What if Emperor Ferdinand I did turn Lutheran and thus became the first Protestant Emperor of the HRE? And how will his nephew Philipp of Spain react? Or the Pope?
AHC: Lutheran Austrian Hapsburgs
- Thread starter Barbarossa Rotbart
- Start date
He wouldn't.
His son Maximilian MIGHT, in the right circumstances--however his more devout brothers and wife would likely take this... poorly.
His son Maximilian MIGHT, in the right circumstances--however his more devout brothers and wife would likely take this... poorly.
Or Maximillian. It does not really matter. All that matters ist that Austria becomes Lutheran (or even Calvinist) after 1555 and before 1618.
BTW according to my history book Austria (with Steiermark and Kärnten) had been Lutheran before 1560.
BTW according to my history book Austria (with Steiermark and Kärnten) had been Lutheran before 1560.
Personally I think that their first choice would have been a 'Gallicanism'-like position for the Catholic Church in the HRE. However that will become increasingly unlikely as the reformation progresses.
Furthermore a good starting point for that would be situation were Habsburg Austria-Burgundy never gains the Spanish kingdoms and thus will focus on the Empire and will be in a better position to address the issues of the HRE, since they now can much better focus on that.
Regarding Lutheranism Maximilian II could implement that, but that also will become harder as time progresses.
Furthermore a good starting point for that would be situation were Habsburg Austria-Burgundy never gains the Spanish kingdoms and thus will focus on the Empire and will be in a better position to address the issues of the HRE, since they now can much better focus on that.
Regarding Lutheranism Maximilian II could implement that, but that also will become harder as time progresses.
Why I think it is certainly possible. It makes me cry a little to make the Habsburg lose their Catholicism, and by extensions some of their coolness.
Well, the Spanish Hapsburgs will still be catholics. So the situation will be similiar to the Hohenzollerns: a catholic line and a protestant line.
IIRC his contemporaries just thought he was weird in general; so yes that includes religion, but it was much broader than that.
OTOH he was interested in arts and science and not in ruling, which lead to him being in ineffectual ruler, which did contribute to that image.
IIRC during the reformation the Habsburg hereditary lands of what would be Austria and Bohemia went majority Protestant for a little bit until they heavily introduced the counter-reformation. If you can get the Austrian branch to realise that the power has started shifting from the Spanish branch to theirs so that losing Spain isn't seen as such a massive loss then you could perhaps see Maximilian II as your Protestat Habsburg. How everyone else take this development would be fun. 
It would weaken the conterreformation. And that could mean that the Rhineland will stay protestant.
But they will have lost their leader. And the protestant side will be much stronger.
Faeelin
Banned
The Habsburg Lands being Spain?
The Imperial electors in OTL (correct me if I am wrong) in the 16h century are:
The Archbishop of Mainz,
The Archbishop of Trier,
The Archbishop of Cologne, Archchancellor of the Empire for Italy
The King of Bohemia,
The Count Palatine of the Rhine
The Count Palatine and Duke of Saxony,
The Margrave of Brandenburg,
It seems to me that a Habsburg shift gives you a protestant college.
If Elfwine meant the hereditary Habsburg hereditary lands then that usually means the various lands that made up Austria and Slovenia as I understood things.
Faeelin
Banned
But IIRC Austria was majority protestant for a while, up until the Counter-reformation, as was Bohemia.
Yes, those.
Even if there's a significant number of Protestants there, I doubt they were wholly Protestant.
Not sure which of the electors were Protestant at this point, but I suspect that the Catholic forces are going to put pressure on them.
Frankly, converting sounds like a way to lose a lot of support without gaining anything equivalent.
By this point, all the other secular electors are Protestant. The spiritual electors are all nominally Catholic, but it's not unusual for a Protestant to be mixed in the bunch. As for Austria's Catholic population--they may try to cause problems, but it's likely to go the way that MOST attempts by a religious minority to do so did in the 16th-17th century. If it's Maximillian II, his brothers may try and start something--but I'm not sure either of them have the weight to do so.
The biggest problems are going to be the Pope and Spain--and they may prove very large indeed.
The biggest problems are going to be the Pope and Spain--and they may prove very large indeed.