The House of Borgia - an idea of ATL Italy

That is more an idea than an actual TL (a TLI for TimeLine Idea we could say) , handwaved, that could serve to speculate.
Basically, I think to a POD involving a longer Alexander VI papacy, but that could something else.
Titles mentioned are when the holder is sovereign in the land.


House of Borgia (1501 - 1590)


Cesare I ( b.1476 _ d.1522)
Duke of Romagna and Lord of Piombino (1501-1522)​
Son of Pope Alexander VI, he has carved with his father's help and French protection a duchy out of Papal dominions in Romagna. As war leader, he established an army modelled from Machiavel's theories, which would make him one of the most feared commanders of his time. Well after his father's death, he continued to exert great influence over Roman politics but his power remained tied to the French whom he served as condottiere to defend Louis XII's and François I's interests in Northern Italy against Spaniards and Imperials. He would die from syphillis while he was preparing to besiege Rome.

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Alessandro I (b.1505 _ d.1573)
Duke of Romagna and Lord of Piombino (1522-1573)​
Being the eldest surviving son of Cesare, his political education had been carefuly controled by Machiavel himself all while taught the art of war by his father, often accompanying in campaigns. His skills would be soon put to test with his father's death on his way to besiege the Spanish aligned Rome. His quick and quiet takevoer of the army leadership soon put an end to a wave of euphoria that had swept over the Eternal City on the news of Cesare Borgia's death: the young Duke and his army were continuing their march towards the city. Beginning his military carreer with the Sack of Rome, he would for most of his reign contain Habsburgs' ambitions in Italy at French behest, but also work to maintain the status quo between Spanish Naples and French Milan to keep room for his own ambitions.
As France became embroiled in the Wars of Religion, he would take de facto control of the Duchy of Milan.

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Rodrigo (b.1535 _ d.1590)
Duke of Romagna and Lord of Piombino (1573-1590)​
A nephew of Alessandro I, he ruled essentially as a puppet of his aunt Caterina Borgia, Dowager Queen of France, and her henchmen, Count Ottavio Farnese. Duke Rodrigo was a notorious homosexual and after the death of his first wife, he remained for long unmarried, also encouraged in avoiding it by Queen Catherine who hoped the Duchy to befall to one of her sons. In 1589, after the death of Queen Catherine and the beginning of another civil war in France, the party of Duke Alfonso d'Este, descendent of Lucrezia Borgia, staged a coup against the Farnese party. Duke Rodrigo was put under house arrest for several months before dying in mysterious circumstances.

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House of Borgia-Este (1590 -)

Alfonso I (b.1559 _ d.1626)
Duke of Ferrara, Modena and Reggio (1587-1600)
Duke of Romagna and Lord of Piombino (1590-1600)
Lord of Brescia (1591-1600)
Duke of Genoa (1592-1600)
Duke of Milan (1598-1600)

Duke Alfonso's early reign was marked by the War of Milanese Succession, born out of the extinction of the Valois's male branch, the claim being disputed between Infanta Isabella of Spain supported by her father and rallied by Count Farnese, her sister Duchess Catherine-Michelle of Savoy put forward by her ambitious husband and Queen Marguerite of Valois, put forward by the Romagnoli to legitimate their invasion of Milan. The Duke's main army would invade Milan and successively rout the timorous Savoyard offensive and the Spanish aligned Venetians before besieging the city itself while his brother Ercole would unsuccessfully besiege Genoa relieved by Spaniards. Although the Duke ultimately took Milan and captured Ottavio Farnese, he was threatened to be trapped and decided to try knocking Venice out before Spaniards made it out of Genoa by invading Venetian Terraferma, destroying the Venetian army on the banks of the Adige river before burning towns and cultures to effectively scare the Venitians. Just as he compelled Venice to peace, he hastily returned to Milan to face the Spaniards who withdrew to Genoa without even delivering battle. Aside of occasional troubles with Savoy which had entered in a truce, the War of Milanese Succession would amount to the Siege of Genoa of 1591-1592 and its capture, after which war would effectively end in northern Italy. It would not be until 1598 that Duke Alfonso would buy Queen Marguerite's and Infanta Isabella's claim to Milan in exchange for money compensations paid by Romagna, on loan from Florentine banks. Two years later, he would also buy a royal titulature from the Pope to unite his possesions of Romagna, Ferrara, Modena, Milan, Brescia, Genoa and Piombino into a Kingdom of Lombardy.

King of Lombardy (1600-1626)

As King of Lombardy, Alfonso I initiated a mercantilist agenda to improve his kingdom's prosperity. One of his more representative moves was his chartering of an East India Company, a joint Romagnolo-Florentine venture based at Genoa, thus reconnecting the city to its maritime mercantile past. But that venture was early on met by fierce competition from the Dutch and the English East India companies. On diplomatic front, he did nominally abide by the French alliance, settling in one instance the Montferrat and Mantuan successions in favor of the Gonzaga-Nevers House, but continued the shift begun with the War of Milanese Succession and took distance.

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Cesare II (b.1590 _ d.1662)
King of Lombardy (1626-1662)​
Second son to King Alfonso I, he wasn't much the soldier-king that his father, Dukes Cesare and Alessandro were. He was mostly raised in the court and if his military education was complete, it didn't serve much. King Cesare's political education was here of more impact in governing. His reign saw a continuation of his father's mercantilist policies. As a consequence, royal attention was more and more devoted to maritime affairs and the expansion of the merchant and war navies. Although he tried to play the middle ground between France and Spain, staying out of the Thirty Years War, he engaged into confrontation with the Dutch in East Indies, becoming a co-belligerent of Portugal. As the Neapolitan revolted against Spanish rule, he stayed passive, unwilling to decisively tip the power balance in Italy in favor of France, leaving time for the Spaniards to retake Naples before Lombardy changed mind. In matter of maritime warfare, he engaged in a more brutal war against the Barbary pirates, marked with the Lombard conquests of Algiers and the destruction of the Salé Republic. He also sent forces to help Venetian reconquest of Crete.
On the interior front, he had to quell an ultimate attempt of Genoa to recover independence early in his reign, but otherly, his realm remained at peace. Through Cesare's reign, the expansion of merchant class went along a power shift that put an end to the absolutist practices of the 16th century, Lombardy's government being built on a consensus between the King and the merchant class, not counting the power of banks of the Lombard aligned Florentine Republic.

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I edited some points on the previous post.

Now a map of Italy circa 1600.

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To complete the previous post, I would note that Florence has remained a Republic as the Medici have been expelled by the French and the Romagnoli for chosing the wrong side, and Corsica has broken free from Genoese rule to become a theorical vassal of France. Also, Romagnoli have taken Brescia from the Venetians in the War of Milanese Succession.
 



Cesare III (b.1616 _ d.1679)
King of Lombardy (1662-1679)​
Not properly to speak of a king-soldier for he often relied on subordinate generals, Cesare II's eldest son did nonetheless begun his military career by commanding the expeditions of Algiers in 1649 and Crete in 1655. His reign, although short compared to his predecessors, was marked by the high mark of Lombard-Dutch Wars. The sack of Batavia in 1675 prefigured the partition of East Indies between Dutch and Lombard spheres, the latter revolving mainly around Malaya, Brunei, Sumatra and Formosa. The only dark point of his reign was the pacification of North Africa. If Tunis had been effectively coerced into withdrawing support to Lombard enemies, the bey of Constantine had constantly harassed client states established by Lombards in the region after the destruction of Algiers Regency. A first expedition against Constantine in 1663 ended ambushed and it would not be until 1669 that the town would utterly sacked and razed by Lombard troops.

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Alfonso II (b.1648 _ d.1729)
King of Lombardy (1679-1714)
King of Greece (1689-1729)
King of Naples (1713-1714)
Duke of Florence (1703-1714)
Duke of Siena (1703-1714)
Deemed a great military leader in the vein of Dukes Cesare and Alfonso, his reign remain a highly controversial time of Italian political history. On the foreign front, his policy is marked more by aggressive expansionism than by the promotion of Italian commercial interests.
From his early infancy, he became an adept of the growing neo-Roman and pan-Italian movements born out of Borgia partial unification of northern Italy. The first occasion he would seize came with the outbreak of a new Habsburg-Ottoman war, allying with Austria. Done against Louis XIV's wish, this intervention would be the first clear break within the old French-Borgia alliance. Although the Lombards would contribute some troops to defend Vienna, their participation took the form of an expedition against Ottoman Greece. Using Venetian bases in the region, King Alfonso II personally led his troops to invade Peloponnese, Attica, Thessaly and Epirus between 1684 and 1689 at which date he made peace with Turks to turn on the recent Dutch-English alliance and the Augsburg League in support of France. Although he then styled himself as King of Greece, his conquests and their consolidation came at a great cost and contributed to strain the Royal Treasury. This situation embiterred relation between the Crown and Lombard Grandees and grand merchants for most of his reign, leading to the creation of the League of Republics formed by Florence, Venice and Sienna to resist encrochement on their autonomy.
As the War of Spanish Succession began, Lombardy was courted and promised Naples by both sides but Alfonso II sided with Austria to prevent France from upsetting the power balance of Europe. For Alfonso II, that war was also the occasion to suppress dissent from the League of Republics, accused of collusion with France. Although Venice was somewhat protected by Austria, it was forced to sell its Greek possessions to Lombardy, while Florentine and Sienese were merely deposed and replaced by puppet government which elected King Alfonso II as Hereditary Duke. What was left of their autonomy was stripped in the following years. Meanwhile, French-Savoyard and Lombard armies engaged each other in the Po Valley without reaching any decisive action. After he got confirmed his annexation of Naples in the Peace of Utrecht, he formally united his possessions into a Kingdom of Italy, but in the process, he alienated his Imperial allies and was left by the war bereft of potential allies. Thus, he had great difficulties to contain an Ottoman invasion of Greece.
King of Italy (1714-1729)​
Unlike Alfonso I with early Lombardy, Alfonso II was unsuccessfull at forging an common identity after creating Italy as a united country.

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Alessandro II (b.1700 _ d.1759)
King of Italy and Greece (1729-1731)​
Alfonso II's grandson, he would follow his grandfather's line of conduct, but not having his iron will and hold over the army, he was very contested by those who hoped Alfonso II's authoritarian rule would die with him. As internal troubles and foreign threats, in both Greece, central and southern Italy, agitated the realm, a cabal of great merchants and Grandees formed to depose Alessandro II in favor of his infant three years old son Cesare. The deposed king would end his life in exile in Bohemia.

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Cesare IV (b.1728 _ d.1801)
King of Lombardy, Naples and Greece, Duke of Florence and Siena (1731-1801)​
The first part of his reign is defined by the Regency, a time during which the realm was governed by a council of Grandees and Great Merchants. Having won power and not willing to return to the days of Alfonso II, they set formal limits on royal powers and reformed the government along British lines with a parliament base. One of the first reforms and not the least, was restoring autonomy of Florence, Siena, Naples and Greece held in personal union with Lombardy. Under his reign, Italy recovered from Alfonso II's ruinous adventures and began a second golden age.
On the foreign front, although Italy remained out of major conflicts, it did nevertheless remained confronted to Turks which occasionally stirred troubles on Greek borders. This situation, inherited from Alfonso II led Italian to commit themselves to maintain their influence in Levant, mostly by undermining Turkish authority in North Africa and Arabia, especially in Egypt.
It would not be until the French Revolution that Italy would dragged into a new continental war. Although Italy remained initially neutral, growing agitation from Italian revolutionnaries and French agressivity led Italy to enter the war in 1793 to exit only in 1797 after French General Napoleon Bonaparte decisively defeated Italian army in Lombardy.

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Nota Bene
Map of 1801 is roughly the same than in 1600 for borders. Modifications are Corsica and Savoy annexed by France (Corsica was annexed by Louis XIV and Savoy by Louis XV). Montferrat has been previously annexed by Savoy and Mantua by Lombardy at the extinction of Gonzaga-Nevers male branch, annexations sanctionned at Utrecht.
Venice has remained independent long after Alfonso II but when the French Revolution broke out, it became a hotbed of radicalism in Italy. Although suppressed by Italian and Austrian troops, Venetian revolutionaries would set up a new Republic with Bonaparte's support in 1797.
Meanwhile, Sardinia and Sicily have become the Kingdom of Two Sicilies after Utrecht.​
 
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