Background
In 1799, people in the Frankish Empire were preparing the Millennial Fest events set for 1800 in order to commemorate the birth of the country one thousand ago.
Of course, the Empire of the end of the 18th century had little in common with that created by Charlemagne at the early Middle Ages. Not even the official name: the (Western/Holy) Roman Empire title inherited from the late Classical tradition succumbed to the more practical Frankish Empire once the adjective 'Frankish' lost his original tribal meaning and acquired the sense of mix of Germanic (or Germanized) peoples and Latin traditions.
The Empire, however, had known better days in the past. Thanks to the alliance with the Danish and Norwegians in the 10th century, it built an astonishing trade network in the North Atlantic from the European continent to the colonies in North America, which flourished and expanded to the South. Thus, the Frankish Empire reached the status of undisputed hyperpower in Europe during the 13th and 14th centuries.
But since the 15th century, its power started to decline. England, a former Frankish vassal, got their way to reunite all the British Isles under its dominion (as well as some territories in the continent like Normandy and Brittany) and started to challenge the power of the Frankish in the North Atlantic, to the point of stealing all the North American Frankish colonies (excepting Greenland and Helluland) by 1750. In the South, the surge of the Kingdom of Spain, which also controlled Southern Italy, also led to the lost of the initial Frankish advantage in Central America, which was finally settled by the Spanish; all the Frankish settlements were finally evacuated before 1700.
In the metropoli, things were not better. After the arrival of the House of Reims to the Frankish throne in 1469, a process of internal disgregation started: some entities created their own quasi-independent Kingdoms, in a mere personal union with the Empire. Other minor entities got full independence, like the Dutch Republic in 1591 (under British protection) or the Free Cities of Hamburg, Danzig and Bremen.
As a reaction to this decadence, in 1753 a group of Frankish intellectuals and businessmen created the secret society called 'The Brothers', which aimed to convert the Frankish Empire in a more modern and centralized Parlamentarian monarchy, resembling the successful British model; however, the most radical branch prefered a Republic like the Dutch one.
With the loss of the last colonies, the ideals of 'The Brothers' started to gain popularity among the upper non-noble classes, but the lower classes mostly rejected these ideas because of the perceived anti-Catholic flair of some of them. However, after the coronation of the young, vicious and inept Henry IV in 1784, who increased the taxation in the lands after his direct control for financing some hideous projects while famine broke out in some rural regions, the ideals of 'The Brothers' were received by increasing sympathy among the desperate peasants...
Map of the Frankish Empire in 1799
* Dark orange: lands of the Crown (where the Emperor had direct rule)
* Yellow: vassals of the Crown (duchies, counties etc.)
* Pale yellow: lands of the Catholic Church (under Imperial protection).
* Light Orange: semi-independent kingdoms.
* Green: rivals of the Frankish Empire.
* Pink: independent republics.