Marie II

Marie II (Marie de Bourgogne; 10th December 1581–4th August 1635) was the Impératrice de Dieudonnière and Bretagne from 18th March 1600 until her death in 1635. Commonly referred to as Marie the Good, The Maiden of Burgundy, or Marie the Virtuous, she was the longest-reigning and second female sovereign of Dieudonnière suo jure to have ruled as Impératrice regnant, after Marie I. Her reign of 35 years was prominent for the rise of centralization of the state and Dieudonnière as a global power in colonial America and western Europe

The daughter of Henri III, Empereur of Dieudonnière, and his consort, Louise de Lorraine, she was previously betrothed to Victor Amadeus of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, eldest heir to Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. The engagement only lasted from 1599 to 1601 when her brother—the last male heir apparent of her father—Henri Philippe died. She was soon ranked as the potential sole successor of her father and thus heir presumptive. Following his further decline in health subsequent to a wound from a second attempted assassination, she became heir apparent of Dieudonnière. Henri III issued the Second Pragmatic Sanction of Succession and was passed by the Parlement in securing the position of Marie as Madame la Dauphine. She inherited the throne following the death of her brothers and Henri III in 1600 and was coronated at the Cathedral of Reims in 1602. Marie married her 1st cousin Louis de Bourgogne-Anjou earlier in 1601.

Her accession to power greatly sparked a dispute of the legitimacy of female inheritance upon the sovereignty. Her repute as a woman has been one of the major benefactors leading to conflict; there was the insignificant established precedent of women during the time, with only minor emphasis during the reign of Marie I, who conceded and relinquish much of her power to her husband, Charles the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy. Conspiracies of arrogating the crown through poisoning her father and conniving against the Catholic faith had lead to numerous assassinations that threaten her life. The crisis ultimately culminated into the division of the imperial court; supporters of Marie continue their residence at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye while adversaries towards her succession establish their own autonomous court at the Château de Rambouillet. Civil war ensues amongst the faction; members of the nobility that had pledged loyalty to her, the Liège de la Couronne-Souveraine, quarreled with the Chevalier des Princes, with major clashes lasting only for 2 years. Following the conclusion of the war in 1610, the Treaty of Vincennes was signed by both belligerents and Lex Salica was revoked in the adjudication of succession. The war was remarked for its transition of Dieudonnière from the remnants of feudalism to the institution of absolutism. It was widely considered as the primary corollary that sought out to curtail the privileges of the nobility twain by the consolidation of absolute governance during her reign as Marie II.

WIP