This is an idea I had bouncing around in my head earlier. There was at one point a marriage proposed between Juan, Prince of the Asturias (son of the Catholic monarchs) and Anne, Duchess of Brittany. Obviously said proposal went nowhere, but it makes for interesting what-ifs in alt-history. (I can't seem to find out why the marriage failed - I assume it had something to do with the Treaty of Sénlis).
Now here's my rough outline. Anne gets married to Juan of Aragon in December 1490 (her OTL date of marriage to Maximilian I, HRE). Obviously the Castilians would have the same problems as the Austrians in keeping the French out, but Fernando II was also pretty good at dealing with the French, so I figure he might insist on her being in Spain already when her dad dies or something like that.
The marriage of course gets consummated, the French proclaim little Isabeau de Bretagne duchess over Anne, but Isabeau dies as OTL. Charles VIII's marriage to Margarethe of Austria goes through because the replacement candidate (Anne or Isabeau) is no longer available.
Skip forward to 1497, Anne's had more-or-less her OTL luck with pregnancies, Juan's dead, she's a childless widow. The Catholic monarchs send her home to Brittany to marry. When she gets home, she hears that Charles VIII is dead and Louis, duc d'Orléans is now king. He, of course can get rid of his barren first wife, Jeanne, and marry again. His eye falls on the widowed duchess of Brittany, the annulment of Louis' marriage comes through, and he marries Anne in the hopes of getting a male heir.
Is this plausible? I know there is quite a bit of butterfly-herding/genocide going on, but I figure that Anne had a dismal obstetric record OTL, so here, with a tubercular husband it's not likely to be much better. Charles and Margarethe's marriage could produce children, but let's assume that while it does, they're either the wrong sex or shortlived if male.
Now here's my rough outline. Anne gets married to Juan of Aragon in December 1490 (her OTL date of marriage to Maximilian I, HRE). Obviously the Castilians would have the same problems as the Austrians in keeping the French out, but Fernando II was also pretty good at dealing with the French, so I figure he might insist on her being in Spain already when her dad dies or something like that.
The marriage of course gets consummated, the French proclaim little Isabeau de Bretagne duchess over Anne, but Isabeau dies as OTL. Charles VIII's marriage to Margarethe of Austria goes through because the replacement candidate (Anne or Isabeau) is no longer available.
Skip forward to 1497, Anne's had more-or-less her OTL luck with pregnancies, Juan's dead, she's a childless widow. The Catholic monarchs send her home to Brittany to marry. When she gets home, she hears that Charles VIII is dead and Louis, duc d'Orléans is now king. He, of course can get rid of his barren first wife, Jeanne, and marry again. His eye falls on the widowed duchess of Brittany, the annulment of Louis' marriage comes through, and he marries Anne in the hopes of getting a male heir.
Is this plausible? I know there is quite a bit of butterfly-herding/genocide going on, but I figure that Anne had a dismal obstetric record OTL, so here, with a tubercular husband it's not likely to be much better. Charles and Margarethe's marriage could produce children, but let's assume that while it does, they're either the wrong sex or shortlived if male.