Alright so here is the first volume of a TL I've been working on for a while. As the title implies in this TL the Hapsburgs will end up occupying the English Throne. Unfortunately it is not a very good title and that is by no means everything that happens here. Hope you guys enjoy:
Volume One: Europe 1520-1610
On November 24th 1521 King Henry the VIII of England nervously waited within his chamber. Just a few rooms away Queen Katherine was in the process giving birth to his future son. Her screams could be heard across the entire palace. After several painful hours of waiting the court physician delivered the news; Queen Katherine had given birth to a healthy young boy. Celebrations continued for days to come as King Henry rejoiced in having a male heir.
Chapter I The Two Henry’s: 1521 – 1556
Henry VIII Fidei Defensor (r. 1491-1548)
Prior to the birth of his son, Henry VIII had passionately dedicated his time to write a response against Martin Luther’s attacks on the Catholic Church. Henry openly opposed the Lutheran heresy, as he feared it could split England into a Civil War as it had done already within the Holy Roman Empire. Anticlericalism had already begun to take hold of England and new religions were spawning everyday as the Protestant faith grew in popularity; some of them, the most radical of these faiths, were not only challenging the authority of the clergy but the authority of kings as well. Henry VIII hoped to one day oppress all insurrections within his dominions.
As Henry revised the drafts to his response, allowing only his closest advisors Thomas Wosley and Thomas More, to glance it for feedback, the document began to take the form of a book. After three years of editing Henry finally published the book early in 1521 under the title Assertio Septem Sacramentorum (The Defense of the Seven Sacraments or the Assertio) around the same time that Queen Catherine became pregnant with the future prince.
The Assertio quickly became one of the most successful pieces of Catholic counter-reformation. In October of that same year Pope Leo X rewarded Henry VIII with the title Fidei Defensor or Defender of the Faith.
Just a few weeks after Henry VIII was rewarded with the title, Queen Catherine successfully gave birth to a second child. A male heir who was aptly named Henry, after his father.
It was little mystery that the royal marriage had began to wane prior to the birth of Prince Henry; in fact the legitimacy of the marriage itself had been constantly questioned as Catherine had been previously married to Henry’s brother Arthur. Aware of the marriage’s fragility several opportunists at court had tried to find the King a consort of his appeal, even King of France had used the marriage’s dubiousness to break off a marriage between the Dauphin and Henry’s daughter Mary.
The birth of the Prince was followed by days of celebration. King Henry had never been cautious spender and with the birth of his son he saw even less of a reason to become one; for the King, his son was God’s reward for his stance on the Assertio and Henry VIII treated the boy as such gift. Like he had done with Mary he doted and boasted about his child and at the age of six King Henry rewarded his son with his own personal court. The birth of the prince also mended Henry’s marriage to Catherine, at least for the time being.
Like his sister Mary, Prince Henry suffered from sinus conditions and constant headaches; his care demanded constant attention and prayer. King Henry became increasingly devout; he prayed for his son’s wellness whenever young Henry showed signs of sickness and prayed even more on the days the prince was healthy to show his gratefulness. This newfound faith will eventually play a major role in the development of his politics throughout the remainder of his rule.
Marriages for both children were constantly arranged; Henry hoped to have his son marry within the English court to solidify the Tudor claim to the throne and have Mary marry within the continent to foster an alliance. Both tasks proved a hassle. For a time being Mary was contracted to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, but the engagement broke off when the emperor opted to marry Isabella of Portugal instead. Later it was attempted to contract her to the Dauphin of France was again but the proposal repudiated due to Henry’s military campaign on the coast; to Henry’s disgust the French King had once again used Catherine’s previous marriage as an excuse. Mary finally found marriage when Charles V came about with a new offer for an alliance; Mary was to marry the Emperor’s younger brother Ferdinand, the Archduke of Austria, who had recently widowed. Henry VIII was mistrustful of Hapsburg influence in his court and sought to keep England in English hands; he was however finally pressured by his wife and advisors to concede.
In 1529 at the age of 14 princes Mary was engaged to the Archduke of Austria. Ferdinand’s marriage to English princess was not the most popular within the continent. Previously Ferdinand had been married to Anne of Bohemia & Hungary, sister of Louis II. A few years earlier, in 1522, Anne died do to complications during the birth of her third child around the same time Louis II returned to Hungary after a defeat against the Sultan in the Battle of Mohacs. It is very likely that Ferdinand himself did not think very much of tMary; he had little intention in remarrying but his brother Charles V, arguably the most powerful man in the whole of Europe at the time, had imposed Mary’s betrothal on him.
Within the year Ferdinand was crowned King of Croatia; alongside her husband Mary was crowned as queen. Mary accepted Ferdinand’s previous children: Princesses Isabel, Prince Maximilian and Princess Anna and helped in their care. For most of her time in Austria Mary stood in the sidelines out of her husband’s way caring mostly for the education his children.
Back in England the Protestant sentiments continued to grow in popularity. Henry VIII was not kind to the growth of the Protestant movement within England, much less to those he believed were only using it to gain power. Across Europe revolts and religious wars were being fought between those loyal to the Pope and those loyal to the Reformers. Henry VIII would not tolerate having his kingdom split by a civil war. He dealt with reformers in the same way he had dealt with any opposition. He had them executed. At court any suspicion of being involved with the heresy has heavily punished.
Prominent members of the Howard and Boleyn families were executed. Both families had been suspected to be Protestants.
In 1532, Thomas Boylen an ambitious diplomat who had served as ambassador to France was executed. It was rumored that his ambitions were such that he encouraged both his daughter’s to have affairs with the king. It is believed that Henry did fancied Mary, the elder of the daughters. But as her father’s ambitions continued to meddle with the Kings affairs and his support of the protestant movement became apparent all affection Henry had for the family abruptly ended with his execution.
The year 1534 saw the some of the most prominent executions:
• Thomas Cromwell, a royal counselor who had gained acces, to King Henry VIII inner circle in a call of parliament regarding a loan.
• Thomas Cranmer, a young priest and assistant to Cardinal Wolsey.
• William Tyndale, a protestant Bible-translator. Tyndale’s execution in particular caused major uproar across England.
Even Cardinal Wolsey himself was accused of defending heretics. Even though the case was never proven Wolsey had fallen from the King’s graces; Thomas More replaced him as the King’s most trusted advisor replaced him. Like Henry, More was a devout Catholic yet he preferred to deal with the protestant heresy in a subtler manner. With great diplomatic craftsmanship More was able to appease the king into dealing with the heretics diplomatically. More was also crucial in keeping a good relation between England the Pope and the Emperor because although Henry had aligned in their favor he was still cautious of having anyone Pope or Emperor above him.
Eventually the suppressions contributed to further resistance by 1538 it had grown into a full out rebellion. William Tyndale’s execution had been particularly inspiring, as he died a martyr of the protestant movement. The rebellion lasted the good part of four full years until it was finally quelled in 1542. Suspicion of Scotland aiding numerous uprisings created much distrust between both nations.
Henry’s Legacy
Throughout his reign Henry VIII sponsored the building and improvement of several palaces and colleges throughout the England including Surrey Palace, the Westminster Cathedral and Palace of Whitehall. Surrey Palace was originally intended to be Henry’s greatest building project, a palace designed to be a celebration of the power of the Tudor Dynasty, However the project was never finished due to lack of funds. Henry VIII is also credited for founding the Royal Navy. Although this is not entirely true, as the royal navy already existed, he did invest significantly in shipbuilding and naval innovations mostly to pursue his ambitions in France. In the long run Henry’s military efforts will secure England’s place within the European powers. The alliance with the Hapsburgs, secured through Mary’s marriage, will also play a large role in the years to come.
Unfortunately the persecution of protestant movements throughout his reign will leave England heavily divided; even those who would have been indifferent saw the persecutions as signs of Catholic tyranny and ended up embracing the Protestant Faith. Furthermore Henry VIII lost much of the fortune he had inherited from his father. Throughout his reign; much of the wealth was spent maintaining his court and that of his children. His military campaigns in France and building works also placed great strain in his treasury. Although he rarely involved Parliament in the affairs of the crown, Henry VIII had to ask Parliament several times for money, in particular for the grants to fund his wars in France.
In 1542 The Irish Parliament passed the Crown of Ireland Act, which declared Ireland a kingdom and officially changing Henry’s title form “Lord of Ireland” to “King of Ireland”. Most Irish saw the Pope as the true head of Ireland and it was thought that the move might prove unpopular. However Henry’s close relationship with Rome gave Henry and unprecedented popularity in Ireland; once the Kingdom of Ireland became recognized by the Papal authority the Irish gladly embraced their new king. Henry VIII’s coronation as King of Ireland was the first meeting attended by both the Irish and Anglo aristocracy.
The Ottomans and Hungary
In that same year across Europe in Croatia, Mary gave birth to prince Charles. Next door in Hungary, the capital was under siege by the Ottomans. Ottoman forces killed King Louis II during the attack. His son Louis III was crowned amidst the turmoil and managed to save the Buda from the Ottomans. However he was forced to grant significant grants to the Ottomans in the southern provinces. Sympathy towards the young prince was common across the royal houses of Europe. Hungary became a battleground between the Christian nations and the Ottomans where large sums money was invested to keep the Turks at bay. In the following years Buda flourished as a major military post and Hungary flourished thanks to the large sums of foreign aid. Louis III easily secured an alliance with his uncles the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of Croatia. In his reign Louis III managed to reclaim some of the land seized by the Ottomans.
In 1548 Henry VIII died in debt, leaving behind a divided England.
Henry IX (r. 1548 – 1556)
In the spring of 1548 prince Henry was crowned at the age of 27 as Henry IX. Upon ascension Henry married his long-term courtier Anne Seymour daughter of Edward Seymour 1st Duke of Somerset. Though the marriage was a happy one it produced no children.
At the beginning of his reign Henry IX continued most of his father’s policies, however economic difficulties led to social unrest and soon he found himself making major reforms to stabilize England. Henry withdrew most of the English troops stationed in Scotland and Calais in 1551 to quell down an internal rebellion fueled by the discontent Protestants and anticlericalism. At First Henry IX brutally repressed the rebellion. The King’s brutish actions almost led England into a civil war, forcing members of the court to pressure Henry IX into compromise. Henry IX finally conceded to the Protestants by signing the Acts of Tolerance in 1555 as a way of guaranteeing the loyalty of the Protestant community as long as their faith was tolerated. It was a parallel to the Peace of Augsburg, also passed in that year, which decreed religious tolerance in the Holy Roman Empire. Like the Peace, the acts of tolerance failed to mention all Protestant faiths and only appealed to the most popular ones. Furthermore the acts were merely a placebo and the extent of tolerance was fairly limited; any protestant masses and holidays had to be practiced discreetly and out of public eyes. This resulted in the creation of closed protestant communities across England.
Henry XI fell terminally ill early in 1556 less than a year after The Act of Tolerance came into being. Not having bared any children himself Henry IX declared his older sister Mary his heir.
Chapter II A New English Dynasty: 1556 – 1606
The Absent Queen of England (r. 1556 -1566)
The English court did not take Mary’s ascension to the English throne as an absent ruler lightly. The marriage of Henry VIII’s sister gave the Scotts claim to Mary’s throne and the French had a claim to it as well; both countries would use any opportunity to officially seize it. Furthermore England’s past history with a female ruler had been quite disastrous.
Due to the Queen’s absence a power struggle began between the Archbishop of Canterbury, Reginald Pole, and Parliament. Like the Scottish and French pretenders Pole had a rightful claim to the throne and many believed this was exactly what he intended to do. The anticlerical sentiments that still plagued England made him quite unpopular as a leader.
In reality Pole was an old man with little ambition into reclaiming the throne for his family and with full intention to dutifully serve the Queen and God. The time to prove his case came late in his life with the Scottish invasion of 1558.
The War with Scotland
As son of Margaret Tudor, James V of Scotland had claim to the English throne. Some members of the English court, discontent at Mary’s absence, supported James V, finally convincing him to invade England in 1558. To say that the invasion went bad for Scotland would be a terrible understatement. An army slightly larger than 15,000 Scottish soldiers advance south crossing the border early in spring. Though they won a few initial victories the Scottish army suffered from a disintegration of their command structure after Sir Oliver Sinclair died in battle. Within a year at the Battle of Kelso the English army won a decisive victory. As the English army advance north James V and his family fled to Myres Castle where they lived as virtual prisoners. James V died within a few years leaving behind a daughter, Mary, and a son, James. Scotland was placed under English occupation and although James VI was officially crowned in 1559 as king of Scotland he ruled as a prisoner and an English puppet.
The War against Scotland allowed for the English people to unite under a single cause, something that had not happened since the Protestant Uprisings. A nationally consciousness began to reveal itself and the English people turned south towards France; which remained a looming threat even more so that its ally, Scotland lay in English had. Furthermore the war solidified Mary I’s place as Queen of England even if absent. Scotland had to pay a heavy price to for its defeat; the spoils of war allowed England to slightly recover from its financial problems. Finally, Reginald Pole had cleverly maneuvered the politics of the situation, bringing to light the English supporters of the Scottish king thus winning the support of the English people. He died shortly afterwards as an English hero.
Mary & the Holy Roman Emperor
Around the time of the war against Scotland, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V retired. Charles V divided his dominions between his son, Phillip, and his brother, Ferdinand. Phillip was crowned King of Spain & King of Portugal (a title he inherited form his mother) both titles included vast dominions over the New World. Ferdinand was elected and crowned Holy Roman Emperor as Ferdinand I in 1558. Ferdinand never toured the Empire as his brother Charles had done; instead he began constructing an absolute monarchy by centralizing power across the Holy Roman Empire, something he had already achieved in Austria and Croatia. Mary’s role as his wife became increasingly marginalized.
However Ferdinand’s rule was not long lived. He died four years after his coronation in 1562. Maximilian, the son form his first marriage was elected Holy Roman Emperor as Maximilian II while Mary I moved back to England where she ruled for two more years. In 1564 Mary I died and her son Charles of Hapsburg was crowned as Charles I.
Meanwhile in France – The First Religious War
As England began the occupation of Scotland in 1560, across the channel Francis II King of France died. The crown was the passed to Francis II’s ten year old brother Charles IX, but power was left in the hands of their mother Catherine d’ Medici. Like the rest of Europe, France was undergoing a period of religious turmoil. The Huguenot Faith, a branch of Calvinism, was growing to become the most popular faith in France. Catherine was inexperienced in handling power but knew it would take clever maneuvering to steer conflicting interests in her favor. To do so she was prepared to deal favorably with the Huguenot House of Bourbon otherwise she would have to submit herself and the throne to the much more powerful House of Guise.
Following the example of the Peace of Augsburg and other edicts of Tolerance Catherine accepted a request for Huguenots to be given a hearing. Early in 1562 the Edict of February was passed. The edict was meant to attempt at religious tolerance in France, however both parties saw it as an opportunity to seize power. Just a few days after the edict a Catholic Faction attacked a Huguenot service in what became known as the Massacre of Champagne. The Huguenot Bourbons, immediately blamed the Guise family for supporting the attack, and mobilized their private armies to establish a protectorate over Protestant churches. Civil war had broken in France.
Major engagements happened Rouen and Orleans. In the first engagement Louis Bourbon and Antoine de Navarre lead a successful siege against the Guise. The following battle ended with the capture of Francis, Duke of Guise. Catherine d’ Medici finally mediated a truce. The Edict of Ruen in 1563 reaffirmed the Edict of March and the Huguenot right to worship.
Charles I (r.1564 – 1606)
Charles I’s rule began with relatively more stability than that of his mother of uncle. Nevertheless England remained heavily wary of foreign influence and the arrival of a Hapsburg to the throne ignited a few xenophobic sentiments; that many regarded Charles as a foreigner did not help much either. Charles attempted to marry within the English court to appease his subjects however the lack of allies around England, an increasingly radical France, forced him to secure an alliance with his Spanish cousin. In 1565 Charles I married Maria Isabella, the eldest daughter of the Spanish monarch and usually referred to as Isabel by the English people.
The Second French War
As the French Religious Wars grew in size, Charles I was persuaded by the Guise to send aid in name of the Catholic Church. Wishing to extend his dominions in the continent Charles I provided the Guise with 2500 troops which moved to occupy Le Havre and other coastal cities in the summer of 1565. The actions of both the Guise and the English enraged the French people. Catherine de Medici immediately labeled the Guise as traitors and within a few weeks the captured Duke of Guise was executed.
Back in France, Charles IX declared his legal majority and replaced his mother as the head of state. Charles IX expected the Guises to pay for their treason. However after the execution of the Duke he saw the English occupation as an opportunity to unite both factions of his kingdom against a common enemy. Charles IX toured the French lands from 1565-1566 to reinstate crown authority. Charles IX managed to rally both Catholic and Huguenot factions in an effort to recapture Le Havre. However the confrontation with the English did not go as well as Charles IV hoped and the occupation of Le Havre continued. Many French believed their defeat was caused by further support from Catholics that favored the English, although in reality it was most likely caused by Spanish support. This provoked the Second Religious War in 1567.
The war was brief, resembling much more a witch-hunt than a war, where those loyal to the crown, whether Huguenot of Catholic trialed an executed those who had allegedly supported England. Charles I actually had a distant claim to the French throne that he had inherited form a previous Anglo-French conflict; this fact was of very little help for those who were being charged fro treason. The war ended with the Peace of Orleans in 1568, which granted a significant amount of religious freedoms to the Protestants. As the Scottish invasion had done to England, the English presence in France provoked the birth of a nationalist sentiment.
Back in England the Queen had finally given birth to not only an heir but also twins. A girl and a boy aptly named, prince Charles and princess Isabel, after their parents. A third child, Ferdinand, is born within a few years. Talk of marriage began immediately but Charles IX was wary of tying himself in any unwanted alliance whether English or foreign.
As the English rejoiced with the birth of Charles and Isabel the Scots mourned the death of their King James IV. James’ older sister Mary was crowned in 1568 to replace him. Mary had been an English captive most of her life and her brother had ruled as an English puppet. Mary enjoyed the sympathy and support of the Scottish people and numerous attempts to get rid of the English were made throughout the early years of her ascension. Unfortunately most of them went quite badly for the Scottish people who only ended up sacrificing many of their freedoms.
The Third French Religious War
In France the Religious turmoil had decreased significantly. To further appease the Protestant population, Catherine de Medici had her youngest daughter Marguerite marry a Huguenot prince, Henry of Navarre, in 1572. The wedding created major tensions between Catholics and Huguenots; nevertheless the wedding was carried without any major disturbances. However amidst fear of coup from part of the Guise family, Gaspard de Colingy a Huguenot admiral mobilized his men against the Guise. Charles IX tried to avoid further disturbances in his kingdom but the mobilization escalated into a third religious war.
Phillip II of Spain believed he could steer the French wars into a positive outcome for the Catholic factions and persuaded Charles I to use his holdings in Calais and Le Havre to support the Guise. Charles I mobilized his army station in France but achieved very little before the Henri of Guise was captured. After the capture of Guise and the English mobilization Catholic opposition to the crown was heavily weakened. The war ended in 1574 with an edict that further stressed religious tolerance in France. Phillip II and the Pope were left heavily dissatisfied with the outcome and England’s performance.
In 1576 Maximilian II died. His son was crowned as Maximilian III.
The War Against France or Charles vs. Charles
The French enjoyed a period of relative stability and in less than three years Charles IX once again sought to expel the English from Le Havre and Calais. As he had done before Charles IX toured his kingdom in hopes of rallying the people. This time he was much more successful in uniting Catholic and Protestants against England. By 1577 Charles IX had rallied an army of 15,000 that then marched to reclaim Le Havre. Across the channel Charles I had not been sitting idly. Charles I was about to put the navy his grandfather and uncle had built to the test.
The English operation was a complicated one having two distinct aims: one was to successfully reinforce the occupation of Le Havre and Calais and hopefully overtaking Dieppe, the second was to continue south around Gibraltar where it will be joined with Spanish reinforcement and successfully land in Southern France. The critical calculation laid in its communication with the Spanish fleet to successfully attack France from opposite ends. Unfortunately the expedition suffered from very optimistic planning, which later backfired when communications with the Spanish fleet did not go as planned.
When it sailed in 1577 the fleet consisted of 4 warships, 50 armed merchant vessels, 20 pinnaces, and around 22,000 men. The fleet managed to successfully sail to Calais and from there it move to Le Havre and reinforce the army to stop the French from reclaiming it. However as the fleet sailed around Spain bad weather and a small fleet of French privateers managed to slowdown the English advance delaying their meeting with the Spanish. As a result the French managed to defend the southern coast much more successfully than either the Spanish of English anticipated. There was a successful landing in Occitan in 1578 where the Spanish-English alliance tired to incite a rebellion against the French Crown. This was regrettably quite unsuccessful and the French army managed to expel the Spanish and English from the area. By 1580 the Occitan campaign had clearly failed but the English remained in control of the Northern coast, where fighting continued with decisive English victories.
A crucial factor in France’s survival was the rebellions incited in Scotland and The Spanish Netherlands, which distracted both of its adversaries. In Scotland supporters of Mary had once again risen against the English. Though the rebellion lasted a good two years before it was quelled it ended badly for the Scots. In 1579 Queen Mary who lived as a prisoner was tried and ultimately executed in that same year. Scotland was placed in full military occupation and its throne was left empty and without a direct heir. The Netherlands was much more successful with its revolt.
Spain was hampered by having to wage war on multiple fronts simultaneously. Not only was it campaigning against France but was at a struggle against the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean Sea.
Fight for Netherlander Independence
Netherlander independence was not a new concept. Throughout the past century Netherlander revolts had sporadically risen and been oppressed. Charles V managed to appease the Netherlanders by being empathetic to their needs. His son Phillip however had little sympathy for the Netherlands. During his reign tensions rose over heavy taxation, and suppression of Protestantism. The Prince of Orange was a prominent leader within the Netherlander revolts throughout the 1570s at the same time that France was undergoing its religious wars. The prince had asked the Ottoman Sultan for support. The Sultan entertained the notion that Islam and Protestantism had more in common that either did with Roman Catholicism “since they did not worship idols, believed in one God and fought against the Pope and Emperor” and to the dismay of much of Europe the French reaffirmed the Franco-Ottoman had recently reaffirmed the Franco-Ottoman alliance to counter Hapsburg supremacy in Europe and together they supported the Netherlander independence. What developed was a confederacy of Netherlander nobles known as the Watergeuzen (Sea Beggars) with a slogan “Liever Turks dan Paaps” (Better to be Turkish than Papsit).
The Spanish had managed to suppress a revolt earlier in 1573 but in 1578, the prince of Orange took the reins of the revolt further pressing the subject in a more decisive manner. The prince was captured and executed in 1582 further angering the Netherlander resistance. His son William II of Orange took power over the rebellion. Although William II was a strong and fearsome leader the collapse of the Netherlands into separate states had become almost inevitable as the southern provinces were clearly under Spanish control.
By 1585 the war between England and France was coming to an official end with England in control of much of the northern coast from Le Havre to Calais; these spoils further helped stabilize England’s economic situation. Meanwhile Spain had lost the northern Netherlands and William II was about to lead a conquest of the remaining provinces. Across the map of Europe, Hungary was about to undergo a nationalist change.
At the Turn of the Century
The Death of Louis III in 1582 of Hungary brought a dispute between his nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian III, and his younger brother Casimir. Casimir enjoyed popular support but the court hoped sided with the Emperor hoping that Imperial rule would bring further aid against the Ottomans. Strangely enough the dispute was one of cooperation rather than confrontation. In the initial years of the dispute the Ottoman’s, taking advantage of the political strife, attempted once again to seize Buda. Casimir was easily able to rally the Hungarian people while Maximilian III maneuvered political and military leaders to face the Ottomans. Together Maximilian III and Casimir managed to defend Buda from the Ottoman’s and reclaim Transylvania, while still quarrelling over the throne. The success of their partnership led to public satire of their quarrel, which came to be known as the Friendly Rivalry or The Hungarian Partnership.
The presence of the Ottomans and the Imperial forces in Hungary began to delineate a nationalistic sentiment across Hungary that then turned in favor of Casimir. Even though he remained uncrowned until 1601 when Maximilian III died and his son Charles VI was elected Emperor. Charles VI recognized the fragility of Hungary; in order to avoid a popular uprising that might give an advantage to the Ottomans he opted to recognize
Casimir’s rule as long as an alliance was guaranteed. Charles VI did manage to keep hold of Bohemia and Transylvania (which had been previously under Ottoman rule). In 1601 Casimir was crowned as Casimir V but soon fell victim to a fatal decease. His son Louis IV was then crowned as King of Hungary.
Back in the Netherlands, William II had successfully led campaigns to unite the Spanish controlled provinces under his rule. When England once again declared bankruptcy in 1588 attacks from the coast became unlikely. William II proceeded by conquering important cities within the Netherlands starting with important fortifications. Although support for the Spanish king in the south remained popular William II managed to secure the coast by capturing the port Antwerp. The capture of the port was crucial for the Netherlands to achieve independence. With the coast secured William II controlled the access of resources to the southern provinces. As a result the economy of the north, particularly the port of Amsterdam, flourished while the south soon became bankrupted. In the following decade Amsterdam flourished in such a way that many believed the conquest of the south unnecessary. By now the Netherlander navy had grown tremendously in size and power, and the development of the vlieboten (flyboats) gave the Netherlands a particular advantage in the shallow waters of the estuaries around the coast.
William II then proceeded to conquer the southern provinces. The war finally ended with a truce in 1607 after two decisive Netherlander victories. The battle of Nieuwport in wich William secured Flanders by land and the Battle of San Roque in which the Spanish lost their entire fleet allowing William to secure the southern coast definitively. This final battle turned the Netherlands not only into an independent nation but also into a marine rival for Spain. But even the Spain was determined to claim its sovereignty over the Low Countries and several military attempts will be made throughout the following century.
In Spain Phillip II had passed away right at the turn of the century his son Phillip III inherited both Spain and Portugal from him. Fearing a rebellion in Portugal, similar to that of the Netherlands, Phillip III married, Angelica Braganca, the daughter of Catherine Braganca, a claimant to the Portuguese throne of the old dynasty.
In France Charles IX passed in 1599 away after spending most of his rule trying to mediate between Catholics and Protestants and struggling between one religious turmoil to the next. By the turn of the century it was very clear that the French were demanding some peace. The fact that the Edict of 1574 had endured so far was enough to proof the point. Adding to the troubles of France was the fact that the northern coast was still under English occupation and that France had two Hapsburg ruled areas at each border. The people wanted peace and the court was struggling to keep France from foreign influence. It is no wonder then, how the ascension of a protestant king was welcomed when Henri of Bourbon succeeded Charles IX as Henri III. This is not to say that the coronation took place with little stress. Besides Henri III there were a great deal of other pretenders to the throne, including the English kings who had adhered to the title since the Hundred Years’ War.
For England the final years of the century were ones of peace and prosperity. Something the country had not enjoyed for a long time. Charles II managed to negotiate the possibility of England colonizing parts of North America with Spain. Phillip III gladly conceded, fearing Netherlander influence in the Americas, something that had recently grown beyond a small nuisance. Charles IV ventured alongside Phillip into securing Florida and making several expeditions into the North American continent.
Charles I died in 1606 leaving behind a much more united England than any of his predecessors. In 1606 his son became the second Hapsburg to rule over England when he was crowned as Charles II by the Grace of God King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith. The last a title he had inherited form his great- grandfather Henry VIII.
Coming Up Next in The English Hapsburgs: Cultural developments in Europe throughout the 1500s (or A World without Shakespeare), the Colonization of the Americas, and the road to the Quarter Century War
