Mary the Rich marries Rene II of Vaudemont

If instead of having a war with Charles the Bold, he marries his daughter would a Vaudemont Burgundy be powerful in europe instead of the Habsburgs?
 
If instead of having a war with Charles the Bold, he marries his daughter would a Vaudemont Burgundy be powerful in europe instead of the Habsburgs?

I think they were already allied, so I don't see a Royal Marriage being out of the question. Charles would just have to accept Rene as the heir to his domains. Unless this PoD gets him a son down the line, but I don't see that happening. Probably Charles the Bold and Rene II would go to war with France. Maybe when Rene inherits Burgundy (or his son with Mary), he forms the Kingdom of Lotharingia?
 

Vitruvius

Donor
Its possible. But timing is an issue. Rene wasn't Duke of Lorraine until '73 when Nicholas died but he married in '71. So you'd have to get rid of the first marriage or kill off the wife by '73-74. But even then the main problem is that there are many more powerful candidates. I'm not sure Rene could stand up to France and defend the Burgundian patrimony the way Maximilian could. Really it seems like there's a narrow window in 1474-75 after he's had a falling out with Frederick III and he's facing renewed threats from Louis XI when an alliance and marriage with Rene might make the most sense.

The second issue is personalities. Rene will have to be more amenable to Charles' ambitions. Charles did initially support Rene OTL but the two had a falling out because Rene was unwilling to give Charles the rights in Lorraine that Nicholas had (free passage for troops, right to enter and garrison fortifications etc). Rene was unwilling to make Lorraine over to Charles as a Burgundian protectorate. So for such a marriage to go forward Charles' is going to have to give Rene some meaningful role and respect him as a sovereign prince, not just some feudal lackey and Rene will need to accept the position of protege until his wife inherits.
 
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