Vive la Bourgogne, Vive La France!

[Mirza Khan]

Note: My school year has started, so this TL, and my Netherlands one, will be updated irregularly.
Also, I'll occasionally use French titles of nobility for flavor. Duc is Duke (pronounced like English), Comte is Count.

Dijon, July IIth, 1464: Charles, heir to the Duchy of Burgundy, earnestly prayed to God in thanks, and the next day the city of Dijon would celebrate-Charles' wife, Isabella of Bourbon, had given birth to a healthy baby boy. Charles already had a daughter, Marie, and now he would have a son to pass his future Duchy on to as well.

Charles, of course, would become increasingly unstable in his later years, first trying to get Burgundy raised to a Kingdom, then getting into ill-concieved wars with nearly all his neighbors. After his death in 1477, outside the walls of Nancy, his son, Jean, assumed his titles, with his stepmother Margret of York as regent. With the Duchy having been weakend by Charles' wars, and with its Duke still a child, Margret decided to again ally the duchy with France, arranging her stepson's marriage to Anne de Beaujeu, eldest daughter of King Louis XI of France, and her stepdaughter Marie to Duc Pierre de Bourbon. In a twist of fate, Anne and Jean became regents of France for Anne's younger brother, King Charles VIII. Jean proved to be the mirror image of his father-cautious to the point of being almost timid-and his wife-a very astute lady who her father once called "the least foolish woman in France"-was the dominant one in their marraige, at least politically. Together, the couple steered France through the turbulent 1480's, engaging in a series of struggles with recaltrant French nobles and the Duchy of Brittany (whose heiress, also named Anne, was ultimately forced by treaty to marry Charles VIII)*.

Once Charles VIII assumed royal powers in 1491, Jean and Anne again retired from Paris to spend the next decade in their Burgundian possessions. Though Burgundy's official capital was Dijon, the couple spent much of their time in the Burgundian Netherlands, usually holding court at Coudenberg palace in Brussels. The couple would leave their mark on the low countries-Jean, again helped by his talented wife, managed to push through several reforms further centralizing the Low Countries under Ducal control, expanded the Burgundian navy, and sponsored the construction or renovation of several churches and palaces, including the now famous Notre Dame de Bruxelles. After over a decade of marriage and two daughters, the couple celebrated the birth of their first son, Phillip, in 1492 at the Coudenberg.

Meanwhile in Paris, Anne's brother, King Charles VIII the Affable, died in 1498 with no children, rendering the senior Valois line extinct. The throne now passed to Louis of Valois-Orleans, who became Louis XII. Louis, however, was no luckier than his predicessor-despite marrying three times, he would have no sons. Under French Salic law, neither of his two daughters could inherit, and the throne should have passed to the next closest cadet line, Valois-Angouleme. However, its head, Count Charles of Angouleme, also died without heirs in 1496, his only son** dying of fever as a toddler. This left Valois-Burgundy. Thus, when Louis himself passed on in 1506, the throne went to Jean, Duc de Bougogne. Once again, Jean and Anne made the journey from Dijon to the Palais du Louvre in Paris-but instead of entering as regents, they would come as King and Queen.

*Most of this is OTL-Anne was regent of France, though IOTL she married Pierre of Bourbon, who ITTL marries OTL Mary the Rich.
**OTL King Francis I

[Van555]

GLORIOUS!

There might be maps yes?

[Mirza Khan]

Originally Posted by Van555

GLORIOUS!

There might be maps yes?

Thanks!!

I'll make a map once the TL progresses (which might be a while). For now, all the stuff on this map (except the pink and the striped areas) represents the holdings of Duke Jean of Burgundy, and is now part of France.

EDIT: Any ideas on who Maximillian I would marry ITTL? I admit I haven't thought that far.

[Mirza Khan]

So, does anyone else like it so far?

I've decided who Maximillian's TTL wife is-Barbara of Bavaria, daughter of Duke Albert III of Bavaria. Due to butterflies, she does not become a nun, lives to a ripe old age, and gives Maximillian children (more on that later).

EDIT: Scratch all that, see below.

[Gonzaga]

I'm enjoying it!

About the bride for Maximilian, I would suggest Sophia, the daughter of Casimir IV of Poland, as apparently she was really betrothed to him IOTL. But a Bavarian wife makes sense too.

[Janprimus]

I agree with Gonzaga, Sophia of Poland is a good candidate, because without the Burgundian Inheritance the ambition to restore (Albert II and Ladislaus I were Habsburgs) the house of Habsburg in Hungary and Croatia becomes even more important. IOTL Maximilian already had this ambition, and he achieved the treaty of Pressburg in 1491 (Maximilian was to become the heir of Vladislaus II) and the first congress of Vienna in 1515 (the double marriage between the Habsburgs and the Bohemian & Hungarian Jagiellons).
A marriage with Sophia or Hedwig of Poland could help the house of Habsburg to achieve that ambition ITTL.

However Mary (Marie/Maria) of Burgundy remains a catch, certainly as the sister of Jean (John and Jan in the Dutch part of the Netherlands ;-))....