Francois I
(1573 – 1617)
King Francois I’s rule over France began quietly with a continued focus on securing the continent of South America. French colonies now almost completely encircled the continent and to protect France’s interests a professional South American army was commissioned.
Things remained peaceful until the fall of 1579 when Salzburg decided it was going to expand at the expense of its neighbour Mainz. The King of Salzburg tried using a flimsy excuse that the instability of Mainz was causing rebels to flee across the border into Salzburg. While this was true King Francois had been waiting for an excuse to invade the region and he wasn’t going to let the Salzburg’s aggression go without a response.
The conflict ended predictably with no one coming in to aid Salzburg and on August 31st 1580 Salzburg agreed to peace ceding the province of Munchen to France but retaining their independence. Francois then decided that he would reform the nation of Bavaria and released them as a protectorate of France ceding them the newly conquered Munchen and the province of Schwaben which had been acquired twenty five years previous by his father. Plans were then made to invade the Netherlands, formerly Holland, to acquire a large chunk of land for Bavaria but were put on hold when, in 1587, hostilities between Normandy and Sweden flared up.
King Francois wanted to assist the Norman’s in their war against Sweden but he was assured by his advisors that Normandy could handle things themselves and as Croatia was involved on Sweden’s side of the conflict it would raise issues between the two nations as they currently had an alliance. The war would last seven years and King Francois watched as the Norman’s were humiliated in the conflict and decided it was time France removed Sweden’s influence from Bohemia and the Italian peninsula.
King Francois I started by first trying to influence Croatia to abandon its alliance with Sweden, or at least remain neutral in the coming conflict. The King of Croatia though refused to abandon his ally, and promised that whichever nation was the aggressor Croatia would side with the other. Saddened by Croatia’s unwillingness to budge French soldiers were moved to the border between the two nations for the first time in almost eighty years.
Francois sent notice of an official end to the alliance when in 1600 a detachment of Norman soldiers was spotted crossing through France towards Italy and it was decided a temporary alliance with Normandy to put Sweden back in its place was in France’s best interest.
The agreement with Normandy would have France remove Croatia from the war and deal with Sweden’s holdings in Bohemia and the Italian peninsula while Norman soldiers attacked in Scandinavia. A French fleet would be used to blockade the straights of Oresund in case the Norman soldiers ran into trouble in Sweden. Once everything was in place war was declared in February of 1601 and Sweden and Croatia were quickly overwhelmed in Europe by the French assault. In the first year of conflict Croatia’s army was wiped out and a majority of the country was put under siege. The Swedish forces fared no better as at the same time Russia declared war and forced the troops in Bohemia into the waiting French soldiers and destroyed them utterly.
The war would last just over three years with Croatia signing a white peace in the spring of 1603 and Sweden ceding Napoli and Apulia to France and some land in Scandinavia to Normandy for peace in August of 1604. Without the ability to get troops into its possessions in Bohemia and Poland, Sweden would be forced, by successful rebellions, to recognize their independence shortly after the war.
With Sweden put in its place King Francois decided it was time to make good on a promise made to Austria decades ago and acquire the provinces of Salzburg and Linz. Since its attack on Mainz twenty years earlier it had lost the protection of the Netherlands and could not find an ally. In 1607 French troops crossed the border and brushed the small garrison aside. Unfortunately for France, during the siege the crown prince, Philippe IV, would be killed when his horse, spooked by a canon shot, flung him from the saddle, snapping Philippe’s neck. Salzburg was annexed and sold to Austria in the spring of 1608 but the cost had been too high for Francois and so he refused to continue into Mainz to capture Linz for Austria.
July 1 1612 King Francois I passed away with his grandson Henri III too young to take on the duties of King of France. A regency council would be set up to rule for him until he came of age on January 11th 1617. With France leaderless and unable to respond, Normandy began a war in India to gain a foothold in Asia. It is believed that the distress at losing land France had put off conquering for themselves to the Normans would shape the young King’s policies when he came to power.
