The kingdom of France

Today part of France (but without Flanders, French Comte, Bretagne, Alsace, Lorraine, overseas territories)

A turning point of sorts in the Hundred Years’ War against the English occurred in the person of the young Joan of Arc (1412 – 1431), who had a great influence on the incitement of anti-English sentiment, believing that all who are fighting against France were enemies of the Lord Jesus. However, soon after almost all of northern France and Aquitaine came under English control, and the king of England crowned himself king of France in Paris. This phase of the war was intertwined with the civil war between the houses of Armagnac and Burgundy. Nevertheless, in a series of twists, the war ended in mid-15^th century with a victory for the French ruling dynasty of Valois, which had set the stage for the possibility of centralizing the politics of absolute power that would serve the privileged classes, aristocracy, and high clergy. The key to successful centralization was the fact that in each region institutions were established that would undermine the control of local and regional leaders. The centralization was directly connected with the more efficient method of tax collection and financing further wars.

After the relatively unsuccessful War of the Burgundian Succession (1477 – 1482), the French king instigated the long so-called Italian War (1494 – 1559) against both branches of the Habsburg dynasty. At first it was about the dynastic disputes over the Duchy of Milan and the Kingdom of Naples, but over time it grew into a conflict for power and control over the territory of the Apennine Peninsula between various sides, and was marked by a series of alliances, counter alliances, and betrayals. The balance of war in the following fifty years tipped several times, but in the end, in mid-16^th century, the victors were the Spanish Habsburgs, who either put under their rule, or otherwise controlledthe major part of the peninsula, from Sicily to Milan.