Assume, that due to fortunate (from Christian's POV) chain of events Christian's wife Isabella of Austria became heiress of Habsburg Empire (so her brother Ferdinand fell ill and dies after arriving in Germany, her older sister Eleanor dies in childbirth and Charles V has horse ridding accident in 1520. Isabella is thus oldest surviving daughter of Philip Habsburg and Joanna the Mad. What happens? Christian is already King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden at that point, Burgundian Inheritance should be easiest to secure for him (still not easy-France would use opportunity to grab at least part of it). What about the rest? In Castile his mother-in-law Joanna the Mad is still rulling Queen in theory, meanwhile Aragon preffers male heirs-and closest male relative of Charles V is Christian's son Hans. There is also Imperial throne and Austria left vacant. But considering Christian's troubles in Scandinavia I doubt he'd be able to get all of these. Spain could be simply claimed by House of Aviz and participating in Imperial Election means neccessity of paying massive bribes. So, in the end, how much of his wife's inheritance he'd be able to keep? And is he still deposed by uncle? That seems even more likely than IOTL, considering numbers of new fronts he'd open.
WI: Christian II of Denmark has Habsburg style luck
- Thread starter Jan Olbracht
- Start date
I don't think so. Christian's attention would turn to the south. That would benefit Swedish rebels.
When in 1520? If before October, there is a decent chance that comuneros revolt would win and Joanna the Mad would be full sovereign Queen of Castile and Aragon and would possibly remarry?
What would become with Anna Jagiellonica?
Say, that it is after October, although Juana la Loca is still legally Queen of Castile and Communeros may achieve their goal anyway.
While officially Juana was Queen of Castile untill her death, she never was Queen of Aragon. Charles succeeded grandfather directly here due to different succession laws.
Spain IMHO would be outside reach of Christian and Isabella anyway, even if their claim is superior.
Yes was just thinking about the revolt - I think its highly likely that Christian could take control in either Castille or Aragon.
They will simply insist that Juana is their lawful Queen and ignore any claim on Isabella's behalf as her brother's heir. In fact it's quite likely that both will simply recognize Juana and expect her to be succeeded in due course by her youngest daughter Catherine who is still unmarried and has the advantage of being born in Spain.
He might have better luck holding the Burgundian inheritance but the area might see it as an opportune chance to regain their independence - though with Francis I to the south they might think Christian's a reasonable option to fend off French ambitions.
The German ancestral lands are more interesting - Christian might have a real fight to claim those on his wife's behalf - i would expect the Bavarian Duke to make a strong claim based on being the nearest male relative of Charles V being a grandson of Frederick III.
They will simply insist that Juana is their lawful Queen and ignore any claim on Isabella's behalf as her brother's heir. In fact it's quite likely that both will simply recognize Juana and expect her to be succeeded in due course by her youngest daughter Catherine who is still unmarried and has the advantage of being born in Spain.
He might have better luck holding the Burgundian inheritance but the area might see it as an opportune chance to regain their independence - though with Francis I to the south they might think Christian's a reasonable option to fend off French ambitions.
The German ancestral lands are more interesting - Christian might have a real fight to claim those on his wife's behalf - i would expect the Bavarian Duke to make a strong claim based on being the nearest male relative of Charles V being a grandson of Frederick III.
There is also Mary of Austria (not yet married in 1520). I think Habsburg Empire may end divided between 3 sisters.
And Imperial Election would be interesting. Louis of Bohemia and Hungary is one of electors and has claim to Austria on his own. Would he marry Mary of Austria he'd unite claims of Albertine and Leopoldine lines, but as he married her after POD, it is not given they'll still marry.
Well, death of Charles will draw estates to comuneros, that's for sure. So I think without clear candidate to counter them, they'd win.
So I think Aragonese estates could plead Christian to send his son, little John (Juan) to become king of Aragon. If their offer would be refused......than Enrique of Segorbe could make a power play for himself,
Castile will, but would Aragon follow?
They could declare Segorbe their King and get out of this whole mess.
Threat of Francis would be enough to accept Christian as their overlord.
ekhm ekhm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_II_of_Hungary is seniormost male female-line descendant of seniormost Habsburg line and what's more *adoptive son of Maxilimilian* and legal heir to Austria under the terms of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Congress_of_Vienna, and Louis's uncle is king of Poland, country which can provide direct support to Swedish rebels, IMHO he'd rather not risk angering him and would leave Austria to it's own fate.
I can quite easily see the Cortes of Castile and Aragon going up in arms at the prospect of having a Danish King... In Castile I imagine that Juana may be freed, and rather quickly remarried, possibly to Segorbe (if he's unmarried or his wife dies from butterflies) to reunite Castile and Aragon's marriage links and hopefully produce a new heir.. Her having a child in her early forties may be unlikely but not impossible, considering that she had many children throughout her short first marriage... Burgundy would probably be fairly easily acquired by Christian and Isabella...
Other than Hans of Denmark most senior male descendant of Ferdinand II of Aragon is John III of Portugal. Adult Iberian man vs Danish boy... Winner is rather obvious
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Comuneros won't allow him access to Castile and he's John III not John II and Aragonese would rather prefer Segorbe than John III.
Perhaps, though her "madness" was probably depression more than anything else... She also didn't raise them for long, so the blow may not be quite as bad...
Over all, I expect that the Habsburg-Burgundian domains to be divided. The best the Oldenburg-Habsburg branch can hope for would most likely be the Netherlands. Judging by Christian II's OTL visit in 1521, the royal family was quite popular in the Low Countries and the economic connection between the Dutch trading cities and the Baltic would probably serve as further incentive for a Netherlandish-Scandinavian personal union. However, Christian II was constrained by a weak, feudal state and by the considerable distance between the Netherlands and the North. Conversely, the French and the Duke of Guelders are frightfully close and both would certainly try to gobble up as much of the rich urban provinces as possible. Still, for the argument's sake, let's suppose that Christian and Isabella manage to secure the acclamation of the Netherlandish estates whilst the French take Burgundy and Castille and Austria go their separate ways. I simply do not know where the imperial crown lands. Possibly on the brow of Louis II of Hungary-Bohemia.
If the last departure from OTL is that Charles V dies in October 1520, the implications for Scandinavia are quite interesting.
Depending on when in October it happens and how quickly the news reach Copenhagen, it might or might not affect the Stockholm Bloodbath. It could draw Christian II away from Stockholm to attend to the Burgundian inheritance, thus potentially averting the bloodletting. On the other hand, it might also embolden the king to strike even harder against the defeated Swedes. I'm tending towards the former interpretation though.
Conversely, it most assuredly alters the situation in Denmark proper. On one hand, the absence of a strong emperor might entice Christian II's enemies in the Hansa and Holstein. Furthermore, by 1520, Christian had already begun to drift away from the high nobility and was about to embark on his great legal and church reforms, so a domestic opposition would already be fermenting in Jutland. On the other, a strong base in the Netherlands might give the king enough capabilities to discourage Frederick from entering into open rebellion. Again, a lot depends on how events unfold in Sweden.
If the last departure from OTL is that Charles V dies in October 1520, the implications for Scandinavia are quite interesting.
Depending on when in October it happens and how quickly the news reach Copenhagen, it might or might not affect the Stockholm Bloodbath. It could draw Christian II away from Stockholm to attend to the Burgundian inheritance, thus potentially averting the bloodletting. On the other hand, it might also embolden the king to strike even harder against the defeated Swedes. I'm tending towards the former interpretation though.
Conversely, it most assuredly alters the situation in Denmark proper. On one hand, the absence of a strong emperor might entice Christian II's enemies in the Hansa and Holstein. Furthermore, by 1520, Christian had already begun to drift away from the high nobility and was about to embark on his great legal and church reforms, so a domestic opposition would already be fermenting in Jutland. On the other, a strong base in the Netherlands might give the king enough capabilities to discourage Frederick from entering into open rebellion. Again, a lot depends on how events unfold in Sweden.
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He is already legally married to Mary since 1515. The one in Vienna was a full legal wedding (not consummated for the ages of the spouses). Anna of Hungary also was married-by-proxy to a not specified grandson of Maximilian in that circumstance (and the Emperor promised to consummate himself the wedding if neither grandson accepted the match in one year)
So Mary and Louis are obvious heirs of Austrian part of inheritance.
I'm sure france would be happy. The entire habsburg power bloc just collapsed in on itself over night
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