Effects of a lasting Duchy of Saxony in Europe and beyond

The old Duchy of Saxony was one of the most important German states in the early Middle Ages. Henry the Lion was one of the strongest rulers in that era in the Holy Roman Empire, and by his downfall did the term "Saxony" end up migrating throughout the HRE as Saxony was divided.

But what if Henry the Lion (or another leader of Saxony) keep the Duchy of Saxony whole, through warfare or whatever? Could Saxony end up like Austria did and Saxony be the heartland of a dynasty of Holy Roman Emperors as Austria was?

I say "beyond" because Saxony is also in position because of geography to be a colonial power in the New World based on its location and the large amounts of German migration OTL to Eastern Europe which Saxony could be in position to divert into some part of the Americas. That will affect both colonisation in the New World as well as that in Eastern Europe.
 
Habsburg possessions were divided for centuries, too, and still the dynasty dominated Europe.
The Welfs might have done the same; there are endless possible PoDs to bring this about, I suppose, although that`s not exactly my area of expertise.
 
What I doubt, though, is that a different sort of Welf regime in Northern Germany would have changed anything about migration patterns the way you envisioned.
America`s discovery is a long way off yet...!
 
What I doubt, though, is that a different sort of Welf regime in Northern Germany would have changed anything about migration patterns the way you envisioned.
America`s discovery is a long way off yet...!

Yeah, but with Northern Germany not being fragmented as OTL and the political center of it located there, you'd end up with the best chance for German colonisation of the New World in ways beyond oddities like Brandenburg's operations there, Klein-Venedig, etc. You just need to span the 400 years between Henry the Lion and when those ventures become reasonable. Obviously anything could happen, but presumably our Saxons are putting together a strong enough state in the same way the Austrians did.

This isn't my area of expertise, I admit. But the Welfs don't even need to become the emperors, they just need to have their land remain united under one ruler and not completely divided.
 
Barbarossa actually dies at Legnano, Henry the Lion manages to bribe/rally enough supporters to be a serious rival to the young Henry of Swabia (son of Barbarossa, that would be only 14). The Welfs wins the inevitable civil war and stuff happens.
 
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