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Central Europe 1450-1500

First some subsequent addition for Florence:

1330: Florence acquires Lucca for 75000 florin (gold coins).

1376: Giovanni de Medici gets dictatorial power in Florence. Since the republic feels threatened by the beggars roaming in Italy, the Medici can keep their power.

1387: Florence defends successfully against various mercenary groups who roam through Italy after the First Aquitaine War ended. The family degli Albizzi tries to cooperate with the mercenaries to oust the Medici from power, but are banned.

1400: Maffeo Servitore starts working as a secretary for the Medici.

1432: Uprising of the Ciompi (wool weavers). The Medici use this accident to take full power for themselves.

Central Europe 1450-1500:

1450s: Genoese invent the commercial lottery (derived from a system they used for choosing officials).

1454: King Gerhard II of the Netherlands dies without heir, so his lands fall to his old brother-in-arms Reinald of Geldern, who marries Gerhard's daughter (although she's 30 years younger than him... but well, this is royalty).

1456-69: Swiss Civil war between "Upper Switzerland" (south of the Rhine) and "Lower Switzerland".

1460: The Hungarian nobles elect Ludwig of Bavaria-Landshut king Lajos III, after king Karl / Károly died without heir.

1464: Great finding of silver in Tyrol, which makes the Luxembourger dynasty second-richest in the HRE. In 1472, their candidate Heinrich is elected Roman king.

Since 1466: Returning pilgrims spread the news that Rome was conquered by the infidels. Many sects believe that the end of time is near (the date of 1500 is mentioned). At first the war gives them hope that Rome can be reconquered, but when England-Castille-Portugal gives up Rome in 1472, they become desperate. Unrest spreads. At the same time, the growing riches (and corruption) of the church (which rules many territories in Germany) and the growing power of the princes makes some people wonder about secularization of said territories.

1472-76: Polish-Bohemian war. After the death of king Vaclav, the Poles hope for an easy victory, but the new king Jan II leads the Czech armies surprisingly well and drives the Poles back.

1475: When king Heinrich secularizes and annexes the bistums of Augsburg and Trient for his lands, the HRE falls into a kind of Civil War. All the princes try to annex the clerical lands, which leads to lots of confusion and little wars for said lands, which are subsumed as the Twenty-Year War. The most important of those wars are the Bavarian-Austrian war for Salzburg (1485-93) and the French-Dutch war (1486-91). For some time, there are three kings in the Empire (of Luxembourg, Brandenburg and Geldern respectively).
In the same year, in the bisthums of Würzburg and Münster, millenialist sects take the power, declare the Gottesfreistaat (God's republic - another kind of theocracy). The latter ones even manage to extend their lands during the chaos of the war, deposing some small princes of NW Germany.
The Swiss use the opportunity and conquer the remaining lands of their archenemies, the Habsburgs, in the Black Forest.
And to make the situation even worse, there are peasant uprisings (mostly in western Germany) who feel suppressed by the nobles. Those who can't flee to the territories of the Gottesfreistaaten where they're let in if they only swear to obey God's laws, are brutally suppressed.

1475-95: Germans fleeing from the Twenty-Year War in the HRE, and especially the religious fanatics ruling in Münster, go to the colonies of Braunschweig and the Netherlands.

1477: After defeating millenialist sects, Piero de Medici becomes first duke of Florence.

1481: Printing press with movable letters invented in the free city of Cologne by Jakob Hahn.

1492: King Lajos IV of hungary dies fighting against the Seljuks.

1493: The former monk Karl Koch who read a bit too much about the Roman republic during his time as library assistant in the monastery, starting as a "soap box preacher", declares the "Rheinische Republik" (republic of the Rhine), which is soon defeated by the duke of Jülich-Berg, however.

1495: King Karl V of Luxemburg deposes anti-king Otto of Brandenburg, is accepted as Roman king (better said: nobody complains). Not however in Switzerland and the theocracies of Münster and Würzburg, who have stopped caring about the HRE. The wars are over, but Germany lost about one fifth of its population. It takes them about half a century to recover.

The list of Central European kings 1350-1500:
Holy Roman kings and emperors:

Karl IV of Luxemburg 1347-58 (emperor since 1353)
Albrecht of Saxony 1359-81
Gerhard I of Holstein/Holland 1381-1406 (emperor since 1394)
Gerhard II of Holstein/Holland 1406-30 (emperor since 1418)
Gerhard III of Holland 1430-54 (emperor since 1439)
Ottokar III of Carinthia 1454-59 (and anti-king 1408-13)
Reinald I of Geldern 1459-72
Heinrich VIII of Luxemburg 1472-81
Reinald II of Geldern 1476-92
Otto of Brandenburg 1478-1495 (deposed, +1500)
Karl of Luxemburg 1481-95
Karl V of Luxemburg 1495- (now accepted as king)


Kings of the Netherlands:
Schauenburg dynasty of Holstein
Gerhard / Geeraard I 1419-30
Gerhard / Geeraard II 1430-54

Wassenberg dynasty of Geldern
Reinald I (*1402) 1454-72
Reinald II (*1435) 1472-1492
Reinald III the Old (*1469) 1492-


Kings of Poland:
Wladyslaw IV (*1295) 1331-65
Kazimierz IV (*1321) 1365-71
Wladyslaw V (*1350) 1371-1410
Wladyslaw VI (*1382) 1410/11
Boleslaw VI (*1387) 1411-1447
Wladyslaw VII (*1421) 1447-63
Wladyslaw VIII (*1454) 1463-


Kings of Hungary:
Louis / Lajos II (*1330) 1349-63

Wladyslaw / Ulászló 1363-65
Kazimierz / Kázmér 1365-71

Sigismund / Zsigmond I (*1332) 1371-92
Karl / Károly II (*1363) 1392-14
Sigismund / Zsigmond II (*1392) 1414-1432

Karl v. Hessen / Károly III (*1400) 1432-60

Ludwig v. Bayern-Landshut / Lajos III (*1423) 1460-73
Ludwig / Lajos IV (*1455) 1473-1492
Ludwig / Lajos V (*1479) 1492-


Kings of Naples:
Charles / Carlo III (*1299) 1343-62
(His son Robert / Roberto (*1325) +1356)
Charles / Carlo IV (*1349) 1362-78
Robert / Roberto II (*1374) 1378-1423
Robert / Roberto III (*1406) 1423-36
Charles / Carlo V (*1432) 1436-61
End of state


Kings of Bohemia and Moravia:
Otakar I (*1282) 1322-51
Otakar II (*1301) 1351-64
Vaclav III (*1327) 1364-79
Heinrich (see below) 1379-86

Elective kings:
Jan I 1386-88
Georgy 1388-1424
Prokop I 1424-30
Vaclav IV 1430-71
Jan II 1471-82
Prokop II 1482-95
Prokop III 1495-1500
Georgy II 1500-


Dukes of Carinthia and Austria (since 1493, also of Styria):
Wenzel II (*1308) 1335-72
Heinrich II (*1366, grandson of the former) 1372-95
Ottokar II (*1388) 1395-1459, at the beginning under his mother Margarethe. Later emperor / king.
Heinrich III (*1422) 1459-


Lords of Florence:

Medici family / dynasty:
Giovanni (*1342) 1376-90
Cosimo (* 1354, nephew of the former) 1390-1400
Lorenzo (*1362, another nephew of Giovanni) 1400-42
Ippolito (*1393) 1442-45
Giuliano (*1398) 1445-53
Piero (*1426) 1453-77

Dukes of Florence:
Piero I 1477-79
Giovanni I (*1455) 1479-

[post=652915]Read about the resulting changes (all details) in Germany here[/post]