Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, Holy Roman Empress

Prior to his son and heir, Josef I's marriage to Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, attempted to arrange a series of marriages between the House of Habsburg and the House of Bourbon (and Savoy).

One of the marriages he proposed was that of Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (full sister of the Régent, Philippe II, half sister of the Queen of Spain and the duchess of Savoy, daughter of Liselotte and Monsieur) to Josef. This marriage plan was scuppered for reasons which I can only imagine pertained to the inheritance of the dying Carlos II's empire.

But say it had worked. Or, any of the other matches* proposed had caused a Diplomatic Revolution in the 1700s. Élisabeth Charlotte was the mother of 14 children by her OTL husband, the duke of Lorraine - which caused her mother to remark 'my daughter was a prisoner of war'. So, the chances that she could give Josef a son seems very likely.

*The other matches proposed were:
Louis, duc de Bourgogne to Maria Elisabeth of Austria
Philippe (Felipe V), duc d'Anjou to Maria Magdalene of Austria
Josef, King of the Romans to Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans
Karl, Archduke of Austria to Maria Adelaide of Savoy
 
Not sure of your source on this one but its wrong. According to Queenship in Europe by Clarissa Campbell Orr, Emperor Leopold and Empress Eleonore were implicitly opposed to any French match for their heir. No French match was seriously entertained at the Imperial Court during the '80s and most of the '90s.
 
Not sure of your source on this one but its wrong. According to Queenship in Europe by Clarissa Campbell Orr, Emperor Leopold and Empress Eleonore were implicitly opposed to any French match for their heir. No French match was seriously entertained at the Imperial Court during the '80s and most of the '90s.

Sorry, my bad. I read that Élisabeth Charlotte was proposed as a candidate for Josef I, and with the preponderance of Austrian archdukes/archduchesses to weight the scales of the marriage compacts, I took it to mean that the offer came from Vienna’s side. But was Louis XIV so desperate to avert war in his old age that he was willing to countenance five different matches into the imperial family? And if he was so interested in "keeping the peace" why did he accept the throne for Anjou instead of trying to broker a partition treaty (he'd already tried it twice, why not make it an uneven three?)
 
Something I was wondering about, and I was hoping that you could help me understand this, Constantine. Liselotte cherished a dream for her daughter, the Élisabeth Charlotte here mentioned, to become second wife of William III. But already in the Bill of Rights stood a prelude to the Act of Settlement that would've made this impossible/unlikely would it not? Or would the English have grudgingly accepted the marriage since Anne still had/was having live issue at that point?
 
I was wondering about something, would these marriage alliances be enough to put France and the Habsburgs on the same side (or at least make them perhaps more partial to one another (a shorter war of the Spanish Succession, perhaps?)) about the whole death of Carlos II? And might we see a Bourbon-Habsburg bloc emerging in Europe?
 
I wonder if their different wives will have better luck producing surviving little archdukes? And also, where might the redundant wives (Wilhelmine Amalie and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick, Luisa Maria of Savoy and Isabel Farnese) from OTL go?

Isabel likely to Modena/Savoy as was the idea originally, but IDK about the others.

Thoughts?
 
So this is the scenario Kynan worked out:

1696: Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and his current wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, die as a result of smallpox, with their young daughter Maria Theresia, who had infected her parents. Unmarried, their eldest son Joseph is crown Holy Roman Emperor at age 18. He begins his rule by attempting to bring peace between the Hapsburgs and the Bourbons.

1697: A marriage between the Holy Roman Emperor and Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, daughter of the Duc d'Orléans and Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatine. It is agreed to and decided for November, although bad weather means the Princess will not arrive until February of the next year. This marriage brings an end to the War of the Spanish Succession, particularly after Philip de Bourbon was promised to the Emperor's younger sister, Maria Josepha, or his other young sister Maria Magdalena if this match does not come to be. This marriage ensures the support of the Hapsburgs and allows the Prince Philip to rise as Philip V of Spain.

1698: Former future Holy Roman Empress Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg marries the Duke of Lorraine, Leopold Joseph. In other news, the first child between the Holy Roman Emperor and is bride is born in the shape of Maria Eleonora of Austria.

1699: The union between Philip V of Spain and Maria Josepha of Austria takes place with the 16 year old King and the 12 year old bride.

Family Tree:

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1678: d.1711) m. Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans (b.1676: d.1744) (a)

1a) Maria Eleonora of Austria, Archduchess of Austria (b.1698)

2a) Maria Theresia of Austria, Archduchess of Austria (b.1700: d.1701)

3a) Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1701)

4a) Marianna of Austria, Archduchess of Austria (b.1703)

5a) Francis of Austria, Archduke of Austria (b.1706: d.1709)

6a) Stillborn Daughter (c.1709)

7a) Charles of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria (b.1710)

8a) Maria Gabriela of Austria, Archduchess of Austria (b.1712)
Philip V of Spain (b.1683: d.1746) m. Maria Jospeha of Austria (b.1687: d.1704) (a), Maria Magdalena of Austria (b.1689: d.1743) (b)

1a) Louis I of Spain (b.1703)

2b) Maria Theresa of Spain (b.1708: d.1719)

3b) Maria Claudia of Spain (b.1711)

4b) Maria Victoria of Spain (b.1712)

5b) Maria Anna of Spain (b.1715: d.1715)

6b) Maria Josepha of Spain (b.1718)

7b) Maria Carlotta of Spain (b.1722: d.1723)
 

Vitruvius

Donor
It's interesting. It was definitely a one sided affair, her mother wanted it but the Habsburgs were not interested. So killing off Joseph's parents may remove that obstacle, it would certainly weaken the Austrian hand and bring them to the negotiating table quicker at Ryswick and that's probably the only opportunity to make the match, right after the peace settlement with France. The only alternative I could see would be to work it from the other side. Wilhelmina Amalia was selected because she had the right combination of religion, age and availablility (and incidentally was the niece of the Prince of Salm who was Leopold's most powerful Privy Councilors). So remove her by having her marry someone else or die early and it may make the Orleans match more appealing.

Really there aren't a whole lot of options for Joseph. Most princesses from major German and Italian Catholic families were born in the early to mid 1670s and married by the mid 1690s or were from the generation born starting in the early 1690s and were thus too young for Joseph. So his parents are left with three options. First they could look to a protestant family but that brings religious issues, which had already killed the potential match with Sophia Hedwig of Denmark. Second they look to some of the minor Catholic German houses like Salm, Hesse-Rotenburg or Thurn und Taxis but as they go down the list the marriage may risk being seen as unequal. Finally they could consider a French match, just at the point at which they've made peace with France at Ryswick.

Having said that, I'm still less confident about the other matches. I suppose you could get proxy marriages before Charles II dies in 1700 but I'm not sure. And once he's dead and the question of the Spanish Succession drives a wedge between Austria and France and further Habsburg-Bourbon unions are off the table. Given the geopolitical situation there's no way to forestall that conflict without some other earlier POD.
 
It's interesting. It was definitely a one sided affair, her mother wanted it but the Habsburgs were not interested. So killing off Joseph's parents may remove that obstacle, it would certainly weaken the Austrian hand and bring them to the negotiating table quicker at Ryswick and that's probably the only opportunity to make the match, right after the peace settlement with France. The only alternative I could see would be to work it from the other side. Wilhelmina Amalia was selected because she had the right combination of religion, age and availablility (and incidentally was the niece of the Prince of Salm who was Leopold's most powerful Privy Councilors). So remove her by having her marry someone else or die early and it may make the Orleans match more appealing.

Really there aren't a whole lot of options for Joseph. Most princesses from major German and Italian Catholic families were born in the early to mid 1670s and married by the mid 1690s or were from the generation born starting in the early 1690s and were thus too young for Joseph. So his parents are left with three options. First they could look to a protestant family but that brings religious issues, which had already killed the potential match with Sophia Hedwig of Denmark. Second they look to some of the minor Catholic German houses like Salm, Hesse-Rotenburg or Thurn und Taxis but as they go down the list the marriage may risk being seen as unequal. Finally they could consider a French match, just at the point at which they've made peace with France at Ryswick.

Having said that, I'm still less confident about the other matches. I suppose you could get proxy marriages before Charles II dies in 1700 but I'm not sure. And once he's dead and the question of the Spanish Succession drives a wedge between Austria and France and further Habsburg-Bourbon unions are off the table. Given the geopolitical situation there's no way to forestall that conflict without some other earlier POD.

Valid point, although as to Josef and Wilhelmine's marriage, I've read that neither Eleonore nor his uncle (I assume the Elector Palatine) were mad about the match OTL, and attempted to block it and finally consented mostly because there were no other real options on the table.
 
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