join the Holy Roman Empire and be considered a part of that state, with a POD before 1789 but after 1400. Bonus points for how integrated France is with the empire.
Something I thought of, what if Francis I of France somehow beat Charles V and was elected Holy Roman Emperor?
Wouldn't that be more a "French HRE" though?(Assuming he went all Louis XIV on them...
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What do you mean by that? Something like the War of the Grand Alliance? I don't think that would happen if Francis the Emperor.
Or were you talking about something else?
And the empire would still be the Holy Roman Empire, it would just now have another ethnic group thrown into the pot.
Plus Francis might be able to help the empire unify.
I think I just got confused...
Around France...
France is much more centralised, and has a huge manpower base... Francis could very well be a new Charlemagne...![]()
Something I thought of, what if Francis I of France somehow beat Charles V and was elected Holy Roman Emperor?
Much has been made out of this election, and how Charles loaned money from the Fuggers and yadda yadda - but the truth is, his election was never really threatened. He was the Habsburg, after all!
Hmmm... what if Charles V died beforehand?
Any thoughts on my Hundred Years War idea? Certainly, the strains of nationalism were not in use at that time, and loyalty to the King was hardly an important issue. Say Joan of Arc fails.
That could lead to a HRE becoming much larger...
Of course, England would expect its own share, so I'm not sure if all of France would end up in the HRE...
Well, yes, but a couple of Anglo-Burgundian wars could shift a good deal of Frangleterre into the hands of the Habsburgs.