Louis VIII died in 1226 and was succeeded by the elder of his 13-year-old twin sons, Jean, who was born a few minutes before Alphonse. Their mother Blanche of Castile governed the kingdom as regent for a few years until Jean was old enough to rule on his own after his 15th birthday in 1228.
In 1229, Jean negotiated the Treaty of Meaux to end his father's war against the Count of Toulouse in the semi-independent south. The count, Raymond VII, was forced to cede his county to the royal domain. His 9-year-old daughter, Joan, was then betrothed to Alphonse - and in an unexpected twist, Jean then invested his brother as co-king of France with his own southern capital in Toulouse.
France's neighbours weren't too happy - count Thibaut IV's lands in Champagne bordered Jean's territory to the east, although he was a loyal ally of the French crown. He became a king himself in 1234 when he inherited the crown of Navarre, bordering Alphonse's lands in the southwest. Meanwhile, king Henry III still held onto his continental territory in Gascony, but his time and money were exhausted defending against two French kings.
Pope Gregory IX and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II were distracted by their own wars against each other in Italy, and were unable to intervene one way or the other.
Jean and Alphonse had a few younger brothers, who spent their lives adventuring throughout the Mediterranean. Louis and Robert were killed while crusading in Egypt in 1250. Charles got involved in the Pope’s schemes to take Sicily away from Emperor Frederick, but he died on crusade too, at Tunis in 1270.
It was rare for twins to survive in the Middle Ages, and twin sons of a king were almost unheard of. Things would have been much different for the Kingdom of the Two Frances if they had died as children.
Anyone think Louis XIV of France is worth some kind of series of episodes? He was both interesting and a bastard, and he just happened to reign longer than any monarch in the history of Europe. He got up to a lot of shit from building a giant surveillance palace (IE Versailles) that contains some of the most beautiful art in the world and did some pretty neat wars. Oh, and he also banned protestantism after protestants in France enjoyed around 100+ years of civil rights. I get it may be a long one, but I think it could be interesting.
Yes, Louis XV captured Corsica from the HRE
The Regency had just ended. Now in charge on one of the strongest countries in Europe, what will you do to prevent France's blunders in both Europe and North America? And what will be your plans to ensure French domination overseas or for society?
