Pkmatrix said:
Would a French Holy Roman Empire be able to last?
That would depend on how the French Holy Roman Emperor works his way out of this mess. If he goes the same way the Capetians did OTL in France, then there is a good chance that the French Holy Roman Empire survives. However, if he follows the OTL example of the HRE, the Empire will fall apart.
French Carolingians were facing the same trouble with their nobles as their German counterpart. The Robertians (ancestors to the Capetians) particularly posed a problem in threat as they were powerful and popular in Neustria.
Plus, the last French Carolingians didn't had much luck after Charles II the Bald. Charles' son, Louis II the Stammerer, died two years after his father. The crown went to his two sons, Louis III and Carloman II, who died before their 20s and without children. Louis II had a posthumous third son, Charles III the Simple whom the French nobles didn't want because he was too young (he was 5). They thus gave the crown to the Charles the Fat, the Holy Roman Emperor, whom ended up pissing them off and kicked out in 888 (shortly before his death). The crown then passed to Eudes, a Robertian. Charles III was only crowned in 898 and after a huge political struggle against Eudes.
Charles III was a rather competent and good-willed king, but he ended up pissing off the nobles on several points (notably his wish to become King of Lotharingia) and was overthrown in 922 by Robert I, Eudes' brother and another Robertian. Charles III tried to get back his throne (leading to Robert I's death in 923) but was defeated and eventually ended up as a prisonner of Herbert II of Vermandois (one of the most vicious politicians of the time). He died imprisonned in 929 under suspicious circumstances (rumor says he was poisonned by Herbert II).
Meanwhile, the French crown went to Rudolph of Burgundy, husband of Emma, Robert I's daughter. Rudolph died in 936 without children and the nobles wished for Hugh the Great, Robert I's son, to be crowned King of the Franks. Hugh refused however and asked for Louis IV, Charles III's eldest son, to have the crown. The French Carolingians recoverd the French crown but not power as Hugh the Great was the one really in charge since he was the most powerful man in France.
Hugh the Great was the power behind the throne during Louis IV's reign. When Louis IV died in 954, Hugh the Great was still in charge for Lothair, the new king.
After the death of Hugh the Great, the Carolingians had to face Hugh Capet. Lothair wished to restablished control over his kingdom but was beaten by Hugh Capet and died accidentally in 986. His son Louis V died the following year by falling from his horse. The last Carolingian who could have claimed the French throne, Charles of Lower Lotharingia, was pushed aside and Hugh Capet became the first Capetian King of France.