[1] To say Philipp the Handsome's death was devastating would be an understatement. The Hapsburg legacy was resting on his shoulders. Although there was a chance his father could have a son with his third wife, it was still a tragedy. His death also meant the alliance with the Catholics monarchs was now defunct. Maximilian pushed for the new Duchess of Burgundy, Margarete of Austria to be married to the Crown Prince of Spain, but her council of advisors wanted a more domestic mach. She was married instead to Karl II, Duke of Guelders in 1497, ruling together over Burgundy. King Fernando and Queen Isabel would marry their son, Juan to Anne of Navarre, their daughter Juana would marry King Manuel of Portugal. With Burgundy wanting to remain independent, although Margarete would never forget being jilted by the late King Charles of France, they would make a tentive peace with France, staying out of the Italian wars in the first years of the 15th century.
With Philipp's death, Maximilian's oldest male relative, before the births of his grandsons, was his nephew, Wilhielm of Bavaria, son of his sister Kunigunde of Austria and her husband, Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria. Kunigunde immediately began pushing her son forward, believing that he was the obvious choice, despite only being three-years-old. Meanwhile the Duchess of Burgundy and Guelders soon blessed her husband with a son in 1498, who she named Charles. The two women would often makes excuses to visit Maximilian in Vienna, often bringing their sons along with them.
Maximilian tried to have a son with his third wife, Bianca Maria Sforza, despite finding her uneducated and childish. Unfortunately, their union would only produced a daughter, albeit healthy, named Maria for Maximilian's first wife. When Bianca died in 1510, Maximilian tried for a fourth wife, but by then his health had become worse and he decided instead to invest his time grooming the heir he had, giving his chosen successor the kingdom of the Romans. He then gave hefty bribes to the Prince-Electors to ensure his chosen heir's victory. He is famously recorded saying "Wilhelm may not be of my dynasty, but blood of blood and will carry out the Hapsburg legacy all the same." In 1519, he died, ending the Hapsburg rule.
[2] Wilhelm was born in 1493 to Albert IV, Duke of Bavaria and Kunigunde of Austria. Wilhelm would ascend to the Dukedom in 1508 after the death of his father and would share it with his younger brother as Co-Regent due to him not seeking a spiritual career.
Wilhelm would ascend to the Holy Roman Emperorship in 1519 after the death of Maximilian I who named him as his heir. Wilhelm would face some scrutiny in his early reign as he was not direct blood of the previous Emperor but these complaints would be thrown out due to the Holy Roman Emperor being elected and not a hereditary succession. Wilhelm’s main issue during his reign would be the claim of Charles, heir of the and later Duke of Guelders as Charles III who before Wilhelm became Emperor was the other most likely successor to the Holy Roman Throne and would be a thorn in his side for years to come. Wilhelm would deal with Charles claim in his late reign when he would betroth his daughter Mecthild to Charles’ son to make a temporary peace between the two.
Wilhelm would also deal with the Reformation during his reign as well having been supportive of it early in his life but would become opposed to it after seeing its spread across the empire and would eventually ban all and any works of Martin Luther across the empire.
Wilhelm would marry Marie Jakobaea of Baden-Sponheim in 1522 and they would have several children together of which his son, Ludwig would succeed him after his death in 1550.
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[3] Ludwig, born in 1526, was named after the last Wittlebech Holy Roman Emperor. His father and his mother made sure that he had a strict Catholic upbringing. They also sought out a Spanish bride, in hopes of reinstating the alliance his great-uncle had been hoping to make. In 1546 he would marry Anna of Spain, granddaughter of King Juan. Together they would head the Counter Reformation in Germany, doing their best to subdue the Lutheran princes. Despite their conservative leanings, Ludwig and Anna were instrumental to bring the renaissance to the imperial courts, building grand places and being great patrons of the arts. They would have seven children of which, five would survive into adulthood.
Religious tension finally came to a head in 1560 when the Schmalkaldic War broke out. The Duke of Burgundy and Guelders, now calling himself the King of Lotharingia,threw his support behind the Schmalkaldic league, both in hopes of gaining the imperial crown himself and because despite of the religious Charles III, the Low Countries had been converting to the reformed faith, leading Philippe to convert as well in spite his Catholic upbringing (how genuine his conversion is up for debate as he only did so when it became convenient).
While Louis did manage to score a decisive vistory agianst the Schmalkaldic league in the Battle of Mühlberg, capturing Elector John Fredrick the Second, he recived an injury that would become infected. He would die in 1564, leaving another election to decide whom should succeed him.
[4] with the election upon the death of Ludwig V, a most strange occurrence did happen, with the three ecclesiastical Electors and the Elector Palatine voting in unison for a single individual; François, Duke of Orleans, the second son of François I of France and younger brother of the current King; Henri II.
Rumours of bribery and coercion resounded immediately, but with the four votes in hand, none could oppose the legality of his election.
Taking the throne as Franz I, the Emperor was tasked with finally defeating the Schmalkaldic League, and did so at the Battle of Schmalkalden in 1565.
With these victories, his throne seemed secure, and to secure himself further, he did marry Susanna of Brandenburg-Ansbach, the daughter of the loyal commander Albert Alcibiades, and in a few short years of marriage, had three children.
All well was not to last, for the nature of his birth (being French, that is) was not forgotten, and in 1569, Franz I was assassinated in Cologne by a protestant rhinelander. After his death, the electors did choose Charles of Frisia as Holy Roman Emperor.