I was cooking up a timeline (probably going to take 3 years LOL) where the Hapsburgs end up controlling a large portion of Europe through a series of personal unions. I might do a Third Crusade POD, or possibly even as early as 836 and have to explain WHY they aren't butterflied away (they are counts of Hapsburg at this point in time and their rise improbable) but came to power in a different way. I wrote two versions with them converging at 1450. Both are drafts
Setting
Some of the land acquisitions would be by conquest and a lot of it was due to marring a junior heir and some time later, England/Kalmar Union/ Castile and Aragon/ Whatever has the entire senior line die out. Some might say God Wills It. After all, many an incontinent ruler died by improbable causes like stormy seas or diseases that wreck whole households.
Others point out the Holy Roman Emperor's attempts to coerce other rulers into making marriages they otherwise might not have. The cynics also point out when there is mutual agreement between Hapsburg and another dynasty marrying, it goes smoothly while marriages between two noble families the Emperor doesn't like will fail most of the time if the woman's great-grandparents are anywhere in the ancestry tree of the man, or if the pair is within 7 degrees of consanguinity. This resulted in rivals having lots of bastards and no legitimate children, marrying commoners, or limited themselves to a smaller pool of nobles. Personal unions that contain land inside and outside the Hapsburg Monarch's main nations are often split between collateral heirs, unless it's between a Hapsburg and someone else, in which case it's always deemed an inseparable inheritance. Kingdoms will ill defined succession laws become male preference primogeniture whenever that would be the Hapsburg heir, decided by papal mediation or a succession war.
Point being, by the 1700s, most of Europe is under a single ruler, either as an absolute monarch or a feudal overlord, depending on the country. In England he's as strong as OTL James II before overthrow, and in most places he's stronger than that because he doesn't have to answer to a parliament. Modern Day OTL Austria, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, East Prussia (not a political entity, but just giving you guys a geographical term), France, Sweden, Slovakia, parts of Slovenia, Algeria, Belgium, Guernsey, Luxemburg, Morocco, Tunisia, Andorra, parts of Bosnia, Hungary, Lichtenstein, Netherlands, Spain, Croatia, Gibraltar, most of Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, and Iceland share a ruler and the currencies are legally defined as denominations of each other. There are extensive overseas holdings too. Of course, the boarders between the constitution kingdoms and their names might not match well with OTL.
A few issues with world building I was making,
Skip to "Name" if you only want to help me on one thing.
Ruler Consolidation
One ruler ended up inheriting the Kingdoms of Glasgow, Scotland, England, Navarre, Portugal and Ireland at the age of 3 from a distant non Hapsburg cousin, the main Hapsburg crown lands at the age of 15 from his father, Kingdom of Hungary at 17 from a distant cousin, and the Kingdom of Africa and Burgundy (yeah, it's a kingdom TTL) at 35 from a distant cousin. He also conquers extensive land in OTL Morocco. His consort is queen of Batavia (or Netherlands or Holland if I find an excuse to use either with no Burgundian Inheritance and Dutch Revolt since the OTL names of both are cooler) countess of three titles, and Elector of Saxony, which was de facto independent but de jure part of the HRE. This is the final acquisition of lands inside Europe before the 1700s.
England was the only succession contested, with his supporters quickly taking Mercia, Cornwall, and all urban areas including England but fighting continues for 3 decades as the regents try to end the rebellion with as little money spent as possible. The three most powerful families in England, who also have family branches as minor nobility in Continental lands, had expected to be rewarded for publically supporting the Hapsburg claimant and shooting down changes in succession law that could change the heir if the previous Queen died childless (if she had a kid, it would obviously be heir), like she did. Instead they were given lip service thanks since the main Hapsburg line considered they were neutral, not using their efforts or trying to use English troops to enforce their claim. Instead, an expeditiary force of 30,000 battle hardened cavalry and line infantry had to be dispatched from the continent for their more eager English supporters to coalesce around. The new monarch's family didn't realize a lot of their agenda was obstructed by these covert dissenters, who secretly influenced other families. The Hapsburgs responded by following the TTL English monarchy tradition of getting uncooperative parliament members to relent... open bribery, as tradition of 7 generations and now being continued by the new dynasty.
The ruler who inherited from 4 people grows old and rules well. He is universally loved by the commoners and while the nobility don't think of him as the best ruler ever, they think fondly of him. He is especially loved in the Holy Roman Empire and Croatia at the count/countess/marquess level.
For the next while, there are only 3 wars fought, and it was the united crowns of Europe versus external enemies, each with an Imperial victory, although two only accomplished some of the original war aim.
4 Emperors and 3 generations later, his descendant Charles VII ascends at the age of 7 and seems like a child prodigy. His regents rubberstamp his orders.
The 3 powerful families in England become more powerful, holding more of England's land, and fielding private armies three times larger than the official armies of Scotland, England, and Glasgow. They also control the Royal Navy, the only naval combat organization of the Hapsburg monarchy outside of the Mediterranean.
While intellectually gifted with book smarts, knowledgeable about military matters, and knows economics well, his intuition internal affairs outside Continental Europe is a bit naïve or plain wrong. Charles VII asks for the English Parliament to give the monarch the ability to rule by decree and for it to expire 10 years after his death. It's refused until he bribes people around, but even the receivers of the bribes see him as a bright, polite, and courteous boy but possible tyrant in the making.
Three years after inheriting, he decides to try to consolidate power. He orders by decree a large change restricting in the inheritance systems. His regents of the various kingdoms disagree, but he was a capable administrator and rooted out corruption, so all of the dozen so councils approve of Charles VII's ill-vised scheme in every one of his kingdoms.
You know the doctrine of lapse where in OTL India the EITC seized lands from anyone without sons? Charles VII comes up with a lenient version of it. He declares that, starting three years from now, anyone's demesne can fall into the crown of England/Holy Roman Emperor/ Hungary... if they die and the heir isn't a descendant (any gender), a son-in-law, or second cousin (any number removed), then the crown may either escheat the title or approve of the succession. The logic in this is that they can affirm when rightful heir loyalists ascend, but when a distant guy who is out of favor is up to inherit, they can just refuse and since he’s so far removed the retainers and guys at the count/ earl/ Marquess/ Duke wouldn’t be attached to the rightful heir.
Most of the Hapsburg lands had not seen a European war since the 1300s (unless you count Ottoman-Hapsburg Wars). Most have been peacefully in the Hapsbrug lands for six or more generations and most have had 9 or more uncontested succession (more uncontested successions before the Hapsburgs). The most recently acquired land was in the hands for three generations. And none of the existing nobles are affected by this, meaning no one is disinherited.
Well, here is the question… how do you think the various nobles will react, considering none saw it coming? On one hand, it doesn’t affect any existing nobility and their heirs. On the other hand, it’s a large unilateral change in inheritance, the right of the nobility to inherit without external approval.
German Nationalism
I picture the new world being settled by 75% English, 6% Danish, 18% Austrian or German Speaking from the HRE, and 1% other (for the immigrants, not the natives obviously). Europe on the other hand in the mid-1700s has what a demographic and linguistic similar to OTL at the mid-1700s if much of the continent had a de facto common currency (since they are legally denominations of each other), peace for many generations, and good agricultural output for a while. In areas with deviations, some look similar to OTL 1300s, some look similar to OTL 1500s, and some look similar to OTL 1600s. In other words the exceptions are not huge deviations.
However there is a movement concentrated in Bavaria, East Prussia, and Lorraine (one of the few places with different than OTL language but same ethnicity) for all things German. These areas are 75% German monoglot speakers. Many commoner intellectuals want to promote the idea of making Germany a Continent wide language. They don’t believe in eliminating other languages, but do believe in restricting artillery units, cavalry units, officer training, admission into universities, and import licenses to only those with 1/8 or more German blood (since “Germany” doesn’t exist there is argument on what that means) and can speak German. In these areas the commoners greatly desire the concept of German nationalism.
They also claim that the Holy Roman Emperors had tacitly supported their ideology. The official language was Latin, but in the court most proceedings were done in… various languages depending on which kingdom. However, the Emperors always spoke German as a first language, and this is pretty much the only language they all share. For example, a German, Hungarian, and Croatian speaking Emperor might be followed by a German and French speaking Emperor in the past.
Since the 1300s, the Holy Roman Emperors (who were kings and counts of LOTS of other places) seemed a bit biased towards German speaking people too in granting fiefs. This was mostly gone unnoticed until the 1700s intellectuals thought of it, but now it was a public secret. Since the 1300s, only 7 Duchies were granted. All of these were done to von Hapsburg cadet branch members who spoke German. Meanwhile, 22 Duchies got swallowed up by the Holy Roman Emperors (either as Emperors or as Kings of whatever Kingdom) sometimes by being inherited by the crown, sometimes by the previous noble running out of heirs (and after a long time couldn’t even track down a 7th cousin or something stupidly distant to inherit), or a family full of traitors (and publically seen as traitors, not a simple frame up). For Marches, the Hapsburgs have made several grants to make Margraves and Marquesses. These were what would be counties but in sensitive boarder areas with security issues which the crown(s) gave large autonomy to the Margrave (If in HRE), Marquis (French), or Marquess (anywhere else). Some were counts elevated to Marquess by being given a March, others were un-landed nobility or even distinguished commoners. There was a slight bias towards existing family members, with them getting 3 of the grants, which is more than they would if they were given to a random noble. In the latter case, 3/4 who were given their first landed title by the Emperor did indeed speak German. From the 1300s to the 1700s, over a hundred cases of County level grants were made, and once again, 3/4 of them who did not already have a title (another county or perhaps a barony) spoke German. Once something no one ever really knew, now it was an open secret after it was pointed out. The printing press was controlled by the Imperial censors, but handwritten publications of this were given a blind eye.
However, this was not necessarily an “all things German” bias. A large minority of nobles in areas like France, Spain, the Scandinavian Kingdoms, and the Netherlands did learn German because German and Latin because prestige languages over the years. So it wasn’t exactly the ethnic Germans replacing existing nobility, plenty of the existing and future nobility learned German. Also, inheritances were largely uncontested by the Emperors unless there was an existing dispute, where sometimes as overlord he acted as a mediator and sometimes he didn’t.
The German nationalists also wanted a German biased Imperial Diet (the Holy Roman Empire’s organ with… hard to determine purpose). This was composed of seven electors and three larger bodies. “Princes, cities and Bishops” had representatives of the Holy Roman Empire nobles (including the electors), non-HRE count/earl and above nobles with the Emperor as overlord through some other crown (restricted to one vote each), imperial cities (non-elected representatives), and…Catholic Bishops. Different positions had different votes. HRE nobles contained an aggregate of triple the votes of non-HRE nobles despite the latter having more representatives. The next body was “Rurals” composed of elected representatives from rural areas with each representative with one vote and their areas having similar sizes rather than similar populations. Ballot was public and nobility paid and rewarded those who voted correctly. The third large body was “Dynasty.” This consisted of everyone who had been married to a Holy Roman Emperor, was 3 generations descendant of one, was a son-in-law of one, or was 1st -30th in line of succession. The electors only exist to rubber stamp the next heir. Laws passed by all three of the larger bodies can create laws and new taxes. The HRE Diet met 7 times since 1300, each time summoned by the Emperor for some crisis and contained discussing mundane matters, sometimes actually legislating for the rest of the session. In practice, each of the times they met after 1300 they were merely rubberstamping the Emperor’s agenda, although de jure he can’t do certain things like raise new taxes, change Diet representation, alter relation with the church, or outlaw an activity previously legal without the Diet approval.
I didn't mention too much of this under setting since the Diet in practice doesn't do much.
A few times the Emperor had summoned the “Dynasty” house as an advisory body. This body also usually appoints regency councils when the previous Emperor didn’t specify a regent.
It’s mostly a non-entity and it’s treated as a time to feast on the Emperor’s expense, perhaps rub shoulders with important people. A lot of German Nationalists want “Dynasty” and “Rural” representatives to be forced to abstain on all votes unless they speak German (peasants can still vote for whoever they want).
There had been some minor popular uprisings in the 1700s. Usually the local authorities stamp them down. Seven times, when the response was slow, a large group of German nationalists organized a response and had volunteers go to the source and put it down with improvised weapons. They would then often loot places they considered responsible for the uprising, for example an uprising in Munich resulted in Munich being sacked by the vigilantes when the local authorities barricaded themselves in a star fort and waited for official reinforcements. They would often have the audacity to ask the Emperor to pay for their travel expenses, and each time he agreed.
Each time the Emperors worried that the time it took for peacetime mobilization away from the boarders was… too slow. An example was a barracks being notified and taking seven days to assemble the army and set foot to leave the barracks! Only certain places had fully mobilized standing army in ready to go to cut down on costs, ignoring numerous garrisons which were usually too small to sally. Most soldiers were allowed to work when not drilling, being allowed to farm as long as they were ready to be summoned on a 3 days’ notice. Nothing however was taken to remedy this since the armies were performing fine in field battles (think OTL 1700s British or Poles rather than OTL Austrians to get the picture).
The child king Charles VII was a child prodigy and speaks German as a native language. He can speak, read, and write Danish and Czech. Charles VII can also speak and read Breton, Italian, Dutch, and Hungarian.
The base of power of the Hapsburgs is in the Holy Roman Empire, which largely speaks German except Italy which the HRE partially occupies, and where it’s not the Emperors are King of Sicily too. Since the 1500s in the succession conflicts, autonomy struggles, and rebellions in long past, the German speak nobility were never in the rebel group, either being natural or actively supporting them. The other nobility were against the Emperors, for them, or neutral depending on the succession crisis, the autonomy disputes, or rebellion. On the whole they did support the Emperors (non-German speaking nobles are the majority of nobles so having their support is why the Emperors won), but there was a mixture of trouble causing and loyal ones. This wasn’t noticed at a case by case basis, but the German Nationalists just pointed this out and looking back, it’s fairly obvious.
Earlier philosophers such as the TTL equivalent of John Locke came. I’ll call him Bob Lock for now as a placeholder name. Yes that’s not an English name and I intend it to be English. Bob’s ideas of “natural rights” was quickly suppressed by authorities at the press and later on handwritten publications were taken down, but ideas spread around England and Ireland for a while.
While authorities are quick to censor any subversive activity from the press, handwritten and copied notes are not suppressed due to cost cutting measures.
Some regents of Charles VII argue that the German nationalism is a good “white noise.” As long as they don’t break laws, any of them can blame all that goes wrong with “foreign” nobility, not the Emperor. So the best thing to do is turn a blind eye.
Others are worried that the multiple monarchy is actually a multi-ethnic state. This actually destabilizes the realms and replacing the title “King of Germany” (one of his many titles) with “King of the Germans” and emphasizing that title is a bad idea. In fact, even turning a blind eye to it was a bad idea. The government should quietly suppress law-abiding members of the movement such as paying intellectuals to stop speaking and stalk law-breaking members to catch them doing whatever else to justify an arrest.
Charles VII’s goals are maintaining the territory, maintaining power, creating client states in Africa, growing the agricultural economy, keeping the economy as healthy as can be without inflation, getting his “doctrine of lapse-lite” laws passed, and promoting von Hapsburgs. Given this, does German nationalism help or hinder the stability minded goals?
Religion
Now this is tricky. I got an early POD. So… do we even have a Reformation? I was leaning on “no.” In the past there were dissent such as Lollards, Hussites, and Cathars, but they never amounted to anything. In TTL, wouldn’t the Reformation be butterflied away?
On the other hand, the Emperors aren’t intervening much in the religious matters of the HRE and the investiture controversy is long gone. So maybe the excess of the Catholic Church might trigger a reformation even without Martin Luther. I’m keeping the Hapsburg realms 75% or more Catholic if the Reformation does happen. So if it does happen, I’m having actions slow it down. I don’t know if it should happen at all.
And then there is the matter of the state and church. The Papal States from 1500s to 1700s has Imperial Territory to the north and surrounded by three states in a personal union with the Emperor, including the rich Kingdom of Sicily. Their west boarders contain their small port.
In OTL, the Popes got nervous at the Holy Roman Emperors and tired to limit their power in Italy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_League_of_Cambrai
In TTL, the Hapsburgs are even stronger than that and has the Papal States almost surrounded, with only the sea as the non-Hapsburg boarder,
On the other hand, Hapsburgs largely left the state of affairs in the church alone. In Portugal, Aquitaine, and Sicily papal legates are often given large powers and have sat on the regency councils before (another personal union as the papal legates get a position in the Kingdom of say Aquitaine… yeah). They even get a seat on the Diet, even though the Papal States doesn’t answer to the Holy Roman Emperors, and in fact the HRE is sanctioned by the Pope back to Charlemagne days.
They also worked hard to defend Christendom. The Byzantine rump state allied with the Ottomans to overrun Europe and they massacred 75% of those in various cities of Croatia, Hungary, and Poland (good thing most people were rural peasants) and the Hapsburgs not only turned the tide, but paid them back in full with cooperation from the Oriental Orthodox Kingdom of Egypt. They actually made a profit after the looting of the losers was taken into consideration. The Ottomans took (the sacked) Byzantium after the failure of their allies. This was the third religious war fought in Europe versus a non-Catholic power attacking, and it was their third smashing victory.
In the Seventh Crusade of the 1500s, the Hapsburgs controlled the Holy Land, but sold it to Egypt on the condition that Catholics were treated well. This agreement had been respected by the Egyptians, who also tolerated the Jews on the logic that Jesus was a Jew.
Three papal representatives sit on the “Dynasty” body (they descended from past Emperors but went into the clergy rather than a secular life) and one is an Imperial regent. The Hapsburgs respect Roman Primacy.
What do you think the relation between the Church and Emperors are like?
Questions
Yeah so the three world building questions are:
How do you think the doctrine of lapse is reacted to by the nobles?
Should German nationalism be dealt with by the Hapsbrugs?
What do you think the relation between Church and Emperors are like?
The Name
In OTL, people have called the Hapsburg Monarchy that unofficial name for quite some time, as early as the 1700s. I was having an idea where the English call TTL monarchy some kind of unofficial name.
Ideas I’ve come up with. European Union? Nah. European Kingdom? Well, they have their separate laws, even though the crown is shared. Hapsburg Europe? I don’t know. Then I came up with the idea “European Empire” which doesn’t have a nice ring to it either but…
What if the acronym was EEE?
“European Emergent Empire”? I don’t want anything associated with time like “Emergent.”
So I want help with a name, but preferably EEE.
Setting
Some of the land acquisitions would be by conquest and a lot of it was due to marring a junior heir and some time later, England/Kalmar Union/ Castile and Aragon/ Whatever has the entire senior line die out. Some might say God Wills It. After all, many an incontinent ruler died by improbable causes like stormy seas or diseases that wreck whole households.
Others point out the Holy Roman Emperor's attempts to coerce other rulers into making marriages they otherwise might not have. The cynics also point out when there is mutual agreement between Hapsburg and another dynasty marrying, it goes smoothly while marriages between two noble families the Emperor doesn't like will fail most of the time if the woman's great-grandparents are anywhere in the ancestry tree of the man, or if the pair is within 7 degrees of consanguinity. This resulted in rivals having lots of bastards and no legitimate children, marrying commoners, or limited themselves to a smaller pool of nobles. Personal unions that contain land inside and outside the Hapsburg Monarch's main nations are often split between collateral heirs, unless it's between a Hapsburg and someone else, in which case it's always deemed an inseparable inheritance. Kingdoms will ill defined succession laws become male preference primogeniture whenever that would be the Hapsburg heir, decided by papal mediation or a succession war.
Point being, by the 1700s, most of Europe is under a single ruler, either as an absolute monarch or a feudal overlord, depending on the country. In England he's as strong as OTL James II before overthrow, and in most places he's stronger than that because he doesn't have to answer to a parliament. Modern Day OTL Austria, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, East Prussia (not a political entity, but just giving you guys a geographical term), France, Sweden, Slovakia, parts of Slovenia, Algeria, Belgium, Guernsey, Luxemburg, Morocco, Tunisia, Andorra, parts of Bosnia, Hungary, Lichtenstein, Netherlands, Spain, Croatia, Gibraltar, most of Italy, Portugal, Switzerland, and Iceland share a ruler and the currencies are legally defined as denominations of each other. There are extensive overseas holdings too. Of course, the boarders between the constitution kingdoms and their names might not match well with OTL.
A few issues with world building I was making,
Skip to "Name" if you only want to help me on one thing.
Ruler Consolidation
One ruler ended up inheriting the Kingdoms of Glasgow, Scotland, England, Navarre, Portugal and Ireland at the age of 3 from a distant non Hapsburg cousin, the main Hapsburg crown lands at the age of 15 from his father, Kingdom of Hungary at 17 from a distant cousin, and the Kingdom of Africa and Burgundy (yeah, it's a kingdom TTL) at 35 from a distant cousin. He also conquers extensive land in OTL Morocco. His consort is queen of Batavia (or Netherlands or Holland if I find an excuse to use either with no Burgundian Inheritance and Dutch Revolt since the OTL names of both are cooler) countess of three titles, and Elector of Saxony, which was de facto independent but de jure part of the HRE. This is the final acquisition of lands inside Europe before the 1700s.
England was the only succession contested, with his supporters quickly taking Mercia, Cornwall, and all urban areas including England but fighting continues for 3 decades as the regents try to end the rebellion with as little money spent as possible. The three most powerful families in England, who also have family branches as minor nobility in Continental lands, had expected to be rewarded for publically supporting the Hapsburg claimant and shooting down changes in succession law that could change the heir if the previous Queen died childless (if she had a kid, it would obviously be heir), like she did. Instead they were given lip service thanks since the main Hapsburg line considered they were neutral, not using their efforts or trying to use English troops to enforce their claim. Instead, an expeditiary force of 30,000 battle hardened cavalry and line infantry had to be dispatched from the continent for their more eager English supporters to coalesce around. The new monarch's family didn't realize a lot of their agenda was obstructed by these covert dissenters, who secretly influenced other families. The Hapsburgs responded by following the TTL English monarchy tradition of getting uncooperative parliament members to relent... open bribery, as tradition of 7 generations and now being continued by the new dynasty.
The ruler who inherited from 4 people grows old and rules well. He is universally loved by the commoners and while the nobility don't think of him as the best ruler ever, they think fondly of him. He is especially loved in the Holy Roman Empire and Croatia at the count/countess/marquess level.
For the next while, there are only 3 wars fought, and it was the united crowns of Europe versus external enemies, each with an Imperial victory, although two only accomplished some of the original war aim.
4 Emperors and 3 generations later, his descendant Charles VII ascends at the age of 7 and seems like a child prodigy. His regents rubberstamp his orders.
The 3 powerful families in England become more powerful, holding more of England's land, and fielding private armies three times larger than the official armies of Scotland, England, and Glasgow. They also control the Royal Navy, the only naval combat organization of the Hapsburg monarchy outside of the Mediterranean.
While intellectually gifted with book smarts, knowledgeable about military matters, and knows economics well, his intuition internal affairs outside Continental Europe is a bit naïve or plain wrong. Charles VII asks for the English Parliament to give the monarch the ability to rule by decree and for it to expire 10 years after his death. It's refused until he bribes people around, but even the receivers of the bribes see him as a bright, polite, and courteous boy but possible tyrant in the making.
Three years after inheriting, he decides to try to consolidate power. He orders by decree a large change restricting in the inheritance systems. His regents of the various kingdoms disagree, but he was a capable administrator and rooted out corruption, so all of the dozen so councils approve of Charles VII's ill-vised scheme in every one of his kingdoms.
You know the doctrine of lapse where in OTL India the EITC seized lands from anyone without sons? Charles VII comes up with a lenient version of it. He declares that, starting three years from now, anyone's demesne can fall into the crown of England/Holy Roman Emperor/ Hungary... if they die and the heir isn't a descendant (any gender), a son-in-law, or second cousin (any number removed), then the crown may either escheat the title or approve of the succession. The logic in this is that they can affirm when rightful heir loyalists ascend, but when a distant guy who is out of favor is up to inherit, they can just refuse and since he’s so far removed the retainers and guys at the count/ earl/ Marquess/ Duke wouldn’t be attached to the rightful heir.
Most of the Hapsburg lands had not seen a European war since the 1300s (unless you count Ottoman-Hapsburg Wars). Most have been peacefully in the Hapsbrug lands for six or more generations and most have had 9 or more uncontested succession (more uncontested successions before the Hapsburgs). The most recently acquired land was in the hands for three generations. And none of the existing nobles are affected by this, meaning no one is disinherited.
Well, here is the question… how do you think the various nobles will react, considering none saw it coming? On one hand, it doesn’t affect any existing nobility and their heirs. On the other hand, it’s a large unilateral change in inheritance, the right of the nobility to inherit without external approval.
German Nationalism
I picture the new world being settled by 75% English, 6% Danish, 18% Austrian or German Speaking from the HRE, and 1% other (for the immigrants, not the natives obviously). Europe on the other hand in the mid-1700s has what a demographic and linguistic similar to OTL at the mid-1700s if much of the continent had a de facto common currency (since they are legally denominations of each other), peace for many generations, and good agricultural output for a while. In areas with deviations, some look similar to OTL 1300s, some look similar to OTL 1500s, and some look similar to OTL 1600s. In other words the exceptions are not huge deviations.
However there is a movement concentrated in Bavaria, East Prussia, and Lorraine (one of the few places with different than OTL language but same ethnicity) for all things German. These areas are 75% German monoglot speakers. Many commoner intellectuals want to promote the idea of making Germany a Continent wide language. They don’t believe in eliminating other languages, but do believe in restricting artillery units, cavalry units, officer training, admission into universities, and import licenses to only those with 1/8 or more German blood (since “Germany” doesn’t exist there is argument on what that means) and can speak German. In these areas the commoners greatly desire the concept of German nationalism.
They also claim that the Holy Roman Emperors had tacitly supported their ideology. The official language was Latin, but in the court most proceedings were done in… various languages depending on which kingdom. However, the Emperors always spoke German as a first language, and this is pretty much the only language they all share. For example, a German, Hungarian, and Croatian speaking Emperor might be followed by a German and French speaking Emperor in the past.
Since the 1300s, the Holy Roman Emperors (who were kings and counts of LOTS of other places) seemed a bit biased towards German speaking people too in granting fiefs. This was mostly gone unnoticed until the 1700s intellectuals thought of it, but now it was a public secret. Since the 1300s, only 7 Duchies were granted. All of these were done to von Hapsburg cadet branch members who spoke German. Meanwhile, 22 Duchies got swallowed up by the Holy Roman Emperors (either as Emperors or as Kings of whatever Kingdom) sometimes by being inherited by the crown, sometimes by the previous noble running out of heirs (and after a long time couldn’t even track down a 7th cousin or something stupidly distant to inherit), or a family full of traitors (and publically seen as traitors, not a simple frame up). For Marches, the Hapsburgs have made several grants to make Margraves and Marquesses. These were what would be counties but in sensitive boarder areas with security issues which the crown(s) gave large autonomy to the Margrave (If in HRE), Marquis (French), or Marquess (anywhere else). Some were counts elevated to Marquess by being given a March, others were un-landed nobility or even distinguished commoners. There was a slight bias towards existing family members, with them getting 3 of the grants, which is more than they would if they were given to a random noble. In the latter case, 3/4 who were given their first landed title by the Emperor did indeed speak German. From the 1300s to the 1700s, over a hundred cases of County level grants were made, and once again, 3/4 of them who did not already have a title (another county or perhaps a barony) spoke German. Once something no one ever really knew, now it was an open secret after it was pointed out. The printing press was controlled by the Imperial censors, but handwritten publications of this were given a blind eye.
However, this was not necessarily an “all things German” bias. A large minority of nobles in areas like France, Spain, the Scandinavian Kingdoms, and the Netherlands did learn German because German and Latin because prestige languages over the years. So it wasn’t exactly the ethnic Germans replacing existing nobility, plenty of the existing and future nobility learned German. Also, inheritances were largely uncontested by the Emperors unless there was an existing dispute, where sometimes as overlord he acted as a mediator and sometimes he didn’t.
The German nationalists also wanted a German biased Imperial Diet (the Holy Roman Empire’s organ with… hard to determine purpose). This was composed of seven electors and three larger bodies. “Princes, cities and Bishops” had representatives of the Holy Roman Empire nobles (including the electors), non-HRE count/earl and above nobles with the Emperor as overlord through some other crown (restricted to one vote each), imperial cities (non-elected representatives), and…Catholic Bishops. Different positions had different votes. HRE nobles contained an aggregate of triple the votes of non-HRE nobles despite the latter having more representatives. The next body was “Rurals” composed of elected representatives from rural areas with each representative with one vote and their areas having similar sizes rather than similar populations. Ballot was public and nobility paid and rewarded those who voted correctly. The third large body was “Dynasty.” This consisted of everyone who had been married to a Holy Roman Emperor, was 3 generations descendant of one, was a son-in-law of one, or was 1st -30th in line of succession. The electors only exist to rubber stamp the next heir. Laws passed by all three of the larger bodies can create laws and new taxes. The HRE Diet met 7 times since 1300, each time summoned by the Emperor for some crisis and contained discussing mundane matters, sometimes actually legislating for the rest of the session. In practice, each of the times they met after 1300 they were merely rubberstamping the Emperor’s agenda, although de jure he can’t do certain things like raise new taxes, change Diet representation, alter relation with the church, or outlaw an activity previously legal without the Diet approval.
I didn't mention too much of this under setting since the Diet in practice doesn't do much.
A few times the Emperor had summoned the “Dynasty” house as an advisory body. This body also usually appoints regency councils when the previous Emperor didn’t specify a regent.
It’s mostly a non-entity and it’s treated as a time to feast on the Emperor’s expense, perhaps rub shoulders with important people. A lot of German Nationalists want “Dynasty” and “Rural” representatives to be forced to abstain on all votes unless they speak German (peasants can still vote for whoever they want).
There had been some minor popular uprisings in the 1700s. Usually the local authorities stamp them down. Seven times, when the response was slow, a large group of German nationalists organized a response and had volunteers go to the source and put it down with improvised weapons. They would then often loot places they considered responsible for the uprising, for example an uprising in Munich resulted in Munich being sacked by the vigilantes when the local authorities barricaded themselves in a star fort and waited for official reinforcements. They would often have the audacity to ask the Emperor to pay for their travel expenses, and each time he agreed.
Each time the Emperors worried that the time it took for peacetime mobilization away from the boarders was… too slow. An example was a barracks being notified and taking seven days to assemble the army and set foot to leave the barracks! Only certain places had fully mobilized standing army in ready to go to cut down on costs, ignoring numerous garrisons which were usually too small to sally. Most soldiers were allowed to work when not drilling, being allowed to farm as long as they were ready to be summoned on a 3 days’ notice. Nothing however was taken to remedy this since the armies were performing fine in field battles (think OTL 1700s British or Poles rather than OTL Austrians to get the picture).
The child king Charles VII was a child prodigy and speaks German as a native language. He can speak, read, and write Danish and Czech. Charles VII can also speak and read Breton, Italian, Dutch, and Hungarian.
The base of power of the Hapsburgs is in the Holy Roman Empire, which largely speaks German except Italy which the HRE partially occupies, and where it’s not the Emperors are King of Sicily too. Since the 1500s in the succession conflicts, autonomy struggles, and rebellions in long past, the German speak nobility were never in the rebel group, either being natural or actively supporting them. The other nobility were against the Emperors, for them, or neutral depending on the succession crisis, the autonomy disputes, or rebellion. On the whole they did support the Emperors (non-German speaking nobles are the majority of nobles so having their support is why the Emperors won), but there was a mixture of trouble causing and loyal ones. This wasn’t noticed at a case by case basis, but the German Nationalists just pointed this out and looking back, it’s fairly obvious.
Earlier philosophers such as the TTL equivalent of John Locke came. I’ll call him Bob Lock for now as a placeholder name. Yes that’s not an English name and I intend it to be English. Bob’s ideas of “natural rights” was quickly suppressed by authorities at the press and later on handwritten publications were taken down, but ideas spread around England and Ireland for a while.
While authorities are quick to censor any subversive activity from the press, handwritten and copied notes are not suppressed due to cost cutting measures.
Some regents of Charles VII argue that the German nationalism is a good “white noise.” As long as they don’t break laws, any of them can blame all that goes wrong with “foreign” nobility, not the Emperor. So the best thing to do is turn a blind eye.
Others are worried that the multiple monarchy is actually a multi-ethnic state. This actually destabilizes the realms and replacing the title “King of Germany” (one of his many titles) with “King of the Germans” and emphasizing that title is a bad idea. In fact, even turning a blind eye to it was a bad idea. The government should quietly suppress law-abiding members of the movement such as paying intellectuals to stop speaking and stalk law-breaking members to catch them doing whatever else to justify an arrest.
Charles VII’s goals are maintaining the territory, maintaining power, creating client states in Africa, growing the agricultural economy, keeping the economy as healthy as can be without inflation, getting his “doctrine of lapse-lite” laws passed, and promoting von Hapsburgs. Given this, does German nationalism help or hinder the stability minded goals?
Religion
Now this is tricky. I got an early POD. So… do we even have a Reformation? I was leaning on “no.” In the past there were dissent such as Lollards, Hussites, and Cathars, but they never amounted to anything. In TTL, wouldn’t the Reformation be butterflied away?
On the other hand, the Emperors aren’t intervening much in the religious matters of the HRE and the investiture controversy is long gone. So maybe the excess of the Catholic Church might trigger a reformation even without Martin Luther. I’m keeping the Hapsburg realms 75% or more Catholic if the Reformation does happen. So if it does happen, I’m having actions slow it down. I don’t know if it should happen at all.
And then there is the matter of the state and church. The Papal States from 1500s to 1700s has Imperial Territory to the north and surrounded by three states in a personal union with the Emperor, including the rich Kingdom of Sicily. Their west boarders contain their small port.
In OTL, the Popes got nervous at the Holy Roman Emperors and tired to limit their power in Italy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_League_of_Cambrai
In TTL, the Hapsburgs are even stronger than that and has the Papal States almost surrounded, with only the sea as the non-Hapsburg boarder,
On the other hand, Hapsburgs largely left the state of affairs in the church alone. In Portugal, Aquitaine, and Sicily papal legates are often given large powers and have sat on the regency councils before (another personal union as the papal legates get a position in the Kingdom of say Aquitaine… yeah). They even get a seat on the Diet, even though the Papal States doesn’t answer to the Holy Roman Emperors, and in fact the HRE is sanctioned by the Pope back to Charlemagne days.
They also worked hard to defend Christendom. The Byzantine rump state allied with the Ottomans to overrun Europe and they massacred 75% of those in various cities of Croatia, Hungary, and Poland (good thing most people were rural peasants) and the Hapsburgs not only turned the tide, but paid them back in full with cooperation from the Oriental Orthodox Kingdom of Egypt. They actually made a profit after the looting of the losers was taken into consideration. The Ottomans took (the sacked) Byzantium after the failure of their allies. This was the third religious war fought in Europe versus a non-Catholic power attacking, and it was their third smashing victory.
In the Seventh Crusade of the 1500s, the Hapsburgs controlled the Holy Land, but sold it to Egypt on the condition that Catholics were treated well. This agreement had been respected by the Egyptians, who also tolerated the Jews on the logic that Jesus was a Jew.
Three papal representatives sit on the “Dynasty” body (they descended from past Emperors but went into the clergy rather than a secular life) and one is an Imperial regent. The Hapsburgs respect Roman Primacy.
What do you think the relation between the Church and Emperors are like?
Questions
Yeah so the three world building questions are:
How do you think the doctrine of lapse is reacted to by the nobles?
Should German nationalism be dealt with by the Hapsbrugs?
What do you think the relation between Church and Emperors are like?
The Name
In OTL, people have called the Hapsburg Monarchy that unofficial name for quite some time, as early as the 1700s. I was having an idea where the English call TTL monarchy some kind of unofficial name.
Ideas I’ve come up with. European Union? Nah. European Kingdom? Well, they have their separate laws, even though the crown is shared. Hapsburg Europe? I don’t know. Then I came up with the idea “European Empire” which doesn’t have a nice ring to it either but…
What if the acronym was EEE?
“European Emergent Empire”? I don’t want anything associated with time like “Emergent.”
So I want help with a name, but preferably EEE.