I don't know that its a rivalry with the Wittelsbachs specifically so much as with whomever is Prince-Bishop of Hildesheim who IOTL happened to be a Wittelsbach from 1573 on. The Hildesheim issue a potentially serious complication because it would diminish or run counter to a role as Catholic...
I think the Welf line is the more impactful of the two. A Catholic dynasty anchoring the counter reformation in the NW could have major consequences. Perhaps shoring up the Bishoprics in that region (Osnabruck, Bremen, Verden, Minden). Though there is still the conflict with the Bishopric of...
I generally agree with this and I would add one additional wrinkle. From the 1620s on and especially in the 1630s as Spain's military expenses increased with the onset of War with France Olivares and the Castilian government relied heavily upon Portuguese converso bankers for funding after...
This is not implausible. But since this would likely require a 13th century POD its hard to say how things would actually look in the HRE later on as it could profoundly change the trajectory of Bohemia and other states in Germany. If we assume for the sake of argument a fairly strong butterfly...
I agree Spain is weaker without the reforms. And Charles won't implement any of his own. At the same time if Spain retains the Spanish Netherlands that's a going to be both a potential drain on resources or at least a distraction. But I'm not sure that Britain would be interested in siding with...
Depends on the circumstances. Is Spain united in personal union with Austria (ie Charles remains King of Spain and then becomes HRE, King of Hungary etc)? How quickly/easily does Charles come to power in Spain (ie is there still a Bourbon interlude in which reforms are introduced by Philip)...
Interesting. I'm not a medievalist so I'm not terribly familiar with the intricacies of the guelph ghibelline conflict. It sometimes seems like the overarching 'conflict' was just taken on by local feuding families as a way to perpetuate their pre-existing struggles ie that the two sides weren't...
I can't speak too much to the Italian perspective in the period in question (seems like 13-14th centuries) so I would defer on that issue. I guess my question is just that from Italian side, the viability of building up an Imperial administration in Imperial Italy when there's a faction there...
I think this is tricky to pull off. The HRE evolved in such a way that the German princes really thought that they were electing the King of Germany. The 'teutonicum' moniker may have originally intended to be derogatory, to imply that the Emperor wasn't a Roman Emperor, but somewhere along the...
What kind of palace? An actual royal residence for Charles or just some kind of government building/storehouse/fancy garrison. I doubt he has the money for anything that he wouldn't be using himself but that seems like a tricky location to move his seat to given it's distance from Westminster...
I'm really not arguing for a continuation of the war. It was only intended as simple innocuous comment, I'm not trying to debate the logic of the conflict in this timeline or suggest that it should have played out in a different way. I'm enjoying this timeline and obviously there's a lot of...
Yes, I agree with that sentiment. I probably should have said 'sad conflict' as I didn't mean to bemoan the lack of a glorious battle so much as comment on the pathetic nature of the whole conflict as it doesn't really seem to have accomplished much of anything for either side.
A nice little update but a sad denouement to the whole conflict. Though in the long run I'm starting to wonder if the Prussians bow out of the war with nothing to show for themselves does this maybe push forward the Prussian reform movement?
Might Baden also be preferable to Leopold as more 'controllable' than the alternatives? Given Leopold's experience with Max Emmanuel he might be warry of going with another Elector as commander in the west for fear that he would face the same issues of his wishes being ignored by another...
Great update. The issue of command is indeed a big problem for Austria. I'm kind of rooting for Louis of Baden if only because that seems like the best way to get his cousin, Eugene, on the scene. Almost like a two for one. Louis isn't perfect but perhaps selecting him would put Eugene in line...