AHC/WI: Plantagenet Holy Roman Emperor

OTL, the brother of Henry III, Richard of Cornwall, was elected by some of the princes as German King in 1257, but his chief contender for the title of Emperor was Alfonso X of Castile . So, the challenge is to get Richard be the UNDISPUTED king of Germany, and get to the pope for his coronation as emperor. I figure Alfonso will probably have to die for Richard to have better odds, though (which if its early enough, may see Al's eldest son, Fernando (founder of the de la Cerda line OTL) succeed him.

Bonus points if you can get Richard's son to be elected as emperor after his dads death.
 
I think the problem lies in "undisputed" king of the Romans part. We're at the deepest part of the Interregnum, when Imperial nobility searched any candidate with a slight claim to legitimacy, that they could use for their own ambitions, hence the disputed kingship due to conflicting interest and perceptions; neither having any kind of real power in Germany.
You'd first need to address this issues, and having Richard literally buying his legitimacy in Germany and Rome, which is going to be hard at best. Note that this acknowledgement is not bound, at all, to end with a coronation as emperor being acknowledged as King of the Romans would be costly and difficult enough.
 
I think the problem lies in "undisputed" king of the Romans part. We're at the deepest part of the Interregnum, when Imperial nobility searched any candidate with a slight claim to legitimacy, that they could use for their own ambitions, hence the disputed kingship due to conflicting interest and perceptions; neither having any kind of real power in Germany.
You'd first need to address this issues, and having Richard literally buying his legitimacy in Germany and Rome, which is going to be hard at best. Note that this acknowledgement is not bound, at all, to end with a coronation as emperor being acknowledged as King of the Romans would be costly and difficult enough.

So Richard needs to find a wife (for himself or his son) that comes with a tie to an imperial family. No shortage there (Welfs, Anscarids, Andechs, Premyslids and Brabant all have ties to the Hohenstaufens AFAIK). Although there is the widowed full sister of King Manfred, Constanza (b.1230) who could marry Richard's son, Henry.

Then Richard needs to actually get a power base in the empire. Slightly more difficult, I guess. Wasn't Provence part of the kingdom of Arles though? The acknowledged Countess was Richard's wife's youngest sister (d.1267), so I guess that's out. Hello, square 1, nice to see you again [sigh]
 
The questions for the challenge would seem to be as follows:

1) How to get Richard a powerbase in the Empire
2) How to make it that he keeps 1)
3) How to go about improving his legitimacy?
4) How to survive long enough by meeting the above criteria, that he can get to Rome for his coronation
5) How to keep the crown from being taken by anyone else (i.e. that he's murdered or killed in battle fighting to keep his crown. The imperial purple going to a different dynasty once he's dead is fine. But ideally he should die on the throne)
 
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