The Kingdom of Lorraine: A History 1419-1820

Chapter One: The Duchy of Lorraine

In 1419, Lorraine was a small, one province nation to the east of France and west of the nation of Strassburg. Lorraine was not involved in the Hundred Years War, but being so close to both France and Burgundy, the nation was always prepared for a declaration of war from either Paris or Dijon. So when the Hundred Years War ended in a white peace between England and France on 18 July 1419, Charles II was relieved. However, this was short lived. For six days later, on 24 July 1419, France declared war upon the Duchy of Lorraine. France was backed by Auvergne, Provence, Bourbonnais, Orleans, and Scotland. Lorraine, however, was alone.

Immediately, Charles II was forced to raise war taxes in his nation because of the dire financial situation he was in. However, the people's angst regarding the situation was somewhat quieted when it was announced that earlier that day, 1 August 1419, Lorraine had entered a military alliance with England, Burgundy, and Savoy. However, these nations would still not help Lorraine in her war with the French alliance.

The war with France was quiet for the first few months with no major engagements. Lorraine joined Burgundy in her war with Gelre in September of 1419, but this was in name only. The Duchy was still fortifying itself against the impending French attack. That attack came on 23 November 1419. A French army poured into Lorraine from Champagne on that day. They were met in the countryside of Lorraine by the cavalry of Lorraine. Much to the surprise of everyone except the citizens of Lorraine, the French army was repulsed! After a six day battle, the much larger French army was in tatters and was retreating back to Champagne. While the French army was retreating, Gelre, impressed by Lorraine's stunning victory over the French, offered a white peace to Charles. He accepted, knowing that a war against Gelre served no purpose. From this point on, the war was in the hands of Lorraine. The cavalry pursued the retreating French army into Champagne, engaging them on Christmas Eve, 1419 and finally destroying them on New Years Day of 1420.

France tried once again to repulse the Army of Lorraine from Champagne, but could not, instead moving into Lorraine and laying siege to Nancy. A small detachment from the force besieging Champagne failed to drive the French out of Lorraine, but it did succeed in reducing the French to numbers such that they could not continue the siege before being forced back to Champagne. On 1 June 1420, the province of Champagne was finally captured from France. From there, the army moved on to Nivernais, laying siege to it just as it had done to Champagne. England declared war on Eire on 5 August 1420, but Lorraine joined in name only, as they had no way of reaching the island nation. By the beginning of 1421, Nivernais was also under the control of Lorraine. Just days later, we negotiated a white peace with Eire, having mutual understanding that neither nation could attack the other.

In January of 1421, the armies of Lorraine reentered their own nation and drove the French back from Lorraine. However, on the very day that Lorraine was liberated, France began a campaign of prodigious proportions to recapture Nivernais. Knowing that the army of Lorraine would never be able to defeat a French army of that size, Charles instead ordered his armies to Ile de France, besieging the French capital. And so, on 10 May 1421, the Army of Lorraine marched into Ile de France and defeated the French garrison there is one day. After an attempt by the French to repulse the armies of Lorraine from Ile de France failed, Paris was captured on 11 August 1421. In an attempt to lift the French siege on Nivernais, the armies of Lorraine advanced south from Paris, but were repulsed. A week later though, France finally accepted Lorraine's offer of peace, ceding the province of Champagne to Lorraine.

Less than one month after the glorious defeat of France, the Duchy was once again supporting her allies in another war, this time against Brittany. However, this war once again proved uneventful as Charles did not want to get directly involved, nor could he. In 1423, Lorraine had its first peasant uprising in the province of Champagne. Fortunately, the revolt was quickly put down. However, it still worried Charles, as he had hoped that he would be in good favor among the locals of Champagne.

Now that the danger from France had subsided, Charles turned his attention east, to the only province on which he had internationally recognized claim other that Lorraine: the province of Alsace. The province was owned by the one-province German state of Strassburg, with its capital in a city of the same name. Strassburg was in alliance with Helvetia, which bordered it to the south. As the Helvetian armies were large, Charles did not want to have to fight them in a war. Charles wished to offer a royal marriage to the Helvetians, but before he could do so, a scandal struck his court. Luckily, Helvetia was understanding and the marriage went ahead as planned. A few months later a gift was sent to the government of Helvetia as a Christmas present. Helvetia was very happy with the gift and became friendly toward Lorraine. However, this was not to last.

One month later, on 1 February 1424, Lorraine declared war on Strassburg. Lorraine did not ask its allies to participate in the war, but Helvetia chose to join Strassburg in their fight, staying with their old ally instead of their new friend. The armies of Lorraine invaded Alsace with success and besieged Strassburg. However, just two months into the war, Champagne revolted again. This time, the rebels convinced the garrison of the city to join them, and brought the whole province under their control. After two failed attempts at dispersing the rebels, the reserves of the army finally succeeded in defeating the rebels and putting the city under siege once again. Back in Alsace, the army of Lorraine captured Strassburg on 21 February 1425, exactly one year after the siege was initiated, and annexed the nation. But this did not end the war. Lorraine was still at war with Helvetia, which would not give in to a white peace. Charles decided to attack Bern, the capital of Helvetia to force Helvetia to capitulate. Unfortunately, the armies of Lorraine were repulsed, retreating back to Alsace, suffering their first major defeat in the two wars fought. Finally, at the end of March, Helvetia offered peace to Lorraine for the sum of 100 ducats. Charles had no choice but to accept, as Helvetian armies were poised to invade and the peasants were becoming restless. But a lasting peace it was not to be. Three days later, on 2 April 1425, Helvetia declared war on Savoy. As Lorraine was in alliance with Savoy, Lorraine was once again fighting Helvetia in a war. Fortunately though, the war lasted only 5 months, when Helvetia gave Savoy 36 ducats for peace in September.

On 20 April 1425, Champagne was finally captured from the rebels. However, in July of that same year, Champagne was again lost to rebels and had to be put under siege once again. Champagne rebelled many more times before the end of 1426, and was lost to rebels once more in that span after a wave of obscurantism hit Lorraine. The new year of 1427 was greeted by revolts in both Lorraine and Alsace, but both ended up being only a minor difficulty as they were put down before the end of January.

During this time of unrest, both trade and infrastructure technology had advanced to what we now know of as "High Renaissance" technology, level 2 in the prevailing system then. Prosperity was not to last, though. England declared war on Scotland in October 1427, bringing the English and French alliances into conflict once again. For Lorraine, though, the consequences were severe. The financial strain of the war culminated in a state bankruptcy on 1 May 1428. An invasion of Champagne by France in October of that year was repulsed by the army, and since the French were too busy on other fronts to spare many troops to fight Lorraine, they did not try to enter that province again during that year.

At the beginning of the next year, the alliance was once again going to war. However, Charles was having trouble keeping his own population quiet, and as the call to defend Navarra came, Lorraine and Savoy both sent letters to all alliance members saying that they would not participate in this war. In March of that year, France chose to move back into Champagne and try to besiege the province once again. The king rethought his decision though, and decided that the French troops were needed more on other fronts. The year saw more rebellions in the Duchy, but the biggest blow came when France captured Champagne in October 1429. Charles, infuriated by this event, immediately sent armies to recapture the province. As the French armies had retreated, the Duchy's army faced no resistance in the countryside and began the siege immediately. Champagne was not recaptured until the beginning of 1431.

In all the confusion surrounding the Second French War, Charles II died in January of 1431. On the twenty-fifth of that month, Rene I d'Anjou ascended to the title of Duke of Lorraine. His reign started with the rejoining of the English alliance, and the signing of peace with Scotland soon after on 1 August 1431, where England received Highlands, the Grampians, and Munster (in Ireland) from Scotland. Peace finally came to Lorraine after 12 years of nearly constant war.

Lorraine, 1431
Lorraine, Champagne, Alsace

Chapter 2: The Reign of Rene I d'Anjou

Rene d'Anjou, Duke of Lorraine and Strassburg, rose to the throne on 26 January 1431. He reevaluated the advantages that being in a powerful alliance would have and quickly rejoined the English alliance that Lorraine had left a few years before due to frivolous wars. By August, England had finally made peace with Scotland, and Lorraine was finally out of all her wars. The peace lasted just over one year, until November 1432, when the call to fight came once again, as Savoy had declared war on Austria. Seeing that a war with the Austrian alliance, which also included Baden, Wurtemberg, Mantua, and Bavaria was a path to certain defeat, the Duke opted to withdraw from the alliance rather than face the massive armies of the High German alliance. Rene became revered by the people for doing what they thought was in their best interests, unlike Charles, who faced frequent revolts due to his attitude of indifference toward the citizens. In a diplomatic move, Rene secured access for Lorraine's armies through Helvetia in 1434, in case his army would need it in the future. This further solidified the Duke's reputation as an excellent diplomat and gained him even more respect from his subjects.

The years following were very calm in much of Europe, though this was not so in the East. Byzantium was made a vassal of the Turkish sultanate of Teke, and many Moslem nations were warring with each other. Austria fought wars against some of its eastern neighbors, but none of these wars had any significant result except the return of the province of Ostmarch to Austria by Bohemia. In May 1437, the seemingly contented peasants in the capital province rebelled against Rene's government. The army, which was stationed in Alsace at the time, rushed back to the province of Lorraine and dispersed the rebels, lifting the siege against Nancy. No one in the government knew why the revolt had started by there were strong suspicions that it was instigated by the King of France in an attempt to destabilize Lorraine's government. In November of that same year, Lorraine entered the High German military alliance with Austria, Baden, Wurtemberg, The Palatinat, and Bavaria. However, less than one year later, Austria declared war upon the tiny Italian state of Modena. Rene once again chose to withdraw from the alliance rather than fight the war, mainly because he did not want to fight a war with Helvetia, which was in alliance with Modena and Genoa and had a large and well-trained army. The tension in western Europe dissipated quickly, as Modena was made a vassal of Bavaria after only a year of war.

In 1440, a meteor was sighted streaking through the skies above the city of Strassburg. The peasants thought that this was the beginning of the Apocalypse, but their fears soon subsided and life returned to normal. The rest of the year of 1440 rolled smoothly into 1441 without any major disruptions within the Duchy, although outside, Austria had annexed the former Bavarian vassal of Modena and subsequently received a declaration of war from Rome. Less than a month later, the Ottoman Empire sent a declaration of war to Vienna. However, this time, only Baden answered the call to battle. Wurtemberg, the Palatinat, and Bavaria all withdrew from the alliance. This gave Rene the opportunity he had been waiting for. He chose the electorate with the smallest army and chose to declare war on the last day of November 1441. That unlucky nation happened to be Wurtemberg. The war began slowly, with no engagements between the two nations until March 1442, when the army of Wurtemberg crossed the Rhine into Alsace. After a long, three week long campaign, the Army of Lorraine forced the force from Wurtemberg back across the Rhine into Baden. Just two days later, Rene had a change of heart and decided that the war was fruitless, and negotiated a white peace with Wurtemberg.

In June 1443, Lorraine's research into the technologies of war finally paid off. The Duchy was now able to improve its fortresses. However, Rene did not feel that precious ducats should be wasted on defensive structures, so he passed up the opportunity to put this technology to use. The situation in Lorraine stayed quiet for two more years, although around her, wars were raging. Burgundy was forced to cede the provinces of Artois and Brabant to Luxembourgh after a disaterous northern campaign. The Austrian alliance was once more at war in Italy, this time with Genoa, and there were several wars between the electorates of the Holy Roman Empire. Soon, Lorraine herself would become embroiled in a war of her own.

On 21 May 1445, Rene sent a letter to Heidelberg, informing the Palatinat that a state of war now existed with Lorraine. The Palatinat immediately called upon her allies Kleves and Münster, who promptly came to her aid. The armies of Lorraine now advanced into the Palatinat, laying siege to the undefended province of Pfalz and the capital of Heidelberg. The Palatinat sent three relief forces from Mainz, but both were defeated after crossing the Rhine. After all of the Palatinat's forces were defeated in this manner, the army besieging Alsace was split, and half was sent to besiege Mainz. During these sieges, just before Christmas of 1446, there was a scandal at the court. Luckily, René, being the excellent diplomat that he was, was able to rectify the situation quickly. The sieges continued without event, and Pfalz was captured at the beginning of February 1447 and Mainz one year later in February 1448. That same day, a messenger was sent with an offer of peace to Kleves, where the Prince of the Palatinat was forced to go during the war. Lorraine demanded that the province of Mainz be made a part of the Duchy and that the Palatinat would become a vassal of Lorraine. The Prince had no choice but to accept the offer, so no negotiations took place.

René immediately launched a campaign to regain friendly relations with his vassal. He sent several gifts to Heidelberg, which were received well. Eventually, Lorraine joined in a military alliance with its vassal, guaranteeing it protection from invasion. By this point, the economy of Lorraine was running smoothly. 1449 was an exceptional year, and René's subjects could not be happier. All around them, wars were raging, but the Duchy of Lorraine enjoyed relative peace and prosperity. All went well until February 1452, when René developed an unknown ailment. To complicate matters, he received an insult from Burgundy. Feeling that he had lost his skill at diplomacy, the one area where he was respected among his fellow monarchs, life slowly left his body until one cool day in March of 1452, René died in his sleep. His successor, Jean II, promised to continue René's policies and make sure Lorraine stayed a prosperous nation.

Lorraine, 1452
Lorraine, Champagne, Alsace, Mainz
Vassal-The Palatinat (Pfalz)