AHC: Unite Italy under the Palaiologoi of Montferrat

OK my memory of these dudes is weak, but they had a powerbase in the East and IMHO they would need their influence and wealth to continue there in order to be able to rise to play a greater part back in Italy, and in the European marriage market

Best Regards
Grey Wolf
 
OK my memory of these dudes is weak, but they had a powerbase in the East and IMHO they would need their influence and wealth to continue there in order to be able to rise to play a greater part back in Italy, and in the European marriage market

Best Regards
Grey Wolf

I'm well aware of that. I was sort of looking for anything after 1453, hence the idea of it being a challenge. :p
 
Marriage and a little bit of luck are all that are needed for the Palaiologoi to rule Italy. After all, that's what got the Hapsburgs to grow from a minor family to a dynastic powerhouse. One or two lucky marriages in the Piedmont region could result in a Palaiologoi gaining significant power in the area. After that, you've got decent alliance making, collecting favors from the HRE and France during the Italian Wars, and further marriage to make them a major power.
 
William VIII's first wife Marie de Foixe dies younger than historical (1467), freeing him up to marry a daughter of his ally Francesco I Sforza. As the marriage happens earlier, he gets to marry the elder daughter Ippolita, as opposed to her younger sister Elizabetta. The death of Francesco's sons without lasting heirs would leave Milan to William.

Their son, Duke of Milan, might then marry the Infanta Isabella of Naples (in this TL the daughter of Ippolita's sister Elizabetta) and make good her claim to the throne of Naples.

Their son in turn might make an interesting husband for one of the daughters of Ferdinand The Catholic, perhaps Isabella or Juana, with the possibility of the Paleologus inheriting the newly united Spain, or at least staking a claim to portions of the Spanish mediterenean empire, or perhaps inheriting Aragon in opposition to Philip of Burgundy in Castille.
 
Marriage and a little bit of luck are all that are needed for the Palaiologoi to rule Italy. After all, that's what got the Hapsburgs to grow from a minor family to a dynastic powerhouse. One or two lucky marriages in the Piedmont region could result in a Palaiologoi gaining significant power in the area. After that, you've got decent alliance making, collecting favors from the HRE and France during the Italian Wars, and further marriage to make them a major power.

Yes, but the Hapsburgs didn't rule Italy. There are too many republics in Italy to marry your way to success. Even following your idea, Piedmont - or even worse, *part* of Piedmont - is not a significant enough powerbase to begin a conquest of Italy. On top of that, you need to bear in mind that the Italians were notoriously independent and mistrustful of states with too much power, and also you need to bear in mind that the HRE and France both have a vested interest in Italy being a broken collection of small states, because they wanted it to be easy to themselves walk in and conquer chunks of land. If a state looked like it was close to becoming an Italian hegemon - and it did happen a couple of times - the inevitable result was the other Italian states calling in their own favours to beat down the unifier-in-the-making.
 
Given the sheer wealth the Italian Republics had, that's a factor that shouldn't be underestimated.

I don't see Genoa or Venice being viably integrated into any Italian state - a unified Italy in the 16th century would be at best a Milanese-Neapolitan union, having carved away the Papal States and holding dominion over the lesser princes and dukes (Ferrara, Modena, Parma, etc).
 
I don't see Genoa or Venice being viably integrated into any Italian state - a unified Italy in the 16th century would be at best a Milanese-Neapolitan union, having carved away the Papal States and holding dominion over the lesser princes and dukes (Ferrara, Modena, Parma, etc).

Also, there is also the issue of the loyalty of the various principates towards the HR Emperor (except for Venice, the Pope is another issue and Naples until the 18th century was a mere Spanish puppet), at least until Westfalia... An united Italy since the Renassaince in every way to form must fight with the Hapsburgs to achieve indipendence.
 
Top