WI: Tudors in France?

Picture this: Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Henry VII doesn't die in 1502 and instead succeeds his father as King of England upon his death in 1509. Arthur's younger brother Henry, Duke of York (OTL Henry VIII) remains the Duke of York and becomes a cardinal. King Arthur I and his wife Catherine of Aragon have two surviving sons: Arthur, the Prince of Wales (b. 1504) and Henry, the Duke of Clarence (b. 1509) as well as a daughter named Mary (b. 1506) who marries (the historical) Emperor Charles V.

When Arthur I dies in 1528, he is succeeded by his eldest son the Prince of Wales who becomes Arthur II of England. Now, Arthur II is a very good friend of Emperor Charles V his cousin / brother-in-law. Both men hate France with a passion and England is in a war with France which was started when Arthur I invaded in the 1520s and successfully conquered parts of Normandy and Brittany. Arthur II wants to finish what his father started and bring down France and the regime of King Francis for good.

Now what Arthur does is promise to make his brother, the Duke of Clarence King of France so he actively helps his brother to depose the French King. Also what Arthur does is basically rally together a large group of countries in Europe who don't like France. The Holy Roman Empire, and Spain (both ruled by Charles V) are the first to join England on the fight against France but others eventually join including Portugal (the country of Arthur's wife and Charles V's OTL wife Isabella), Poland (the country of the wife of the Duke of Clarence, the "promised queen" of France) and later Russia (who came to like the British and Spanish after their mutual distaste for the Ottoman Empire). Arthur waits until the right time to lay siege on France. King Francis dies in 1545 and is succeeded by his son Henry II who is only 25 years of age. In 1548 when the young and inexperienced King Henry II is in power, Arthur II and his allies invade France, capture and behead Henry II and his wife, send their two young children in exile and install the Duke of Clarence as King Henry III of France. This so begins the lineage of French Tudors or the Clarence Branch of the Tudor Dynasty.

Arthur II dies in 1565 and is succeeded by his son Stephen II on the English throne. Two years later, Henry III dies and his son Henry IV becomes the next King of France. Now there are two lines of Tudors: one in England and one in France. What do you think of this occurrence? What could happen to the Tudor Dynasty in the future?
 
Well, Henry VIII tried to reconquer France several times during his OTL reign, so I could certainly see Arthur giving it a shot. That said, he'll probably run into the same problems Henry did.

The English army was inferior to the French in pretty much every respect; the rest of Europe had moved on tactically, but the English were still using outdated methods. There's a reason the English were relatively unsuccessful on the continent during the period between the 100 Years War and Cromwell's New Model Army.

Getting the Hapsburgs and various minors to fight France was easy, but getting them to make any major progress was much more difficult, especially if the German princes are distracted with the whole Reformation issue as OTL.
 
Well, Henry VIII tried to reconquer France several times during his OTL reign, so I could certainly see Arthur giving it a shot. That said, he'll probably run into the same problems Henry did.

The English army was inferior to the French in pretty much every respect; the rest of Europe had moved on tactically, but the English were still using outdated methods. There's a reason the English were relatively unsuccessful on the continent during the period between the 100 Years War and Cromwell's New Model Army.

Getting the Hapsburgs and various minors to fight France was easy, but getting them to make any major progress was much more difficult, especially if the German princes are distracted with the whole Reformation issue as OTL.

Yes, I agree with you that it was very difficult for England to conquer France during that time period. However in my scenario, Arthur's attack was so perfectly planned, he made it look easy. First of all, Spain (along with the other allies) was a major help to the English. Charles V hated the French monarchy as much as Arthur and he was also promised (and was properly granted) a large chunk of southern France. The Spanish military at the time was the most powerful in all of Europe and most of the military might that was used to conquer France in 1548 was in fact Spanish and not English.

Also, keep in mind that Arthur was saving his attack until he knew France was vulnerable and it most certainly was less than a year after the death of King Francis when Henry II an unskilled novice was on the throne. Perfect timing combined with teamwork helped the Tudors get France in 1548.
 
Yes, I agree with you that it was very difficult for England to conquer France during that time period. However in my scenario, Arthur's attack was so perfectly planned, he made it look easy. First of all, Spain (along with the other allies) was a major help to the English. Charles V hated the French monarchy as much as Arthur and he was also promised (and was properly granted) a large chunk of southern France. The Spanish military at the time was the most powerful in all of Europe and most of the military might that was used to conquer France in 1548 was in fact Spanish and not English.

Still highly unrealistic. Charles was in no position to do something as ambitious as conquering France either - that's a huge task for a ruler trying to juggle the responsibilities and interests a dozen separate titles.
 
Still highly unrealistic. Charles was in no position to do something as ambitious as conquering France either - that's a huge task for a ruler trying to juggle the responsibilities and interests a dozen separate titles.

Not to mention that vis a vis France had a lot more resources than England. England tried to conquer France off and on for over a hundred years and they still failed. Elfwine and I might disagree on an English victory in the Hundred years war, but a longer living Henry V was the only realistic chance of England conquering France. By this point in history France would never accept the Tudors as King. And yes Spain might have the most powerful military in Europe at the time, but that was on paper. In actuality, Charles V couldn't devote all of his resources to conquering France. Something else would always come up, either from the Protestants in Germany or the Ottomans in the Balkans. Also Henri II might be a new Monarch, but he was by no means an idiot or a novice. He had great advisers in the Constable de Montmorency and the Guises. The most Arthur could try for is to expand the land around the Pale de Calais, or maybe, MAYBE mind you, try to retake the Duchy of Aquitaine. Other than that it gos out of the round of reason.
 
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