Isabella of Austurias for those of you that don't know was the first daughter of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of
Aragon. In OTL she married the King of Portugal (Alfonso) in 1490 and Alfonso would die in little over a year (some
taxing marriage that!) at the age of around 16. She would later move on to marry Manuel I (called "the Fortunate") who
became king of Portugal as well. The marriage would be in 1497. Ten months later, /she/ died.
Manuel would later go on to inaugurate the so-called 'Golden Age' of Portuguese history. Among the things he did was
the sponsoring the expedition of Vasco da Gama; the voyage of Pedro Alvares Cabral, on which Cabral reached Brazil;
the exploration of Gaspar Corte-Real of the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland; and the expedition of Afonso
de Albuquerque, who established the Portuguese empire in the Far East.
He would also end up marrying Isabella's youngest sister, Mary, (Maria?) who was 18 at the time of their marriage
in 1500. She would die in 1517 after having many children (10!).
As we all know, Juana and her husband, Phillip I of Habsburg, inherited Castile. Philip's death is supposed to have driven
Juana over the edge into insanity. However, her extreme jealousy (though not altogether unjustified) and her husband's extreme
philandering might have help. Because she was the oldest, she inherited Castile and her mighty son (Charles) inherited
all of the Habsburg and Spanish realms. That forever entangled Spain with the fate of Germany.
Now, the what-if. If we grant Isabella of Asturias a long life (or at least as long as her second husband's), we have a rather
interesting situation. Presumably Isabella will be as fertile as her younger sisters and produce heirs for Manuel. The really
interesting part is that we have Isabella being the first in line when her mother dies for Castile and then later on the remainder of the Spanish domains when Ferdinand passes away including Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia.
The fascinating end result is that when Manuel and Isabella get offed by the plague in 1521, their heir - *Juan - inherits
peacefully(!!!) all of the Iberian Pennisula and then some. The Pennisula is unified ~75 years earlier. Further more, there
is /no/ inheritable Habsburg connection here to entangle Spain with. It may crop up earlier, but for the time being, that disaster can
be avoided (no Netherlands to get bogged down in).
One of the other knockon effects might be that we see a unified Iberia /permanently/. I think that we will see Iberian involvement
in the Italian Wars no matter what: their claims are no less pressing still and the French still want Naples. However, a lot of treasure
never gets burned up in the Netherlands. All the Iberians passionately share the idea of pushing the Reconquista into North Africa.
With only Italy as the side show ATL, and the combined economic might in terms of money from trade and precious metals from the Americas, we might just see them pull it off.
Turf wars between the Castilian and Portugese factions ought to be fascinating. The Castilians largely kept the Aragonese (?) and
Catalans from participating in the conquest of the Americas. Somehow I doubt that this'd be possible to do to the Portugese...
So do we enter the modern era with the sun never setting on the Iberian Empire? Perhaps an Iberian North Africa stretching from Tunis to
El Aaiun? ? ?Or do the Castialians get squeezed out by the Portugese in the Alantic, & the Catilians in the Med. Or is there a chance that a Unified Iberia would push the Reconquestia., and never go exploring down the Africian Coast. If Iberia focuses on north Africa, ?Who would sail down the coast & when?
Aragon. In OTL she married the King of Portugal (Alfonso) in 1490 and Alfonso would die in little over a year (some
taxing marriage that!) at the age of around 16. She would later move on to marry Manuel I (called "the Fortunate") who
became king of Portugal as well. The marriage would be in 1497. Ten months later, /she/ died.
Manuel would later go on to inaugurate the so-called 'Golden Age' of Portuguese history. Among the things he did was
the sponsoring the expedition of Vasco da Gama; the voyage of Pedro Alvares Cabral, on which Cabral reached Brazil;
the exploration of Gaspar Corte-Real of the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland; and the expedition of Afonso
de Albuquerque, who established the Portuguese empire in the Far East.
He would also end up marrying Isabella's youngest sister, Mary, (Maria?) who was 18 at the time of their marriage
in 1500. She would die in 1517 after having many children (10!).
As we all know, Juana and her husband, Phillip I of Habsburg, inherited Castile. Philip's death is supposed to have driven
Juana over the edge into insanity. However, her extreme jealousy (though not altogether unjustified) and her husband's extreme
philandering might have help. Because she was the oldest, she inherited Castile and her mighty son (Charles) inherited
all of the Habsburg and Spanish realms. That forever entangled Spain with the fate of Germany.
Now, the what-if. If we grant Isabella of Asturias a long life (or at least as long as her second husband's), we have a rather
interesting situation. Presumably Isabella will be as fertile as her younger sisters and produce heirs for Manuel. The really
interesting part is that we have Isabella being the first in line when her mother dies for Castile and then later on the remainder of the Spanish domains when Ferdinand passes away including Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia.
The fascinating end result is that when Manuel and Isabella get offed by the plague in 1521, their heir - *Juan - inherits
peacefully(!!!) all of the Iberian Pennisula and then some. The Pennisula is unified ~75 years earlier. Further more, there
is /no/ inheritable Habsburg connection here to entangle Spain with. It may crop up earlier, but for the time being, that disaster can
be avoided (no Netherlands to get bogged down in).
One of the other knockon effects might be that we see a unified Iberia /permanently/. I think that we will see Iberian involvement
in the Italian Wars no matter what: their claims are no less pressing still and the French still want Naples. However, a lot of treasure
never gets burned up in the Netherlands. All the Iberians passionately share the idea of pushing the Reconquista into North Africa.
With only Italy as the side show ATL, and the combined economic might in terms of money from trade and precious metals from the Americas, we might just see them pull it off.
Turf wars between the Castilian and Portugese factions ought to be fascinating. The Castilians largely kept the Aragonese (?) and
Catalans from participating in the conquest of the Americas. Somehow I doubt that this'd be possible to do to the Portugese...
So do we enter the modern era with the sun never setting on the Iberian Empire? Perhaps an Iberian North Africa stretching from Tunis to
El Aaiun? ? ?Or do the Castialians get squeezed out by the Portugese in the Alantic, & the Catilians in the Med. Or is there a chance that a Unified Iberia would push the Reconquestia., and never go exploring down the Africian Coast. If Iberia focuses on north Africa, ?Who would sail down the coast & when?
