The Sons of Maximilian II of Austria

Firstly, I think that the fact that the Imperial crown passed from Matthias to his cousin, Archduke Ferdinand was pretty much a fluke of history, rather than what the Doctor would call ‘a fixed point’. At Maxi’s death, it must’ve looked pretty unlikely that the Inner Austrian branch would ever inherit the imperial-royal titles, what with his ten surviving kids (four girls, six boys) in the way.

Equally astonishing is how many male-line grandchildren he had that were born on the wrong side of the blanket, and only his son, the Cardinal-Archduke Albrecht managed to leave three born in holy wedlock.

Quick breakdown:

Rudolf II

Anna Dorothea von Österreich (b.1580)

Julius, Margrave of Austria (b.1586)

Charlotte (b.1591)​

Johann Matthias (b.1594)

Karl (b.1603)

Dorothea (b.1611)

Anna (date unknown)

Karolina (date unknown)​

Ernst

No issue​

Matthias I

Matthias von Österreich (date unknown)​

Maximilian

Karl (date unknown)​

Albrecht VII

Philipp (b.1605)

Albrecht (b.1607)

Anna Mauritia (b.1608, d.1609)

Wenzel

No Issue​

So what would be the results of any of these archdukes (Ernst, Matthias, Maximilian, Wenzel) marrying (maybe a more fertile wife in Matthias’ case) and starting families of their own? For instance, if they marry in the 1570s/80s, then the chance is good that by the time (if) they overthrow Rudolf II, their kids are adults, married and possibly with children of their own.

Now, the usual lady cited as a possible match is the Rudolfine reject: Isabel Clara Eugenia of Spain. But others considered by Rudolf or his father/brothers included Giulia d’Este, Marie de Medici, Margherita of Savoy, Maximiliana Maria of Bavaria/Maria Anna of Bavaria (the younger), Sibylle of Cleves, Anna Vasa (sister of Sigismund III), a princess of Württemberg (IDK which one, merely that she is mentioned as being considered in one of Rudolf’s letters). So there’s no shortage of material to play with.

I could see Maximilian marrying Anna Vasa as a way to shore up his rule if he were elected king of Poland (it would have to be before she converts though), and Marie was mentioned as a good wife for Matthias in another thread. Isabel would make sense marrying Ernst (she was originally offered for him after Rudolf dropped her like a hot potato, but then came the French succession crisis, and that was put on hold for a bit).

PS: Calling @Kynan to work some family tree magic with this.
 
Honestly, I really do believe Rudolf was gay, and I don't think he ever married because he just wouldn't. I'd be more interested in the Albertian line. As you've got there, his marriage with Isabella Clara produced 3 children, and all you'd need is ONE of her OTL sons to survive. Let's say all three of her children do, and we get this:

Albert VII, Archduke of Austria (b.1559: d.1621) m. Isabella Clara Eugenia, Sovereign Monarch of the Netherlands (b.1566: d.1633) (a)

1a) Philip of Austria (b.1605)

2a) Albert of Austria (b.1607)

3a) Anna Mauritia of Austria (b.1608)
Now, from here, we have Philip rising as Philip II, Holy Roman Emperor, sometime after his uncles Rudolf and Matthias die. As Emperor, Spain may want him to wait and marry one of their Infantas, but for the sake of the bloodline, let's say he ends up with someone else. It may occur that he married Henriette-Marie de Bourbon, Princess of France, sometime in the 1630's, which would be good. His brother probably marries either a German girl, a Polish one or a Spanish one, if Maria Anna of Spain is willing to take second place (I doubt it, so let's say she ends up with the King of England just out of anger that she's been ignored), so let's say he ends up Claudia de' Medici, as her second husband. Anna Maurita is a good match for anyone, and it's hard to say where the wind will blow. France will want her for the Duke of Orleans, but lets say instead she ends up with Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland. In terms of life expectancy for these children, I'd say that they could all make it to 50/60 years old, but one is probably going to be unhealthier than the others. Let's say it's Albert and he dies in his early 30's while elder brother makes it to his late to mid 50's, as does his sister.

Albert VII, Archduke of Austria (b.1559: d.1621) m. Isabella Clara Eugenia, Sovereign Monarch of the Netherlands (b.1566: d.1633) (a)

1a) Philip II, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1605: d.1661) m. Henriette-Marie of France (b.1609: d.1669) (a)

2a) Albert of Austria (b.1607: d.1639) m. Claudia de' Medici (b.1604: d.1648) (a)

3a) Anna Mauritia of Austria (b.1608: d.1667) m. Władysław IV Vasa (b.1595: d.1648) (a)
Now, in terms of what happens with children, they should all have at least one or two, and since this is meant to be a somewhat successful line, let's say Philip gets 4/7 surviving, Albert gets 5 surviving, and Anna Mauritia gets 2/4, due to being married to a man with a bad track record OTL.

Albert VII, Archduke of Austria (b.1559: d.1621) m. Isabella Clara Eugenia, Sovereign Monarch of the Netherlands (b.1566: d.1633) (a)

1a) Philip II, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1605: d.1661) m. Henriette-Marie of France (b.1609: d.1669) (a)

1a) Albert, Archduke of Austria (b.1638: d.1641)

2a) Philip III, Holy Roman Emperor (b.1640)

3a) Catherine Eugenia of Austria (b.1642)

4a) Miscarriage (c.1643)

5a) Anna Frances of Austria (b.1645)

6a) Maria Margareta of Austria (b.1648: d.1648)

7a) Charles Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria (b.1649)
2a) Albert of Austria (b.1607: d.1639) m. Claudia de' Medici (b.1604: d.1648) (a)

1a) Maria Anna of Austria (b.1628)

2a) Charles Albert of Austria (b.1630)

3a) Barbara Michelle of Austria (b.1631)

4a) Philip Ferdinand of Austria (b.1633)

5a) Ernest Leopold of Austria (b.1635)
3a) Anna Mauritia of Austria (b.1608: d.1667) m. Władysław IV Vasa (b.1595: d.1648) (a)

1a) Sigismund III Vasa (b.1635)

2a) Maria Isabella Vasa (B.1638: d.1638)

3a) Anna Louisa Vasa (b.1640)

4a) Margaret Maximiliana Vasa (b.1643: d.1644)​
 
Question for you guys: is it because Rudolf II basically played hooky with his marriage that he messed up his younger brother's prospects with regards to marriage?
 
Question for you guys: is it because Rudolf II basically played hooky with his marriage that he messed up his younger brother's prospects with regards to marriage?

Maybe with Isabel Clara Eugenia. I mean, I can't see Felipe II settling for a mere archduke when he could have her be empress instead. It was only after Rudolf decided he wasn't going to get married that Felipe moved on to Ernst and then Albrecht (something that pissed Rudi off, since he considered his brother to have 'stolen' his betrothed (note, he did the same when Matthias married Anna of Tyrol)). But, as to the rest of the candidates, most of them are from German/Italian dynasties to whom whether you're empress/archduchess wouldn't have mattered all that much. Bavaria was willing to take a Habsburg in any form/fashion, as long as they were legitimate, the Polish Vasas more of the same. Cleves didn't even care that who Sibylle got paired with OTL was a morganatic line Habsburg, and Cesare d'Este wanted Giulia to marry into the Habsburgs in the hopes of them forcing the pope to hand back Ferrara,
 
@Kynan, like what you've done with the Albertine line. Would've liked to see some of the other brothers maybe getting married (Ernst or Matthias marrying elsewhere), but that's life.

What do you guys think would be the fate of the Inner Austrian branch if the main branch is surviving? Obviously they're gonna just be cousins to the emperor, but how much will their arch-Catholicism bleed through to the policies coming from Prague/Vienna/Brussels?
 
What might this surviving Imperial line make of the religious situation on the ground? OTL the main line was slightly more tolerant than the Inner Austrian branch, but after all, Isabel is a Spaniard and Catholic, so likely, she has an influence in her son's upbringing, and dad's a former cardinal.

Maximilian II/Rudolf II were generally pragmatic religiously. Matthias was a bit more orthodox Catholic, and Albert had been raised in Spain, plus had been a former prince of the church. But none of them (IIRC) were as hardnosed Catholic as what the Inner Austrians were.
 
Couple things. First off, I can't find any cited sources mentioning Albrecht and Isabel having issue, so that might be some kind of fiction (modern bios on Isabel and on Albrecht have no mention of children) made up later on. I'd love to be proved wrong here, so if anyone has a reliable source please post it. Second, Rudolf II's refusal to marry extended to refusing to authorize his younger brothers marriages: he couldn't veto Albrecht's marriage without risking a rupture in Spanish-Imperial relations and Matthias's marriage happened after Rudolf was deposed. Finally, Kynan Rudolf wasn't gay. He had a mistress, Catherina Strada, whom he was very close to (Peter Hilson calls it the only positive relationship he had after the 1590s) and at least 5 illegitimate children. At most he was Bi. Truly his refusal to marry anyone is baffling.

Personally I like the idea of Matthias marrying early and having surviving issue. Albrecht having issue ties the Empire directly into the Dutch revolt due to his rule over the Netherlands. Ernst I don't know much about so he could be a wild card but Maximilian was Ferdinand II's regent and mentor, so Maximilian III and his line are likely to be quite similar to the OTL Styrian branch.

As for religion, the Habsburgs will always support the Counter-reformation. Rudolf supported it, Matthias supported it, Ferdinand II sure as hell supported it, Ex. ex. Sure the thirty years' war Habsburg support will likely be restricted to their own Hereditary lands and without the Bohemian revolt to strip huge sections of the Protestant population of lands and wealth would take much longer, but it still happens. The Habsburgs preferred legal approaches to dealing with the heretics: they didn't outright revoke concessions granted to the Protestants but did recognize the grants as the absolute farthest they would go. The best source I've found that sums up the situation is still Thirty Years' War by Peter Hilson. Anyone interested in the era should definitely invest in the book.
 

Vitruvius

Donor
Question for you guys: is it because Rudolf II basically played hooky with his marriage that he messed up his younger brother's prospects with regards to marriage?

Sort of. My understanding is that after Ferdinand I partitioned Austria in his will (Bohemia+Hungary+Upper and Lower Austria to one line, Inner Austria/Styria to another and Further Austria+Tyrol to another) the Habsburgs were worried about further diminishing their territorial base by continuing to partition their estates. So Maximilian II pushed for primogeniture in future generations. Thus Rudolf II's younger brothers were never expected to inherit anything and so the better option for them was to go into the Church and get a nice Bishopric to rule. Maximilian III became Grand Master of the Teutonic Order and Albert was intended to be Archbishop of Toledo.

By the time it became clear Rudolf wouldn't marry Ernst was dead and Max and Albert were in the Church. Matthias, through his misadventure in the Netherlands, had made the rest of the family distrust him to the point he wasn't even given an responsibilities until after Ernst died and Max became regent of Inner Austria. So it's hard to get a decent marriage for Matthias before 1590 since he's on the out with the rest of the family then everyone's caught up in the Long Turkish War then by 1605-1610 the brothers begin squabbling amongst themselves when it's clear that Rudolf will die without an heir.

I recently posted something about Rudolf dying in 1591 since it was before Ernst's death and it would leave him with a clear path to becoming Emperor and marrying (the consensus seemed to be that it would be to Isabella Clara Eugenia). Another thought would be if Maximilian of Bavaria agrees to Matthias' marriage to his sister Magdalene of Bavaria when he asked in 1607. She might just give him some children though they're likely to still be quite young when he dies.
 
@Emperor Constantine: Unfortunately, I can't help you as to sources pinpointing Isabel and Albert's kids, since I have no primary sources to hand on the matter. Although several genealogies (Miroslav Marek's, for one) list that Albert did have kids, this could simply be a perpetration of an older misprint. A thread on Isabel on the Alexander Palace forum also talks of her having kids, so I don't know. But OTOH, I don't think that someone would've just dreamed up that she had three pregnancies, and if they did, why not place them closer to the time of her marriage (Hell, at the time of Anna Mauritia's supposed birth, she'd be 42 already).

As to Rudolf, has anyone ever considered the possibility that he was neither gay nor bi (although both are possible) and simply in love with Caterina Strada, knew his family wouldn't allow him to marry her as an equal partner, so didn't marry anyone else because he wanted to marry only her. (Yes, it's a bit of shameless romanticism on my part, but I don't see why such a theory should be any less credible than that he was gay or bisexual).

I agree with you about Matthias, he would make an interest candidate to marry earlier. I think @Valena had an idea of swapping his wife and the OTL Princess Bathory, Maria Christine of Steyr at one point, but I'm not sure it went anywhere. Prince Bathory married Anna Wasa instead, IIRC.

@Vitruvius: It would be interesting if Matthias were to be more successful in his Dutch adventure, and somehow become the progenitor of a native Netherlander house of Habsburg.
 
unfortunately I have the sources that I used for my abandoned TL The Isabelline Age on a external memory in my country, but I remember that, for example, in the family agreements of Linz/Vienna between 1606-1609 Albert initially didn't want to give up his rights in favor of Ferdinand of Styria because Isabella was pregnant. in this moment the only source that I have with me is a biography of Luisa de Carvajal in which is mentioned the pregnancy in 1606
 
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Out of curiosity, should the senior line survive, what happens to the Inner Austrian line? Obviously while the main line lacks princesses, their archduchesses are going to be highly-sought brides on the market, although that simply removes the majority of Ferdinand II's sisters from the pool. But he's going to marry his Bavarian wife (most likely as OTL), and have kids of his own. Killing them all off seems a little ASB, so the line would be secure for at least another generation. Would they continue to be hardnosed, ultramontane Catholics especially if the imperial line is perhaps more tolerant?
 
As to the Imperial line surviving, Archduke Matthias sort of became the pariah of the family when he undertook his Netherlandish adventure. And in any case, failed miserably. But what if he had been slightly more successful? Sure the Habsburgs would probably disown him or something, but the Netherlands were an NB part of Europe, so someone's going to have a daughter/niece to hand. (I've been thinking of the story of the widowed duchess(?) of something who mouldered away in a Versailles attic for near thirty years until someone in the royal family needed a lady-in-waiting. Then somebody remembered the dowager duchess and went and fetched her to serve the princess/queen)
 

Vitruvius

Donor
I think Ferdinand of Inner Austria (OTL Ferdinand II but ITTL Archduke Ferdinand III?) was largely influenced by the regency of Maximilian III so I'm not sure how much that would change, Max may still be Regent when Charles II dies and may pursue the same policies.

As to an alternate fate for Matthias I was thinking about an earlier comment about Anna Vasa. OTL she converted to Lutheranism and wouldn't/marry a Habsburg. But if her elder sister Isabella had lived she'd likely be married or betrothed before the death of her mother. So what if in 1578 or so Anna Jagiellon puts out feelers for a marriage to her 14 year old niece Isabella Vasa of Sweden. Matthias being the adventurer that he is picks up and moves to Poland and ingratiates himself with Anna, angling to marry her niece and be elected King of Poland when her husband Stephen dies. Possible? Plausible? Major butterflies for Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden Austria, just about everyone in central Europe would be impacted by such a union.
 

Vitruvius

Donor
Also re Inner Austria it occurs to me that Ferdinand's to younger brother Leopold would be something of a wild card. He was meant for the church but was given the Tyrol in an attempt to settle the Austrian inheritance after the the line of Maximilian II died out. Not sure what he does now but my money's on an opportunistic military career. Looking for any chance to gain a territory for himself.
 
I think Ferdinand of Inner Austria (OTL Ferdinand II but ITTL Archduke Ferdinand III?) was largely influenced by the regency of Maximilian III so I'm not sure how much that would change, Max may still be Regent when Charles II dies and may pursue the same policies.

As to an alternate fate for Matthias I was thinking about an earlier comment about Anna Vasa. OTL she converted to Lutheranism and wouldn't/marry a Habsburg. But if her elder sister Isabella had lived she'd likely be married or betrothed before the death of her mother. So what if in 1578 or so Anna Jagiellon puts out feelers for a marriage to her 14 year old niece Isabella Vasa of Sweden. Matthias being the adventurer that he is picks up and moves to Poland and ingratiates himself with Anna, angling to marry her niece and be elected King of Poland when her husband Stephen dies. Possible? Plausible? Major butterflies for Poland, the Netherlands, Sweden Austria, just about everyone in central Europe would be impacted by such a union.

It wouldn't be unthinkable for the Habsburgs to put Matthias forward as a candidate - in fact, it might even be more successful than Maximilian's OTL attempts, although the result might remain the same. However, leaving King Siggie in Sweden could be disastrous, unless, of course, he learns restraint regarding Catholicism, and/or marries Christine of Holstein (Gustaf Adolf's mom) instead of an Austrian archduchess to allay the Swedes fears.

Also re Inner Austria it occurs to me that Ferdinand's to younger brother Leopold would be something of a wild card. He was meant for the church but was given the Tyrol in an attempt to settle the Austrian inheritance after the the line of Maximilian II died out. Not sure what he does now but my money's on an opportunistic military career. Looking for any chance to gain a territory for himself.

Either that or he stays in the church. As pointed out above, there wasn't land enough to go around OTL so we find archdukes ending up in the church (Albrecht), or in military-religious orders (Maximilian).
 

Vitruvius

Donor
Well that was why Leopold started out in the church to begin with. But he wasn't satisfied and saw an opportunity for advancement by positioning himself as a potential heir to Rudolf even though the man had three brothers living and Leopold was himself a younger son. So I kind of expect him to take whatever opportunity he can to grab some territory, whether that's in Germany the Balkans or elsewhere, even if that means crossing other members of his extended family. He's not going to be a dutiful younger brother like his OTL nephew Leopold Wilhelm.
 
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