La Grande Mademoiselle and the Emperor

While There are numerous threads on la Grande Mademoiselle marrying Charles II of England, I don't think I've seen one on this topic; a marriage to the man she rejected the exiled Stuart monarch for, Emperor Ferdinand III. From the death of Ferdinand's first wife in 1646 to his third marriage in 1651, Mademoiselle was obsessed with an Imperial match that would transform her into the First Lady of Christendom. Now from what I've read in La Grande Mademoiselle at the Court of France by Vincent J. Pitts there was some serious considerations towards such a match before Ferdinand married Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Tyrol.

So lets say that the French tie Mademoiselle's marriage to the Emperor to the peace negotiations at Westphalia and the match go's forward. How would a French Empress in Vienna affect things? Would we see closer relations between Paris and Vienna? Could a French branch of the Habsburgs emerge as Princes étranger at Versailles? How would this effect the strained Imperial finances?
 
If the marriage in 1646, then the interesting PoDs may happen regarding the Mariana of Austria. If the former Mlle de Montpensier is savy enough to pull the right strings, we can see the situation when past Baltasar Carlos death Mariana of Austria is propped up for Dauphine of France (she is 4 years older than Louis, though, but she is clearly fertile, and is still a niece of Anne of Austria), while Maria Leopoldine ends up in Spain, and Maria Teresa of Spain ends up in Austria as the Queen of Romans.
This arrangement would do wonders for Habsburg gene pool, and in long run, may prevent some confilcts of later 17th-early 18th century.

Regarding the financial part, the arrangement is going to be interesting. By 1646 Anna-Maria-Louisa is still 19 years old, and her estates are in the custody of her father Gaston. Some of these end up sold to the Crown, some go somewhere else, but there is no plan to allow Mary the Rich v.2.0 situation with Montpensier estates. Nevertheless, the monetary relief would be significant.
Also, with the rapproachment between Paris and Vienna the Spaniards may not see the reason to fight for 10 more years on their own, prompting (a version of) Pease of Pyrinees earlier.
 

Vitruvius

Donor
You'd need both sides to be more flexible. The French were briefly in favor when they thought it would help detach Austria from Spain, whom they wanted to and ultimately did exclude from the Peace of Westphalia. But her estates became a sticking point exacerbated by the Emperor's intransigence. Ferdinand's proposed solution (it's not clear how serious it was) was for her to exchange her French estates with the French crown in favor of Alsace which the French had recently conquered. Mazarin obviously wasn't prepared to do that, especially since France also had to pay compensation to the Tyrolean Habsburgs for those same lands.

I imagine such a marriage would cause some friction between her and her stepsons, especially if she tried to favor any younger sons she might have with Ferdinand. For instance, I wonder what her position would be when Ferdinand tries to have his son elected King of the Romans. OTL the French tried and failed to thwart the move I wonder how a French Empress would complicate the diplomacy, although given her role in the fronde, I'm not convinced she'd be a French agent in Vienna.

Also re Maria Leopoldina I believe Ferdinand married her even though she was so young because her older sister was in negotiations to marry John Casimir but the sudden death of Wadyslaw meant he married his brother's widow instead and the sister got stuck with Gonzaga. I think her young age at marriage didn't help so if things go differently you could easily shuffle the marriages of her and her sister. Certainly one of them marrying Philip IV would have been better for Spain.
 
If the marriage in 1646, then the interesting PoDs may happen regarding the Mariana of Austria. If the former Mlle de Montpensier is savy enough to pull the right strings, we can see the situation when past Baltasar Carlos death Mariana of Austria is propped up for Dauphine of France (she is 4 years older than Louis, though, but she is clearly fertile, and is still a niece of Anne of Austria), while Maria Leopoldine ends up in Spain, and Maria Teresa of Spain ends up in Austria as the Queen of Romans.
This arrangement would do wonders for Habsburg gene pool, and in long run, may prevent some confilcts of later 17th-early 18th century.

Regarding the financial part, the arrangement is going to be interesting. By 1646 Anna-Maria-Louisa is still 19 years old, and her estates are in the custody of her father Gaston. Some of these end up sold to the Crown, some go somewhere else, but there is no plan to allow Mary the Rich v.2.0 situation with Montpensier estates. Neveartheless, the monetary relief would be significant.
Also, with the rapproachment between Paris and Vienna the Spaniards may not see the reason to fight for 10 more years on their own, prompting (a version of) Pease of Pyrinees earlier.

The marriage wouldn't be until 1648: marriage negotiations take time. Second, considering Anne of Austria had tunnel vision for her niece to be her daughter-in-law, I can't see her accepting Marianna. Though I do like Maria Leopoldine in Madrid. Something else I forgot is how this affects the Fronde. Mademoiselle played an important role in the Princely fronde at Orleans and the Bastille, so the butterflies will be interesting to see.

As for financial, that's actually a misconception. I haven't came across anything that suggests Mademoiselle would have to sell or otherwise divide her estates upon marriage. Plus there is no legal way for the crown to compel her to give up her lands; she's broken no laws and violated no orders.
 
Is this why you asked if we'd see a French branch of the Hapsburgs settling in Versailles as a Prince étranger? If so then that would be interesting. Given what you've said it could be possible that we'd see one of Mademoiselle's sons taking up his mothers titles and estates in France. This is probably reliant on Ferdinand IV and Leopold I having long lives as in OTL as then there'd be little chance of them inheriting so they'd be able to go to France.
 
You'd need both sides to be more flexible. The French were briefly in favor when they thought it would help detach Austria from Spain, whom they wanted to and ultimately did exclude from the Peace of Westphalia. But her estates became a sticking point exacerbated by the Emperor's intransigence. Ferdinand's proposed solution (it's not clear how serious it was) was for her to exchange her French estates with the French crown in favor of Alsace which the French had recently conquered. Mazarin obviously wasn't prepared to do that, especially since France also had to pay compensation to the Tyrolean Habsburgs for those same lands.

I imagine such a marriage would cause some friction between her and her stepsons, especially if she tried to favor any younger sons she might have with Ferdinand. For instance, I wonder what her position would be when Ferdinand tries to have his son elected King of the Romans. OTL the French tried and failed to thwart the move I wonder how a French Empress would complicate the diplomacy, although given her role in the fronde, I'm not convinced she'd be a French agent in Vienna.

Also re Maria Leopoldina I believe Ferdinand married her even though she was so young because her older sister was in negotiations to marry John Casimir but the sudden death of Wadyslaw meant he married his brother's widow instead and the sister got stuck with Gonzaga. I think her young age at marriage didn't help so if things go differently you could easily shuffle the marriages of her and her sister. Certainly one of them marrying Philip IV would have been better for Spain.

I doubt Mademoiselle would accept such an exchange. Alsase and its revenues weren't worth even half of what the Montpensier estates could produce. From what I've read her net worth was between 10 and 12 million Livres. Most of that, 8 million or so, was from her landed estates. Mademoiselle was easily the richest member of the Royal family and had either the largest or second largest incomes as well (at around 330,000 livres at her mother's death in 1627 and around 550,000 in 1662). That her income had almost entirely from her estates and not supplemented by royal pensions and grants is even more impressive. So even if the Crown tried to buy her out and undervalues the estates, that's still at least 4 million that France has to come up with as a dowry.

Yeah I can definitely see tensions between Ferdinand's first and second families. Hell, considering French maneuvering over the Imperial throne OTL, could we see them attempt to gain the throne for the half-French son of Mademoiselle? After all he's still a Habsburg and there had been previous plans in Rudolf and Matthias's reigns to bypass the closest male relatives in favor of more distant choices.

Is this why you asked if we'd see a French branch of the Hapsburgs settling in Versailles as a Prince étranger? If so then that would be interesting. Given what you've said it could be possible that we'd see one of Mademoiselle's sons taking up his mothers titles and estates in France. This is probably reliant on Ferdinand IV and Leopold I having long lives as in OTL as then there'd be little chance of them inheriting so they'd be able to go to France.

Partially yes. Legally there's nothing stopping a son of Mademoiselle from moving to France and enjoying his massive inheritance. It might be a bit awkward, an Archduke living at Versailles, but could be very interesting. Being the son/brother of a reigning monarch, he would only be outranked by the King and Dauphin. Not sure how that would work when France is at war with Austria though. Or hell her eldest son could end up in Spain if things there stay as OTL: Margarita Teresa would need a husband and the half-French Achduke-Duc de Montpensier would be a very important candidate.

You've inadvertently brought up another point that I had forgotten about. At this time the Austrians were still creating divisions of their territories for second and third sons, the Tyrolese branch being a prime example. This practice died out with the rest of the dynasty: Leopold I's male siblings died young and by the time of the Emperor's death in 1705 it appeared that each of his sons would receive a throne (the Empire and Spain). Here Ferdinand/Leopold will have at least one younger brother, maybe two. So will Anne push for her sons to receive Inner Austria (ie Styria), and would she be able to secure these territories?

Another thing to think about is Ferdinand III. OTL he died in 1657 aged 49. Quite young for a Habsburg, considering his father died at 58, his brother-in-law/cousin at 60 and his son at 64. Now I don't know what he died of, but in theory he could last another 10 years. This in itself would have major consequences but it could play even better if Anne is able to gain influence over her husband. Assuming her son is born in 1650 and Ferdinand III instead dies in 1665/67, then this Archduke would be just over/under the age of majority.
 
In fact, the Fronde of Princes as we know it may be butterflied by... Gaston d'Orleans getting overly ambitious, emboldened by his daughter's success, and playing much more active role in the affairs of First Fronde. AKA doing the same stuff everybody got tired of during the previous reign. The result? Much more fractured movement.
 
In fact, the Fronde of Princes as we know it may be butterflied by... Gaston d'Orleans getting overly ambitious, emboldened by his daughter's success, and playing much more active role in the affairs of First Fronde. AKA doing the same stuff everybody got tired of during the previous reign. The result? Much more fractured movement.

I don't know. At heart Gaston was a coward and wasn't inclined to bold actions. Plus he really didn't play a role in the first fronde; that was the Parlement and Conti's show. At that point Gaston's role was acting as a mediator between the Court and Parlement. Though your suggestion does give me another idea. Considering Mademoiselle's lifelong devotion to her father, would she try to swing Imperial resources towards the Fronde in conjunction with the Spanish? To me that's fitting in with her personality. And would that lead to a loss of her estates? I mean on the one hand it would be technically treason but on the other she got away with firing the Bastille on the Royal army with no loss of territory. And here she's the Empress, so doing anything to her lands means that France is willing to completely rupture relations with the Empire.
 
It is incredibly likely that Mademoiselle would make similar decisions if she married the Emperor. Though that would leave France in a bit of a situation. France taking Mademoiselle's estates from her would require them being willing to, as you said, rupture relations with the Empire as well as perhaps them already being on rocky terms with them. I wonder how Mademoiselle would affect the Empire's long term relations with France. She'd be acting as both Empress of a foreign power and as a powerful French noble. I want to say that France will want to punish her here but that would depend on how willing the King is to punish Mademoiselle and whether or not he wishes to anger the Empire in the process.
 
Top