Impacts of a Protestant France?
- Thread starter Sevarics
- Start date
A Gallican Church would be interesting. The french kings were quite the autocrats and this could be just one more way to have control over his subject.
That being said, the king at time supported the ultramontain against local "heresies" (like the jansenists) so it would probably take something quite extreme to have the king cut ties with the pope.
This is basically the point of my TL A More Personal Union, where a longer union between France and Scotland results in a Protestant France.
if france becomes protestant, the likelyhood of them coming to support their religious brethren in the United Provinces is very big. Which could mean an early end to the dutch 80 year war, and a bigger chunk of the southern netherlands being added to the U.P.
of course this would also mean a direct conflict between france and spain.
of course this would also mean a direct conflict between france and spain.
Devil's advocate - why assumating protestants are an united group? Against Catholics maybe, but even then...
There was tensions and warfare between Lutherians and Calvinists and others, no? And France's protestants are calvinists if I am right in genral, so maybe still tensions with german princes potentially, along nationalism...
There was tensions and warfare between Lutherians and Calvinists and others, no? And France's protestants are calvinists if I am right in genral, so maybe still tensions with german princes potentially, along nationalism...
Maybe some complex repercutions in Swisterland, as that is the calvinism's 'homeland' kinda...
This wouldn't change a lot maybe with Britain, ironically...
If France is protestant and gets involved in the 30's year war I can see Bavaria picking the catholic side and straying there as opposed to its waffling to fight the "protestant menace".
If France were Protestant then there would be no Republic in Britain, as Charles would not have needed the money to fight first the French, then the Dutch and then the French again.
I think it far more likely that the Church of England becomes more Calvanist as the King would propably have married a French princess than anyone else.
It would also I think destroy the power of the Pope, as with out France to balance the Italian states the Pope would always be Italian and Catholosism will become much less powerful in Europe.
You see, if more and more countries fall to Protestantism, it may bring things bad - the fails between the major lines like Lutherianism and Calvinism, with the 'Papist threat' getting more distant and harder to unite them, their hard divisions start to get focus, and heat rise... 'holy wars', who know... And maybe ANglicanism radicalise, or the Low or High church win, problems come... By example, High church win, accusations of cryptopapism..
And anyway, religions are used as excuses much, nationalism was budding and national interests are there, so dutch-british and dutch-french wars amy happens anyway.
And you forget spain, portugal, etc... Paradoxaly, maybe in the long run, the Orthodoxes may feels threatened if the protestantism also get strong eastward, and who know, they ally with catholics... strange times to come later?
It could go Protestant with the Spiritual capital being Avignon and the Political capital being Paris, that would be good for both French and Occitans.
Speaking as someone who usually argues a somewhat pro-English position here: And getting in a war with the UK is going to mean naval defeat for France because why?
OTL is not inevitably going to repeat itself.
Someone needs to look up the Anglo-Dutch wars.
And again, how is OTL's outcome necessarily going to happen here, in different circumstances?
Well, you'll never know how much of that was because of the descendants of Huguenot refugees to English territories and their impact on the English navies
The entire system could be reversed. After all, if French Huguenot colonies become valuable sources of wood and ships, France could end up the premier naval power.