Where to look for these boundaries? Sully knows well that Charlemagne restored the empire, and that under the Capetians France was confined to “narrow state borders, in which it remains to this day.” He states that France has a natural border in the south – the Pyrenees. He understands perfectly well that returning France to its former glory means returning “the neighboring territories that once belonged to it,” i.e. Savoy, Franche-Comté, Lorraine, Gennegau, Artois, the Netherlands. “But is it possible to claim all this without arousing the hatred of enemies and ruinous wars? And the French kings themselves have such an ambition that for France is worse than all the hatred of foreigners.” France is well-fed: it is strong enough not to be afraid of anyone and to be terrible for everyone. However, Sully also dreamed of French hegemony over the civilized world, over all Christian peoples. This is where one strange draft of an international agreement comes from, which Sully attributed to his king, but probably composed himself. The “great plan” of King Henry IV was, according to Sully, to reduce the Habsburgs to the level of sovereigns of one Iberian Peninsula, drive the Turks and Tatars to Asia, restore the Byzantine Empire and then redraw the entire political map of Europe. Europe will be divided into six hereditary monarchies, five elective monarchies and five republics. At the head of all these states a special council will be placed, which will protect the general peace and resolve disputes between states, between sovereigns and their subjects. The president of this unique republic of Christian states will be the pope; France will be his first minister. Sully's secret thought behind this entire seventeenth-century League of Nations project was clear. To weaken the enemies of France, to strengthen her vassals, to surround her with a belt of neutral states that would legally be under her protection, and in fact under her command – this was this fantastic “grand design” of the first servant of King Henry IV.
Sully's plan is known only from his memoirs. The reality was far from such projects. This was demonstrated by King Henry IV himself with his practical policies, and even more so by his brilliant successor, the greatest of the noble politicians of absolutist France, Cardinal Richelieu.