Oww revenge on the Spanish, bet they didn't expect that! 
What's next for the French powerhouse?
What's next for the French powerhouse?
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I assure you, I am not French.dem61s said:But, but, ... You are French. This is almost cheating. I bet almost everyone in France knows this quote.
OK, I'm just jealous you answered before me.
mandead said:I assure you, I am not French.
Lol! In spite of the location your signature is quite a give away. You don't find many anglophile Frenchmen.
Anyway great update milites! I love everything about it, the masterly maps, the beautiful pictures, the dramatic speeches. Now it's time to deal Spain the coup de grace from which it will be unable to recover!
~Lord Valentine~
True, but I am a proud francophile Englishman. We must stand together and fight the good fight.Lord Valentine said:Lol! In spite of the location your signature is quite a give away. You don't find many anglophile Frenchmen.
Vive la France et vive l'Angleterre!
(I just changed my location 'cus I am a Communard now, and it looks better have a Commune in Paris, not Leeds...
o )
And milk!
'Grats
@ Veldmaarschalk: Thanks a lot, hope you'll hang around
o @ Enewald: I beat them good! Peace is just around the corner.. on the Spanish front at least..
@ Grubnessul: I could tell you...
@ Lord Valentine: Far too kind, far too kind
Chapter IX - Dawn of Republics
Henri enters Antwerp
***
The Treaty of Antwerp
***
After the disastrous battle of Pirineo, the king of Spain decided that enough was enough and sent messengers to the French king in Huesca to ask for terms. By early December 1599 a truce had been agreed on, which stated that each combatant would keep his spoils until the end of the negotiations which were to be held in French occupied Antwerp.
France came to the negotiations with the superiority of the victorious, but under the leadership of the now proclaimed duc Sully, the French delegation succeeded at keeping a magnanimous style of courtesy. The Spaniards weren’t too heavily mocked and no threats came from the French side of the table, only cold, hard and undeniable facts. Spain had been defeated in Flanders and Spain; privateers were butchering its transatlantic trade and the merchant ships escaping the pirates only ran into the iron ring that was the French blockade. With such cards on the hand, the French delegation quickly forced their demands through; Spain would cede Hainaut, Artois and Valenciennes in the Netherlands and Rousillion in the Pyrenees to the French crown. Spain would furthermore acknowledge the independence of the Milanese, Sicilian and Catalan republics.
This the Spaniards met with both anger and relief. It had been feared that the Huguenots would demand the Spanish Netherlands in its entirety, but Henri didn’t want that. He wanted a buffer state between him and the Dutch Republic. The treaty was signed on January 6th almost exactly 6 years after the war had started with the Habsburg assault upon the Netherlands
Italy after the peace, the Sardinian Commonwealth was annexed by the Spaniards before the truce.
***
The Collapse
***
Even though the peace hadn’t been as costly as the Spanish had imagined it would be, it had devastating effects on Spain. The war itself had drained the coffins of the royal treasury dry and trade within the empire had completely gone into a standstill. A month after the Peace of Antwerp king Philip had to declare his kingdom bankrupt and unable to pay any loan obtained during the war. The Holy Roman Emperor was shocked and together with the pope sent vast sums of money to Spain alongside soldiers and munitions to keep the king safe on the throne. Revolts flared up once again in the Netherlands and by July 1600 the Walloons and Flemish citizens of the Republic of Flanders declared independence from the Spaniard court. Led by the wealthy Huguenot merchants of Brugge, the new Republic immediately adapted Protestantism as its state religion, although Catholics were granted extensive religious freedoms. Of the old Spanish Netherlands only Luxembourg remained loyal although the province was surrounded by Protestant neighbours.
Western Europe January 1600
***
Treaty of Nantes
***
With peace concluded with the Spanish Habsburgs, Henri only had to worry about the Austrians. The Holy Roman Emperor had, for all his fine words, done little in the conflict. Besides a brief incursion into French Lorraine the Austrians had been busy fighting off the Ottoman Turks. To the Habsburg Emperor nothing seemed more catastrophic for his war against the Turk than 50,000 battle hardened French Huguenots marching across the Rhine and into his unprotected homeland.
Delegations from the two parties met shortly after Spain’s separate peace in Nantes to discuss terms. The protestant duke of Alsace was to be reinstated as ruler of said realm which from then on became a buffer state between France and Austria.
***
New Allies
***
The erosion of Spaniard power in Western Europe left several new countries without allies. The Sicilian Republic (or the Republic of the Two Sicilies) had had close ties to the French Huguenots ever since the first Sicilian revolt when French gold had financed the arms of the Italian revolutionaries. After the peace between Austria and France, the Stadtholder of the new republic, Nestoro di Borbone, approached the French ambassador with an offer of alliance. Seeing an easy way to, the still Spaniard held, Naples Henri warmly agreed. Almost simultaneously French diplomats met with the Great Council of Flanders to officially accept the republic’s entrance into the Grand Reformed Alliance.
The Flemish and Sicilians join the Protestant party
Henri enters Antwerp
***
The Treaty of Antwerp
***
After the disastrous battle of Pirineo, the king of Spain decided that enough was enough and sent messengers to the French king in Huesca to ask for terms. By early December 1599 a truce had been agreed on, which stated that each combatant would keep his spoils until the end of the negotiations which were to be held in French occupied Antwerp.
***
France came to the negotiations with the superiority of the victorious, but under the leadership of the now proclaimed duc Sully, the French delegation succeeded at keeping a magnanimous style of courtesy. The Spaniards weren’t too heavily mocked and no threats came from the French side of the table, only cold, hard and undeniable facts. Spain had been defeated in Flanders and Spain; privateers were butchering its transatlantic trade and the merchant ships escaping the pirates only ran into the iron ring that was the French blockade. With such cards on the hand, the French delegation quickly forced their demands through; Spain would cede Hainaut, Artois and Valenciennes in the Netherlands and Rousillion in the Pyrenees to the French crown. Spain would furthermore acknowledge the independence of the Milanese, Sicilian and Catalan republics.
This the Spaniards met with both anger and relief. It had been feared that the Huguenots would demand the Spanish Netherlands in its entirety, but Henri didn’t want that. He wanted a buffer state between him and the Dutch Republic. The treaty was signed on January 6th almost exactly 6 years after the war had started with the Habsburg assault upon the Netherlands
Italy after the peace, the Sardinian Commonwealth was annexed by the Spaniards before the truce.
***
The Collapse
***
Even though the peace hadn’t been as costly as the Spanish had imagined it would be, it had devastating effects on Spain. The war itself had drained the coffins of the royal treasury dry and trade within the empire had completely gone into a standstill. A month after the Peace of Antwerp king Philip had to declare his kingdom bankrupt and unable to pay any loan obtained during the war. The Holy Roman Emperor was shocked and together with the pope sent vast sums of money to Spain alongside soldiers and munitions to keep the king safe on the throne. Revolts flared up once again in the Netherlands and by July 1600 the Walloons and Flemish citizens of the Republic of Flanders declared independence from the Spaniard court. Led by the wealthy Huguenot merchants of Brugge, the new Republic immediately adapted Protestantism as its state religion, although Catholics were granted extensive religious freedoms. Of the old Spanish Netherlands only Luxembourg remained loyal although the province was surrounded by Protestant neighbours.
Western Europe January 1600
***
Treaty of Nantes
***
With peace concluded with the Spanish Habsburgs, Henri only had to worry about the Austrians. The Holy Roman Emperor had, for all his fine words, done little in the conflict. Besides a brief incursion into French Lorraine the Austrians had been busy fighting off the Ottoman Turks. To the Habsburg Emperor nothing seemed more catastrophic for his war against the Turk than 50,000 battle hardened French Huguenots marching across the Rhine and into his unprotected homeland.
Delegations from the two parties met shortly after Spain’s separate peace in Nantes to discuss terms. The protestant duke of Alsace was to be reinstated as ruler of said realm which from then on became a buffer state between France and Austria.
***
New Allies
***
The erosion of Spaniard power in Western Europe left several new countries without allies. The Sicilian Republic (or the Republic of the Two Sicilies) had had close ties to the French Huguenots ever since the first Sicilian revolt when French gold had financed the arms of the Italian revolutionaries. After the peace between Austria and France, the Stadtholder of the new republic, Nestoro di Borbone, approached the French ambassador with an offer of alliance. Seeing an easy way to, the still Spaniard held, Naples Henri warmly agreed. Almost simultaneously French diplomats met with the Great Council of Flanders to officially accept the republic’s entrance into the Grand Reformed Alliance.
The Flemish and Sicilians join the Protestant party
End of Part I
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Damn, the emperor has really been useless in this war!
The two biggest states around are now on their knees. All the better for king Henry! The Spanish really had it coming anyway.
The two biggest states around are now on their knees. All the better for king Henry! The Spanish really had it coming anyway.
Wow looks like Spain has been degraded to the status of of a regional power!
But what will your long term strategic aims now be? An intervention in Italy. Or perhaps an attempt to push France's border to the Rhein?
~Lord Valentine~
But what will your long term strategic aims now be? An intervention in Italy. Or perhaps an attempt to push France's border to the Rhein?
~Lord Valentine~
Well I can't allow any Spanish remnants on my flanks can I?
For the moment, I'm going to settle down a bit and let my WE get to acceptable levels, before resuming my conversions (I got loads of missionaries saved).
For the moment, I'm going to settle down a bit and let my WE get to acceptable levels, before resuming my conversions (I got loads of missionaries saved).
Chapter X – On the State of France after the War
French peasants enjoy the peacetime
***
The Gallic Church and the Edict of Nantes
***
Before the war with the Habsburgs, even before the birth of Henri IV, the Huguenots had been hated by the majority of common people in France. The Protestant church had been a congregation of wealthy merchants and the gentry who mainly dwelled in the cities. Except in the southern parts of France, the Huguenots had always been a disliked minority. But just as the exterior border of France had been moulded and redrawn after the war such was it that changes were also beginning to take effect upon the border within France. Henri’s magnanimity towards his fellow Protestants was paying off.
***
Conversions kicked in after peace had been settled.
Preachers travelled throughout France, although they stayed clear of Paris where it was still dangerous for Protestant preachers to appear without armed escort, while they proclaimed the glory of god through this new interpretation. At the same time, the catholic soldiers who had fought alongside Henri in Flanders and Spain, returned back home with tales of the bravery and nobility of the Protestant king. Many of those soldiers converted to the Huguenot faith upon their return and became prime reasons for the conversion in many provinces (especially in Brittany and central France).
Religion in France 1600-1604
France was still deeply divided when it came to religion, although the majority now supported the Huguenots. Henri knew that the only reason the Catholic subjects had kept in line so far had been because of his victory in the field and at the negotiations. How would the situation have been if the Spaniards had managed to win in Flanders? Would the Catholics have risen in revolt? Even though the League had been crushed, the duke Mayenne still lingered in Lorraine, readying to strike and he was a dangerous leader and an even more dangerous enemy. So in order to safeguard his kingdom from Catholic plots, rebellions and treason from within, Henri IV issued an edict on the first of July 1600 in Nantes.
The Edict of Nantes gave the Catholics wide religious freedoms, including freedom to practice and hold mass everywhere in France. They were granted some castles and fortified towns as safe havens, just like the Huguenots had been given years before. Thanks to the Edict, France was finally at peace with herself.
***
On the French State and the Reforms of Sully
***
Sully
Maximilien de Béthune, now proclaimed duc de Sully, had fought with Henri IV throughout most of the king’s campaigns. He had been deathly wounded in one of the many battles with the Leaguers and commanded the Huguenot cavalry on numerous occasions. This man would become the right hand of the king when it came to manage the affairs of the state. Henri made Sully Superintendent Des Finances [1] and included him in his important council “Conceil des Affaires”. Henri had many of these advisory councils, but only those who held his absolute trust were admitted into the Conceil des Affaires which also held men such as Pierre Jeannin (who had abandoned the duke Mayenne to serve the king) [2]. Together with Sully, Henri set out to restore the French economy that had been ravaged by the war though a reformation of the tax system. Sully let the basics of the old system remain though he simplified the way of paying the tax itself.
The Government of Henri is successful
Henri himself was a staunch believer in absolute monarchy for as he said: “a king is only responsible to his God and his conscience.” But even then he also held an upright affection for his subjects and believed that the absolute monarch only ruled to further the interests of his subjects. In one of his many speeches to the local governors and magistrates he told them: “Take unceasing care of my people of my people, for they are my children. God has committed them in my charge and I am responsible to him for them.” The king also had a great affection for the French peasant and that he hoped “to see a chicken in their pots every Sunday.” The king’s affection for his people resulted in the establishment of local courts in the major provincial capitals. But all the judges were appointed by him in unity with the recommendations from his councillors, for even though he thought that it was for him to govern France alone, he rarely acted without consulting his various councils.[3] While Sully reformed the tax systems and the efficiency of the local judicial courts, he also made it attractive for middle class farmers to buy parts of the larger estates. This increased the tax revenue, but didn’t please the gentry forced to sell out of their possessions.
Improvements in France
bloody slow forums -_-
[1] Superintendent of Finances, the minister responsible for the finances was an office dating back to 1561.
[2] Besides Jeannin leaving Mayenne, all of this is historically correct.
[3] Again correct in OTL
French peasants enjoy the peacetime
***
The Gallic Church and the Edict of Nantes
***
Before the war with the Habsburgs, even before the birth of Henri IV, the Huguenots had been hated by the majority of common people in France. The Protestant church had been a congregation of wealthy merchants and the gentry who mainly dwelled in the cities. Except in the southern parts of France, the Huguenots had always been a disliked minority. But just as the exterior border of France had been moulded and redrawn after the war such was it that changes were also beginning to take effect upon the border within France. Henri’s magnanimity towards his fellow Protestants was paying off.
***
Conversions kicked in after peace had been settled.
Religion in France 1600-1604
France was still deeply divided when it came to religion, although the majority now supported the Huguenots. Henri knew that the only reason the Catholic subjects had kept in line so far had been because of his victory in the field and at the negotiations. How would the situation have been if the Spaniards had managed to win in Flanders? Would the Catholics have risen in revolt? Even though the League had been crushed, the duke Mayenne still lingered in Lorraine, readying to strike and he was a dangerous leader and an even more dangerous enemy. So in order to safeguard his kingdom from Catholic plots, rebellions and treason from within, Henri IV issued an edict on the first of July 1600 in Nantes.
The Edict of Nantes gave the Catholics wide religious freedoms, including freedom to practice and hold mass everywhere in France. They were granted some castles and fortified towns as safe havens, just like the Huguenots had been given years before. Thanks to the Edict, France was finally at peace with herself.
***
On the French State and the Reforms of Sully
***
Sully
Maximilien de Béthune, now proclaimed duc de Sully, had fought with Henri IV throughout most of the king’s campaigns. He had been deathly wounded in one of the many battles with the Leaguers and commanded the Huguenot cavalry on numerous occasions. This man would become the right hand of the king when it came to manage the affairs of the state. Henri made Sully Superintendent Des Finances [1] and included him in his important council “Conceil des Affaires”. Henri had many of these advisory councils, but only those who held his absolute trust were admitted into the Conceil des Affaires which also held men such as Pierre Jeannin (who had abandoned the duke Mayenne to serve the king) [2]. Together with Sully, Henri set out to restore the French economy that had been ravaged by the war though a reformation of the tax system. Sully let the basics of the old system remain though he simplified the way of paying the tax itself.
The Government of Henri is successful
Henri himself was a staunch believer in absolute monarchy for as he said: “a king is only responsible to his God and his conscience.” But even then he also held an upright affection for his subjects and believed that the absolute monarch only ruled to further the interests of his subjects. In one of his many speeches to the local governors and magistrates he told them: “Take unceasing care of my people of my people, for they are my children. God has committed them in my charge and I am responsible to him for them.” The king also had a great affection for the French peasant and that he hoped “to see a chicken in their pots every Sunday.” The king’s affection for his people resulted in the establishment of local courts in the major provincial capitals. But all the judges were appointed by him in unity with the recommendations from his councillors, for even though he thought that it was for him to govern France alone, he rarely acted without consulting his various councils.[3] While Sully reformed the tax systems and the efficiency of the local judicial courts, he also made it attractive for middle class farmers to buy parts of the larger estates. This increased the tax revenue, but didn’t please the gentry forced to sell out of their possessions.
Improvements in France
bloody slow forums -_-
[1] Superintendent of Finances, the minister responsible for the finances was an office dating back to 1561.
[2] Besides Jeannin leaving Mayenne, all of this is historically correct.
[3] Again correct in OTL
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Protestantism has conquered France in an astonishingly quick amount of time!
Also Henri IV seems to be as highly able a statesman as he is a soldier. I wonder whether his successors will be able to live up to the grand legacy he is building up.
~Lord Valentine~
Also Henri IV seems to be as highly able a statesman as he is a soldier. I wonder whether his successors will be able to live up to the grand legacy he is building up.
~Lord Valentine~