Hi, everyone.
My name is Yorel and I'm new to the board. I didn't really knew where to post to present myself so I decided to do it within this thread.
First, I'd like to excuse myself for my english mistakes but I'm French and thus english is not my mother tongue.
I've known AH.com for a long time, but until now I was only a ghost reading timelines and threads that interested me. I took me a long time to finally register on this forum because I'm shy. What finally decided me are the fact that I enjoyed reading the timelines and the debates around them as well as the fact that there were some ideas I would have liked to see and that were never posted or presented.
My forte is Napoleonic History but I'm also very interested in French history in general as well as Roman and European history.
Well, now that I've done my introduction, let's talk about the thread.
Francis II of France, son of Henri II of France and Catherine de Medici, ruled from July 1559 to December 1560. He was only 16 years old when he died and couldn't really achieved anything during his 17 month-long reign. He ruled at the beginning of the Religious Wars and Protestants even once tried to seize him but they failed. He didn't really left a mark on History besides the fact that he is one of the three last king of the Valois Dynasty who ruled France and that he has the shortest reign of all the kings of that dynasty.
He was married to Mary Stuart, Queen of the Scots, but they had no children. This made me wonder... What would have happened if Francis II had lived longer?
If he had lived long enough to have a child with Mary, this child (I'll cal him Henri/Henry) would have inherited both of the thrones of France and Scotland.
It gets even more interesting if Elisabeth I of England still dies childless. As Mary Stuart was the next in line to the throne of England, her son would inherit her claims and thus the throne (that's how James I/VI got the english throne in OTL).
Francis II and Mary's son would therefore become King of France, England and Scotland as Henri/Henry III, IX and I.
This would make him one of the most powerful monarchs of Europe as he would have the ressource of two of the most powerful nations of Europe at that time : France and England. Besides Spain, I don't know really see which nation would stand a chance against the triple kingdom of France-England-Scotland.
However, the problem with that triple monarchy would be its stability. There were enormous religious turmoil in France in the last years of the Valois Dynasty between Protestants and Catholics. Also, by the time of Elisabeth I's death, England was staunchly Protestant while France and Scotland were Catholic. The religious war could thus happen on a larger scale, which would led Henri/Henry III, IX & I to face a huge civil war between Catholics and Protestants. It could en up in a bloody mess and the triple kingdom might collapse because of it.
Another problem with this scenario is its plausibility : I doubt Elisabeth I is going to accept the idea of being succeeded by a French King, furthermore if this King is a Catholic. She could very well try to find a way to avoid this scenario, which might lead her to seek a good husband and have children.
Furthermore, Mary Stuart had pissed off the scottish nobility, which is the reason why she lost her kingdom to her son in OTL. I don't know if having the French King for husband would change anything, even if France and Scotland were allies at that time.
Any thoughts?