"The French Partitions of the 15th century had never ceased to one of the most contentious issues of Continental politics, even as English influence in Burgundy waned. But First Consul Napoleon's invasion of 1798 would still prove unprecedented in the chaos that it unleashed for decades to come."
I don't think this works; the status quo of 1429 was not sustainable. A world where the English maintain control of Guyenne and Normandy might be fun, though.
The vague thought process is that Henry V lives longer and consolidates control over Northern France, which ends up establishing enough institutions that when the Plantagenets lose control of it the House of Burgundy-Valois is able to establish its own northern kingdom.
Hmm...But what happens when Charles the Bold inevitably fucks it up and doesn't have any sons? The spider always wins.
I think the hand over from the English to the Burgundians is also very difficult to plausibly arrange. "Henry V lives longer" is an interesting hypothetical, though. ("What if Henry VI dies young?" also an interesting one)
Also, if Charles VII were to predecease his father, the next in line is the Duke of Orléans, who is an English prisoner...
Orléans's brother was *also* an English prisoner! Next in line after them were the Duke of Anjou and his brothers, and then Philip the Good.
So Louis of Anjou was, as of 1422, off in Italy trying to become king of Naples. His next brother René is only 13, under the guardianship of his father-in-law, the duke of Lorraine, a Burgundian ally. Remarkable lack of available dynasts for the Armagnacs.
so they proclaim Orléans as *Charles VII "the Poet", with...I guess Dunois as regent? Or perhaps Queen Bonne. But this is obviously a much weaker position than our Charles VII's supporters were in, especially if Henry V is still alive in the ATL.
If they hadnt, even with UK/Germany emigration levels, France would have 120+ million people today. They would have been by far the most important power in Western Europe. German/Italian Unification, WWI, WWII, Russian Rev don't happen. Unrecognizable world
Kind of unrelated, but it is interesting that "France beginning the demographic transition a century before the rest of Europe" is one of the most important historical phenomena people don't know about