Austrian Habsburgs turn Protestant?

I have always considered this scenario very unlikely, as the Habsburgs were emperors in the Holy Roman Empire. But when I read more about it, I get the impression that the Protestants before the 30 years war were in a clear majority not only in the HRE, but even within the Habsburg lands that belonged to the Austrian branch of the family. It was only gradually, because of the Counterreformation, that these areas again became majority Catholic. Ferdinand I and Maximilian II were quite moderate in their reaction to Protestantism, as they had to react to the Turkish threat. If the Habsburgs had sided with the Protestants, all the secular electors would have been Protestant. Sure, the idea of a Protestant emperor would conflict with the ideology of a Holy Roman Emperor, but this ideology could be changed if it was deemed necessary.

So why would the Habsburg choose to do this. The main reason would be that Protestants were already in a majority. "If you cannot beat them, join them".

Of course, such a scenario would change the reaction of France. In OTL, France sided with the Protestants in Germany, even though the French king and the majority of his subjects were Catholics. If the Austrian Habsburgs turned Protestants. I would assume that France would have supported the remaining Catholics. This would also cut the ties between the two branches of the Habsburg family.
 
To be fair the Protestants were never the clear majority, they barely barely clinched it before the Counterreformation. The bosses the problem with Austria turning Catholic is that when the reformation started the Hapsburg monarch was Charles V/I and he was not just ruler of Austria (mainly Catholic), Bohemia (mainly Protestant), mainly Protestant) but also Spain (devoutly Catholic), Spanish Itsly (devoutly Catholic), Spanish Road (Catholic), Netherlands (Protestant in north, Catholic in South, and Spanish colonies (completely Catholic). So when you factor in all of that you get a very Catholic empire and considering that the rich Italian provinces, Flemish provinces, and colonies were Catholic... You are seeing where I'm headed. And for an Austrian Hapsburg monarch to convert several decades after the beginning of the Reformation would just be awkward. It would also alienate them from their strongest, most constant ally the Catholic Spanish Hapsburgs. So basically the problem with a Protestant Austria is Spain. If Austria an Spain never unite (this of course will have some effects on the Reformation, but the Reformation most likely still occurs as Charles had not been ruling Spain long and was yet to inherit Austria), then there is more of a chance.
 
I am curious...

If the HRE were to go Protestant, would the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth eventually follow suit? Just thinking about it, the PLC would be pretty much the only Catholic kingdom (that I am aware of) in Eastern Europe.
 
I am curious...

If the HRE were to go Protestant, would the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth eventually follow suit? Just thinking about it, the PLC would be pretty much the only Catholic kingdom (that I am aware of) in Eastern Europe.

Unlikely. The Poles were Catholic, but Lithuania was a religious mess. When the Reformation started Lithuania proper was Catholic, everywhere else Orthodoxy was prevalent, and pagan customs and even religion was still salient among the peasants. This often caused religious conflict in Lithuania. To throw in Protestantism would just make things significantly worse and more complicated.
 
True, but if the HRE were to go Protestant prior to the Thirty Years War, then, in my opinion, Sweden can focus more on the PLC. I am not sure about the condition of the military in Russia but I can only assume that they were not up to par with the armies of Western Europe.

It would appear in this situation that they would be isolated, in a sense.
 
To be fair the Protestants were never the clear majority, they barely barely clinched it before the Counterreformation. The bosses the problem with Austria turning Catholic is that when the reformation started the Hapsburg monarch was Charles V/I and he was not just ruler of Austria (mainly Catholic), Bohemia (mainly Protestant), mainly Protestant) but also Spain (devoutly Catholic), Spanish Itsly (devoutly Catholic), Spanish Road (Catholic), Netherlands (Protestant in north, Catholic in South, and Spanish colonies (completely Catholic). So when you factor in all of that you get a very Catholic empire and considering that the rich Italian provinces, Flemish provinces, and colonies were Catholic... You are seeing where I'm headed. And for an Austrian Hapsburg monarch to convert several decades after the beginning of the Reformation would just be awkward. It would also alienate them from their strongest, most constant ally the Catholic Spanish Hapsburgs. So basically the problem with a Protestant Austria is Spain. If Austria an Spain never unite (this of course will have some effects on the Reformation, but the Reformation most likely still occurs as Charles had not been ruling Spain long and was yet to inherit Austria), then there is more of a chance.

I wasn´t thinking about Austria converting while it was under Charles V, but rather at some later stage, maybe in the late 1500s. Even though they would fall out with Spain, they might get new allies, like for instance England and the Netherlands, German Protestants, the Scandinavian countries and so on. From reading Austrian history, I get the impression that not only Bohemia, but also Austria, had a clear Protestant majority at the time. I am reading "A concise history of Austria" by Steven Beller. I cannot recall exactly where in the book he wrote about this, but I googled a bit and found a reference saying that Austria at one point had between 60 and 70 percent Protestants: https://books.google.no/books?id=vT...epage&q=Austria protestantism percent&f=false

I am curious...

If the HRE were to go Protestant, would the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth eventually follow suit? Just thinking about it, the PLC would be pretty much the only Catholic kingdom (that I am aware of) in Eastern Europe.

From what I remember from reading Polish history, Poland was the most liberal country in Europe when it came to accepting different religions. If Austria became Protestant, I would be surprised if Poland remained Catholic. Protestantism never became dominant in Poland, but this could have changed in this time line, when none of its neighbours remained Catholic.
 
I wasn´t thinking about Austria converting while it was under Charles V, but rather at some later stage, maybe in the late 1500s. Even though they would fall out with Spain, they might get new allies, like for instance England and the Netherlands, German Protestants, the Scandinavian countries and so on. From reading Austrian history, I get the impression that not only Bohemia, but also Austria, had a clear Protestant majority at the time. I am reading "A concise history of Austria" by Steven Beller. I cannot recall exactly where in the book he wrote about this, but I googled a bit and found a reference saying that Austria at one point had between 60 and 70 percent Protestants: https://books.google.no/books?id=vTU2AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=Austria+protestantism+percent&source=bl&ots=dgjuLyZx9Z&sig=XY3ADiXb-sIniAkioI0vOjPvGkM&hl=no&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO27GNq-7NAhWDd5oKHeQkD34Q6AEIYjAJ#v=onepage&q=Austria protestantism percent&f=false

The problem with later conversion is that the Counter Reformation already began under Charles V, so it's a bit awkward to then counter counter reformation.

That's interesting about Austria.
 
I wasn´t thinking about Austria converting while it was under Charles V, but rather at some later stage, maybe in the late 1500s. Even though they would fall out with Spain, they might get new allies, like for instance England and the Netherlands, German Protestants, the Scandinavian countries and so on. From reading Austrian history, I get the impression that not only Bohemia, but also Austria, had a clear Protestant majority at the time. I am reading "A concise history of Austria" by Steven Beller. I cannot recall exactly where in the book he wrote about this, but I googled a bit and found a reference saying that Austria at one point had between 60 and 70 percent Protestants: https://books.google.no/books?id=vTU2AAAAQBAJ&pg=PA190&lpg=PA190&dq=Austria+protestantism+percent&source=bl&ots=dgjuLyZx9Z&sig=XY3ADiXb-sIniAkioI0vOjPvGkM&hl=no&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO27GNq-7NAhWDd5oKHeQkD34Q6AEIYjAJ#v=onepage&q=Austria protestantism percent&f=false



From what I remember from reading Polish history, Poland was the most liberal country in Europe when it came to accepting different religions. If Austria became Protestant, I would be surprised if Poland remained Catholic. Protestantism never became dominant in Poland, but this could have changed in this time line, when none of its neighbours remained Catholic.
Yes, Austria proper seems to have converted back fairly quickly though.

Maybe for Jews but the Counter-reformation and the fact that few protestant remained in the Commonwealth part of it with Protestant Polish migrating to Ducal Prussia I would not say pluralism was the dominant force.
 
If we are talking about the HRE switching to Protestantism after Charles V's death in 1558 then I can think of some potentially interesting butterflies.
 
The problem with later conversion is that the Counter Reformation already began under Charles V, so it's a bit awkward to then counter counter reformation.

That's interesting about Austria.

My impression is that the Counter Reformation was not as active in Austria as it was in Spain, at least not until after the death of Maximilian II. Even though Charles was formally emperor until 1556, his brother, Ferdinand, became archduke of Austria in 1521, and he tried to arbitrate in the religious conflict.
 
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