Charles V unites the titles of Spanish King and HR Emperor.

Valdemar II

Banned
Inspired by Susanos comment in this thread.

Seeing that the HR Emperor title was not hereditary it did not come automatically with those territories. De facto it did, yes, but Charles himself tried (and failed when Ferdinand became his sucessor as Emperor) to unite the titles of Spanish King and HR Emperor.

Sure, Austria and Burgundy were the corelands, but Spain were the more profitable and powerful lands, even before colonsiation of the Americas.

So Philip II of Spain becomes Holy Roman Emperor, but Ferdinand I still get Austria and kep Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia
 

Susano

Banned
The problem is that the HR Emperor is still elected. At that time in history its unthinkeable that a non-Habsburg could become HR Emperor, but with two Habsburg branches - IOTL, the German pricnes absolutely loathed the idea of the "Spanish succession", and hence conspired with Ferdinand. The Fürstenaufstand (why is there no English wiki article about that?) that kicked out Charles V. was also partly inspired by that.

And such a revolt could be repeated any time...
 
Yea short of somehow the Burgundian Crown superceding the Spanish Crown, I don't really see how the electors would go for a man who only spoke Spanish and lived locked away in Madrid as opposed to his uncle who was the ruler of Austria where which contained the de facto capital of the empire(granted it was only because the Habsburgs held the title that power was centered there).
 

Susano

Banned
Yea short of somehow the Burgundian Crown superceding the Spanish Crown, I don't really see how the electors would go for a man who only spoke Spanish and lived locked away in Madrid as opposed to his uncle who was the ruler of Austria where which contained the de facto capital of the empire(granted it was only because the Habsburgs held the title that power was centered there).

Not to mention teh aspect of religious politics. Ferdinand was (by virtue of neccesity) very much more flexible towards the Lutherans than either Charles or Philip...
 
Philip was supposed to succeed Ferdinand, not take his place. This could work if the Catholic princes become convinced that Maximilian is secretly Lutheran.

http://www.uni-mannheim.de/mateo/camenaref/cmh/cmh305.html

The Cambridge Modern History said:
No doubt the relations between him and the Germans had been drawn closer by the attempt of Charles V to secure the succession in the Empire after Ferdinand to his own son Philip, although Ferdinand's son Maximilian, the consort of Charles V's daughter Maria, had been already acknowledged as successor to the Bohemian Crown. Though Ferdinand had been obliged (1551) to promise his support to the scheme, in his heart he rejoiced at its frustration-to which he had very possibly himself contributed.

He was recalled from Spain by the Emperor towards the close of 1550 in order to take part in the deliberations which ended in the Family Compact of March 9, 1551, according to which Philip was to succeed Ferdinand on the Imperial throne- Maximilian administering German affairs as Roman King under his cousin. Ferdinand's consent had been most reluctantly given ; and Maximilian, whose prospects were so injuriously affected by the Compact, was at once courted by Maurice of Saxony and by Henry II of France. When the crisis came, Maximilian as well as his father proved true to Charles V ; but the collapse of the Imperial and Catholic cause was in part due to the unpopularity of the Spanish scheme in Germany, and perhaps to the inevitable coldness between the two branches of the House of Habsburg. In 1552, when, on his way to a Turkish campaign in Hungary, Maximilian fell ill, sinister suspicions were entertained by him of poison administered in the Spanish interest.
 
Top