The Holy Roman Empire of the French Nation Timeline

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Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

Chapter XIII

Vienna

April 20, 1499

"Messenger! I assume you bring us news of the Emperor's glorious entry into Rome that I heard yesterday?" Exhaled a noble.
"No, sire. I bring far graver news... the Emperor and the Imperial Army have been destroyed. France and Venice---"
"Say no more!" Thundered the noble.

"The Empire is leaderless! The Emperor has been slaughtered by a Roman mob. The Princes are up in arms against us. The Turks are pushing to the Danube, the Treasury is empty, and our armies shattered. We must sue for peace!" Cried a distressed noble.

"At what price? Our enemies hold all the cards."

"tu, infelix Austria nube."

a few hours later

"The French are our only hopes for salvation from the Turks!"

Reports of a Turkish rout of a Hungarian army had come in. The Poles were aloof, and England or Spain too far away. The nation left to resist the infidel was their enemy. It was time to sue for peace, on any terms they could get.

Finis

Thoughts?

hopefully this tides you over until the treaty...
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

Chapter XIV

the negotiating table

May 12, 1499

Treaty of Rome

-Alexander VII is recognized as Pope
-An Imperial Election is to be held as soon as possible
-The nearest eligible Hapsburg princess will marry Francis I (Eleanor of Austria).
-Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria, is to be Regent for the underage Eleanor.
-Louis XII is confirmed as King of Burgundy; the Hapsburgs forfeit all rights
-France gains possession of half of Savoy, and French relatives rule the rest.
-Venice annexes the Romagna, the Duchy of Friuli, and some overseas territories of Genoa.
-A Crusade is to be organized against the Ottomans by the Pope.
-The ongoing civil wars in the Empire are an affair with Imperial members: France may not intervene.
-The possessions of the House of Hapsburg devolve to Albert of Bavaria, as the nearest eligible male heir.
-The Swiss cantons are independent from the Empire.
-The cantons are enlarged with Basel, Schaffhausen, Appenzell, Baden, Voralburg, and the Vaud. (intended as balance to Mega-France and Venice).
-It is officially declared the Kingdom of Switzerland, and the monarch will be the dispossessed Vladislaus II of Hungary, robbed of his lands by the Turks.
-Papal States gain large indemnities from the remaining Italian states.
-France receives reparations from Austria excluding the future dowry.
-Any breach of the treaty is to be met with excommunication by the Pope and the offending power being placed under interdict. Foreign powers will also be invited to invade said state for themselves.


Finis

Thoughts?

Is this implausible? Not sure if I gave France too much land or not- but Austria got beaten VERY badly. Today they would have been lucky they were not annexed themselves.
Hungarian king for Switzerland too impossible?
Crusade?
Please respond.
 
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Ciniad

Looks good but I don't know if the Swiss would accept a monarch?
For the land and France well Naple is logical as Louis XII as a claim I don't know for savoy.
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

@Ciniad I only included that in there because I figured a Papal-backed treaty would want a "divinely ordained leader," i.e. a monarch. I might be wrong.

As for Savoy... The French OTL occupy in the 16th century. They want it. Austria is in NO position to try and keep it free. idk. Maybe still implausible, but that was my thinking.
 
DracoLazarus

DracoLazarus

@Mental_Wizard Savoy married regularily into the French royal family. While it might be a good idea to annex it geopolitically for France, the King might want his relative to stay in charge, but knowing he's a puppet.
So I would see France taking from Savoy Gex, Bugey and Bresse (modern day department of the Ain, Savoyard at the time), perhaps even the County of Nice, and hemming them in by owning Milanais on the other side.

As for the treaty itself ... well, this is very soft AH. It is way too brutal for what was done at the time.
Sure, the King of France can take over Naples. But in a specific war, with Naples as the goal, and because he has a claim on it. Not because ah, it's an aside, you allied the wrong folk.
And BTW if Naples was an Imperial ally France would've been invaded by Aragon, which was in PU with Naples since the end of the First Italian War.
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

@DracoLazarus Thank you for informing me. I did my own research based on your concerns, and your Naples comments are correct. I will fix that.
As for what you said about Savoy, that is what I did. I may not have said it very well... but annexation of several areas is what happened. :p
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

Going to assume the treaty is good now. What you can see posted for Chapter XIV is final (unless there is a spelling or grammatical error). Time to work on Chapter XV. ;)
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

Chapter XV

Vienna

July 7, 1499

The new Holy League had assembled at the Austrian eastern border. Eleanor, the half-year old issue of the dead Philip of Austria had been betrothed to the five year old Francis in exchange for the Holy League's help against the Turks. They had crashed through Hungary and the other Balkan states in the absence of Austrian forces. This "Crusade" did not see much fighting, however. The Turks simply fortified what they had gained from Hungary. To hold up their end of the bargain, France and Venice engaged in a few skirmishes, but really did nothing. In exchange for recognition of their gains in Hungary, the Ottomans gave the Venetians and French great trading privileges and concessions in Constantinople, promised protection for Christians throughout their Empire and any lands they may conquer, and let Venice absorb Ragusa. Austria was left fuming, but was powerless to do anything. The French and Venetians had complete dominance over Austria, and technically they had fulfilled their obligations.

"The Imperial Election is coming soon... I MUST BE EMPEROR! That damned Louis becoming Emperor, or one of his goons, would be the end of the House of Hapsburg! There is still war in the Empire though. Austria is hated. France is seen as a liberator from our "tyranny." What am I to do?????" Cursed Albert, Regent of Austria and Duke of Bavaria.
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

Chapter XVI

Aachen

August 4, 1499

The summit to elect the next Emperor would have happened now, but most of the Electors were at war. Albert fumed at the delay in transferal of imperial power. Surely he would get the throne? He was a little low on cash however, as the French asked for Eleanor's dowry early for some reason. He could not fathom what they were spending it on. It did not matter- unless he could conceive a child, the throne of Austria was passing to Eleanor, and through Eleanor into union with France. There was nothing he could do now to stop the French from winning the imperial election, the throne of Austria, and their clear dream of universal monarchy.
Albert had children, but the Treaty of Rome stipulated that only Eleanor could inherit the void throne of Austria: Albert was merely a regent for her. Violating the treaty now would result in the utter destruction of all of Austria.
"I must wait, until Eleanor has almost reached the age of rule. Then, I will have built Austria back up and we will throw off the French yoke!" Albert cackled.


Paris

later that night

Louis realized that there would be another war. The Austrians would not let his cousin march into Vienna without a fight. Luckily however, Louis was already brokering peace between the electors. He already knew he had most of the votes: he was going to be the next Emperor. For all the fuming the Castilians and the English did, they could do nothing. It was Louis who ruled Germany, whether they liked it or not. The Spanish can have their colonies- The French New World was to the East.

Finis

Thoughts?

It's a shame Albert did not hear about the peace faster...
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

Chapter XVII

Frankfurt

August 14, 1499

The Electorate of Trier had just declared for Louis. That was it- Louis had the majority. He also had the remaining members, but it did not matter. A Valois was now Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation.

Vienna

August 17, 1499

The messenger collapsed of exhaustion.
"Sire! The election has been decided... The French won..."
A guttural echo could be heard coming from the walls of the palace. All of Vienna mourned for their lost Empire, now in the hands of their detested enemy. It was a dark day for Austria.
"No!" Shouted Albert. "We will not accept this. We will not tolerate this. Austria will rise again and punish the insolent French!"

Finis

Thoughts?

sorry it is short, I am a little busy today.
 
Joshuapooleanox

Joshuapooleanox

Mental_Wizard said:
Chapter XVII

Frankfurt

August 14, 1499

The Electorate of Trier had just declared for Louis. That was it- Louis had the majority. He also had the remaining members, but it did not matter. A Valois was now Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation.

Vienna

August 17, 1499

The messenger collapsed of exhaustion.
"Sire! The election has been decided... The French won..."
A guttural echo could be heard coming from the walls of the palace. All of Vienna mourned for their lost Empire, now in the hands of their detested enemy. It was a dark day for Austria.
"No!" Shouted Albert. "We will not accept this. We will not tolerate this. Austria will rise again and punish the insolent French!"

Finis

Thoughts?

sorry it is short, I am a little busy today.
Click to expand...

This... is really bad. Prepare for a continental proportions in this war!

Austria: 'FOR GODS SAKE, WE FINALLY STARTED TAKING CONTROL OF THIS EMPIRE, AND NOW ITS GONE. WE HAD TO TOLERATE DEMOCRACY TO GET THIS!'
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

Chapter XVIII

Rheims

September 2, 1499

To humiliate the Austrians completely, Louis arranged for the coronation to take place at Rheims and not Aachen. He claimed that the Empire was still chaotic and he was safe in his own realm. The coronation started as planned.

"Louis XII of the House of Valois, King of France, King of the Burgundians, Duke of Savoy and Defender of the Faith- I anoint you as King of the Romans, Holy Roman Emperor, Louis V Valois!" The Pope cried.
(Te Deum plays)

"It is time to rule my Empire! All my life I have waited and dreamed for Imperial power, as my ancestors have back to Charlemagne. Today I have achieved it! la gloire is mine!!!!" Louis laughed.

"I may have told the Germans I will be nice... but my cousin will be Holy Roman Emperor of the French Nation when I have finished with those princes!" Cackled Louis.

Albert suffered a stroke; he cited this as why he did not come. Eleanor was sent as representative of Austria: And also to meet her future husband. Austria spirals even closer to French domination... was there anything they could do?

Finis

Thoughts?

lol this should have been second half of Chapter XVII but I am lazy. Sorry about that.
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

Note to all: Albert did not suffer a stroke. This is a plausible France-Wank... :p
He just did not want to go. What a liar

Chapter XIX coming soon.
 
Mental_Wizard

Mental_Wizard

Chapter XIX

Paris

September 24, 1499

The Queen of France and Brittany had died. She had been sick for months- and Louis knew. She was too sick to be saved, and he let the love of his life waste away while he conquered an empire for his cousin. Louis saw an opportunity in even the most tragic event of his entire life.
"Send the troops in. My dear Anne's little duchy is ours. Our laws of primogeniture do not apply to them, so I am the heir. Claim my kingdom!" Louis mourned.
"Sire, there is a problem." Said a courtier. "There is a usurper. A grandson of their Duke Francis I! He has been claimed by their nobles as Duke John III. The whole duchy will be up in arms against us!"
"Then I guess I will lead the troops in. Germany may wait- let them think the Emperor will not tighten their collars... for now."

far to the east
Muscow

"Tsar Ivan! There is a new usurper of your Imperial title!" Murmured a boyar.
"Who dares to claim my sacred Imperial throne???? Is it that Angle chieftain, or the Turkic usurpers? Is it another one of those damned German barbarians?"
"No, sire. It is a Frankish whelp."
"German to me." Spat the Tsar.
"He is not. The Germans are broken. The Lithuanians and Poles must notice this. We must make sure they do not take advantage of this power balance change." Cried the boyar.

Finis

Thoughts?
 
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