WI: French War for Religion destroyed royal authority permanently

Emperor Lucas I

The idea for POD is that rather than French War for Religion ending with Henry de Bourbon restoring strong, centralized and unified power around freshly gained throne, the conflict will bringlegalisation of late Valois status quo - with strong position of military and political leaders with their own agenda. Assuming that one of those leaders (Henri de Guise?) will be able to end the conflict in his own favor, I doubt he will just hand over his position to the king.

Is it possible, that the situation where King of France remains arch-authority but only on paper, and someone else - answering only on paper to the throne will permanently hold power as the owner of largest army could last for decades? And how it will affect France's position in Europe?
 

Kellan Sullivan

Emperor Lucas I said:
The idea for POD is that rather than French War for Religion ending with Henry de Bourbon restoring strong, centralized and unified power around freshly gained throne
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Emperor Lucas I said:
with strong position of military and political leaders with their own agenda.
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isn't this basically what the Edict of Nantes did? The French Huguenots were essentially a state within a state, answerable to Paris (in theory) but in practice, made alliances with whoever they wanted, rebelled/fought against the crown etc etc etc.

Emperor Lucas I said:
last for decades?
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Edict of Nantes was signed in 1598, Edict of Fontainebleau was signed in 1685. Ironically, when the Régent (Philippe II d'Orléans) attempted to restore the Edict of Nantes, the French parlements refused to cooperate.
 
da Racontor

da Racontor

I'll have to do some more thinking to come up with a good answer, but off the top of my head, 3 possibilities.

-- All adult claimants die before the end of the war. Leaving only a young child. The regent (while traditionally the queen-mother, but doesn't have to be) takes over. Once the king reaches his majority, the regent just kinda stays in charge. No one bats an eye since that's how everything was before anyway. And when the regent dies, a new regent takes over. Probably hand picked by the old one since there was no method for picking a regent with a king who is of age.

The plus, is that this works for any side. The downside, I don't know if there is anyone young enough at the time to fit the bill. I also like the parallels with the later infamous cardinals.

--The Catholic League wins. And either Henri de Guise pull the strings or some Habsburg allied representative does.

--This isn't ASB, but it's about as close as you can get without crossing the line. Henri IV decides Paris is not well worth a mass & doesn't convert. In order to keep peace though, he appoints a high ranking bishop or cardinal to handle matters of state while he keeps the title of king. France for all intents & purposes becomes a bishopric.
 
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