Scenario: Francois I of France dies in 1517. I had some fun with this one. It’s rough tho - I may build it out into a timeline.
Louis XII,
King of France (b.1462: d.1515) m. Jeanne,
Princess of France (b.1464: d.1505) (a), Anne I,
Duchess of Brittany (b.1477: d.1514) (b), Mary Tudor,
Princess of England (b.1496: d.1532) (c)
1b) Claude I, Duchess of Brittany (b.1499: d.1544) m. Francois I, King of France (b.1494: d.1517) (a), Charles IX, King of France (b.1489: d.1524) (b), Philibert of Chalon, Prince of Orange (b.1502: d.1530) (c), Henri II, King of Navarre (b.1503: d.1555) (d)
1a) Louise, Princess of France (b.1515: d.1518)
2a) Charlotte, Princess of France (b.1516: d.1524)
3c) Isabelle of Chalon, Duchess of Brittany (b.1527: d.1600) m. René of Chalon, Prince of Orange (b.1519: d.1542) (a), Louis XIII, King of France (b.1529: d.1578) (b)
1b) Elisabeth, Princess of France (b.1546)
2b) Louis, Dauphin of France (b.1547: d.1557)
3b) Jeanne, Princess of France (b.1549)
4b) Anne, Princess of France (b.1558) m. James VI, King of Scotland (b.1557) (a)
5b) Francois II, King of France (b.1560)
4c) Stillborn Son (c.1529)
5c) Antoine of Chalon, Prince of Orange (b.1530: d.1532)
6c) Anne d'Albret, Queen of Navarre (b.1534: d.1567) m. Philip II, King of Spain (b.1527: d.1598) (a)
1a) Isabella, Infanta of Spain (b.1558: d.1561)
2a) Ferdinand III, King of Spain (b.1560)
3a) Charles, Infante of Spain (b.1561)
4a) Luis, Infante of Spain (b.1562)
5a) Michelle, Infanta of Spain (b.1563)
6a) Gabriel, Infante of Spain (b.1565: d.1566)
7a) Juana, Infanta of Spain (b.1566)
7c) Henry d'Albret, Prince of Pampalona (b.1535: d.1537)
8c) Marguerite d'Albret, Princess of Navarre (b.1537: d.1538)
9c) Eleonore d'Albret, Princess of Navarre (b.1538: d.1540)
10c) Madeleine d'Albret, Princess of Navarre (b.1540: d.1592) m. Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan (b.1523: d.1600) (a)
- had issue
2b) Stillborn Son (c.1500)
3b) Stillborn Son (c.1503/07)
4b) Renée, Princess of France (b.1510: d.1574) m. James V, King of Scotland (b.1512: d.1545) (a)
1a) Margaret Stewart, Princess of Scotland (b.1533: d.1602) m. John, Duke of Orleans (b.1532: d.1587) (a)
- had issue
2a) Mary Stewart, Princess of Scotland (b.1535: d.1535)
3a) James Stewart, Duke of Rothesay (b.1536: d.1541)
4a) Francis I, King of Scotland (b.1538: d.1561) m. Elisabetta Sforza (b.1529: d.1570) (a)
1a) James VI, King of Scotland (b.1557) m. Anne, Princess of France (b.1558) (a)
5a) Joan Stewart, Princess of Scotland (b.1539: d.1539)
6a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1541)
7a) James Stewart, Duke of Albany (b.1543: d.1581) m. Barbara Hamilton (c.1545: d.1575) (a)
1a) Catherine Stewart (b.1564)
2a) Arabella Stewart (b.1566)
3a) Stillborn Son (c.1567)
4a) Jean Stewart (b.1568: d.1568)
5a) Annabella Stewart (b.1570)
6a) Ursula Stewart (b.1572)
8a) John Stewart, Duke of Ross (b.1544) m. Catherine Stewart (b.1554) (a)
- had no issue
9a) Anne Stewart, Princess of Scotland (b.1545: d.1548)
5b) Stillborn Son (c.1513)
--
Charles X,
King of France (b.1490: d.1553) m. Suzanne of Bourbon (b.1491: d.1521) (a), Eleanor,
Archduchess of Austria (b.1498: d.1558) (b)
1a) Francois, Count of Clermont (b.1517: d.1517)
2a) Stillborn Child (c.1519) - twin
3a) Stillborn Child (c.1519) - twin
4b) Louis XIII, King of France (b.1529: d.1578) m. Isabella of Chalon, Duchess of Brittany (b.1527: d.1600) (a)
1a) Elisabeth, Princess of France (b.1546)
2a) Louis, Dauphin of France (b.1547: d.1557)
3a) Jeanne, Princess of France (b.1549)
4a) Anne, Princess of France (b.1558) m. James VI, King of Scotland (b.1557) (a)
5a) Francois II, King of France (b.1560)
5b) Stillborn Son (c.1530)
6b) John, Duke of Orleans (b.1532: d.1587) m. Margaret Stewart, Princess of Scotland (b.1533: d.1602) (a)
1a) Eleanor, Mademoiselle d'Orleans (b.1554: d.1555)
2a) Stillborn Son (c.1555)
3a) Louis, Duke of Orleans (b.1557)
4a) Eleonore, Mademoiselle d'Orleans (b.1558)
5a) Stillborn Son (c.1560)
6a) Christine d'Orleans (b.1562: d.1566)
7a) Charles, Duke of Berry (b.1564)
8a) Stillborn Son (c.1565)
7b) Antoinette, Princess of France (b.1533: d.1554) m. Philip II, King of Spain (b.1527: d.1598) (a)
- had no issue
--
Marguerite d'Angouleme (b.1492: d.1549) m. Charles IX,
King of France (b.1489: d.1525) (a) -annulled 1516-, Maximilian Maria Sforza,
Duke of Milan (b.1493: d.1530) (b)
1b) Louise Maria Sforza (b.1521: d.1530)
2b) Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan (b.1523: d.1600) m. Leonora d'Este (b.1515: d.1557) (a), Madeleine d'Albret, Princess of Navarre (b.1540: d.1592) (b)
1b) Margherita Elisabetta Sforza (b.1559)
2b) Maximilian II Sforza, Duke of Milan (b.1561)
3b) Miscarriage (c.1562)
4b) Bianca Catalina Sforza (b.1563)
5b) Francesco Sforza (b.1565: d.1571)
6b) Stillborn Son (c.1566)
7b) Ludovico Sforza (b.1568)
8b) Filippo Sforza (b.1569)
9b) Beatrice Sforza (b.1570)
10b) Stillborn Son (c.1572)
11b) Lucia Sforza (b.1573)
12b) Stillborn Son (c.1575)
3b) Stillborn Son (c.1524)
4b) Miscarriage (c.1525)
5b) Beatrice Sforza (b.1528: d.1597)
- never married, heavily deformed, had no issue
6b) Elisabetta Sforza (b.1529: d.1570) m. Francis I, King of Scotland (b.1538: d.1561) (a)
- had issue
--
Some Things That Happened:
- The death of Francois I of France in 1517 sends France into chaos. His brother-in-law - the Duke of Alencon, is now King, while his Queen is now an independent Duchess. Losing her son seems to send Louise of Savoy into complete collapse for many months, and Marguerite d'Angouleme, now Queen of France, is acutely aware that her status is in jeopardy. In early 1518 the Pope annuls the marriage, and King Charles IX marries the widow Claude, who agrees only under the condition that she retain within her care both her daughters and her sister. Marguerite, humiliated at her rejection, is handed a life raft when the King agrees to restore Maximilian Sforza to Milan, with marriage to the former Queen included in the agreements upon her acceptance. Marguerite and Louise leave the court in 1519, when Claude is believed to be pregnant. That turns out to be a false alarm, and by 1521 it's considered concerning enough that the King and Queen are trying many unfortunate remedies. In 1523, he invades Hapsburg holdings in Artois, which results in the King falling in battle the next year. It was during his time away that the Princess Charlotte - the Queen's only surviving child at this point, dies of illness.
- Claude, widowed again at the age of 25, is initially pushed to remarry Charles of Bourbon, the new King of France who had recently been betrothed to her sister. Charles, however, seeks the hand of Eleanor of Austria in order to settle the painful, expensive, and disastrous war of his predecessor. Claude, for the first time in her life leading her own destiny, chooses to marry the Prince of Orange in 1526, and leaves Paris officially for her own Breton court. He is a kind husband, but frequently ill, and his death in 1530 leaves a heavily pregnant Claude deeply unhappy and extremely isolated. The birth of a son helps things somewhat, and the Duchess does not remarry initially, instead seeing her sister married off to the King of Scotland in early 1532. This proves to be unfortunate for Claude, who is celebrating the marriage in Paris (her last visit to the city) when her son dies of measles. Deeply distraught, she is left with only her daughter by the Prince of Orange as her heiress, and while she immediately petitions and is granted large swathes of the Chalon estates for her daughter, who is quickly betrothed to René of Chalon, the heir to the title and main Principality. She agrees that Isabelle, should she have no further heirs, will inherit all her estates - Breton and the various Orleans inheritances. René initially shows interest in marry her instead of Isabelle of Chalon, but backs off when Claude makes the last bold move of her lifetime, and marries the King of Navarre. They will go on to have two surviving daughters, leaving Isabella as the Duchess of Brittany in 1544, when Claude succumbs to weak health following the quick succession of births. Isabelle of Chalon, having been briefly married to her betrothed for 34 days, during which he died of a jousting accident at 23, is betrothed to the Dauphin of France upon her mother's death, and sells her rights to the various Chalon inheritances and estates to William of Nassau. Isabelle proves a strong and divisive figure in the French court, and is accused of seducing her maids by several of the more conservative members of the court. After giving birth to her third child in 1550, she attempts to retire to her demense in Brittany, only to be drawn back to Paris after the death of her only son in 1557, where she gives birth to another daughter and son. Following this, she once again abandons court, claiming illness prevents her from partaking in royal duties. She is, however, an avid writer, and regularly demands her children visit her. Claude's other daughters will marry the King of Spain and Duke of Milan respectively, with both enjoying large and relatively healthy families.
- Renee of France proves a popular Queen in Scotland. Beautiful and clever, she and James V conceive 9 pregnancies in their 13 year old marriage, with three sons and a daughter surviving childhood. She is not, however, a popular Regent. A known follower of the Reformation, Renee makes many unfortunate missteps, and in 1548 is accused outright of heresy and witchcraft by both the Hamilton and Lennox parties at court. Aware she's in danger, particularly when two of her servants are murdered, she agrees to step down from her political role, although she maintains control of her children's education after confirming her Catholicism, and seeks to arrange their marriages - her only daughter already betrothed to Edward VI of England. In 1552, Renee returns to power after the Earl of Lennox is murdered by the son of the Earl of Hamilton, and in this new and messy situation, smoothes things over by betrothing her youngest two sons to daughters of the families - the Duke of Albany to Barbara Hamilton, and the Duke of Ross to Catherine Stewart (daughter of Lennox and his wife, Margaret Douglas). She is forced to find a new groom for her daughter when Edward VI dies after postponing the wedding for several years - alleging ill health, but actually negotiating for a Princess of France. To combat this, the Princess Margaret is married to the Duke of Orleans, while Renee scraps the betrothal to the Lady Elizabeth Tudor that had been in place from 1551, to her humiliation and the Queen's excitement. However, her hopes of the Princess Antoinette of France are destroyed when she marries the Prince of Asturias, and instead, the King marries the Duke of Milan's sister Elisabetta Sforza - 9 years his senior but extremely well-dowered and a jilted bride. She was originally betrothed to the Duke of Savoy, who broke the betrothal to pursue an Austrian Archduchess. She had also almost married the King of Poland, but once again, lost her position to a child of Ferdinand of Austria. She and the King are poorly matched intellectually, and Elisabetta (known to the Scottish as Isabella) dominates her husband and manages to once again oust Renee from power. A 1557 pregnancy produces a son, but severely damages her health, and the Queen is rendered essentially infertile from that point onwards. Elisabetta proves consistently unpopular, and in 1560 a petition is discovered signed by pseudonyms of Scotland's lords to have her removed from the King and exiled. It's mostly a joke, but deeply offends the royal couple (mostly the Queen), who have several men exiled from Edinburgh. Elisabetta is made vulnerable in 1561 when her young husband dies of smallpox, infecting but not killing their son. Fearful, she initially lies about being pregnant to try and buy time, and then proclaims herself to be Regent for her son. Renee forms her own coalition against her, which is made more powerful when rumours circulate that the Queen plans on sending her son to Milan for "safety". Elisabetta is forcibly removed from power in 1563, with Renee standing in as Regent for her grandson. She has her daughter-in-law placed under house arrest, and writes letters to her relatives claiming she has gone mad. In 1565 Elisabetta attempts an escape and coup, but is quickly recaptured and even more completely isolated, and no longer allowed materials to write letters. In 1570 she dies mysteriously, allegedly of illness, but rumoured to have been murdered by Renee, who's hold on the Regency has grown shaky as her surviving sons begin demanding to take her place. In 1572 she relinquishes power after a health scare, and in 1574 dies shortly after her grandson arranges a marriage between himself and a French Princess. Her eldest son, the Duke of Albany, will only have daughters by his Hamilton bride, while the Duke of Ross suffers from sterility following a diagnosis of syphillis.
- The marriage of Charles X de Bourbon, King of France and Eleanor of Austria was an extremely affectionate one by the standards of royalty. He was very aware of her station as the sister of an Empress, and awed by her presence, despite regular comments by the court that she was not very pretty or even charming. She, in turn, found his intense attraction to her quite sweet, and their three surviving children were a mutual interest. Eleanor would act as his Regent throughout the 1530s, when Charles was forces to fight against her brothers for control of certain lands decreed as part of her dowry. In 1534, when her husband was mildly wounded by an arrow, she wrote her brother Charles (the Emperor) a scolding letter demanding apologies for hurting her husband. The two were not a popular royal couple outside of themselves, with the Countess of Auvergne in 1535 - upon her arrival to marry the Duke of Vendôme - remarking that "France is ruled by a monk and his favourite nun". In 1554 her eldest daughter would marry Philip II of Spain (then Prince of Asturias) following a brief betrothal to Edward VI of England that ended on his death. This was Eleanor's grand achievement at court and the last thing she had gotten her husband to push through before his death. Unfortunately, the Princess Antoinette proved ill-equipped for the long journey into Spain and died en route to Madrid. She never even saw Philip in person. Distraught, Eleanor would eventually latch onto her daughters-in-law - particularly the sweet Margaret of Scotland, who named 2 of her daughters after Eleanor during the Queen's lifetime. Even Isabelle of Chalon, famously cold to Paris, was fairly close to her mother-in-law - promising to remain in Paris until a son was born to her and her husband. Charles as King was equally family focused, although he would die deeply offended by the Duchess of Brittany and her abandonment of her royal duties.
- As Duchess of Milan, Marguerite d'Angouleme was extremely popular with the Milanese people, particularly following the birth of a son in 1523. Her learning was renowned and in 1530, she took over the Regency for her son, betrothing him to Leonora d'Este, an Italian noblewoman, in an attempt to ally with the other Principalities of Italy against the Hapsburg influence. This proved unfortunate for several reasons. Leonora was heavily Catholic and deeply suspicious of Marguerite's religious interests. She also was 8 years her husband's senior and, as discovered many years later, actively trying to prevent pregnancy. In 1543, Marguerite and her son petitioned the Pope for an annulment, but found roadblocks as Leonora claimed that she had been mistreated by the pair and their affection was "unnatural". It was also this year that her daughter Beatrice entered a convent officially, after negotiations to marry her to the son of the Duke of Savoy soured upon a physical inspection, which proved that Beatrice Sforza suffered from scoliosis, a club foot, and several other minor deformities. Marguerite, who had spent much of her personal wealth on doctors to help her eldest daughter, finally admitted that there was little hope of a "cure", and Beatrice began her own order with funds that had been set aside for her dowry. Elisabetta Maria, her younger daughter, took Beatrice's place with the future Duke of Savoy, but was saw the betrothal formally dissolved in 1545. Negotiations with Poland were equally fruitless, as was an attempt to marry her off to the Prince of Asturias. In 1552, there were heavy rumours that she would marry the Archduke Ferdinand, but these proved unfounded, and it was only in 1553 that she found a husband in King Francis of Scotland. Their marriage, as stated above, proved scandalous. Marguerite, however, died amid the Spanish negotiations, and her place at the table had to be taken by her son, who was partially distracted by his own unfortunate marriage. Leonora d'Este died choking on a fish bone in 1557, after a third attempt at formally annulling the marriage failed. It's unclear what exactly prevented the annulments from sticking, but Leonora's death allowed the standing betrothal between Duke Francesco II Sforza and the Princess Madeleine of Navarre to finally go ahead, after agreements were made in 1553, when the Princess was 13, and his previous standing 'once Leonora is gone' engagement to either Lady Mary or Lady Elizabeth in England died with Edward VI of England. Duke Francesco spoke highly of his mother until his death, and named his eldest daughter, Margherita Elisabetta Sforza, after her.
