The children of Francis I - Alternate TL

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Chapter One
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    19 August 1515

    Francis I of France waited expectantly for his wife and queen, Claude, to give birth.

    Truthfully she was a bit young to go through childbirth but both were in desperate need of heirs to secure the successions of France and Brittany, although he did wish that she allowed Brittany to be incorporated into France and that she was just a little prettier - to put it nicely she was short and had a curved back with misaligned eyes. Not at all his preference. But his duty was his duty, and as king he could take as many beautiful lovers as he wanted.

    Was this the instinctual fear of the father, then, to anxiously stand and listen to the mother of his child shriek and sob while in the throes of the pains of labor? He prayed for the survival of both Claude and their baby, for the health of both, for the safe delivery of the child.

    His mother, Louise of Savoy arrived at long last and stood besides him as they waited for that door that separated the king and queen to open. Though Louise had no fondness for her daughter-in-law, she knew that her son would have wanted her there to witness the moment when she became a grandmother.

    The door swung open and Francis rushed inside, followed by Louise. There on the bed lay Claude, her hair sticking to her sweaty cheeks and lips, her skin flushed and her breaths quick and short. Louise glanced away from Claude's face and her gaze fell upon the swaddled baby girl wailing loudly in her daughter-in-law's arms.

    "I am sorry for not giving you a son, Francis," Claude murmured.

    Francis snorted. He leaned in, kissed Claude's forehead and brushed her hair out of her eyes. He was beaming and his smile could have lit up the entirety of France. "We are young, sons will follow soon after, don't worry about that. She's a beautiful girl, Claude. Our little princess." He gently pressed a kiss to her lips and Claude smiled, her eyes fluttering shut. The servants and midwives fretted over their young queen as Louise cleared her throat loudly.

    "What name should she have?" Louise asked, breaking the king and queen from their stupor. She didn't want to be here to witness their affection, she was here for the baby girl, who, admittedly looked quite a lot like herself as a girl.

    Francis looked first at his mother, then his daughter. "She will be christened Louise, of course, after her venerable grandmother." He said it as though no thinking was required of that answer. Claude, who was now asleep, did not object to her husband.

    Louise smiled. Truly, her son was a great king. She kissed his cheeks and pulled him into a hug, and then looked at her new granddaughter. "Well, she does look a lot like I used to."
     
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    • Chapter Two
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    1516

    Claude had given birth to a second daughter on the 23rd of October. Francis had decided to name the girl Charlotte, after his father, and she had not objected. The physicians had told Francis to allow her to rest, as two births in quick succession had tired her out. This was fine with him, as he had a string of mistresses he could comfort himself with while he waited for his little girls to grow up. Mary Boleyn, although the same age as Claude, was not expected to have his children and so he could have her as he pleased without fear.

    Both his daughters were red-haired and green-eyed with soft, pale skin. Francis deeply enjoyed gently poking their chubby arms with his fingers and listen to their child-like giggles, although this didn't get to happen all that often. Claude, meanwhile doted upon the two girls and arranged an education for them. Louise and Charlotte would have studied arithmetic, canon and civil law, classical literature, genealogy and heraldry, history, philosophy, religion, and theology. Claude herself had had a strong religious upbringing and developed her Roman Catholic faith that would play a major role in how she raised her children. The two princesses were also doted upon by their aunts, Renee and Marguerite.

    Louise had initially been betrothed to Charles V, but this was not to be when he instead married Isabella of Portugal who was closer to his age. Instead she was now betrothed to the Prince of Wales, heir to the English throne and only four years older than her. At first this had caused trouble with Henry VIII who had preferred Renee as his son's bride, but Francis was not about to let the English king have any claim whatsoever on Brittany. He had sweetened the deal by promising that his first son could be betrothed to Henry's daughter, Mary, who was just a little older than Charlotte and pointed out that an older bride was not necessarily a bad thing, as seen by the English king's own choice of wife and queen.

    Charlotte was tentatively betrothed to James V of Scotland in accordance to the Auld Alliance. However, when the children had met, they fought like cats and dogs and visibly despised each other. Francis knew that if they married, it wouldn't be a happy union and it could even be childless out of spite. Thus, he was looking for a new option for his beloved daughter, although there weren't exactly a long list of eligible suitors for her.

    Well, they were still young. There would be time to fuss over that later.
     
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    isabella said:
    Francis was 18 at his death and Charles 23 so I would say who all the three sons of Francis and Claude reached adulthood.
    Click to expand...
    That is true. Although they died single and without issue they were adults. I was thinking of having all seven of Francis and Claude's children married off. But I am unsure of some options for Charlotte, Margaret and Charles. (Francis Jr will go with Mary Tudor, Henry still weds Caterina, Louise becomes queen of England, while Madeleine and James stay together.)
     

    isabella

    1-800-wandsthetic said:
    That is true. Although they died single and without issue they were adults. I was thinking of having all seven of Francis and Claude's children married off. But I am unsure of some options for Charlotte, Margaret and Charles. (Francis Jr will go with Mary Tudor, Henry still weds Caterina, Louise becomes queen of England, while Madeleine and James stay together.)
    Click to expand...
    Charles need a French heiress or princess of blood. Charlotte can end in Lorraine or Navarre, Margaret can marry much earlier her OTL husband
     
    ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    isabella said:
    Charles need a French heiress or princess of blood. Charlotte can end in Lorraine or Navarre, Margaret can marry much earlier her OTL husband
    Click to expand...
    Margaret with her IOTL husband makes sense. I cannot find any French girl suitable for Charles and Francis, Duke of Lorraine could work very well for Charlotte, you're right (plus the king of Navarre is currently with her aunt right?). The question then is what to do with Christina who will not have her husband IOTL...

    EDITED FOR TYPO
     

    isabella

    1-800-wandsthetic said:
    Margaret with her IOTL husband makes sense. I cannot find any French girl suitable for Charles and Francis, Duke of Lorraine could work very well for Charlotte, you're right (plus the king of Navarre is currently with her aunt right?). The question then is what to do with Christina who will not have her husband IOTL...
    Click to expand...
    Let Francesco Sforza live longer and Christina will not have any need to remarry. And the King of Navarre in OTL would eventually marry Francis I’s sister Margaret, but she was then already widowed by Alençon and in her middle 30s, while Navarre was 11 years younger than her, so Henry II marrying Charlotte instead of her aunt made sense (specially as he would need to wait just 4/5 more years for Charlotte)
     
    ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    isabella said:
    Let Francesco Sforza live longer and Christina will not have any need to remarry. And the King of Navarre in OTL would eventually marry Francis I’s sister Margaret, but she was then already widowed by Alençon and in her middle 30s, while Navarre was 11 years younger than her, so Henry II marrying Charlotte instead of her aunt made sense (specially as he would need to wait just 4/5 more years for Charlotte)
    Click to expand...
    thank you <3
     
    Chapter Three
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    ordinarylittleme

    1517

    Picardy sweat broke out over France just after Francis signed the Treaty of Rouen, which renewed the Auld Alliance that France shared with Scotland. He was to betroth a daughter of his to the young king, James V. But Louise was engaged to an English prince and Francis knew that Charlotte would be rejected due to James' dislike of her, so his second daughter was currently engaged to Henry II of Navarre. This meant there was no daughter of his that could be with James, currently. Claude was pregnant, yes, but he hoped for a dauphin first before another princess.

    He dedicated himself to alleviating the illness spreading throughout the country - he generously paid all physicians and doctors and did his best to transport supplies to the poorer regions. It was an exhausting struggle, only the thought of his unborn children could soothe him. Yes, children - little Mary Boleyn had confessed quietly that she was carrying his child, too, and had been near tears while clutching her stomach. Francis knew the child was his - he had taken her as a lover before she had had anyone else, and the timeline matched only with himself. He promised her that he would provide for the child, even if he would never again enter a sexual relationship with her.

    When the epidemic ended, so did the year.
     
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    • Chapter Four
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    1518

    France and Brittany celebrated alongside Francis and Claude when their first son, also christened Francis, was born. She recovered quickly and found herself at the heart of the court's celebrations, being feted like a queen for the first time. Parties, dances and sporting matches were frequently seen throughout the palace. Even Louise of Savoy treated her more kindly during these days - she was delighted to have a grandson to dote upon, and often said that his eyes were like those of his grandfather Charles of Orléans. Francis I had said of his son at birth, "a beautiful dauphin who is the most beautiful and strong child one could imagine and who will be the easiest to bring up." His mother, Claude, Duchess of Brittany, said, "tell the King that he is even more beautiful than himself." The Dauphin was christened at Amboise on 25 April 1519. Leonardo da Vinci, who had been brought to Amboise by Francis I, designed the decorations.

    The dauphin Francis was promised to Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VIII. His godparents included his aunts Renee, Marguerite and Jeanne, and surprisingly the confined queen of Castile and Aragon, Joanna. That final choice was made by Claude who hoped for at least one ally. Wars were inevitably going to break out in a few years - tension brewing between Denmark and Sweden and also between England, Spain and France were too strong. But the royal couple did not think often of war when a healthy boy finally rested in his cradle.

    Mary Boleyn returned to England after giving birth to her child, a girl called Elizabeth. The young Elizabeth would be kept in France to be raised with her half-siblings. Claude had not said anything about this situation and in fact was quite fond of the child, who took after her father in looks. Francis was grateful that he had a queen who did not kick up a fuss at his natural needs - for he had taken another lover, the beautiful Francoise de Foix.
     
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    • Chapter Five
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    • ordinarylittleme

    ordinarylittleme

    1519

    The birth of the king and queen's second son, Henry, deserved yet another round of celebrations. And with the succession to France and Brittany secured, Queen Claude began exerting more and more influence at court. Though she would never eclipse her mother-in-law or sister-in-law, she began to find her place in her husband's heart, alongside his many mistresses. She managed to oversee reconstructions of some parish churches, including the one of Saint-Solenne. He even allowed her some freedom to rule in Brittany, though with the condition that all major decisions had to be consulted with him first. This displeased Louise of Savoy, but it mattered quite little to Claude, who was used to the woman's constant bullying.

    The birth of Henry VIII's bastard son was a blessing for Francis, who offered up little Elizabeth as an offer. However, Charles I of Spain (newly acknowledged in Catalonia) offered his own bastard daughter, Isabella, whose mother was his own step-grandmother. Claude had been horrified to hear that, and immediately petitioned her husband to endow young Elizabeth d'Angouleme (as she was known) with a larger dowry than anything "that Habsburg man" could offer.

    Charles I of Spain having won the election to become Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor was a sharp thorn in Francis' side, especially as he was the nephew of England's queen. And his pursuit of Burgundy and Blois, as accordant with the broken Treaty of Blois? Well, Francis would just have to look elsewhere for allies. Maybe little Isabella Jagiellon for the Duke of Orleans and Brittany, as his second son was going to be? And of course, the irritant that was the Navarrese problem, what with his exiled brother-in-law's forces losing that badly to Spain's...oh, and Luther joined in on a debate against papal authority, a heretic decision that grated on Francis' nerves...
     
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