WI:Capetian Italy

I suppose its theoretically possible for the some branch Capets to be in a position to be a ruler capable of uniting Italy, but I'm not sure how that would start, let alone if they'd have any real chance of it.

So at this point, I'm too busy going "huh?!" to really offer more than that. Just seems a hard-to-create scenario.
 
It depends how "capetian" you want them to be - technically, every French King after the Capetians took power have been descended from the Capets (at least IIRC).
 
To have a Capetian Italy, you first need one of the Capetians Branch to rule an Italian State. This happened several times in History :

-You had a Capetian House of Anjou ruling Naples starting with Charles I of Naples (who was the youngest son of Louis VIII of France and a younger brother to St. Louis IX).

-The House of Valois-Anjou, a cadet branch of the Valois, inherited Naples later. Their first King was Louis I of Naples, the second son of King John II of France. The rights of the Valois-Anjou were later inherited by their Direct Valois cousins (leading to the Italian Wars).

-The Houses of Valois-Orléans and Valois-Angoulême had rights on the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples thanks to their previous sucesses. In case of a French Victory in the Italian Wars, Milan and Naples could have Valois (thus Capetian) rulers.

-Lastly, we have the Bourbons (who are the only remaining branch remaining of the Capetians to this day, not counting the illegitimate Braganzas). They inherited Naples (which later became the Two Sicilies) at one point, as well as Parma.

After getting and keeping those Capetians on their Italian throne, you would need one of them to lead the Italian Unification. How they do that is another problem... It probably needs to be a combination of conquests and inheritance of the various Italian States.
Another possibility I see would be for the Bourbon-Naples to lead Italian Unification instead of the House of Savoy, but that seems ASB given the reactionnary attitude of the Bourbon-Naples.
 
To have a Capetian Italy, you first need one of the Capetians Branch to rule an Italian State. This happened several times in History :

-You had a Capetian House of Anjou ruling Naples starting with Charles I of Naples (who was the youngest son of Louis VIII of France and a younger brother to St. Louis IX).

-The House of Valois-Anjou, a cadet branch of the Valois, inherited Naples later. Their first King was Louis I of Naples, the second son of King John II of France. The rights of the Valois-Anjou were later inherited by their Direct Valois cousins (leading to the Italian Wars).

-The Houses of Valois-Orléans and Valois-Angoulême had rights on the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples thanks to their previous sucesses. In case of a French Victory in the Italian Wars, Milan and Naples could have Valois (thus Capetian) rulers.

-Lastly, we have the Bourbons (who are the only remaining branch remaining of the Capetians to this day, not counting the illegitimate Braganzas). They inherited Naples (which later became the Two Sicilies) at one point, as well as Parma.

After getting and keeping those Capetians on their Italian throne, you would need one of them to lead the Italian Unification. How they do that is another problem... It probably needs to be a combination of conquests and inheritance of the various Italian States.
Another possibility I see would be for the Bourbon-Naples to lead Italian Unification instead of the House of Savoy, but that seems ASB given the reactionnary attitude of the Bourbon-Naples.
Actually, I plan for the descendant of Ladislao Durazzo to unite Italy in my timeline.
 
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