WI French capital isn't Paris

Umbric Man

Umbric Man

I would argue Orleans because it was the Second City of the Duchy of France that the Kingdom of France/West Francia grew out of, its only other major county of the duchy outside of the Pariensis/County of Paris, and the Capetians and their cadet dynasties stuck to this region as the core of the (admittedly ever-expanding) royal domain they expanded power from. It’s also at least central enough for geographic purposes.
 
DracoLazarus

DracoLazarus

Umbric Man said:
I would argue Orleans because it was the Second City of the Duchy of France that the Kingdom of France/West Francia grew out of, its only other major county of the duchy outside of the Pariensis/County of Paris, and the Capetians and their cadet dynasties stuck to this region as the core of the (admittedly ever-expanding) royal domain they expanded power from. It’s also at least central enough for geographic purposes.
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Duchy of France ? Never heard of it, and I'm French.
Orleans was indeed a rather large city, but Paris was more central in Neustria, more defensible, and had a history of being an important trade city.
Paris was the historical capital of Neustria by the Carolingian era. It would take a Merovingian PoD to change that, and i'd say Clovis picking Melun over Paris would be rather easy.
 
Umbric Man

Umbric Man

DracoLazarus said:
Duchy of France ? Never heard of it, and I'm French.
Orleans was indeed a rather large city, but Paris was more central in Neustria, more defensible, and had a history of being an important trade city.
Paris was the historical capital of Neustria by the Carolingian era. It would take a Merovingian PoD to change that, and i'd say Clovis picking Melun over Paris would be rather easy.
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I’ll cop/apologize to poor wording. The Duchy of France just being a modern version name of “Francia/of the Franks”, which if I remember off the top of my head was roughly equivalent to Neustria anyway - colloquial terminology and all that.
 
oshron

oshron

i suppose Rouen could be an option if it was a Norman-dominated France, at least for the de jure capital (dunno if Paris would still come to prominence in that situation)
 
DracoLazarus

DracoLazarus

oshron said:
i suppose Rouen could be an option if it was a Norman-dominated France, at least for the de jure capital (dunno if Paris would still come to prominence in that situation)
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Paris has been slowly coming to prominence ever since Clovis chose it as his capital. I doubt Rouen would overtake it.
 

material_boy

Bourges seems the most obvious choice since it was the capital of the Armagnac faction and the subsequent Valois government in exile for decades.
 
Mina-van-Mako

Mina-van-Mako

DracoLazarus said:
Paris has been slowly coming to prominence ever since Clovis chose it as his capital. I doubt Rouen would overtake it.
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Good point, however in a Norman takeover PoD it is not unimaginable to see Paris severely damaged, and maybe even see the Normans transfer some of the wealth and symbols of power to Rouen (a bit like with a Venice and the Fourth Crusade scenario). So it would depend on how the Norman takeover unfolds.
 
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