They could always go with otl Louis XVIII, if he is alive, or his sons. And if they go with OTL Louis XVIII sons they could marry them off to Princess Marie for extra legitimacy.
God is a Frenchman - a Timeline (Seven Yrs War POD)
- Thread starter George_Apley
- Start date
Honestly I would prefer if the Spanish French Union works since it would be a nice change of pace but logically I know it won't. Good chapter, I am waiting for more! 
I haven't written about the brothers of Louis XVI on the TL.
Louis Stanislas Count of Provence dies in 1826 childless after years of problems with gout. He's known through his adult life as "le comte débauché" (the debauched Count).
Charles Philippe Count of Artois is still alive in 1834 but would not countenance any moves against his grand-nephew due to his own similarly conservative Catholic sentiments. The Count of Artois is known to be "plus royaliste que le roi" and no friend to the liberal movement in France. Regardless, he's quite old and dies before 1840.
Artois had one son and two daughters who survive childhood. Louis Philippe Duke of Angoulême (1773 - 1800) is killed in the attempted invasion of Ireland.
So, as far as the senior branch of the Bourbons is concerned, it's Henri/Enrique or a radical change of law to allow female succession...
Central Provinces (1830s)
A pause in the TL to continue the review of British America.
The Province of New York had gone through periods of intense economic distress in the late-18th and early-19th centuries, particularly after the closure of the frontier. Numerous military expeditions into Iroquois Country between the 1770s and 1810s were met with failure. The loss of the Iroquois trade and the inability to formally expand westward decimated the trade economy of the Hudson River Valley and Albany was abandoned as the provincial capital in the 1780s. With little trade coming from points north and west, New York City’s growth stalled for several decades even as the population increased. New York developed two distinct agricultural-based economies with the city as a nexus between them, the Hudson Valley and Long Island.
In the Hudson Valley life was dominated by massive estates owned chiefly by the great old families of the province, many of whom held at least one noble title since George III created an American peerage in the late-1770s. By the 1810s five families–the Rensselaers, Stuyvesants, Schuylers, Livingstones, and De Lancey’s–controlled over 40% of the real estate in the Hudson River Valley on their own. Likewise a majority of residents in the region were lessees in hock to one of the great families; those who owned their own property tended to be employed or hired in service of these same families. Few small independent farms existed in the Hudson Valley by the 1830s as they had been gobbled up by the real estate portfolios of major and minor families and leased back to former owners, often as a condition of debt settlements. This produced a culture in the Hudson Valley not dissimilar from many regions of England itself, with a local peer lording over a large underclass of tenants, servants, and other employees.
The most independent and free areas of the Hudson Valley were those towns dominated by a military presence. Albany and Schenectady were the headquarters and forward garrison of the Continental Army in New York and had economies driven by the needs of the soldiery. Known for smuggling and gambling, Schenectady was ironically a haven for outlaws alongside the Dominion garrison. By the mid-1830s the town was considered a major example of the decay and corruption of the Continental Army in the years since the end of Talleyrand’s War in 1817. Newburgh developed as a Navy town and boasted a sizable shipyard that had begun experimenting with iron-cladding on warships by 1834 with the launching of the HMDS New Jersey. Factories also began to develop on the Hudson’s tributaries. These factory towns were controlled by many of the same families that dominated the real estate of the province, and created a system not dissimilar from the Sears method in Massachusetts.
On Long Island, the landlord-tenant phenomenon also existed, but on a smaller scale, with less than 30% of the land controlled by a small number of great families. Long Island retained pockets of New England-like development with small farms centered around town squares that were hubs of economic activity and a turnpike connecting them to the city. The owner-operator towns of North Hempstead, Islip, and Brookhaven contrasted with landlord-tenant towns like Oyster Bay, Hempstead, and Huntington. This produced a strong political divide on the island and Suffolk County was a bastion of liberal discontent.
Long Island also boasted a healthy maritime industry of fishing and whaling. The industry took several decades to fully recover after King Louis’ War, but by 1830 a healthy fleet of trawlers and whalers operated on Long Island, particularly out of Sag Harbor and Montauk. The maritime industries were the most egalitarian in New York with many owner-operated firms. By mid-century several major players had developed in the whaling industry, such as the dominant Oatker family that owned the largest whaling fleet in the Dominion. In the 1830s, patriarch Jacob Walter Oatker’s power in the whaling industry was only contested by that of Ahab Coffin Swain of Nantucket.
The intersection of the Hudson Valley and Long Island were the twin cities of New York on Manhattan Island, and Brooklyn on far-western Long Island and they both dominated the economy and politics of the province. New York City–often called “York City” by inhabitants–housed over 90,000 residents by 1830. Growth on Manhattan Island crept northward as urban neighborhoods surrounded and bypassed fantastic estates and grounds. Much of the development in the first half of the 19th century was driven by Jacob Walter Oatker, a whaling magnate who also controlled Australis Wharf and Spanish Wharf, and was a major real estate investor. Oatker held no title and died in 1833, but his children built on his legacy and the Oatker family became one of the wealthiest in the Dominion by the 1860s. With its dominant role in both foreign and domestic trade, York City emerged as one of the Dominion’s key economic centers, along with Boston, Philadelphia, and Norfolk. York City also was among the most diverse cities in the northern provinces, with two large black neighborhoods developing by the mid-1830s known as “the Old Admiralty” and “Yanzon Village.”
Brooklyn became the provincial capital in 1782 after the closure of the frontier in the Treaty of Exmouth. The New York government abandoned interior trade and expansion into the upper reaches of the Hudson Valley and refocused on maritime trade. The government of New York was based on that of England, with high minimum land-holding requirements for suffrage in provincial and Dominion elections. The suffrage issue had great political salience in New York, especially on Long Island. Before emancipation, Brooklyn had the highest density of slaves north of Baltimore. In the late-1820s those emancipated people largely dispersed, with many moving to York City, Long Island seaside towns, and factory towns in the Hudson Valley. Still several thousand former slaves became tenants to lordly estates in western Long Island, mirroring those along the Hudson.
The Provincial Assembly met at the Province House, designed in the Dominion Style in 1798 by Jacob Shagen. The Assembly was composed of 63 seats elected by voters in each county. Living in the Governor’s Mansion, the governor was selected by the Assembly every four years and he appointed an Executive Council that served as an upper house of the legislature and high judicial court. The Council met in the Heights House, also designed by Shagen and built in 1801. This government structure allowed a relatively small cadre of notable families to cycle power between them, essentially creating an informal oligarchy. Several electors opted to hold their own private elections among their tenants to survey attitudes and Simon Van Nuys even instituted a Tenancy Board, a quasi-municipal advisory body for the Lord’s various estates and holdings. Such benevolent attitudes were not the norm in New York, however, and tenant rights continued to lead to periodic uprisings and protests through the mid-19th century.
The Province of New Jersey was among the most highly developed and wealthiest provinces in the Dominion by the 1830s. The roots of this prosperity were rooted in the aftermath of the 18th century wars against France where New Jersey suffered little and made out as a creditor for other colonies, particularly New York, which allowed New Jersey to claim Staten Island and secure the sea approach to Newark. New Jersey developed a diverse economy in the early-19th century. Northern New Jersey developed with a combination of small farms and country estates growing staple crops and raising livestock. Manufacturing became increasingly important from the 1820s onward contributing to the population boom in New Jersey in the first half of the 19th century. The government spent increasing resources to develop a sizable port to compete with New York at the mouth of the Raritan River at Perth Amboy. By the mid-1830s, Perth Amboy processed the same amount of shipping as Portsmouth, New Hampshire and by 1838 was connected to New Brunswick via railway.
Politically New Jersey was more egalitarian than New York, but maintained minimum landholdings of ten acres for suffrage in provincial and Dominion elections. The capital in Trenton stood on the turnpike between York City and Philadelphia. This wealthy and heavily developed corridor in middle New Jersey included Princeton, and New Brunswick. These small but growing cities were centers of trade, industry, and education. The New Jersey Central Railway Company opened a trunk line between Newark and Camden in 1837, swiftly becoming one of the most profitable railway companies in North America.
In Trenton, the General Assembly and the Provincial Council together served as the legislature, and the Council also advised the Governor and acted as the top judiciary in the province. The Governor was elected by the voters of New Jersey every four years. The Government Block in Trenton was designed and laid out by British architect Samuel Pepys Cockerell from 1804-1811 in a neoclassical style with grand avenues bracketing commons that connected various government buildings. The grandiosity of the Government Block was a hallmark of New Jersey’s wealth and prosperity in the early-1800s.
Southern New Jersey by 1835 was a patchwork medium and large farms that were dominated by grand estates. This region was strongly Tory in its politics and was quite similar to the Hudson Valley. Despite this, southern Jersey landholders were unable to dominate the provincial government in New Jersey as they were in New York. The combination of both the political balance and prosperity in New Jersey helped to make it one of the most stable provinces in the British Dominion.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania struggled greatly to find its feet after King Louis’ War in the 1770s and considerable social unrest occurred in the province in the late-18th century. Multiple attempts to secure French territory beyond the Allegheny Mountains invariably ended in failure or negotiated retreat. The gradual withering of Pennsylvania’s will to expand westward was a messy process involving insurrection, pacification, and emigration. Additionally, the conversion of Pennsylvania from a proprietary colony to a royal colony in the 1780s contributed to making the provincial government more effective and responsive. By the 1830s Pennsylvania was largely settled and prosperous, thanks in part to large amounts of Dominion support for internal improvements. The Dominion government had a clear incentive to support stability in Pennsylvania given that Philadelphia hosted the central government.
Pennsylvania’s economy was centered around Philadelphia, which for a time served as the capital for both the provincial and the Dominion governments. Its population grew to nearly 100,000 by 1835 making it the largest city in British America just over New York City. Pennsylvania’s General Assembly met in Philadelphia until 1808 when the provincial capital was moved to Lancaster. As the Dominion government became more established, the city became the American hub for culture and arts. In 1822 the first Dominion Exhibition of British Industry was held in Philadelphia and attracted travelers from across British America to observe the latest in technological and industrial inventions and developments. While the Dominion’s presence had a strong cultural impact, its physical impact on the city was relatively minor. The loose confederation created by the Dominion politically wanted to be portrayed as unthreatening and unobtrusive; its architectural impact was stately but hardly grandiose, particularly when compared to provincial capitol buildings like in New Jersey and New York.
Philadelphia’s built environment and municipal government remained heavily swayed by Quaker ideals. Relatively demure, functional buildings dominated the streetscape. The most impressive architecture in Philadelphia were the grand homes of important families such as the Shippen, Dallas, and Willing clans. The intersection of the merchant class with the Quaker political elites often produced considerable conflict within the city, but Philadelphia Quaker ideals remained dominant in Pennsylvania politics through the 19th century. For example, Quaker lobbying was instrumental in the push against slavery on both sides of the Atlantic, while their instinct for pacifism gave more leeway to the rowdy Appalachian settlers than they received in other provinces such as Virginia. Following Massachusetts' example, the Quaker-dominated legislature officially labeled the colony as a "commonwealth," to reflect that the provincial government was meant to represent and provide for all. In Yorktown the assembly and the governor were elected by nearly all freeholders with very low minimum land holding, while the House of Notables was among by the largest freeholders.
Outside of Philadelphia the province’s development followed similar patterns throughout. From the Lehigh Valley to the Alleghenies, patchworks of small farms, country estates, and merchant towns dotted the landscape. Through the early decades of the 1800s settlers flooded into Pennsylvania towns. Many came from New England as family farms became overcrowded; the Scots-Irish arrived from Ulster, bringing with them a strong independent streak that differed from the communitarian ideals of the Quakers and New Englanders. Many New Englanders settled in northeastern Pennsylvania, a result of Connecticut’s long-standing legal claims over the region that were bitterly fought until the Dominion Congress settled the matter in 1795. They brought with them that particular flavor of Yankee idealism and created communities not dissimilar from those they left behind. The largest towns founded by New Englanders were Pittsfield (OTL Wilkes-Barre), Billingston (OTL Scranton), and Collierton (OTL Carbondale).
The Scots-Irish converged on western Pennsylvania, which had long been the settlement pattern of Ulster immigrants since the mid-18th century. The border region with Quebec had been particularly rough for decades with crisis after crisis due to tax resistance and a lack of sufficient land. This commonly manifested in resentment towards the American peerage, some of whom controlled vast landholdings in western Pennsylvania and were invariably of well-bred English stock. This led more recent arrivals in the 1800s to have four basic options: marry into a landed family, lease land from an estate holder, settle in a town center and find labor work, or move south out of Pennsylvania to try your luck elsewhere. Despite stabilizing conditions in the western province by the 1820s societal tensions between new and established settlers, between the west counties and the east, and between the greater province and Philadelphia simmered just below the surface.
While many new arrivals and grown children opted to move south along the mountain valleys into the Carolinas and Georgia, others chose to settle in rapidly growing towns and cities in Pennsylvania’s interior. Major ironworks were established in Northampton (OTL Allentown), Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Pittsfield by 1840. The population of Pittsfield quadrupled from 1820-1860 due to the heavy mining of anthracite coal in the Wyoming Valley. The Wyoming Fell Mining Company was founded in 1817 and would grow to be one of the preeminent coal companies in British America. Yorktown hosted the headquarters of the Central Pennsylvania Railway Company as well as the Christlich Papermaking Company. The capital at Lancaster was littered with railway lines by 1850 fanning out in seemingly every direction from the central location. Pastoral farmlands surrounded the city and penned in its growth, leading to the densification of outlying towns to absorb housing needs for the capital region. The town of Gettysburg grew from a market town to an important railway crossing linking Maryland to the Pennsylvania railway network by the late-1840s. Shippensburg was the largest city in the Alleghenies. It had a reputation for lawlessness and the county militia were regularly called up to maintain order, particularly as gang violence began to develop after the arrival of the railway in 1841. This periodic unrest occasionally bled into neighboring Quebec as outlaws sought refuge among the Shawnee, Lenape, or Mingo Seneca peoples, which led to several incidents that required government intervention.
An update on the main timeline is coming soon! Some big developments incoming...
God is a Frenchman: Central Provinces - 1830s
The Central Provinces formed the urban core of the Dominion on an axis between New York City and Philadelphia and included the provinces of New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. These provinces were diverse and varied in their histories, politics, and demographics but all shared similar economies centered around staple agriculture, animal husbandry, mercantile trade, and increasingly, manufacturing. Despite their relatively similar economies, the political systems and cultural development of the three central provinces greatly differed, contrary to the relative cultural unity of New England. In fact, strong resentments had developed between the three by the 1830s driven in part by the outcome of the French wars of previous decades.
The Province of New York had gone through periods of intense economic distress in the late-18th and early-19th centuries, particularly after the closure of the frontier. Numerous military expeditions into Iroquois Country between the 1770s and 1810s were met with failure. The loss of the Iroquois trade and the inability to formally expand westward decimated the trade economy of the Hudson River Valley and Albany was abandoned as the provincial capital in the 1780s. With little trade coming from points north and west, New York City’s growth stalled for several decades even as the population increased. New York developed two distinct agricultural-based economies with the city as a nexus between them, the Hudson Valley and Long Island.
In the Hudson Valley life was dominated by massive estates owned chiefly by the great old families of the province, many of whom held at least one noble title since George III created an American peerage in the late-1770s. By the 1810s five families–the Rensselaers, Stuyvesants, Schuylers, Livingstones, and De Lancey’s–controlled over 40% of the real estate in the Hudson River Valley on their own. Likewise a majority of residents in the region were lessees in hock to one of the great families; those who owned their own property tended to be employed or hired in service of these same families. Few small independent farms existed in the Hudson Valley by the 1830s as they had been gobbled up by the real estate portfolios of major and minor families and leased back to former owners, often as a condition of debt settlements. This produced a culture in the Hudson Valley not dissimilar from many regions of England itself, with a local peer lording over a large underclass of tenants, servants, and other employees.
The most independent and free areas of the Hudson Valley were those towns dominated by a military presence. Albany and Schenectady were the headquarters and forward garrison of the Continental Army in New York and had economies driven by the needs of the soldiery. Known for smuggling and gambling, Schenectady was ironically a haven for outlaws alongside the Dominion garrison. By the mid-1830s the town was considered a major example of the decay and corruption of the Continental Army in the years since the end of Talleyrand’s War in 1817. Newburgh developed as a Navy town and boasted a sizable shipyard that had begun experimenting with iron-cladding on warships by 1834 with the launching of the HMDS New Jersey. Factories also began to develop on the Hudson’s tributaries. These factory towns were controlled by many of the same families that dominated the real estate of the province, and created a system not dissimilar from the Sears method in Massachusetts.
On Long Island, the landlord-tenant phenomenon also existed, but on a smaller scale, with less than 30% of the land controlled by a small number of great families. Long Island retained pockets of New England-like development with small farms centered around town squares that were hubs of economic activity and a turnpike connecting them to the city. The owner-operator towns of North Hempstead, Islip, and Brookhaven contrasted with landlord-tenant towns like Oyster Bay, Hempstead, and Huntington. This produced a strong political divide on the island and Suffolk County was a bastion of liberal discontent.
Long Island also boasted a healthy maritime industry of fishing and whaling. The industry took several decades to fully recover after King Louis’ War, but by 1830 a healthy fleet of trawlers and whalers operated on Long Island, particularly out of Sag Harbor and Montauk. The maritime industries were the most egalitarian in New York with many owner-operated firms. By mid-century several major players had developed in the whaling industry, such as the dominant Oatker family that owned the largest whaling fleet in the Dominion. In the 1830s, patriarch Jacob Walter Oatker’s power in the whaling industry was only contested by that of Ahab Coffin Swain of Nantucket.
The intersection of the Hudson Valley and Long Island were the twin cities of New York on Manhattan Island, and Brooklyn on far-western Long Island and they both dominated the economy and politics of the province. New York City–often called “York City” by inhabitants–housed over 90,000 residents by 1830. Growth on Manhattan Island crept northward as urban neighborhoods surrounded and bypassed fantastic estates and grounds. Much of the development in the first half of the 19th century was driven by Jacob Walter Oatker, a whaling magnate who also controlled Australis Wharf and Spanish Wharf, and was a major real estate investor. Oatker held no title and died in 1833, but his children built on his legacy and the Oatker family became one of the wealthiest in the Dominion by the 1860s. With its dominant role in both foreign and domestic trade, York City emerged as one of the Dominion’s key economic centers, along with Boston, Philadelphia, and Norfolk. York City also was among the most diverse cities in the northern provinces, with two large black neighborhoods developing by the mid-1830s known as “the Old Admiralty” and “Yanzon Village.”
Brooklyn became the provincial capital in 1782 after the closure of the frontier in the Treaty of Exmouth. The New York government abandoned interior trade and expansion into the upper reaches of the Hudson Valley and refocused on maritime trade. The government of New York was based on that of England, with high minimum land-holding requirements for suffrage in provincial and Dominion elections. The suffrage issue had great political salience in New York, especially on Long Island. Before emancipation, Brooklyn had the highest density of slaves north of Baltimore. In the late-1820s those emancipated people largely dispersed, with many moving to York City, Long Island seaside towns, and factory towns in the Hudson Valley. Still several thousand former slaves became tenants to lordly estates in western Long Island, mirroring those along the Hudson.
The Provincial Assembly met at the Province House, designed in the Dominion Style in 1798 by Jacob Shagen. The Assembly was composed of 63 seats elected by voters in each county. Living in the Governor’s Mansion, the governor was selected by the Assembly every four years and he appointed an Executive Council that served as an upper house of the legislature and high judicial court. The Council met in the Heights House, also designed by Shagen and built in 1801. This government structure allowed a relatively small cadre of notable families to cycle power between them, essentially creating an informal oligarchy. Several electors opted to hold their own private elections among their tenants to survey attitudes and Simon Van Nuys even instituted a Tenancy Board, a quasi-municipal advisory body for the Lord’s various estates and holdings. Such benevolent attitudes were not the norm in New York, however, and tenant rights continued to lead to periodic uprisings and protests through the mid-19th century.
The Province of New Jersey was among the most highly developed and wealthiest provinces in the Dominion by the 1830s. The roots of this prosperity were rooted in the aftermath of the 18th century wars against France where New Jersey suffered little and made out as a creditor for other colonies, particularly New York, which allowed New Jersey to claim Staten Island and secure the sea approach to Newark. New Jersey developed a diverse economy in the early-19th century. Northern New Jersey developed with a combination of small farms and country estates growing staple crops and raising livestock. Manufacturing became increasingly important from the 1820s onward contributing to the population boom in New Jersey in the first half of the 19th century. The government spent increasing resources to develop a sizable port to compete with New York at the mouth of the Raritan River at Perth Amboy. By the mid-1830s, Perth Amboy processed the same amount of shipping as Portsmouth, New Hampshire and by 1838 was connected to New Brunswick via railway.
Politically New Jersey was more egalitarian than New York, but maintained minimum landholdings of ten acres for suffrage in provincial and Dominion elections. The capital in Trenton stood on the turnpike between York City and Philadelphia. This wealthy and heavily developed corridor in middle New Jersey included Princeton, and New Brunswick. These small but growing cities were centers of trade, industry, and education. The New Jersey Central Railway Company opened a trunk line between Newark and Camden in 1837, swiftly becoming one of the most profitable railway companies in North America.
In Trenton, the General Assembly and the Provincial Council together served as the legislature, and the Council also advised the Governor and acted as the top judiciary in the province. The Governor was elected by the voters of New Jersey every four years. The Government Block in Trenton was designed and laid out by British architect Samuel Pepys Cockerell from 1804-1811 in a neoclassical style with grand avenues bracketing commons that connected various government buildings. The grandiosity of the Government Block was a hallmark of New Jersey’s wealth and prosperity in the early-1800s.
Southern New Jersey by 1835 was a patchwork medium and large farms that were dominated by grand estates. This region was strongly Tory in its politics and was quite similar to the Hudson Valley. Despite this, southern Jersey landholders were unable to dominate the provincial government in New Jersey as they were in New York. The combination of both the political balance and prosperity in New Jersey helped to make it one of the most stable provinces in the British Dominion.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania struggled greatly to find its feet after King Louis’ War in the 1770s and considerable social unrest occurred in the province in the late-18th century. Multiple attempts to secure French territory beyond the Allegheny Mountains invariably ended in failure or negotiated retreat. The gradual withering of Pennsylvania’s will to expand westward was a messy process involving insurrection, pacification, and emigration. Additionally, the conversion of Pennsylvania from a proprietary colony to a royal colony in the 1780s contributed to making the provincial government more effective and responsive. By the 1830s Pennsylvania was largely settled and prosperous, thanks in part to large amounts of Dominion support for internal improvements. The Dominion government had a clear incentive to support stability in Pennsylvania given that Philadelphia hosted the central government.
Pennsylvania’s economy was centered around Philadelphia, which for a time served as the capital for both the provincial and the Dominion governments. Its population grew to nearly 100,000 by 1835 making it the largest city in British America just over New York City. Pennsylvania’s General Assembly met in Philadelphia until 1808 when the provincial capital was moved to Lancaster. As the Dominion government became more established, the city became the American hub for culture and arts. In 1822 the first Dominion Exhibition of British Industry was held in Philadelphia and attracted travelers from across British America to observe the latest in technological and industrial inventions and developments. While the Dominion’s presence had a strong cultural impact, its physical impact on the city was relatively minor. The loose confederation created by the Dominion politically wanted to be portrayed as unthreatening and unobtrusive; its architectural impact was stately but hardly grandiose, particularly when compared to provincial capitol buildings like in New Jersey and New York.
Philadelphia’s built environment and municipal government remained heavily swayed by Quaker ideals. Relatively demure, functional buildings dominated the streetscape. The most impressive architecture in Philadelphia were the grand homes of important families such as the Shippen, Dallas, and Willing clans. The intersection of the merchant class with the Quaker political elites often produced considerable conflict within the city, but Philadelphia Quaker ideals remained dominant in Pennsylvania politics through the 19th century. For example, Quaker lobbying was instrumental in the push against slavery on both sides of the Atlantic, while their instinct for pacifism gave more leeway to the rowdy Appalachian settlers than they received in other provinces such as Virginia. Following Massachusetts' example, the Quaker-dominated legislature officially labeled the colony as a "commonwealth," to reflect that the provincial government was meant to represent and provide for all. In Yorktown the assembly and the governor were elected by nearly all freeholders with very low minimum land holding, while the House of Notables was among by the largest freeholders.
Outside of Philadelphia the province’s development followed similar patterns throughout. From the Lehigh Valley to the Alleghenies, patchworks of small farms, country estates, and merchant towns dotted the landscape. Through the early decades of the 1800s settlers flooded into Pennsylvania towns. Many came from New England as family farms became overcrowded; the Scots-Irish arrived from Ulster, bringing with them a strong independent streak that differed from the communitarian ideals of the Quakers and New Englanders. Many New Englanders settled in northeastern Pennsylvania, a result of Connecticut’s long-standing legal claims over the region that were bitterly fought until the Dominion Congress settled the matter in 1795. They brought with them that particular flavor of Yankee idealism and created communities not dissimilar from those they left behind. The largest towns founded by New Englanders were Pittsfield (OTL Wilkes-Barre), Billingston (OTL Scranton), and Collierton (OTL Carbondale).
The Scots-Irish converged on western Pennsylvania, which had long been the settlement pattern of Ulster immigrants since the mid-18th century. The border region with Quebec had been particularly rough for decades with crisis after crisis due to tax resistance and a lack of sufficient land. This commonly manifested in resentment towards the American peerage, some of whom controlled vast landholdings in western Pennsylvania and were invariably of well-bred English stock. This led more recent arrivals in the 1800s to have four basic options: marry into a landed family, lease land from an estate holder, settle in a town center and find labor work, or move south out of Pennsylvania to try your luck elsewhere. Despite stabilizing conditions in the western province by the 1820s societal tensions between new and established settlers, between the west counties and the east, and between the greater province and Philadelphia simmered just below the surface.
While many new arrivals and grown children opted to move south along the mountain valleys into the Carolinas and Georgia, others chose to settle in rapidly growing towns and cities in Pennsylvania’s interior. Major ironworks were established in Northampton (OTL Allentown), Lancaster, Harrisburg, and Pittsfield by 1840. The population of Pittsfield quadrupled from 1820-1860 due to the heavy mining of anthracite coal in the Wyoming Valley. The Wyoming Fell Mining Company was founded in 1817 and would grow to be one of the preeminent coal companies in British America. Yorktown hosted the headquarters of the Central Pennsylvania Railway Company as well as the Christlich Papermaking Company. The capital at Lancaster was littered with railway lines by 1850 fanning out in seemingly every direction from the central location. Pastoral farmlands surrounded the city and penned in its growth, leading to the densification of outlying towns to absorb housing needs for the capital region. The town of Gettysburg grew from a market town to an important railway crossing linking Maryland to the Pennsylvania railway network by the late-1840s. Shippensburg was the largest city in the Alleghenies. It had a reputation for lawlessness and the county militia were regularly called up to maintain order, particularly as gang violence began to develop after the arrival of the railway in 1841. This periodic unrest occasionally bled into neighboring Quebec as outlaws sought refuge among the Shawnee, Lenape, or Mingo Seneca peoples, which led to several incidents that required government intervention.
An update on the main timeline is coming soon! Some big developments incoming...
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Thanks! It’s fun to think about how no westward expansion impacts the eastern seaboard and how culture would develop absent independence.
1836 Part 1 - Estates General
1836 is gearing up to be a long one, so I'm breaking it up into pieces on the political situation in France and then I'll share other tidbits from the year when that's done. Here's the first part covering the winter:
1836 Proclamation on the Estates General
Following the attempt on his life, King Louis and his Premier Fabrice Marçeau spend time discussing how to accelerate their long-term plans for French governmental reforms. Though Louis puts on a strong front during his occasional public appearances, in private the King believes he will not live much longer. The pain in his chest from the unremoved fragments causes him great discomfort and doctors continually advise him to remain inactive lest the fragments shift and cause him mortal damage. Through the fall of 1835 Louis and Marçeau plan for a major announcement early the following year that is sure to cause a political earthquake.
On 11 January, 1836 Louis issues a proclamation calling for a meeting of the états généraux, the defunct advisory assembly of an earlier age. Coinciding with the release, Marçeau delivers a publicized address to the French court "on a new and modern politics.” He calls for sweeping liberal reforms to the French political system based on the proclamation. Marçeau discusses the King's proclamation in detail and reviews the goals of the forthcoming meeting of the three estates, most notably that the assembly will be tasked with drafting a constitution for France and its empire. Marçeau implores each of the three estates (the clergy, the nobility, and the citizenry) to support creating reforms that will allow France to continue to prosper and lead Europe through the 19th Century.
Generally, liberals greet the proclamation and address with excitement and glee that Louis’s government is following through on goals their movement has had for over forty years. Pamphlets and newspapers declare the dawn of a new age in French politics that will grant more voice to the people. Among the most radical however, the Estates General meeting is criticized for being a structure of absolutism that grants the citizenry a merely equal vote with the church and the nobility as a bloc. The Truthists begin pushing for the Estates General to give the people more of a voice in the meeting than the other two estates.
Many conservatives face the news with great apprehension and anger percolates around the idea that the government will stack the agenda with radical items aimed to further neuter the privileges of the Church and the nobility. One anonymous pamphlet questions the King’s mental state due to his injuries and accuses Marçeau of manipulating Louis’s endorsement of radical, anti-monarchist policies. Some even suggest that the Premier may be a republican. In other conservative quarters though, there is cautious optimism that the clergy and the nobility will be able to prevent the Third Estate from gaining too much power from the assembly, and that they may even succeed at grabbing more power for themselves at the expense of the monarchy.
In Madrid, Louis's son is infuriated by the announcement. Enrique was unaware of any immediate plans on the part of his father to implement such policy reforms. He blames the machinations of liberals such as Marçeau for indulging his father's naïve idealism and he vents to his confidants that his father "means to bury me under a constitution that grants undue privileges to a public that knows not what to do with them." Enrique plans a visit to France in the Spring to discuss these matters with Louis in person.
Arrondissements Elections for the Estates General
From February through March each of the 400 arrondissements in France select their delegates to attend the Estates General in Paris, scheduled to begin in May of that year. Initially the expectation is that each district will send three delegates from each Estate: three clergy, three nobles, and three commoners. On 13 February Premier Marçeau announces that the Third Estate (the commoners) will send six delegates per arrondissement, a concession to the radical liberals that leads several leading conservatives–including the King's uncle, the Comte d'Artois–to publicly come out against the assembly. D'Artois writes in the conservative l'Alpha et l'Oméga newspaper that "republican radicals have seized the heart of his Majesty. Watch now how they march his shattered body towards the abyss." His complaints themselves generate much press, mostly by liberal publications mockingly referring to the Comte d’Artois as le bouffon le plus sombre, as put by the editors of the liberal l’Ami de Tous. Despite such prominent conservative complaints, no conservative district councilors boycott the Estates General election.
Both moderate and radical liberals are pleased by the Premier’s decision. The Marquis de Lafayette, universally respected as le grand vieux maréchal, writes in l’Ami that "over nine-in-ten of our countrymen stand in the Third Estate. To grant such a modest advantage to them in the coming assembly is hardly a scandal." Jean Pierre Maupassant, the president of the Normandy Truthists–one of the most radical associations in France–writes in l'Exhortation that "the whole nation will hold a stake in the destiny of France! The people will not be forever denied!"
Factions of the three estates hold three separate elections in each arrondissement to choose their delegates. Each district council decides the precise rules of the elections on its own. Since the mid-1810s, these district councils have been elected by landowners and clergymen in the arrondissements and the wide variety of property holders across regions produces councils that are wildly different.
The most radical councils are found in Normandy, Brittany, and Flanders with their large number of small farm landowners, artisans, and service professionals. The council for the arrondissement of Dunkerque is dominated by Truthists and they vote to send several of their own number as well as a number of prominent non-landholders in the reformist camp. France’s southwest is dominated by the nobility and large-landholders, selecting mostly conservative and moderate delegates. This is also the case in industrializing cities such as Lyons, where the working classes rarely own their own property and therefore are not entitled to suffrage in district elections. This disenfranchisement leads to several work-stoppage actions meant to influence the district councils in the election for the Estates General. These protests reveal the agitation among the public for changes to the political system.
More coming soon...
1836 Proclamation on the Estates General
Following the attempt on his life, King Louis and his Premier Fabrice Marçeau spend time discussing how to accelerate their long-term plans for French governmental reforms. Though Louis puts on a strong front during his occasional public appearances, in private the King believes he will not live much longer. The pain in his chest from the unremoved fragments causes him great discomfort and doctors continually advise him to remain inactive lest the fragments shift and cause him mortal damage. Through the fall of 1835 Louis and Marçeau plan for a major announcement early the following year that is sure to cause a political earthquake.
On 11 January, 1836 Louis issues a proclamation calling for a meeting of the états généraux, the defunct advisory assembly of an earlier age. Coinciding with the release, Marçeau delivers a publicized address to the French court "on a new and modern politics.” He calls for sweeping liberal reforms to the French political system based on the proclamation. Marçeau discusses the King's proclamation in detail and reviews the goals of the forthcoming meeting of the three estates, most notably that the assembly will be tasked with drafting a constitution for France and its empire. Marçeau implores each of the three estates (the clergy, the nobility, and the citizenry) to support creating reforms that will allow France to continue to prosper and lead Europe through the 19th Century.
Generally, liberals greet the proclamation and address with excitement and glee that Louis’s government is following through on goals their movement has had for over forty years. Pamphlets and newspapers declare the dawn of a new age in French politics that will grant more voice to the people. Among the most radical however, the Estates General meeting is criticized for being a structure of absolutism that grants the citizenry a merely equal vote with the church and the nobility as a bloc. The Truthists begin pushing for the Estates General to give the people more of a voice in the meeting than the other two estates.
Many conservatives face the news with great apprehension and anger percolates around the idea that the government will stack the agenda with radical items aimed to further neuter the privileges of the Church and the nobility. One anonymous pamphlet questions the King’s mental state due to his injuries and accuses Marçeau of manipulating Louis’s endorsement of radical, anti-monarchist policies. Some even suggest that the Premier may be a republican. In other conservative quarters though, there is cautious optimism that the clergy and the nobility will be able to prevent the Third Estate from gaining too much power from the assembly, and that they may even succeed at grabbing more power for themselves at the expense of the monarchy.
In Madrid, Louis's son is infuriated by the announcement. Enrique was unaware of any immediate plans on the part of his father to implement such policy reforms. He blames the machinations of liberals such as Marçeau for indulging his father's naïve idealism and he vents to his confidants that his father "means to bury me under a constitution that grants undue privileges to a public that knows not what to do with them." Enrique plans a visit to France in the Spring to discuss these matters with Louis in person.
Arrondissements Elections for the Estates General
From February through March each of the 400 arrondissements in France select their delegates to attend the Estates General in Paris, scheduled to begin in May of that year. Initially the expectation is that each district will send three delegates from each Estate: three clergy, three nobles, and three commoners. On 13 February Premier Marçeau announces that the Third Estate (the commoners) will send six delegates per arrondissement, a concession to the radical liberals that leads several leading conservatives–including the King's uncle, the Comte d'Artois–to publicly come out against the assembly. D'Artois writes in the conservative l'Alpha et l'Oméga newspaper that "republican radicals have seized the heart of his Majesty. Watch now how they march his shattered body towards the abyss." His complaints themselves generate much press, mostly by liberal publications mockingly referring to the Comte d’Artois as le bouffon le plus sombre, as put by the editors of the liberal l’Ami de Tous. Despite such prominent conservative complaints, no conservative district councilors boycott the Estates General election.
Both moderate and radical liberals are pleased by the Premier’s decision. The Marquis de Lafayette, universally respected as le grand vieux maréchal, writes in l’Ami that "over nine-in-ten of our countrymen stand in the Third Estate. To grant such a modest advantage to them in the coming assembly is hardly a scandal." Jean Pierre Maupassant, the president of the Normandy Truthists–one of the most radical associations in France–writes in l'Exhortation that "the whole nation will hold a stake in the destiny of France! The people will not be forever denied!"
Factions of the three estates hold three separate elections in each arrondissement to choose their delegates. Each district council decides the precise rules of the elections on its own. Since the mid-1810s, these district councils have been elected by landowners and clergymen in the arrondissements and the wide variety of property holders across regions produces councils that are wildly different.
The most radical councils are found in Normandy, Brittany, and Flanders with their large number of small farm landowners, artisans, and service professionals. The council for the arrondissement of Dunkerque is dominated by Truthists and they vote to send several of their own number as well as a number of prominent non-landholders in the reformist camp. France’s southwest is dominated by the nobility and large-landholders, selecting mostly conservative and moderate delegates. This is also the case in industrializing cities such as Lyons, where the working classes rarely own their own property and therefore are not entitled to suffrage in district elections. This disenfranchisement leads to several work-stoppage actions meant to influence the district councils in the election for the Estates General. These protests reveal the agitation among the public for changes to the political system.
More coming soon...
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Very interesting development...
It will undoubtedly make France a far more united and productive nation from all points of view, be they economic, politic, or military.
On the other hand, it indeed makes the (no doubt long and awful) War of the French Succession impossible to avoid.
Even if the Constitution grants only half of the rights to the people I'm expecting it to have, it would be half too much for the King of Spain, who has enjoyed his reign of...I don't really know what to call it? Religious absolutism?
Anyway, it's nearly unavoidable that for the first time in a while, the casus belli for a European war is not going to be England versus France, but Spain versus France...
And I suppose French royals are going to stop trying to stop sending their children to Madrid, they get really unpleasant ideas and forget they're French after a few years while they live there...
It will undoubtedly make France a far more united and productive nation from all points of view, be they economic, politic, or military.
On the other hand, it indeed makes the (no doubt long and awful) War of the French Succession impossible to avoid.
Even if the Constitution grants only half of the rights to the people I'm expecting it to have, it would be half too much for the King of Spain, who has enjoyed his reign of...I don't really know what to call it? Religious absolutism?
Anyway, it's nearly unavoidable that for the first time in a while, the casus belli for a European war is not going to be England versus France, but Spain versus France...
And I suppose French royals are going to stop trying to stop sending their children to Madrid, they get really unpleasant ideas and forget they're French after a few years while they live there...
1836 Part 2 - Death of King Louis XVII
Continuing with our story...
Death of King Louis XVII of France
The Spanish King arrives in Paris to meet with his father on 24 April, 1836, shortly after his 25th birthday. King Louis throws him a sumptuous, yet demure, banquet at the Tuileries Palace that evening. Many members of the extended royal family are in attendance including Louis’s ailing uncle the Comte d’Artois, the Duc d’Orleáns, the Prince de Condé, the Duke of Penthièvre, and the Prince de Conti. The Duc d’Orleáns, a man with severe mental handicaps, is attended by his aunt Bathilde and his younger siblings including three brothers. Though he has little reasons to suspect so, Enrique interprets the convocation of the many blood royals, particularly the House of Orleáns, to be a tacit threat to his succession, which he confides to his longtime aide-de-camp Armando Pico, Conde de Nacajuca, who suggests that perhaps the Spanish King is overreading the significance of the guest list.
Enrique sees through his father’s grandiose presentation as host, noting the clear deterioration in his father’s physicality. He becomes increasingly paranoid when his father retreats to his chambers without inviting him to a private audience. This is enhanced the following day when King Louis seemingly avoids one-on-one time with Enrique again, hosting a grand parade through Paris in King Enrique’s honor with a crier proclaiming the crowd to “greet your Dauphin and future king, Henri d'Espagne!” Enrique’s negative reaction to the procession is physically apparent as he sits stone-faced in his carriage and neglects to wave to the crowds. The disconnect between the two kings is deep; King Louis believes the public display will reassure his son of his position, while his son is certain that calling him “Henri d’Espagne” is a clear snub and a signal that he is an outsider in France. According to various palace sources, Enrique manages to corner his father in the palace upon their return and brusquely demands they meet to discuss the pending Estates General. Louis warmly promises his son that the following night they will dine in private together and discuss matters of state.
The following night the two king’s dine alone in King Louis’ apartments. According to palace sources, the two men begin the night cordially, but as dinner progresses the tension between the two breaks. Both men allegedly express sentiments that escalate their argument. Louis scolds his son for being so wedded to anachronistic philosophies, flippantly blaming his adolescence in the Spanish court for his “overly pious sentiments.” This comment allegedly leads to a "heated row," described by palace sources as increasingly venomous. Louis angrily sends all servants out of his chambers and further accounts of the argument are incomplete. Some sources report hearing bits of shouted remarks from Enrique that his father plans on “wrecking the monarchy,” and that “you have made me a stranger to France!” Reports hold that Louis pulled no punches with one such comment being, “would France be better led by a simpleton than a petulant boy who thinks he speaks with God’s voice?” Apart from the shouting, crashes are heard through the apartment doors.
At a point near 9:30 reports agree that the argument suddenly goes quiet and remains so for several minutes before Enrique comes to the door and flatly says “the King of France is gone.” Servants and guards rush into King Louis’ apartments to find him on the floor, with a small pool of blood around his head and on the corner of a heavy marble table. His son crouches several feet away with his head in his hands. The room is littered with toppled furniture and shattered glass from a broken wine bottle. The royal doctor, August Laframb, is summoned as are Queen Mother Marie Amalie, Princess Marie Zephyrine, Premier Marçeau and several other cabinet members, as well as several men of Enrique’s entourage. At 10:48 on the night of 26 April, King Louis XVII is pronounced dead. The doctor notes a wound on the king’s head but does not believe it to have been fatal. After a preliminary examination of the body, he announces that the likely cause of death is heart failure due to the debris lodged in his torso; he attributes the head wound to Louis striking the marble table as he fell to the ground. Laframb says that an autopsy must be performed to confirm his initial findings.
Almost immediately after the doctor’s examination Enrique’s advisors seek to sequester him. The Spanish king seems shocked by the evening’s events, muttering that “God makes his will be known” to his advisors as he is led from the dining hall. Premier Marçeau summons the commander of the Marshalcy to the palace to begin a formal investigation and begin interviewing palace staff. When the French attempt to question Enrique himself, the Spanish foreign minister, the Marqués de Camarasa, angrily confronts them for “casting suspicions” on the Spanish king. Camarasa ends up in a physical altercation with the French domestic minister of the Maison de Roi Gaspard Mériadec de Rohan when the French insist upon gathering facts from Enrique. Enrique is allowed to retire to his chambers and is not interviewed by the French authorities until the following morning.
Death of King Louis XVII of France
The Spanish King arrives in Paris to meet with his father on 24 April, 1836, shortly after his 25th birthday. King Louis throws him a sumptuous, yet demure, banquet at the Tuileries Palace that evening. Many members of the extended royal family are in attendance including Louis’s ailing uncle the Comte d’Artois, the Duc d’Orleáns, the Prince de Condé, the Duke of Penthièvre, and the Prince de Conti. The Duc d’Orleáns, a man with severe mental handicaps, is attended by his aunt Bathilde and his younger siblings including three brothers. Though he has little reasons to suspect so, Enrique interprets the convocation of the many blood royals, particularly the House of Orleáns, to be a tacit threat to his succession, which he confides to his longtime aide-de-camp Armando Pico, Conde de Nacajuca, who suggests that perhaps the Spanish King is overreading the significance of the guest list.
Enrique sees through his father’s grandiose presentation as host, noting the clear deterioration in his father’s physicality. He becomes increasingly paranoid when his father retreats to his chambers without inviting him to a private audience. This is enhanced the following day when King Louis seemingly avoids one-on-one time with Enrique again, hosting a grand parade through Paris in King Enrique’s honor with a crier proclaiming the crowd to “greet your Dauphin and future king, Henri d'Espagne!” Enrique’s negative reaction to the procession is physically apparent as he sits stone-faced in his carriage and neglects to wave to the crowds. The disconnect between the two kings is deep; King Louis believes the public display will reassure his son of his position, while his son is certain that calling him “Henri d’Espagne” is a clear snub and a signal that he is an outsider in France. According to various palace sources, Enrique manages to corner his father in the palace upon their return and brusquely demands they meet to discuss the pending Estates General. Louis warmly promises his son that the following night they will dine in private together and discuss matters of state.
The following night the two king’s dine alone in King Louis’ apartments. According to palace sources, the two men begin the night cordially, but as dinner progresses the tension between the two breaks. Both men allegedly express sentiments that escalate their argument. Louis scolds his son for being so wedded to anachronistic philosophies, flippantly blaming his adolescence in the Spanish court for his “overly pious sentiments.” This comment allegedly leads to a "heated row," described by palace sources as increasingly venomous. Louis angrily sends all servants out of his chambers and further accounts of the argument are incomplete. Some sources report hearing bits of shouted remarks from Enrique that his father plans on “wrecking the monarchy,” and that “you have made me a stranger to France!” Reports hold that Louis pulled no punches with one such comment being, “would France be better led by a simpleton than a petulant boy who thinks he speaks with God’s voice?” Apart from the shouting, crashes are heard through the apartment doors.
At a point near 9:30 reports agree that the argument suddenly goes quiet and remains so for several minutes before Enrique comes to the door and flatly says “the King of France is gone.” Servants and guards rush into King Louis’ apartments to find him on the floor, with a small pool of blood around his head and on the corner of a heavy marble table. His son crouches several feet away with his head in his hands. The room is littered with toppled furniture and shattered glass from a broken wine bottle. The royal doctor, August Laframb, is summoned as are Queen Mother Marie Amalie, Princess Marie Zephyrine, Premier Marçeau and several other cabinet members, as well as several men of Enrique’s entourage. At 10:48 on the night of 26 April, King Louis XVII is pronounced dead. The doctor notes a wound on the king’s head but does not believe it to have been fatal. After a preliminary examination of the body, he announces that the likely cause of death is heart failure due to the debris lodged in his torso; he attributes the head wound to Louis striking the marble table as he fell to the ground. Laframb says that an autopsy must be performed to confirm his initial findings.
Almost immediately after the doctor’s examination Enrique’s advisors seek to sequester him. The Spanish king seems shocked by the evening’s events, muttering that “God makes his will be known” to his advisors as he is led from the dining hall. Premier Marçeau summons the commander of the Marshalcy to the palace to begin a formal investigation and begin interviewing palace staff. When the French attempt to question Enrique himself, the Spanish foreign minister, the Marqués de Camarasa, angrily confronts them for “casting suspicions” on the Spanish king. Camarasa ends up in a physical altercation with the French domestic minister of the Maison de Roi Gaspard Mériadec de Rohan when the French insist upon gathering facts from Enrique. Enrique is allowed to retire to his chambers and is not interviewed by the French authorities until the following morning.
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Did. Did the Spanish king just commit regicide and patercide alike against the French king? Oh shit.
It doesn't matter because it looks like it and that will be enough for people to believe it with the context. The king of Spain also seems to have the tendencies to put his foot in his mouth and he doesn't understand that France isn't Spain. He will make stupid mistakes and combining them with the rumors of patricide and regicide, people will have enough reasons to not follow him. The first mistake will obviously be with the Estates Général that he will make an enemy of.
Oh my God...Regicide? Yeah, that's a way to disqualify you from a royal succession?
I doubt Enrique will manage to get before the Estates General, unless it is to be judged for the murder of his father.
I...I don't think there is a historical precedent for it, but since he has zero support in the government, the army, and most of the population of Paris right now...yeah, he will be lucky if he's allowed to return to Spain.
I doubt Enrique will manage to get before the Estates General, unless it is to be judged for the murder of his father.
I...I don't think there is a historical precedent for it, but since he has zero support in the government, the army, and most of the population of Paris right now...yeah, he will be lucky if he's allowed to return to Spain.
I apologize if I missed a legal change in the timeline, but in OTL technically not.
The laws regarding French succession didn't have any sort of regicide or "traitor" clause (other countries did). This is one reason the House of Orléans was able to make a claim to the throne even though Philippe the Egalitarian voted to execute Louis XVI.
Now, all that being said. Especially in a situation like this being the legal are and being able to make good on that claim are two very different things
1836 Part 3 - Immediate Aftermath
The Immediate Aftermath
On the morning of 27 April, 1836 the French cabinet struggles with what to announce to the public and questions how to deal with Enrique. Upon his father’s death the Spanish King is the legal sovereign of France and thus the Cabinet’s own authority is suddenly unclear. There are major foreign concerns to consider as well as ongoing domestic policy that could be disrupted by the unplanned succession. They decide that they must move quickly and decisively, while also attempting to stay in Enrique’s good graces. There is disagreement on whether to clearly announce a cause of death and whether to disclose an ongoing investigation. Several cabinet members are openly suspicious of Enrique, with de Rohan suggesting that Louis must have been pushed to strike the table so heavily. Doctor Laframb is insistent that the head trauma was not severe enough to cause death, but concedes that his preferred theory cannot be confirmed until an autopsy can be performed. Premier Marçeau decides that the Royal Household will release a statement on King Louis’ death and announcing that an autopsy will be completed to confirm the cause, with no mention of any other investigation.
The commandant of the Maréchaussée, Jean-Alexandre Trogneux, and his marshals have worked through the night interviewing staff and corroborating reports in preparation for their interview with Louis’ son. Trogneux is wary of the interview due to the sovereign status of Enrique following his father’s death. The marshals’ interview of the Spanish king occurs at 10am on the 27th. Enrique acknowledges the angry row with his father over the imposition of a constitutional monarchy and insists that his father became animated before clutching his chest in pain and collapsing, hitting his head on the table and falling to the floor. When he is asked why he did not immediately call for assistance from the staff and guards, Enrique replies that he was stunned by his father’s sudden fall and subsequent gasps. He says that he tended to his father, noting the blood on his arms and clothes from cradling his father’s head. He says that he prayed over his father until Louis' gasping ceased and he felt the spirit leave him. After that response Camarasa ends the interview, saying that Enrique has answered all relevant questions in the matter.
The Royal Household releases a brief statement on the death of King Louis as his son is being interviewed by the Marshalcy. The news hits Paris like a bombshell. Church bells peale and crowds flood the streets moving towards the Tuileries Palace. Mourners are greeted by Premier Marçeau, who has long been a friend to the people of Paris. The beloved old “Vicomte le Bouc” grasps hands with the people and delivers a speech extolling the virtues of the late king. The orator recounts the reign of Louis XVII and traces his successes with Baron Malreaux and Prince Talleyrand before his own long premiership that began after Malreaux’s retirement in 1825. He preaches on Louis’ love for his country and his people, the pain of losing his queen, his pride in his son and his devotion to his daughter. Marçeau closes discussing the difficulties faced by the King since the bombing on the Pont le Vainqueur and his strong desire to bring constitutional reform to France before his death. Marçeau commits to being in attendance at the Estates General and pushing for King Louis’ vision for France. Shouts of “vive notre roi Louis le bien-aimé” echo across Paris.
The Conde de Nacajuca, King Enrique’s confidant, is in the crowd for Marçeau’s speech and returns to the guest suites to inform him of the French Premier’s oration. Enrique once again believes that the French government is trying to entrap him into accepting constitutional reforms. He insists that he release his own statement on his father’s death and his unexpected accession to the throne of France. Some of his counselors advise that he wait for the autopsy report to be completed, but the Prince de Craon and his great-uncle the Count d’Artois encourage him to create his own narrative and prepare the people for his rule. Writing as Henri de Bourbon de France et d’Espagne, he speaks of his childhood in France and his love for the countryside, as well as his eagerness to spend more time in the country of his birth as he expands his realm to include both France and Spain. He speaks of his piety as a guiding principle and his belief in industrial progress; he eloquently praises the faith of the French people, their passion, and their industriousness. He also provides his own account of his father’s death, a far more detailed accounting than the minimal information produced by the Royal Household. He omits any mention of the argument, but includes the details of his father’s fall and how they “prayed together” until Louis passed. Henri’s public letter is released on the afternoon of the 27th and is set for publication in the morning papers alongside Marçeau’s address.
Behind the scenes, Doctor Laframb sends for his colleague Doctor Adrien Bergeret who had recently returned from a stint in Vienna practicing under the revolutionary Austrian surgeon Theodore von Kolowrat. Laframb and Bergeret begin their autopsy of King Louis XVII on the morning of 28 April, amid the public discussion of Marçeau’s and Henri’s statements to the people of France. Bergeret’s methods are cutting edge and the doctors conduct a full examination of King Louis’ body. They discover the full extent of Louis’ internal wounds from his brush with death in 1834. Several shards more than a centimeter inhabit Louis’ torso, one of which had punctured a chamber of his heart, which the doctors determine was the main factor in his death. Another was dangerously close to puncturing his left lung. They deduce that physical activity was key for the shard’s movement deeper into Louis’ body. The head wound is found to be concussive but superficial. Cardiac failure due to complications from foreign bodies in the torso is marked as the official cause of death by Doctor Laframb. The doctors find no evidence of foul play and refuse to speculate on whether the King’s death could have been caused by a push given the lack of any evidence to support such a claim. They also find that no amount of medical assistance could have averted the King’s death once the shard had punctured the heart. All in all the autopsy appears to corroborate Henri’s version of events and exonerates the King’s son of any culpability for not calling for help.
The autopsy report is released to the public the following day by the Royal Household over the strong objections of de Rohan. Minister de Rohan has an alternative theory of the King’s death based on testimony from household staff that suggests a physical struggle between the men; he believes that his son pushed him with sufficient strength to cause the shard near his heart to fatally pierce it. De Rohan argues that Henri must be replaced and given over for trial in the regicide of his father. Premier Marçeau is angered by this suggestion and overrules de Rohan with the strong support of the Cabinet; he makes it clear that there will be no public speculation of foul play on the part of the French government. Marçeau is particularly wary of civil disorder and fears that provoking Henri could lead him to summarily dismiss the government or revoke the proclamation for the Estates General. Marçeau’s strategy is to keep the people’s expectations high, while maintaining at least a cordial relationship with the young man. In this way, Marçeau believes the young Henri can be politically boxed in and that a constitution can still be achieved despite his far more conservative ideology.
On the morning of 27 April, 1836 the French cabinet struggles with what to announce to the public and questions how to deal with Enrique. Upon his father’s death the Spanish King is the legal sovereign of France and thus the Cabinet’s own authority is suddenly unclear. There are major foreign concerns to consider as well as ongoing domestic policy that could be disrupted by the unplanned succession. They decide that they must move quickly and decisively, while also attempting to stay in Enrique’s good graces. There is disagreement on whether to clearly announce a cause of death and whether to disclose an ongoing investigation. Several cabinet members are openly suspicious of Enrique, with de Rohan suggesting that Louis must have been pushed to strike the table so heavily. Doctor Laframb is insistent that the head trauma was not severe enough to cause death, but concedes that his preferred theory cannot be confirmed until an autopsy can be performed. Premier Marçeau decides that the Royal Household will release a statement on King Louis’ death and announcing that an autopsy will be completed to confirm the cause, with no mention of any other investigation.
The commandant of the Maréchaussée, Jean-Alexandre Trogneux, and his marshals have worked through the night interviewing staff and corroborating reports in preparation for their interview with Louis’ son. Trogneux is wary of the interview due to the sovereign status of Enrique following his father’s death. The marshals’ interview of the Spanish king occurs at 10am on the 27th. Enrique acknowledges the angry row with his father over the imposition of a constitutional monarchy and insists that his father became animated before clutching his chest in pain and collapsing, hitting his head on the table and falling to the floor. When he is asked why he did not immediately call for assistance from the staff and guards, Enrique replies that he was stunned by his father’s sudden fall and subsequent gasps. He says that he tended to his father, noting the blood on his arms and clothes from cradling his father’s head. He says that he prayed over his father until Louis' gasping ceased and he felt the spirit leave him. After that response Camarasa ends the interview, saying that Enrique has answered all relevant questions in the matter.
The Royal Household releases a brief statement on the death of King Louis as his son is being interviewed by the Marshalcy. The news hits Paris like a bombshell. Church bells peale and crowds flood the streets moving towards the Tuileries Palace. Mourners are greeted by Premier Marçeau, who has long been a friend to the people of Paris. The beloved old “Vicomte le Bouc” grasps hands with the people and delivers a speech extolling the virtues of the late king. The orator recounts the reign of Louis XVII and traces his successes with Baron Malreaux and Prince Talleyrand before his own long premiership that began after Malreaux’s retirement in 1825. He preaches on Louis’ love for his country and his people, the pain of losing his queen, his pride in his son and his devotion to his daughter. Marçeau closes discussing the difficulties faced by the King since the bombing on the Pont le Vainqueur and his strong desire to bring constitutional reform to France before his death. Marçeau commits to being in attendance at the Estates General and pushing for King Louis’ vision for France. Shouts of “vive notre roi Louis le bien-aimé” echo across Paris.
The Conde de Nacajuca, King Enrique’s confidant, is in the crowd for Marçeau’s speech and returns to the guest suites to inform him of the French Premier’s oration. Enrique once again believes that the French government is trying to entrap him into accepting constitutional reforms. He insists that he release his own statement on his father’s death and his unexpected accession to the throne of France. Some of his counselors advise that he wait for the autopsy report to be completed, but the Prince de Craon and his great-uncle the Count d’Artois encourage him to create his own narrative and prepare the people for his rule. Writing as Henri de Bourbon de France et d’Espagne, he speaks of his childhood in France and his love for the countryside, as well as his eagerness to spend more time in the country of his birth as he expands his realm to include both France and Spain. He speaks of his piety as a guiding principle and his belief in industrial progress; he eloquently praises the faith of the French people, their passion, and their industriousness. He also provides his own account of his father’s death, a far more detailed accounting than the minimal information produced by the Royal Household. He omits any mention of the argument, but includes the details of his father’s fall and how they “prayed together” until Louis passed. Henri’s public letter is released on the afternoon of the 27th and is set for publication in the morning papers alongside Marçeau’s address.
Behind the scenes, Doctor Laframb sends for his colleague Doctor Adrien Bergeret who had recently returned from a stint in Vienna practicing under the revolutionary Austrian surgeon Theodore von Kolowrat. Laframb and Bergeret begin their autopsy of King Louis XVII on the morning of 28 April, amid the public discussion of Marçeau’s and Henri’s statements to the people of France. Bergeret’s methods are cutting edge and the doctors conduct a full examination of King Louis’ body. They discover the full extent of Louis’ internal wounds from his brush with death in 1834. Several shards more than a centimeter inhabit Louis’ torso, one of which had punctured a chamber of his heart, which the doctors determine was the main factor in his death. Another was dangerously close to puncturing his left lung. They deduce that physical activity was key for the shard’s movement deeper into Louis’ body. The head wound is found to be concussive but superficial. Cardiac failure due to complications from foreign bodies in the torso is marked as the official cause of death by Doctor Laframb. The doctors find no evidence of foul play and refuse to speculate on whether the King’s death could have been caused by a push given the lack of any evidence to support such a claim. They also find that no amount of medical assistance could have averted the King’s death once the shard had punctured the heart. All in all the autopsy appears to corroborate Henri’s version of events and exonerates the King’s son of any culpability for not calling for help.
The autopsy report is released to the public the following day by the Royal Household over the strong objections of de Rohan. Minister de Rohan has an alternative theory of the King’s death based on testimony from household staff that suggests a physical struggle between the men; he believes that his son pushed him with sufficient strength to cause the shard near his heart to fatally pierce it. De Rohan argues that Henri must be replaced and given over for trial in the regicide of his father. Premier Marçeau is angered by this suggestion and overrules de Rohan with the strong support of the Cabinet; he makes it clear that there will be no public speculation of foul play on the part of the French government. Marçeau is particularly wary of civil disorder and fears that provoking Henri could lead him to summarily dismiss the government or revoke the proclamation for the Estates General. Marçeau’s strategy is to keep the people’s expectations high, while maintaining at least a cordial relationship with the young man. In this way, Marçeau believes the young Henri can be politically boxed in and that a constitution can still be achieved despite his far more conservative ideology.
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Well, that's certainly thrilling. I'll wait to see how this all pans out. Hopefully a truly constitutionnal monarchy emerges from this mess (although, as a Frenchman, I would obviously prefer a Republic - "Tyrans descendez au cercueil" and all that jazz) !
This doesn't bode well for Spain, at least in the short run. I'm kinda rooting for them, as their otl 19th century was dog shit enough already.
I wonder if Britain will try to interfere in the incoming crisis or if they'll stay in their supposedly splendid isolation.
As always, thanks for the work you put in in these updates ! It's great.
This doesn't bode well for Spain, at least in the short run. I'm kinda rooting for them, as their otl 19th century was dog shit enough already.
I wonder if Britain will try to interfere in the incoming crisis or if they'll stay in their supposedly splendid isolation.
As always, thanks for the work you put in in these updates ! It's great.
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1836 Part 4 - Foreign Reactions
We have a few more narratives to go on the death of King Louis XVII.
Foreign Reactions
Following the autopsy report, the French government turns its attention to managing foreign reactions, which by 30 April have begun to arrive. Claude de Montferrand, the Foreign Minister, spends days with his staff replying to communiques from across Europe. Among France’s allies the reactions are highly sympathetic; Louis XVII was instrumental in solidifying the Holy Alliance, setting a new path for the Rhineland states, and aiding with the recovery of the Netherlands after the devastating war against France. Ferdinando V, King of Naples, sends copious gifts of wine, coffee, pistachios, oranges, and other agricultural products. The Bundesrat of the Rheinbund announces the commission of a statue of Louis XVII to be installed in Cologne. The Dutch King Willem credits Louis with the restoration of the monarchy to the Netherlands and eulogizes his magnanimity following Talleyrand’s War.
Other nations express their condolences, but clearly delineate their concerns over the presumed forthcoming violation of the Peace of Utrecht. Maximilian I of Saxony writes a long letter of condolences to his great-aunt, France's Queen Mother Marie Amalie, but his government’s official communique to Montferrand tersely alludes to the possibility of the long peace in Europe being shattered by discord resulting from Louis’ death. His infirm great-uncle Karl Wilhelm I of Bavaria writes of his deep respect for Louis XVII and his hopes that dynastic questions do not throw his own twilight years into turmoil. Franz II of Austria has been in intermittent seclusion fighting an illness since the winter of 1835 and while there’s little love lost between him and the late French king, the Habsburg patriarch writes to the Queen Mother that Louis was “the wisest and most fair-minded enemy” he ever faced. Franz concedes to Marie Amalie that Louis was a strong leader who informed some of his own choices in Austria. Still, Austria’s powerful foreign minister, Johan Anton von Bach, delivers a communique to Montferrand that requires “stability” in Europe in the coming years. Bach seems to deliberately avoid mention of Utrecht, but strongly implies that Austria will not countenance any changes that majorly disrupt the two decades of stability among the European powers.
In Russia Tsar Paul II has become eager to become a major player in Europe, building off of Russian successes in central Asia. With Austria largely cowed and Britain withdrawn from continental affairs, Paul believes that French hegemony deserves a challenge, particularly if the global empires of France and Spain are to be unified. Already by 1835 Paul has emissaries in the powerful Sikh Empire northwest of India seeding distrust in French colonial officials. Paul also makes overtures to Prussia, which is beginning to rebuild and modernize its military. On hearing of Louis’ death, Paul’s Foreign Minister, Karl Dmitri von Nesselrode, writes to Austria warning a unified France and Spain would further dominate western Germany and the Italian Peninsula, further encroaching its influence into Bavaria and Saxony, accelerating Austria’s isolation. He writes a similar letter to Britain, hyping concerns about Hanover and the openness of maritime trade. Despite not being a party to the Peace of Utrecht, when Nesselrode writes to France he is so bold as to ask Montferrand which alternative to Henri the French have chosen to be crowned King, implicitly threatening a deterioration of relations should France and Spain join under a royal union.
For their part the British simply send condolences from King George IV and the government sends along a formulaic statement that makes no mention of the Peace of Utrecht. The British have just concluded a wide-ranging treaty with Portugal and Prime Minister Lucas Cameron is not eager to be drawn into a continental entanglement. As the Portuguese expressed great concern about the unification of France and Spain the British government commits to itself that they will exhaust their diplomatic and deterrence tools to protect their interests in Hanover and Portugal without fighting France. The government has the backing of the King and his brother Edward Augustus, the heir to the throne. Other European powers take the British government’s dispatch to Paris as an abandonment of the United Kingdom’s role as enforcer of the Peace of Utrecht, a realization that causes Russia to step in to fill the void.
Foreign Reactions
Following the autopsy report, the French government turns its attention to managing foreign reactions, which by 30 April have begun to arrive. Claude de Montferrand, the Foreign Minister, spends days with his staff replying to communiques from across Europe. Among France’s allies the reactions are highly sympathetic; Louis XVII was instrumental in solidifying the Holy Alliance, setting a new path for the Rhineland states, and aiding with the recovery of the Netherlands after the devastating war against France. Ferdinando V, King of Naples, sends copious gifts of wine, coffee, pistachios, oranges, and other agricultural products. The Bundesrat of the Rheinbund announces the commission of a statue of Louis XVII to be installed in Cologne. The Dutch King Willem credits Louis with the restoration of the monarchy to the Netherlands and eulogizes his magnanimity following Talleyrand’s War.
Other nations express their condolences, but clearly delineate their concerns over the presumed forthcoming violation of the Peace of Utrecht. Maximilian I of Saxony writes a long letter of condolences to his great-aunt, France's Queen Mother Marie Amalie, but his government’s official communique to Montferrand tersely alludes to the possibility of the long peace in Europe being shattered by discord resulting from Louis’ death. His infirm great-uncle Karl Wilhelm I of Bavaria writes of his deep respect for Louis XVII and his hopes that dynastic questions do not throw his own twilight years into turmoil. Franz II of Austria has been in intermittent seclusion fighting an illness since the winter of 1835 and while there’s little love lost between him and the late French king, the Habsburg patriarch writes to the Queen Mother that Louis was “the wisest and most fair-minded enemy” he ever faced. Franz concedes to Marie Amalie that Louis was a strong leader who informed some of his own choices in Austria. Still, Austria’s powerful foreign minister, Johan Anton von Bach, delivers a communique to Montferrand that requires “stability” in Europe in the coming years. Bach seems to deliberately avoid mention of Utrecht, but strongly implies that Austria will not countenance any changes that majorly disrupt the two decades of stability among the European powers.
In Russia Tsar Paul II has become eager to become a major player in Europe, building off of Russian successes in central Asia. With Austria largely cowed and Britain withdrawn from continental affairs, Paul believes that French hegemony deserves a challenge, particularly if the global empires of France and Spain are to be unified. Already by 1835 Paul has emissaries in the powerful Sikh Empire northwest of India seeding distrust in French colonial officials. Paul also makes overtures to Prussia, which is beginning to rebuild and modernize its military. On hearing of Louis’ death, Paul’s Foreign Minister, Karl Dmitri von Nesselrode, writes to Austria warning a unified France and Spain would further dominate western Germany and the Italian Peninsula, further encroaching its influence into Bavaria and Saxony, accelerating Austria’s isolation. He writes a similar letter to Britain, hyping concerns about Hanover and the openness of maritime trade. Despite not being a party to the Peace of Utrecht, when Nesselrode writes to France he is so bold as to ask Montferrand which alternative to Henri the French have chosen to be crowned King, implicitly threatening a deterioration of relations should France and Spain join under a royal union.
For their part the British simply send condolences from King George IV and the government sends along a formulaic statement that makes no mention of the Peace of Utrecht. The British have just concluded a wide-ranging treaty with Portugal and Prime Minister Lucas Cameron is not eager to be drawn into a continental entanglement. As the Portuguese expressed great concern about the unification of France and Spain the British government commits to itself that they will exhaust their diplomatic and deterrence tools to protect their interests in Hanover and Portugal without fighting France. The government has the backing of the King and his brother Edward Augustus, the heir to the throne. Other European powers take the British government’s dispatch to Paris as an abandonment of the United Kingdom’s role as enforcer of the Peace of Utrecht, a realization that causes Russia to step in to fill the void.
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Got caught up to this recently - of course just as what appears to be this world's next great crisis starts to unfold. Eagerly looking forward to how this succession issue is resolved - although the implication is that a fairly lengthy war is going to come out of this first...