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Hey, all. :D
I'm working on PoP still (link the sig), but it's always quite slow. One thing is I tend to get quite distracted on my large family trees, including not only the great reigning houses of Tudor (well... Wittelsbach since Liz's marriage), Valois, the Aviz, but also the great German and Italian Princely families. I tend to match up many, but I've hit a stump regarding the son and successor of John III, King of Spain. He is the rather inactive king who is relatively more Castilian than his father Miguel and Manuel. He dies in 1563 and ends up being succeeded by a son in his early twenties. I had a few options charted out, but I keep changing my mind... so why not turn to AH.com to help me out in building a bride for Carlos I, King of Spain? ;) I will provide a few ideas in the topic and in poll, but feel free to suggest an open opinion. I tried to go back into some of the early modern Aviz matches to get an idea, but none caught my fancy, considering the late Aviz tended to marry Spanish Habsburg princesses. The continual marriage of Habsburg Archduchess not would make sense in this TL. Our fair Carlos is born in 1541 and becomes King circa 1563, 1564, in his early twenties. This is pretty important to my next chap, so discussion and votes are welcome!

Option 1: Giovanna of Naples
Pros: His cousin, daughter of the King of Naples. Would reinforce the alliance with Naples.
Cons: No huge political benefit or dowry; closely related. Their parents had the same father but different mothers, so would merely serve to introduce more Habsburg blood into the Spanish Kings through Giovanna's grandmother, Eleanor of Burgundy. Some also look down upon her as a match, stating her unfit to be a Queen of Spain because of the Medici blood that runs in her veins via her mother.

Option 2: Maria of Austria
Pros: Imperial connections, as she is a daughter of the King of Bohemia, a branch of the Imperial Habsburgs.
Cons: Minimal imperial connections. Spain has little need to cozy up to the King of Bohemia. She is also sickly; Carlos would lose her soon after the marriage.

Option 3: Sophia of Bavaria
Pros: New blood; a match with a German Princely family would satisfy any demands to satisfy 'purity' and an equal match.
Cons: Paltry dowry. Spain has virtually no need for influence in Germany, making such a match useless politically.

Option 4: Marie de Valois
Pros: French connections; a hefty dowry most likely. Heavily pressed by the Queen of Spain, Louise, also her aunt.
Cons: Close relations; she and Carlos are first cousins, her aunt being the present Queen of Spain. Spain's foreign policy has drifted away from the heavy handed repressions of François III's with the Guises to seek him to renew ties with England and Navarre.

Option 5: Antoinette of Lorraine
Pros: Daughter of the Duke of Guise, a scion of the House of Lorraine; a match that would be seeped in both French and Imperial approval, without wavering to both sides. The Emperor and the King of France both offer a grand dowry for the princess.
Cons: Of course a grand dowry would be offered to a lusty Spanish King when his future wife is thirty-two and counting. Antoinette has already expressed reservations leaving Paris for Madrid and has made many (un)acceptable demands, such a hefty pension and jointure to "befit" her status, and for the right to sojourn to Paris when she should please. Although her doctors boast that she is still capable of bearing a child, many whisper that she is barren. She is handsome at her age, but the king would likely tire of her quite quickly.

Option 6: Catherine of Navarre
Pros: Twin sister of the King of Navarre. Would reinforce Spanish relations with the Protestant Tripartite Alliance and curb French ambitions. Would give King Carlos a possible succession right to Navarre; a few border towns have been promised as a dowry, but little else.
Cons: Very little dowry. Despite the possible political benefits, there are a myriad of obstacles; the princess is a firm Calvinist and refuses to countenance conversion and demands the right for her and her household to hear their Calvinist services fully and freely; not within her apartments, thus demanding that the King shall furnish all his palaces with chapels for the use of his Queen; and much like the Princess of Lorraine, Catherine's financial demands are quite heavy and even exceed those of the Princess of Lorraine. The marriage in general would invoke ill feeling amongst the Spanish public and might allow Calvinism to seep further into the peninsula than it is already from Navarre. The Pope promises a dispensation for the marriage, but only on Catherine's conversion: Catherine refused to even consider the farcial match any further if the Pope is involved at all.

Option 7: Anne, Princess of England and Duchess in Bavaria
Pros: Daughter of the formidable English Queen and her German husband. Would provide a good connection to the Protestant Alliance. Elizabeth also promises a very suitable dowry. New blood.
Cons: In 1563, Anne is only a girl of 13; childbearing would be some years away. Dubious legitimacy. Although the Aviz have recognized Elizabeth's right (over the damnable Mary Tudor and her brood of French brats) to the throne, she is still a bastard in Catholic eyes. Elizabeth's dowry, while offered, is nothing compared to other princesses. Major religious issues over any negotiations; much like Catherine of Navarre, Queen Elizabeth demands the right of her daughter to the practice of the English faith in public. The Pope refuses any dispensation for such a match.

Option 8: Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots
Pros: Reigning Queen of Scotland. Would bring Scotland into Spanish orbit. Rumors speak that Mary wishes to marry a prince of great, royal blood.
Cons: Rumors are that she intends to marry her Stewart cousin, the Duke of Albany; even more scandalously, many whisper that she already cohorts with him the wedding is only a matter of when. Mary Stuart, like her cousin Elizabeth, is also a convinced Protestant. Her marriage with the dandy Henri of Orléans was disastrous; the Parliament and Kirk, also free of French domination, would not likely subject themselves to another foreign domination.

Option 9: Isabelle Stuart, Dame of Saint-Saturnin
Pros: Sister of the Duke of Albany, the supposed betrothed of Mary Stuart. Albany would offer a great dowry and allow Isabelle to upkept in state as Queen, not only from domestic sources in Spain, but from their extensive familial properties in France, such as Auvergne, Boulogne, and Saint-Saturnin. Would provide a connection to Scotland. New blood.
Cons: No great foreign policy connections from the match. Isabelle, like the new generation of Stuarts, is a Protestant. Yet many whisper that has Catholic sympathies, and would be appeased with merely the right to her faith in private.

Option 10: Jadwiga of Poland OR Constance of Poland
Pros:One if the daughter of the King of Poland; The other his niece. Catholic. Would induce new blood. Jadwiga is not beautiful, but is intelligent. For Constance, she is beautiful, not intelligent.
Cons: Paltry dowry. The Princess Jadwiga is not known for her beauty; there is also much scandal given her mother is Barbara Raditzwill, who maintains her Calvinist religion and was the King's mistress before marriage. The Princess Jadwiga is formally Catholic but not devout, expressing the need of the freedom for Protestant services to be held in her apartment for those in her suit who profess such faiths. Constance is prettier but quite dull; she has been raised at the staid household of her father; she is a devout Catholic, but as merely a granddaughter of a king, such a match would be almost as useless as one to Jadwiga.

Option 11: Claudia of Savoy
Pros: Catholic; daughter of the Duke of Savoy and his first wife. He is presently married to the Duchess of Viseu, the King of Spain's aunt. Very beautiful and vivacious. Would continue Spanish connections to Northern Italy. The Duchess of Viseu would grant a hefty dowry through her Portuguese Estates.
Cons: No major political gains besides continued influence in Northern Italy.
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