Their Cross to Bear: An Alternate Reformation Timeline

[Zulfurium]

I feel like there's little chance of the native states in the new world not ultimately all collapsing. Even if the conquest lasts longer than OTL, and it very well might, I think it will ultimately result in European dominance of most of the New World.

I think that if any native states are likely to survive long-term it would be the Inca Empire or the Iroqois Confederacy, though neither is going to survive without significant European influence. I don't think a collapse was certain to happen this early, but I think something like what Gruchio suggested could happen as well.

I'm sorry it's just that I suddenly feel reasons for caring about the time setting, and it just occured to me that the Incas cooould get a better deal than OTL, even if their state collapses. There could be a vassal system in place in which autonomous Quechua lords swear direct fealty to the King of Spain and rule their lands for him British Raj style.

I should probably keep reading through the prior updates because I'll have plenty of feedback to share.

I will tell you that I have an interest in the Inca Empire myself. I have to say, I had never quite considered the possibility of a "British Raj" in the Inca mountains but now that you have mentioned it I can't stop considering it. I really look forward to hearing your feedback when you are ready.

 

[galileo-034]

There could be a vassal system in place in which autonomous Quechua lords swear direct fealty to the King of Spain and rule their lands for him British Raj style.

Maybe, but given the religious zeal of the Spanish crown at the time, I doubt this wouldn't be without the 'convert or die' condition.

 

[Zulfurium]

Hello Everyone. Today we are going to look at probably one of the most important shifts of the TL. I don't think I have seen anyone do anything like this and I spent some nine updates laying the ground work for this to happen so I hope people find it plausible. This is an update which really causes a massive shift in the TL and sets up a lot of the things that are going to follow. The direct effects of events in this update only really come to an end in Update fifteen, so it is about to become very busy indeed. I look forward to hearing what people think of this shift and I hope you enjoy!

To Rise an Emperor​

Johannes von Oldenburg at 16​

Born in Copenhagen on the 21st of February 1518, Johannes was named after his paternal grandfather, King Hans of Denmark, Sweden and Norway. When Johannes was one year old, his mother gave birth to twin boys, Philip Ferdinand and Maximilian, who both died within a year. He also, initially, had two younger sisters Dorothea and Christina who he was particularly close with. His father King Christian II was deposed in 1523 by his uncle, who took the throne as King Frederik I, sending the young Oldenburg family into exile with Johannes' mother's family, the Habsburgs. While the first couple of years of exile were busy, with the young children being dragged about Germany with their father and mother as the exiled king sought out relatives and allies for aid in reclaiming his throne, Johannes and his sisters were able to finally find some semblance of normality when their mother Isabella von Habsburg fell ill in 1525 and was forced to remain at Mechelen while their father began engaging in Imperial policy and war-making. It was in the years that followed, as tutors and playmates began congregating at the burgeoning imperial court in Mechelen, that Johannes really began to emerge from the large shadows left by his father and uncle. He quickly proved himself an impressive polyglot and intellect, mastering several languages ranging from the closely related Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tongues, through Flemish, Low German and High German dialects, to Latin and its daughters - French, Italian and Castilian Spanish, though particularly the latter two were spoken with a clear and heavy accent. He learned to converse in humanist and reformist terms from preeminent masters of both, Erasmus and Oecolampadius, while developing a love for astronomy, theology and the occult from his tutor Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1). Johannes would often be described as a beautiful boy, having shared in the beauty his sisters Christina and Anna would become famous for, and exploited that beauty to the fullest. In an age when looks and demeanor were thought to herald majesty, the beauty of Johannes and his siblings would become renowned - a fact which none of them would prove shy about exploiting (2).

Given the Emperor's lack of direct male heir for much of this period, Johannes was naturally considered and educated as a potential Emperor - gaining a proper understanding of the legal, dynastic and political situation in the Empire. His relentless drive for knowledge was coupled with a deep appreciation for the Humanist ideal, and as a result Johannes threw himself wholehearted into martial pursuits, developing a particular love for hawking and inheriting his father's common touch and fascination with the Netherlander merchant class. The arrival of Hernán Cortés at Mechelen in 1530 would inaugurate Johannes' deep and abiding obsession with the New World, Colonization and Exploration in general. The birth of his younger siblings: Isabella in 1527, Christian in 1529 and Anna in 1531 would provide Johannes with a deeper well of familial support but all three would remain at some distance from their older brother. Johannes would remain incredibly close and intensely protective of his siblings, particularly Christina - who would remain his favorite for the duration of his life. During his childhood he would find a particularly close friend in the young Prince of Orange, René van Nassau-Breda also known as Renatus of Châlons, who arrived at court soon after news of his uncle's murder by mutinying soldiers at Padua reached the imperial court. Another particularly close friend would be Wilhelm de la Marck, heir to the Duke of Cleves and betrothed of Johannes' sister Dorothea. A major shift in Johannes' life came when his father departed for Norway in an attempt to reclaim his lost thrones. News that he had failed and that Johannes' young cousin Maximilian von Habsburg had died arrived in early 1534, deeply shocked the Imperial court and prompted Johannes to swear that he would 'free [his] father from his cage, whatever else may come' and to swear vengeance upon his usurping cousins. Johannes was soon forced to take on an ever larger role in the Imperial government, standing in for his mother at a few meetings of the Regency Council while joining his mother at meetings of the States General of the Netherlands where he charmed the representatives (1). As Johannes moved ever closer to imperial power, he would look increasingly to the reign of Constantine the Great for inspiration, developing an incredibly fondness for The Life of Constantine by Eusebius of Caesarea - often viewing this greatest of Christian Emperors as his ideal (3).

In sharp contrast to the young Oldenburg family were the Bourbon-Montpensier family headed up by the 44-year old Charles de Bourbon, onetime Duke of Bourbon and Constable of France who had served in leadership positions in both the French and Imperial armies, and his wife Eleanor, oldest sibling in the Habsburg family. Charles had experienced great challenges and opportunities over the course of his life, from being the third in line to the French Throne and Constable of France to an exiled prince fighting against his former comrades for a living, to having a son be a contender for the Imperial throne (4). Even his betrothal and eventual marriage to Eleanor von Habsburg, the former Queen of Portugal, had been a challenging prospect, with the Emperor almost breaking off the betrothal on multiple occasions and Eleanor herself publicly preferring the company of her one-time lover the Elector Friedrich II von Wittelsbach despite the Emperor's very clear and public disapproval (5). While he had a rather mixed record from his time in Italy, Charles found himself quite popular with the Catholics in the Empire, in part due to his strong opposition to the spreading Reformation. This was seen particularly on his arrival in Württemberg in 1528 where he had begun vigorously implementing counter-Reformation efforts in many cases influenced by the work done by the Wittelsbach Dukes of Bavaria, Duke Johann von Wettin of Saxony and Elector Joachim Nestor von Hohenzollern of Brandenburg. Charles would join the League of Dessau established by the strictly Catholic widow and regent princess Margaret of Münsterberg. The League had originally been established in the aftermath of the Battle of Frankenhausen as the situation in Saxony looked at its bleakest and was joined by Catholic stalwarts like Joachim Nestor and Johann von Wettin to coordinate their response to Thomas Müntzer's incursions. However, the League would accomplish little during the Peasants' War and largely went into abeyance for the next couple of years due to the founders' belief that Lutheranism and Reform were on the decline. However, the Diet of Speyer and its affirmation of the Magisterial Reformation would prove to be the first in a series of events which would lead to the reconstitution of the League of Dessau (6).

The sudden rise of Christian II von Oldenburg and his family caused immense worry in the among arch-Catholics and the steady growth of strengthening of Reformed bonds in the west became an ever larger issue for the members of the League. This would lead to the steady expansion of the League of Dessau, with the Wittelsbach Dukes joining in late 1527 while Duke Eric I of Brunswick-Calenberg-Göttingen and Duke Heinrich V Welf of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel joined in early 1528. Charles de Bourbon would grow to become the figurehead of the League, representing sound Catholic rule and a leader who would press wholeheartedly for the Counter-Reformation if it became necessary. Following the end of the Italian War and the Emperor's departure for Spain, the situation in the Empire grew ever more fractious, with worried Lutherans including the Duke of Pomerania, most of the north-eastern Imperial Free Cities and the Elector of Saxony forming the League of Torgau with the Elector as their figurehead while Philip von Hesse and Elector Friedrich II of the Palatine formed the League of Marburg to represent those of Zwinglian Reformed faith. The Brandenburg Crisis would be the event which crystalized these divides, with the Leagues of Marburg and Torgau combining behind Isabella von Habsburg in a joint League of Leuven in late 1533 while the members of the League of Dessau began strengthening their grip - particularly among the Catholic branches of the Welf Family. The various prince-bishops found themselves deeply divided between the Leagues, with the Prince-Bishops of Münster, Mainz and Salzburg flocking to the League of Dessau while those of Cologne, Augsburg, Trier, Hildesheim and Liege all joined the League of Leuven. 1534 would see the outbreak of the bizarre but incredibly worrying Münster Rebellion against their Prince-Bishop, Franz von Waldeck, and news arrived that the Oldeburg family patriarch Christian II had been captured and imprisoned in Sønderborg Castle, leaving the Reformed faction in a weakened position - reliant on a sixteen-year old boy for leadership, while the Imperial succession was thrown into chaos with the death of the infant Maximilian von Habsburg (7).

The Coats of Arms of the Imperial Electors surrounding the Imperial Eagle​

Having set sail from Santander in late April 1534, Emperor Charles V von Habsburg would have ordinarily expected a speedy transit to the Low Countries wherefrom he would be able to resolve many of the problems which had engulfed the Empire - hopefully by convening a Church Council in Germany to resolve the many problems, issues and challenges caused by the Reformation. However, it was during this crossing of the Bay of Biscay that events took a turn for the worse when a late-spring storm tore through the squadron defending the Emperor and scattered the Imperial escort. Over the course of the next weeks, as the battered remnants of the squadron searched for the Imperial Flagship, worry began lancing through the captains of the escort. Messengers were dispatched to Santander, the Low Countries, England, Ireland and France to learn in the flagship had been spotted anywhere. It would take until early June before word arrived at Mechelen that the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V von Habsburg, King of Spain and Naples, Duke of Burgundy was missing, presumed lost at sea (8). The initial messengers would find themselves warmly welcomed at Mechelen, where Isabella and the young Johannes ordered the news withheld for the remainder of the month in order to make preparations. Rushing to inform their closest allies and to begin martialing their forces, the pair quickly started counting up electors. Johannes was only sixteen and if he were to succeed his uncle as Holy Roman Emperor he would be the youngest man to do so since Otto III in 996, leading the mother and son pair to believe his chances in a proper election were rather dismal. The Electors of Brandenburg and Mainz were never going to vote for Johannes under the circumstances of the Brandenburg Crisis. This left the far more ambiguous and uncertain support of the Saxon, Bohemian and Trier Electors while the Electors of the Palatine and Cologne could be expected to vote reliably in Johannes' favor if for no other reason than their religious convictions. It was for this reason that Isabella and Johannes moved so forcefully to secure their positions once they had allowed news of the former Emperor's presumed death to be publicized and publicly put the court into mourning. Johannes was presented to the States General of the Netherlands in an extraordinary session which not only reorganized the Low Countries into one indivisible whole but also declared Johannes to be 'Heer der Nederlanden', effectively Lord of the Netherlands. He would assume the title of Duke of Burgundy soon after and publicize his intention to take up his uncle's Empire as heir to the last Habsburg Emperor's lands and domains (9).

Charles de Bourbon and his supporters in the League of Dessau were outraged at the not just the presumptive nature of the young Oldenburg's actions but at the idea of the Catholic Habsburg Empire under Charles being replaced by a ruler and empire of the Reformed faiths. Charles de Bourbon swiftly declared his young son Charles IV de Bourbon to be the rightful heir to the Habsburg Empire as descendant of Charles von Habsburg's eldest sister and took up rule on his behalf as Regent. Thus was the Empire split between League and Regency, with the Leagues of Leuven and Dessau quickly declaring publicly for their respective leaders. Thus, by early July the War of Habsburg Inheritance had broken out. While Johannes was supported wholeheartedly by the Netherlands and was soon joined by much of the lower Rhineland under the Elector Palatine and Prince-Bishop Hermann von Wied of Cologne, a large part of central Germany under the Landgrave of Hesse and the Margraviate of Baden under its regent, Francoise de Luxembourg. The Elector of Saxony and much of the former League of Torgau proved far less willing to go to war for a presumptuous foreign boy when they were surrounded by some of the most rabidly anti-Lutheran members of the League of Dessau - however, the Elector of Saxony's oldest son and heir Johann Friedrich publicly declared his support for Johannes and pressed his sick and elderly father to follow suit. Charles was able to gain the wholehearted support of the Elector of Brandenburg, the Dukes of Bavaria, the Duke of Saxony, the Prince-Bishop of Mainz and the Prince-Bishop of Salzburg. The first parts of Germany to experience conflict would, however, not turn out to involve any of these primary actors, but instead occurred in the Lower Saxony where the Welf family split violently over the issues of succession and religion. A primary axis for the fighting in Lower Saxony would prove to be the conflict between the Archbishop of Hildesheim and the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Heinrich V. Various branches of the Welf and Ascania dynasties piled into the conflict, turning northern Germany into a brutal free-for-all which only really succeeded in keeping both sides out of the wider conflict. When Charles called on Anne Jagiellonica, who had served as regent of the Habsburg heartlands of Austria, however, and demanded the betrothal of the Emperor's only daughter Maria Philippa to Charles IV de Bourbon and that she support the young Charles de Bourbon she demurred. Over the course of the coming conflict both sides would try time after time to push Anne to support one of the two sides in the conflict, only to receive one unclear and vague reply after another. In this way Anne would succeed in keeping Austria out of the conflict, sparing that realm the costs of civil war which would be exacted elsewhere (10).

Johannes von Oldenburg was the first of the claimants to move decisively in mid-August, having used his month of advanced notice to prepare for the coming conflict with care. Marching out of the Netherlands at the head of a force of mercenaries 25,000 strong - payed for by a subsidy voted to him by the States General of the Netherlands, he passed through Aachen and into the lands of the Elector of Cologne where he met up with forces under Duke Johann of Cleves, who added an additional 15,000 men to his army. From Cologne, Johannes turned southward - hoping to drive Charles de Bourbon from Württemberg. In the meanwhile, Phillip of Hesse launched forces in all directions - ranging from 2,000 men into Lower Saxony to 5,000 into Franconia - while personally leading a force of 12,000 east towards Upper Saxony where he hoped to force the Elector of Saxony into the conflict by appealing to Johann Friedrich von Wettin to take up leadership. The Elector Johann proved highly resistant to these overtures, but by September of 1534 he was fading quickly and the rest of the Electoral government began aligning behind his heir. Johann would die on the 4th of October 1534, leading to the ascension of Elector Johann Friedrich I von Wettin of Saxony on the 6th and the Elector's declaration of support for Johannes on the 9th (11). This caused immense chaos amongst the Lutheran principalities and bishoprics who were predominant in north-eastern Germany, with some following the Saxons to war while others were left flailing for security - most important of those to join the war effort would be the two Dukes of Pomerania, Philip and Barnim XI, who joined the war effort primarily to secure their realm against the encroachment of Joachim Nestor and the Ascanian Dukes of Anhalt who were making inroads into Pomerania (11).

King João III Avis of Portugal​

News of Charles presumed death arrived at the Royal Court in Toledo at around the same time as it reached Mechelen, in early June 1534. Over the course of the next two months the Royal Council found itself engulfed in a crisis the likes of which they had rarely seen before, with the council split almost equally between two candidates. When word arrived that Johannes von Oldenburg had decided to press his claim and that much of Germany was descending into bloody warfare the struggle grew even more bitter in the council. The two most powerful figures on the council at that point in time were its president Juan Pardo de Tavera and the Constable of Castile, the 3rd Duke of Frías. While both sides agreed firmly that Johannes was a completely unsuitable candidate for the Spanish throne, there remained two potential candidates. The first of these was Charles IV de Bourbon, who was championed by de Tavera and who hoped to continue the union between the Holy Roman Empire and Spain. His faction consisted primarily of those fundamentally opposed to the French and fiercely advocated for the continued dominance of Castilians in the government of Spain. The second candidate, and the one supported by the Constable of Castile, was King João III of Portugal. The faction who pressed for João III to take the throne were fervently catholic, believing that a pan-Catholic alliance was required to defeat the twin scourges of heresy and paganism which threatened the safety and security of all believers (12).

João, the eldest son of King Manuel I to his second wife Maria of Aragon, had been born in Lisbon on 7 June 1502 and was sworn heir to the throne in 1503, the year his younger sister Isabella of Portugal was born. He was educated by notable scholars of the time, including the astrologer Tomás de Torres, Diogo de Ortiz, Bishop of Viseu, and Luís Teixeira Lobo, one of the first Portuguese Renaissance humanists, rector of the University of Siena and Professor of Law at Ferrara . João was reported to "face problems easily, complementing his lack of culture with a practice formation that he always showed during his reign". In 1514, he was given his own house, and a few years later began to help his father in administrative duties. At the age of sixteen, John was chosen to marry his first cousin, the 20-year-old Eleanor of Austria, eldest daughter of Philip the Handsome of Austria-Burgundy and Queen Joanna of Castile, but instead she married his widowed father Manuel. John took deep offence at this, becoming very melancholic and never quite the same. João would later become fervently religious, giving him the byname of 'the Pious', in part due to this rejection. On 19 December 1521, João was crowned king in the Church of São Domingos in Lisbon, beginning a decades-long reign characterized by intense activity in internal and overseas politics, especially in relations with other major European states. To strengthen his ties with Austria, he married his maternal first cousin Catherine of Austria, younger sister of Charles V and his one-time fiancée Eleanor, in the town of Crato. João III continued to centralize and followed the absolutist politics of his ancestors. He called the Portuguese Cortes rarely and at great intervals: First in 1525 in Torres Novas and second in mid-1534 in Évora, when representatives of the faction who hoped for the Portuguese King to take the Spanish Throne presented their petition that João ascend the Spanish Thrones and join the Iberian Peninsula together under a single Crown (13).

News that the Constable had offered the throne to João shook the Kingdom of Spain to its core, resulting in a complete collapse of relations between the two factions. President Tavera immediately ordered the imprisonment of the Constable, only to learn that the wily man had made his escape the night before. Rushing west, the Duke of Frías would contact the young Duke of Alba who had once served under his father and asked for his support and aid. Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, the 3rd Duke of Alba moved immediately on receiving this message, ordering the muster of forces in southern Spain while reaching out to his cousin the Marquis of Villafranca del Bierzo to muster troops in Galicia. Tavera relied on men like Beltran de la Cueva, the 3rd Duke of Albuquerque, Fernando Ramon Folch, 2nd Duke of Cardona, Juan Alfonso Pérez de Guzmán, brother and regent for the 5th Duke of Medina Sidonia and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, 2nd Marquis of Cañete, who were all prominent Spanish nobles who had found their positions weakened in favor of men like the Constable and Duke of Alba, who had been richly rewarded for their military service (14). As warfare engulfed Spain, it became increasingly clear that Galicia, Leon and western Andalusia were supportive of João and his faction while Aragon, central Castile and eastern Andalusia were predominantly dominated by men supportive of the President of the Royal Council. As the Portuguese armies marched into Spain proper and linked up with their local allies, the situation in southern Italy took a turn for the worse. It was here that the Prince of Pescara, closely aligned with the Duke of Alba and supportive of an effort against the ever more threatening Ottomans, brought Naples firmly into the conflict on the Portuguese side. It seemed certain that southern Italy would turn fully in favor of João until the newly instated Sicilian Viceroy, Ugo de Moncada intervened. Ugo had spent the better part of a decade in French captivity and as a result had developed an intense hatred of all things French, thus when a Spanish faction purporting to represent the pro-Portuguese faction under the Constable and who were supportive of an alliance with France arrived at Catania, Ugo had him publicly flayed to display his displeasure. Declaring that he would rather die than serve a French lickspittle, the Viceroy of Naples crowed loudly in favor of Charles de Bourbon. The course was now set for a cataclysmic collision which would weaken everyone involved (15).

The Battle of Mainz​

Johannes had begun his march down the Rhine by the time Charles de Bourbon and his allies were able to pull together their forces to resist the oncoming assault, during this period the Prince-Bishop of Wurzburg and the Margrave of Ansbach declared in favor of Charles de Bourbon and rushed to support Cardinal Albrecht at Mainz. Johannes' first began facing resistance at Koblenz where the Teutonic Knights who garrisoned the structure and had denounced the secularization of Prussia had proven supportive of the Regent. The Siege of Koblenz would last three weeks, with Johannes directing immense force against the castle, eventually leading to its surrender. This three week long breathing room allowed Charles to neutralize the forces of the Margraviate of Baden, bottling them up in the Black Forest and moving northward to join the army at Mainz. Johannes was forced to leave the Rhine to maneuver around the Rhine Gap, marching east to Limburg before turning south once more. It was in this interval that Charles de Bourbon launched his army northward, resulting in the first major clash of the war being fought on the forested heights crossing the middle Rhine. The Battle of Niederhausen would prove a confused and chaotic clash, with the two armies running into each other without much warning. The battle developed organically, with little input from the two commanders, and came to an end sometime during the evening. Both sides would withdraw from the battlefield with no clear victor or loser. A second clash occurred slightly north of Niederhausen at the equally confused and indecisive Battle of Idstein, coming about as a result of the Regent's push across the heights. With Charles sprawled across the region, Johannes retreated slightly before launching a lighting campaign, handing command of his cavalry to the equally young Prince of Orange, who launched himself in an encircling movement to the east, crossing the heights at Glashütten during the night and placing Charles de Bourbon in a partially encircled position. The veteran commander would withdraw from the area, pulling back to the Rhine around Mainz (16).

The Battle of Mainz would be the first major clash of arms of the war, with both side having a great deal of time to feel out the ground before the battle and with plenty of time to take up positions. Charles de Bourbon was in the weaker position, with the Rhine to his rear and the Main river to his right, leaving him little place to retreat if it became necessary. The initial clashes of the battle would be fought in series of skirmishes on the 3rd and 4th of September, with neither side being able to overcome the other, this failure of either side to emerge in a dominant position was what pushed Johannes to press for a decisive battle on the 5th. The initial struggle would take place on the Regent's left, as cavalry forces under the Margrave of Ansbach and Prince of Orange engaged in a fierce cavalry fight - in a particular innovation for the occasion Johannes had added small groups of mounted arquebusiers who fired into the melee, slowly turning it in Johannes' favor - while the two large infantry forces clashed in a head-on struggle for dominance. Here, the greater number of guns and arquebusiers who had come from the Netherlands led to the grinding conflict slowly turning in Johannes' favor. Seeing the enemy begin to buckle, Johannes committed his reserves in a headlong charge on the easternmost edge of the enemy formation, successfully splintering it. However, Charles de Bourbon was not without his tricks, and was able to stem the tide by personally leading his reserves to close the emerging gap in the line. The grinding conflict continued for hours on end, with the Regent's forces slowly beginning to give way, but as it grew ever darker the men under Johannes feared that Charles would be able to escape across the river in the night. The Prince of Orange finally succeeded in breaking the back of the Regent's cavalry, scattering westward along the Rhine as they rushed to escape, however, when he tried to bring the newly unoccupied cavalry to bear against the Regent he failed, the men preferring to raid the baggage train to the rear of the Regent's army. Night finally fell after 10 hours of constant fighting, with Charles de Bourbon finding himself forced to retreat in the dark, abandoning his artillery and baggage train and crossing the Main river wherefrom he would continue the resistance. Johannes von Oldenburg had won his first major victory of the war, but had paid a horrific price for it. The Battle of Mainz would leave almost 15,000 dead on the field or too wounded to continue the fighting while the remainder of the League army was brought to an exhausted halt. A desultory Siege of Mainz would eventually come to an end when the largely reformist population rose up against the garrison and threw open the gates in late September, where the Elector of Mainz fell into Johannes' hands (17).

The Fall of Mainz would mark the beginning of Johannes' Main Campaign, launched down the eponymous river with the aim of taking Wurzburg and cutting Württemberg off from the rest of the League of Dessau. Thus, Johannes and his army rushed eastward, shadowed by Charles de Bourbon on the southern bank of the river. Frankfurt fell without resistance, as did Hanau and Aschaffenburg, however when Johannes made a crossing of the Main at the bottom of the first bend in the river, he provoked the Battle of Miltenberg. Charles de Bourbon's army had been in rough shape after the Battle of Mainz and had required a great deal of care to enable it to keep up with the rapidly moving Johannes, but when faced with an army trying to ford the River Main, they proved themselves up to the task. Bottling up the crossing army, Charles de Bourbon and his forces fell on Johannes' army in a frenzy. The bitter fighting that ensued led to the defeat and capture of Willem I van Nassau-Dillenberg who had been commanding Johannes' vanguard, while more than 1,500 men perished on the wrong side of the river. However, Willem's sacrifice proved successful in saving the rest of the army which successfully crossed back to the northern bank of the Main. Johannes would find himself forced to turn northward with the river while Charles crossed the short distance to Wurzburg. The final battle of 1534 would be fought outside the gates of Wurzburg, where once again the larger and better armed force under Johannes defeated Charles de Bourbon's increasingly tattered army, with the Regent forced to abandon his army to surrender while he fled across the river once more, eventually making his way to Stuttgart while his ally the Margrave of Ansbach fell back into Bavaria with the remnants of the Rhine army (18). Johannes would winter at Wurzburg, following the progress of the conflict in other theaters, with Philip von Hesse and Elector Johann Friedrich von Wettin having succeeded in driving Duke Johann from Dresden, securing Upper Saxony for Johannes, while Count Christoffer von Oldenburg of Oldenburg, a cousin of Johannes, had led a Netherlander army made up primarily of Frieslanders into Lower Saxony where he successfully defeated Heinrich V Welf of Brunswick-Wölfenbuttel at the Battle of Ottersberg. However, while both Saxon theaters had turned in Johannes' favor, the Elector of Brandenburg had defeated and captured Duke Philip Gryf of Pomerania, while Barnim XI Gryf of Pomerania had been killed at the Battle of Stettin, and the Brandenburg Elector was preparing for an offensive into Upper Saxony, though old Joachim Nestor found his health ever more precarious and relied increasingly on his oldest son and Johannes' cousin, Joachim II Hector von Hohenzollern (19).

In the meanwhile the conflict in Spain turned fully in the Portuguese favor following a string of victories under the Duke of Alba and the defeat of the Duke of Cardona at the Battle of Andùjar. However, several attempts by the Constable of Castile and his Portuguese allies to capture Toledo ended in failure and defeat, with the two Battles of Talavera de la Reina, the Battle of Gálvez and the Battle of Madrid all ending in favor of the President of the Royal Council, Grand Inquisitor Tavera. It would take until the new year before the Portuguese fully gained the upper hand. In a series of secret negotiations, King Francis I of France and King João III of Portugal worked out the basis for a Franco-Portuguese alliance, with the King of France promising support and aid in the Avis' ambitions for the Spanish Empire. This alliance would culminate in the marriage of João's sister Isabella to King Francis I of France in March 1535 while Francis' third son Charles de Valois would be betrothed, and eventually married to, João's youngest sister and the daughter of Eleanor von Habsburg, Maria Avis, the Duchess of Viseu - both of whom were forced to sign over their right to inherit the future Iberian thrones. French forces under the Marshals de Montmorency and Lautrec crossed into Aragon by April, with the remaining support for Charles de Bourbon collapsing by June. João would parade through Toledo in a triumphal progress before being crowned King of Castile and Aragon. The Iberian Union had now been formed, though whether it would be able to retain its grip on power in all the distant parts of its Colonial and Mediterranean Empire would remain in question for years to come (20).

Wilhelm IV von Wittelsbach, Duke of Bavaria​

When the winter of 1534-35 came to an end and the campaigning season started up once more, Johannes stood ready to launch an assault southward which would break the back of Charles de Bourbon's resistance in Württemberg. Having spent the winter with his army, undergoing intense drills and planning for the coming campaign, he struck south like lightning the moment the roads in southern Germany opened up. Racing south, he shocked the League of Dessau when he captured Ansbach by surprise and launched himself westward towards Stuttgart before the Regent's allies could react. Charles de Bourbon martialed what forces he could scramble together and marched to face Johannes only to experience a devastating defeat at the Battle of Gaildorf. Charles himself would make his escape eastward, meeting up with Dukes Ludwig and Wilhelm von Wittelsbach of Bavaria, the Margrave of Ansbach and the Archbishop of Salzburg at Gunzburg on the Danube. Württemberg meanwhile crumbled before Johannes' assault, cities and nobles declaring for the young Oldenburg. Eleanor von Habsburg and her daughter were caught trying to flee eastward while Charles IV de Bourbon was successfully smuggled into Bavaria. Johannes would treat his aunt and cousin kindly, dispatching them to Mechelen under a close guard, but otherwise according them all due respect reserved for the aunt and cousin of an Emperor. By the time Johannes was able to turn eastward once more, he had been joined by the forces of the Margrave of Baden and the Elector Palatine, the latter of whom would marry Anne von Württemberg as part of Johannes' efforts to strengthen his allies' grip on southern Germany, receiving generous land grants in the Duchy of Württemberg but not the Duchy itself. On the 18th of May 1535 the allied forces of the Regency at Gunzburg launched themselves westward with an army numbering almost 40,000 (21).

The Battle of Göppingen, fought on the 29th of May, would initiate half a year of near-constant warfare across the length and breadth of Swabia and Bavaria, which came to an end in the Battle of Münich on the 3rd of December 1535. Over the course of this half-year tens of thousands would give their lives in some of the largest confrontations of the war fought yet. The Battle of Göppingen had initially turned in favor of the Regency, with Johannes driven into a disastrous retreat, before a countercharge by the Prince of Orange destabilized the enemy positions and broke the back of their advance allowing Johannes to regroup near Stuttgart. The Battle of Stuttgart would see the Regent's assault repelled and begin the turn back in Johannes favor, with the Battles of Geisling, Ulm and Senden succeeding in driving the Regency back into Bavaria and resulting in the death of the Margrave of Ansbach at Ulm. Intense fighting around Augsburg would ensue when Johannes broke the Siege of Augsburg, commanded by Ludwig von Wittelsbach, only for Johannes to find himself driven to take refuge in the city following the Battle of Königsbrunn. The Second Siege of Augsburg would last for more than a month, from the 18th of August to the 22nd of September, but would be broken in a major sally. The Battle of Augsburg occurred three days later when reinforcements under Duke Wilhelm von Wittelsbach were defeated in detail and a gravely wounded Wilhelm was captured. Wilhelm would die a week later, leading to the succession of his young son Albrecht V in Münich. The month of October would see both sides reinforced and regrouped before they launched themselves at each other once more. The following Battles of Maisach, Olching and Dachau would see a seesawing of power back and forth between the two leaders, with Johannes eventually breaking through at Dachau near the end of the month. The Battle of Münich and Siege of Münich would follow soon after, with Duke Ludwig von Wittelsbach killed in the fighting while the increasingly exhausted Charles de Bourbon made his escape. Münich would fall to Johannes on the 3rd, bringing to an end the conflict between Charles and Johannes, the former of whom would flee to Poland-Lithuania with his son soon after (22). The fighting elsewhere in Germany during 1535 proved just as brutal and grueling, though not nearly as favorable to Johannes. Joachim Nestor passed away on the 11th of July 1535, leaving his son Joachim II Hector to take up leadership. Joachim Hector led a spirited campaign which successfully defeated both the Elector of Saxony and the Landgrave of Hesse in a series of battles culminating in the decisive Battle of Jüterburg which left the road to Wittenberg open, while strengthening Heinrich V of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel to better resist his enemies. By the time news arrived of the series of defeats experienced by the League of Dessau and the Regent in southern Germany, the northern half of the conflict seemed to be turning firmly in Dessauer favor. However, with Charles de Bourbon's abandonment of Germany their putative cause for war had disappeared. It was for these reasons that Joachim II Hector von Hohenzoller reached out to his cousin Johannes von Oldenburg to negotiate an end to the conflict (23).

Negotiations between the League of Dessau and the League of Leuven were initiated in Vienna under the auspices of Empress Anna Jagiellonica. Over the course of four months, from February till late May 1536, the two leagues went through intense discussions on the continued course of events as it tried to resolve the many issues which had led to the conflict in the first place. First, all the participants issued a condemnation of Anabaptism and denounced the Münster Revolt and any attempt at recreating it, in an effort to find common ground. The next issue would prove to be Joachim Hector's younger brother Johann, who had lost his inheritance to his older brother in its entirety. The resolution to this issue would ultimately come when Johannes proposed that Johann von Hohenzollern could succeed his heirless distant cousin as Margrave of Ansbach with the former Margrave's daughter Sabina being betrothed to Johann's new-born son Johann II von Hohenzollern, while Joachim Hector would give up the Altmark to his brother in return for the Duchy of Pomerania-Stettin - resolved by marrying Joachim Hector's young son and heir Johann Georg to Barnim's oldest daughter Maria Gryf. Philip Gryf of Pomerania-Wolgast would be compensated financially by Joachim Hector for the loss of family lands. With the Brandenburg Crisis half-way resolved, the issue now turned to the Duchy of Saxony where the Duke Johann had fled into exile in Poland alongside Charles de Bourbon, where he would die in 1537, while Johann's younger brother Friedrich had been killed in the fighting. This brought the Lutheran Heinrich I von Wettin to the Ducal Throne. The tensions between the two branches of the Wettin family were brought to a temporary close through the marriage of Johann Friedrich's sister Margaret to Heinrich von Wettin's heir Maurice, alongside several minor border adjustments in an effort to resolve some of the many causes for conflict which had plagued Upper Saxony for decades. Next came the issue of the Elector of Mainz, who would eventually be released in return for his promise to support Johannes von Oldenburg, with little bad blood between the two. The young Duke of Bavaria, Albrecht V von Wittelsbach, would find both himself and his sister Mechthild taken as wards by Johannes, with the administration left to Anna Jagiellonica as part of a wider agreement culminating in the betrothal of Maria Philippa to Johannes von Oldenburg - fully securing the Oldenburg dynasty's position as Imperial successors to the Habsburgs (24).

The Imperial Electors would meet at Frankfurt on the 18th of July 1536 for the election of the next Holy Roman Emperor to intense anticipatory celebration from the reformed populace of the city. Men from across the empire streamed to Frankfurt in preparation for the election of the first Reformed Holy Roman Emperor in history. One by one the Electors were called forward by the Elector of Mainz to declare their vote, with Friedrich II of the Palatine being the first to vote for Johannes von Oldenburg. He was followed by the Elector of Trier, the Elector of Brandenburg, the Elector of Cologne and the Elector of Saxony. When King Lajos was called to announce his vote he saw little reason to oppose his nephew-by-marriage's election and voted for Johannes as well. With the Elector of Mainz's vote, Johannes von Oldenburg had been elected King of the Romans unanimously. On the 9th of September 1536, Johannes I von Oldenburg was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in the Aachen Cathedral by Hermann von Wied, Elector of Cologne with both the Electors of Trier and Mainz assisting him. However, during the ceremonies surrounding the coronation there were several departures from established practice, when asked if he would defend the Holy Faith he declared that he would, when asked if he would defend the Holy Church he declared that he would Defend God's Church, when asked if he would defend the Kingdom he declared in the affirmative, when asked if he would maintain the laws and traditions of the Empire he declared that he would do so, when asked if he would maintain justice he loudly declared that he would. However, on the final question, if he would show submission to the Pope, Johannes broke with all precedent, declaring loudly that he would not. This clear declaration against the Pope would reverberate through Germany and would see joyous celebrations break out across the Empire, while the remaining catholic nobles were left to quietly grouse and plot. Johannes was then anointed, draped in imperial vestments, handed the imperial sword and ring, scepter and orb before being crowned with the Imperial Crown. A new day dawned on the Holy Roman Empire, one under a reformed Emperor who was prepared to trumpet his religion and authority for all to see and a man who had proved himself dozens of times in battle already. Johannes I was only eighteen at his coronation and now stood ready to reshape the world in his image (25).

Summary:

The Empire is increasingly split between two contenders for Charles' succession, Johannes von Oldenburg and Charles de Bourbon.

Charles von Habsburg is lost at sea, initiating a struggle for his family's inheritance which will tear his domains apart.

Portugal enters the conflict in a bid to absorb the Spanish half of Charles' domains, resulting in a year-long civil war.

Johannes von Oldenburg and Charles de Bourbon struggle for the throne, with Johannes emerging in a dominant position. Portugal emerges victorious in Spain proper, though its wider domains remain in question.

Johannes von Oldenburg triumphs over Charles de Bourbon and is elected Johannes I von Oldenburg, Holy Roman Emperor after rejecting the Pope's control of his domains.

Footnotes:

(1) While Johannes has been given a peerless education he is far from a paragon of virtue as we will see more of later. He has inherited a number of less pleasant traits from his father including, but not limited to, a cruel brutality when he doesn't get his way, a tendency towards autocratic and absolutist beliefs, a vengefulness which will at times blind him to the damage his actions are causing, a disregard for tradition and willingness to sweep away institutions which stand in his way and much else. With all that said, he is going to be a central pillar of the Timeline so I hope people find him interesting.

(2) Johannes is described IOTL in quite glowing terms physically and seems to have shared in the good looks of his parents and siblings, all of whom are noted for their good looks. The important thing to note is that there is a political element to this in the medieval and early modern period because beauty was associated with moral good and godly support. The importance of this lies in the fact that Ferdinand and Charles von Habsburg and many of their descendants were famed for their ugliness. The same could be said of the Valois and Bourbon families, with particularly several of the Bourbons being rather famously ugly - a fact which weakened their rule and left them open to mockery in the propaganda of their enemies. This sounds trivial, but it had significant effects on the perception of rulers and whether they were blessed or cursed by God - with some people attributing ugliness with a lack of divine favor.

(3) As anyone who knows at least a bit about Constantine the Great and his reign, this should set off alarm bells. Johannes will be drawing on Constantine’s relationship with Christianity, style of ruling and much else to determine how he should rule. This should synergize quite well with Johannes’ tendencies towards autocratic rule and will prove fundamental to the development of the Reformation.

(4) Charles de Bourbon is yet another incredible figure who plays a part in this period. He betrayed his King, though for very understandable reasons, and went from being one of the men most closely associated with the King of France to being one of his most hated enemies. Charles himself died during the Sack of Rome in 1527 IOTL, but up until then he had proven himself one of the better commanders of the period, with a significant degree of respect from his men. One of the PoDs which I considered when I first started planning this timeline was having Charles de Bourbon execute his plan to partition the Kingdom of France between the Emperor, King Henry and himself and following the fall-out - but ultimately decided to keep things at least somewhat on track in France to better focus on the Empire. I would love to see someone run with that PoD though, has a lot of potential for fun and chaos.

(5) I really like the flashes of personality you can get from some of the short paragraphs you can find in various history books. For example: In 1517 Eleanor may have had a love affair with Frederick II, Elector Palatine. Her brother Emperor Charles once discovered her reading a love letter from Frederick. Charles forced Eleanor and Frederick to swear in front of an attorney that they were not secretly married, after which he expelled Frederick from court. She followed her brother to Spain in 1517 where she would go on to marry King Manuel. Following Manuel's death she returned to the Imperial Court and was betrothed to Charles de Bourbon in 1523, who died in 1527 at the Sack of Rome. IOTL she later married King Francis as part of the peace treaty which ended the War of the League of Cognac in 1529.

(6) IOTL the Leagues of Dessau and Torgau both formed in this period but quickly dissolved. Here the Leagues are actually even less influential in the first couple of years and have a much smaller membership, but that rapidly starts changing once the Zwinglian Reformation gets rolling.

(7) So to summarize, as Charles V sets sail for the Empire in April 1534, the Empire is engulfed in several prominent crises. First, the Brandenburg Crisis has polarized the political environment and resulted in the merging of the two competing Protestant Leagues into the League of Leuven while both Catholics and Reformed grow more powerful. Second, you have the Münster Rebellion and rapid spread of Anabaptism in north-western Germany and the northern Low Countries - this will be covered in the next update. Third, the Imperial succession was just put into doubt with Johannes von Oldenburg and Charles de Bourbon as the most likely candidates. The stage is now set, all that is missing is something to set things off.

(8) With the number of ships that went down doing trips it is honestly a miracle that more people didn't end up dead. This time Charles is quite a bit more unlucky compared to usual. Some of the fiercest weather conditions of the Atlantic Ocean can be witnessed in the Biscay Bay. The area is home to large storms during the winter months and there have been countless ships wrecks reported from the area as a result of the gruesome weather. The late spring and the early summer in the area are cool and cloudy and large fog triangles fill the south-western part of the inlet. The weather in the Bay of Biscay is the most vital thing to be worried and talked about. As winters begin, the weather turns harsh and severe. Depressions are formed and enter the bay from the west. They eventually dry out and are born again in form of thunderstorms. They also bring in constant rain in the region often bringing thunderstorm that look like hurricane and crash at the bay. The Bay of Biscay has always been feared by the seamen. There have been several incidents reported of merchant vessels loosing direction in Biscay storms. At few instances lives have been lost as a result. However, with improved ships and other amenities, the accidents have been reduced to considerable amounts. Ships going to the Mediterranean chose options like the French river rather than taking the route from Biscay Bay due to the legendary reputation of the bay. Many times, the Atlantic swells form near the coasts and often make many ports inaccessible. All of this contributes to why I think this course of events should be plausible.

(9) Charles accomplished much the same consolidation in the Pragmatic Sanctions of 1549 IOTL. Here Johannes is able to use his and his family's popularity in the region to gain their financial, military and political support. The title of Heer der Nederlands was only held by Charles had his son Philip IOTL, but here it becomes one of the foundation blocks on which Johannes rests his claim to the Habsburg inheritance. Don't doubt for a moment that both Isabella and Johannes aren't exploiting this situation to the fullest and are culpable in the conflict from start to finish, but it should be mentioned that if they didn't go for broke here they could very well have ended up kicked out or dead. The religious situation has become so tense at this point in time that the active position taken by the Oldenburgs could be considered as self-preservation. Do note that Charles de Bourbon is explicitly opposed to the Oldenburgs on several levels.

(10) I hope this is understandable, but here is a breakdown either way. Johannes: the Netherlands, Hesse, northern Rhineland, Baden, Cologne and Trier. Charles: Württemberg, Bavaria, Brandenburg, Anhalt, Mainz and Salzburg. Contested: Lower Saxony, Upper Saxony (Ducal Saxony is pro-Charles, Electoral Saxony is hesitantly pro-Johannes) and Franconia. Neutral: Austria. Not mentioned here is that France and Bohemia-Hungary are tentatively supportive of Johannes while Denmark-Norway, Sweden and Poland-Lithuania are tentatively supportive of Charles - though none of them are active participants at this point, and that the Imperial Cities are largely in favor of Johannes.

(11) The Elector Johann lives two years longer ITTL and dies at a particularly opportune time, bringing the more hot-headed and idealistic Johann Friedrich to the throne. The struggles between the Pomeranian Dukes, the Elector of Brandenburg and the Ascanian dukes of Anhalt are based on OTL and their struggles played out in precisely this period.

(12) Given the size and diversity of Charles V's domains and the confusion surrounding who should succeed him leads to a variety of figures emerging as potential successors. However, the three we have now been introduced to are going to remain the ones who are in contention. Thus the Empire is split between Johannes and Charles while Spain is split between Charles and João. The factions in Spain are a mish-mash of existing factional allegiances and interest from OTL and new ones from TTL.

(13) João was an immensely important and influential ruler in Portugal, presiding over one of their largest and most extensive expansions. He was directly involved in almost all major political issues in Europe at the time and seems to have been quite competent in the bargain. He would seem to be an obvious candidate for the Spanish throne here.

(14) These are all prominent Spanish Grandees who have seen their star wane in parallel to the rise of Fernando de Toledo, Fernando d'Avalos and the Duke of Frías. They also happen to represent a good portion of the Aragonese nobility who are convinced that they will find themselves dominated by a Castillo-Portuguese elite who will prefer to focus on colonial affairs rather than protecting Aragonese domains in the Mediterranean.

(15) Keep in mind that Charles V transferred a lot of resources to southern Italy because of significant worries that an Ottoman invasion is imminent. Now those resources are being turned on their own countrymen and causing a great deal of devastation. Ugo de Moncada is also launching countless raids on the Neapolitan coast to weaken it in preparation for an invasion. This really couldn't happen at a worse time for the Spanish in the region.

(16) Thus the struggle for the Imperial crown begins. I realize that there are others who could make a bid for the post as Holy Roman Emperor, but at this point everyone is lining up behind either Johannes or Charles. Johannes is very young and very inexperienced, relying on older men like Willem van Nassau-Dillenberg (OTL's father of Williem the Silent, Prince of Orange) and the Prince of Chimay, however young men like Wilhelm de la Marck and René van Nassau-Breda also play a very large role.

(17) This is a very important turning point in the conflict. The capture of Albrecht von Hohenzollern, the Elector of Mainz begins Johannes' steady climb and secures the Rhine fully for his faction. Albrecht was always the most conflicted of the members of the League of Dessau, being quite close to his young nephew Johann but also tied by blood to Joachim Nestor who is one of the most competent and powerful of the members of the League of Dessau. Charles de Bourbon is now firmly on the back foot.

(18) This is when many consider Johannes to have taken the upper hand in the conflict, though the loss of Willem I proves a large loss for Johannes' command structure. The fall of Wurzburg firmly begins the enclosure of Württemberg and puts Charles de Bourbon in an amazingly bad position.

(19) We now begin to see the shape of the wider conflict, with the north-west and west falling ever more firmly into Johannes' hands while the North-east is lost, South-east is firmly Dessauer and the East is under threat. The death of Barnim XI is particularly important because he leaves behind only daughters to succeed him, with the closest male claimant being the captured Philip I of Pomerania-Wolgast.

(20) This is a major blow to the status quo and means that all of western Europe is united behind the French leadership of Francis I and Catholicism. However, as we will come to see the situation is far from secure and there are myriad threats to the stability and security of the newly established Iberian Union. The marriage of Francis I to Emperor Charles' OTL wife Isabella of Portugal finally plays out while the marriage of Maria of Viseu to Charles de Valois, the soon-to-be Duke of Angoulême will have consequences for the future.

(21) Here the fighting turns firmly against Charles de Bourbon, who has been on the back foot the entire conflict. I hope that I have shown that he isn't an incompetent, he is just facing a better armed, stronger and more prepared enemy who was able to exploit an early advantages to secure his position even further. However, Charles is now at the head of the largest force he has been able to martial yet and is prepared to make the attempt at defeating Johannes.

(22) This is the worst fighting of the war, seesawing back and forth across half of Germany. Beyond the more than a dozen battles there are countless skirmishes, raids and ambushes which make up this conflict. The speed with which all of this occurs is illustrative of the lack of modern fortifications in the region and the reason why there are still field battles being fought here rather than a series of sieges. That said, modern fortifications from Italy are increasingly making their presence known, particularly in the southern Low Countries, and will begin to play a major role in coming conflicts.

(23) Johannes could have continued fighting here, but there really isn't much point. Joachim II Hector is willing to negotiate and even has reformed sympathies himself, though they haven't fully manifested yet, while most other parts of Germany have ended up firmly in Johannes' grasp. Rather than continue to spill blood, Johannes opens negotiations with his cousin, bringing an end to the conflict.

(24) The Altmark is the relatively rich westernmost part of Brandenburg and serves as compensation for Johann von Hohenzollern's lost inheritance. The fact that Brandenburg gets access to the sea more than makes up for the cost of giving this up and secures the long held ambitions of the Hohenzollern to connect their Margraviate to the sea. The Wettin feud comes to a temporary end with the succession of the protestant branch of the Albertine Wettins while Johannes secures the hand of Maria Philippa von Habsburg in a consolidation of his claim to the Habsburg inheritance. This marriage means that there are few who challenge Johannes' right to succeed his uncle. The loss of Spain does hurt, but given the widely divergent religious paths the two factions are on a split here is likely for the better of both. That said, there are still a lot of unresolved issues including the Spanish colonies in the New World and the continuing struggle between Ugo de Moncada and the Prince of Pescara in southern Italy which will be the focus of update twelve.

(25) This is based on the OTL oath of office taken by Holy Roman Emperors-Elect at Aachen. The repudiation of papal supremacy marks the clear shift from Catholic to Reformed Holy Roman Empire. I really hope that people find all of this plausible, I have tried to explain every step of the way how we came to this point. Charles lost control of the Papacy when the Battle of Pavia failed to occur. His family was slighted by Henry VIII, King Francis and Pope Clement when Henry repudiated Katherine of Aragon leading to an outpouring of outrage from both protestant and catholic printing presses aimed against the papacy. This is the culminating of more than ten years of propaganda building on the long history of difficulties experienced by the Emperors when dealing with the Papacy. The Emperor is firmly placed at the center of secular, ecclesiastical and theoretical framework of the Empire, now supplanting the Pope from his position as well. We won't quite see Ceasaro-Papism, but the Imperial Reformed Church, as the Zwinglian reformed faith will become known, now has the central building block needed for an empire-wide Imperial Church with the institutions of the Empire at its heart.

 

[AvatarOfKhaine]

Love this, really lovely massive PoD!

Eagerly await more.

 

[Derekc2]

Cool, the reformed church I presume will also be used by the Oldenburgs to better centralize the HRE. Sad to see what happened to Charles V though.

Also I bet the French are having a sigh of relief because now that the HRE is protestant the Italians are going to be absolutely against the HRE reestablishing authority in Northern Italy. Which means they will support the French regime of Northern Italy.

 

[galileo-034]

Why Francis didn't press his claim on Guelders now Charles V is dead?

 

[Zulfurium]

Love this, really lovely massive PoD!

Eagerly await more.

I am happy to hear it, stick around that there will be plenty more where that came from.

Cool, the reformed church I presume will also be used by the Oldenburgs to better centralize the HRE. Sad to see what happened to Charles V though.

Also I bet the French are having a sigh of relief because now that the HRE is protestant the Italians are going to be absolutely against the HRE reestablishing authority in Northern Italy. Which means they will support the French regime of Northern Italy.

The Reformed Church (What will become known as the Imperial Reformed Church or the Imperial Creed) will play a very significant role moving forward and will be a very important tool in the hands of the Oldenburgs, no doubt about it. The next update will deal with all of the developments within the Reformation since 1527, when we last took a look at it. It will bring us around to events within Anabaptism - most importantly the Münster Rebellion which happens concurrently with the War of Habsburg Inheritance, the developments within Lutheran and Zwinglian Churches, the arrival of Calvin in the Swiss Confederacy and the post-war developments of 1537 in the Empire.

The French have a much better grip on northern Italy following the rise of a Reformed Empire, but there are a lot of things happening at the same time in precisely this period which will cause immense problems and difficulties.

Why Francis didn't press his claim on Guelders now Charles V is dead?

First of all, the French focus their efforts on securing Spain for the time being, but there is a very major and very good reason for why France doesn't go directly to war with the Empire right now. All of that will be addressed in update twelve where a ton of really interesting events occur which I can't wait to see people react to.

I really don't want to spoil anything here, I think I will leave it at the statement that something else almost as big as a Reformed Holy Roman Empire is happening at the same time which requires all of France's focus. There should be some hints at what it could be, since I have been refering to the events surrounding this thing on a consistent basis since the start of the timeline.

Finally, the French claim on Guelders is not upheld under Imperial Law to my knowledge. At least it wasn't as soon as Charles got around to pushing it through the Imperial courts. The French honestly don't care all that much about Guelders, they would much rather have Artois and Flanders - both of which they also have a claim to.

 

[Derekc2]

I also wonder how long the tensions between the reform HRE and the anababtist Hungary-Bohemia will last until they broil over as the HRE protestants will no longer really have to worry about catholics in the HRE oppressing them and so they can turn to the factions that they really hate, such as Anababtists. Though they make take longer than expected because they'll have to start worrying about catholics from out of the empire attacking them such as France.

Also I wonder how the Low county backed Spanish conquistadors are going to do once word gets to them that their backers are protestants and are not Spain.

 

[Zulfurium]

I also wonder how long the tensions between the reform HRE and the anababtist Hungary-Bohemia will last until they broil over as the HRE protestants will no longer really have to worry about catholics in the HRE oppressing them and so they can turn to the factions that they really hate, such as Anababtists. Though they make take longer than expected because they'll have to start worrying about catholics from out of the empire attacking them such as France.

Also I wonder how the Low county backed Spanish conquistadors are going to do once word gets to them that their backers are protestants and are not Spain.

I will get into all of this a lot more in the next update, but the thing to keep in mind is that the Catholics still have significant, though shrinking, noble support. That the rural populace remains widely Catholic. That there are plenty of Anabaptists in the Empire despite the repression, most importantly the Melchiorites who we will get into next update. And finally, that the switch to reformed church has only just happened and that the governing structure remains catholic for the time being. There are so many different challenges that need to be addressed within the Imperial Church framework ranging from what role people like Zwingli and Melanchthon hold to what to do about all the prince-bishoprics. Further, the Anabaptists consist of many different factions so the Hubmaierists might not care all that much if a Müntzerite or Melchiorite is put to the torch and vice-versa. Hubmaierism isn't very influential in the Empire, so it isn't as much of a threat as some other forms of Anabaptism, Catholicism, rival reformed-churches (Lutherans and anti-Zwinglian Swiss at the moment, but with Calvin joining in there) and much more.

This second part is exactly what I was refering to previously. This will be addressed in update thirteen, but all I can say is that Castilians and Portuguese don't play well, Cortés was being hounded by his enemies in Spain, Mexico and in the Caribbean and Pizarro might not have too strong a grip on his men - they could be the determining factor in what happens with the expedition.

 

[Unknown]

Good update; congrats at reaching 100k words.

This looks to be as good as your first TL, which was great in its own right...

Might the HRE have New World colonies ITTL?

Waiting for more...

 

[Derekc2]

That is true, but I was not talking immediately but in the future when the situation in the HRE stabilizes and they may start looking to kick the Hungarians out of Bohemia, which is considered part of the HRE officially. Though that will likely take a while before they feel comfortable doing that.

I also imagine the Danish Oldenburgs are quietly freaking out because their cousins are now in charge of the HRE and are out for revenge. Their primary hope is probably allying with the French and/or hoping that the consolidation of the Habsburg Oldenburgs (I'm calling them this because they're descended from the Habsburgs and they inherited the Habsburg lands in the HRE) takes long enough that by the time they're done they don't really have an interest in pushing their inheritance of Denmark.

Also would it be accurate to state that the Oldenburg-Habsburgs are going to base their administration out of Mechelen?

 

[Zulfurium]

Good update; congrats at reaching 100k words.

This looks to be as good as your first TL, which was great in its own right...

Might the HRE have New World colonies ITTL?

Waiting for more...

Happy to hear you are enjoying it. The HRE will get involved in the colonial game much earlier than IOTL, other than that I will leave it to speculation.

That is true, but I was not talking immediately but in the future when the situation in the HRE stabilizes and they may start looking to kick the Hungarians out of Bohemia, which is considered part of the HRE officially. Though that will likely take a while before they feel comfortable doing that.

I also imagine the Danish Oldenburgs are quietly freaking out because their cousins are now in charge of the HRE and are out for revenge. Their primary hope is probably allying with the French and/or hoping that the consolidation of the Habsburg Oldenburgs (I'm calling them this because they're descended from the Habsburgs and they inherited the Habsburg lands in the HRE) takes long enough that by the time they're done they don't really have an interest in pushing their inheritance of Denmark.

Also would it be accurate to state that the Oldenburg-Habsburgs are going to base their administration out of Mechelen?

Once the HRE stabilizes, they will be looking at Bohemia quite seriously - though for the time being the Hungarian Jagiellons are the closest thing to an ally Johannes has. That said, how long that remains the case is an open question and I have a number of things planned for the Hungarian and Polish Jagiellons in the future, though it will be quite a while before we get back to particularly the Hungarians.

The Danish Oldenburgs are shitting a brick right now, as are the Vasa, but both of them are in the problematic position that they are members of the Lutheran Reformed Church and have few people willing to stick their necks out for them. I am personally more inclined towards the Imperial Oldenburgs, but Habsburg-Oldenburgs works as well. Keep in mind that Christian III has imprisoned Johannes' father at Sønderborg, something that Johannes has sworn to avenge, so there is plenty of reason to start scrambling in Denmark-Norway.

The Imperial Oldenburgs are basing themselves out of Mechelen which is starting to take on characteristics of a city in itself. Mechelen lies almost precisely between Antwerp and Brussels - the first is the economic center of the Netherlands while the latter is the political center - with Mechelen taking on a more pan-Imperial position.

Johannes' goals right now are the creation of a proper Imperial Church and the stabilization of the Empire before he turns outward. That said, most of his immediate enemies have been crushed and the remaining Catholic opposition is either too weak or related to Johannes, so the entire situation is much easier than it might have been.

 

[Derekc2]

The Danish Oldenburgs and the Vasa if they are smart should at this point start thinking about working together, because no matter how much they hate each other they really should fear the Habsburg-Oldenburgs and the threat they pose more. I however can easily see France, which IOTL worked with the protestant princes in the HRE somewhat during this period to hamstring the Habsburgs, working with the Nordic protestants to try and surround the HRE. They could justify that by pointing out the Habsburg-Oldenburgs and the HRE is ultimately a bigger problem than the weak protestant kingdoms of Scandinavia and that they're being pragmatic if the Papacy questions them about it.

Also the Danish Oldenburgs should probably send Christian II back to his son in the hopes that'll appease the Habsburg-Oldenburgs enough for them not to be seriously gunning for them. Even if that doesn't work, it'll at least take a way a cause belli for the Habsburg-Oldenburgs against them.

Also I imagine that the entire HRE falling into heresy is going to start causing a large segment of the Catholic hierarchy to start clamoring for a proper church council in earnest to deal with the protestants now that they are in control of one of the main powers of Europe and must now be acknowledged as a major threat to the Catholic Church.

 

[vandevere]

The Danish Oldenburgs and the Vasa if they are smart should at this point start thinking about working together, because no matter how much they hate each other they really should fear the Habsburg-Oldenburgs and the threat they pose more. I however can easily see France, which IOTL worked with the protestant princes in the HRE somewhat during this period to hamstring the Habsburgs, working with the Nordic protestants to try and surround the HRE. They could justify that by pointing out the Habsburg-Oldenburgs and the HRE is ultimately a bigger problem than the weak protestant kingdoms of Scandinavia and that they're being pragmatic if the Papacy questions them about it.

Also I imagine that the entire HRE falling into heresy is going to start causing a large segment of the Catholic hierarchy to start clamoring for a proper church council in earnest to deal with this massive problem.

This could wind up making the Thirty Years War look like a spring walk in the park...

 

[Derekc2]

This could wind up making the Thirty Years War look like a spring walk in the park...

Nah, the HRE in this case isn't going to be going through a massive civil war that slaughtered about a fourth of Germany's population. I honestly can't see any religious wars ITTL topping that, not with the Catholic opposition of the Empire decisively broken. Instead they'd "merely" would have to worry about foreign invasions based on religious fanaticism.

Also I imagine that the French monarchy are going to use the fact the HRE is now decidedly protestant as further propaganda against the protestants of France to claim they're "agents of the Empire" when they start really start the Counter-Reformation in earnest.

 

[Practical Lobster]

Well, here goes Europe...

 

[Zulfurium]

The Danish Oldenburgs and the Vasa if they are smart should at this point start thinking about working together, because no matter how much they hate each other they really should fear the Habsburg-Oldenburgs and the threat they pose more. I however can easily see France, which IOTL worked with the protestant princes in the HRE somewhat during this period to hamstring the Habsburgs, working with the Nordic protestants to try and surround the HRE. They could justify that by pointing out the Habsburg-Oldenburgs and the HRE is ultimately a bigger problem than the weak protestant kingdoms of Scandinavia and that they're being pragmatic if the Papacy questions them about it.

Also the Danish Oldenburgs should probably send Christian II back to his son in the hopes that'll appease the Habsburg-Oldenburgs enough for them not to be seriously gunning for them. Even if that doesn't work, it'll at least take a way a cause belli for the Habsburg-Oldenburgs against them.

Also I imagine that the entire HRE falling into heresy is going to start causing a large segment of the Catholic hierarchy to start clamoring for a proper church council in earnest to deal with the protestants now that they are in control of one of the main powers of Europe and must now be acknowledged as a major threat to the Catholic Church.

The main problem with the French allying with Lutherans ITTL is that King Francis has been setting himself up as the Defender of the Church and as the main supporter of the church, as compared to OTL where he allied with the Ottomans and Protestants. ITTL it simply isn't feasible for Francis to support the Danish Oldenburgs or the Vasa - it would do too much damage to his relations with the church. And again, there is a big thing happening at this point in time which is drawing most of France's attentions away from the Empire. That said, the Danish Oldenburgs and the Vasa are in talks to develop some sort of alliance against the Emperor but that will take some time.

Christian II is seen as too much of a threat to let return to the Empire. Further, he is viewed as a warmonger and a general threat to Danish security which is why they can't let him go. Even if it removed one casus belli, there is nothing to stop Johannes from retaking his homeland and the throne he views as rightfully his.

The fall of the Holy Roman Empire to heresy will send shockwaves through the Catholic Church and a proper church council to resolve those tensions is in the works, but there are a number of issues which mean it will take some time to arrange. Most importantly, Pope Clement is on his last legs.

This could wind up making the Thirty Years War look like a spring walk in the park...

Derekc has it right here. The civil war in the HRE ended within two years and with nothing like the losses of OTL's 30YW. I think a better comparison would be the Schkmaldik War, with the Emperor sweeping all resistance before him. The important thing to note is that fortifications are largely medieval in nature across much of Germany at this point in time and as such battles rather than sieges predominate - leading to much quicker resolutions to the conflict.

Nah, the HRE in this case isn't going to be going through a massive civil war that slaughtered about a fourth of Germany's population. I honestly can't see any religious wars ITTL topping that, not with the Catholic opposition of the Empire decisively broken. Instead they'd "merely" would have to worry about foreign invasions based on religious fanaticism.

Also I imagine that the French monarchy are going to use the fact the HRE is now decidedly protestant as further propaganda against the protestants of France to claim they're "agents of the Empire" when they start really start the Counter-Reformation in earnest.

Reformists in France are not going to have a fun time, but there are several key factors which hold Francis back from really moving against protestants. Namely, both his sister and daughter-in-law are highly protective of reformers and are the dominant forces at the French court at this point in time. The arrival of the portuguese princesses leads to an important shift in this regard, but at this point in time the upper nobility is largely excluded from the persecutions as long as they are a bit circumspect about their beliefs. The same cannot be said of the lower classes. The accusation that reformers or allies of reformers are agents of the empire or the like will play a role in the future, but once again - there are things happening right at this point in time which push much of this to the backburner.

Well, here goes Europe...

Europe is in for a fun time and I really look forward sharing the ideas I have had. I think that there are several of the events I have lined up which will interest people.

 

[Derekc2]

That makes sense. Plus, France is no longer surrounded and isolated because the Empire fell into heresy and can now portray themselves as the loyal defenders of the church against the heretical Germans. That means that France is not nearly as desperate as IOTL to find ways to get out of the Habsburg encirclement.

The situation the HRE finds itself in is certainly less than ideal. With them being one of the few major protestant powers at the moment, they're politically isolate from much of Western Europe. That political isolation is made worse by the ruling dynasty, the Habsburg-Oldenburgs, at the moment having dynastic designs on two other protestant kingdoms which cause them to ally against it. At this point the only ally they really have is Hungary, which is going to be problematic in the long term. Now it's going to be problematic because Hungary also control a large part of what is officially part of the HRE in the Kingdom of Bohemia. Hungary is also becoming increasingly unstable with the main part of the Kingdom and the region Transylvania having a low level civil war that threatens to become a proper civil war. When that happens, I can see the HRE just grabbing Bohemia since the Hungarians are obviously not very powerful allies and also because they're Anababtists, something that is likely another part of the underlying tension that is threatening to rip their alliance by necessity apart.

I also wonder what Poland-Lithuania is doing now that it's entire western border is protestant. Are they considering allying with the French once they sort out whatever problems they are having in the immediate short term to encircle the HRE, or are they trying to stay out of the general situation in Europe?

 

[Zulfurium]

The lack of encirclement is really important and is one of the major shifts that this update inaugurated.

The funny thing is that the HRE is in much the same position as France IOTL. They will have to look across religious boundaries for alliances but at the same time the HRE is so large and so powerful that it might just be able to go ahead on its own. The Hungarians don't control the Bohemians, the two just happen to share a monarch. Lajos is actually not that bad of an ally, he has significantly strengthened the monarchy since his ascension and has built a pretty strong base of support in western Hungary and Bohemia. The worry from Johannes' side is that if they make a bid for Bohemia, which he presently has no claim to, it might lead to the collapse of the Jagiellon positions in Hungary which would open the road to the Empire for the Ottomans. The east is all interconnected, with the exception of one power, and as such it is not really a priority at this point in time. Hungary-Bohemia is a vital buffer state between the HRE and the Ottoman Empire, doing something that brings the Ottomans to Germany's gates would be political suicide at this point in time.

The Polish are semi-officially allied with France but are busy with internal strife at the moment - I will get into this in update fourteen. That said, they will have a role to play in the northern European conflict. As stated already, there is a very good reason the French aren't moving against the HRE right now.

 

[Derekc2]

That makes sense. So unless the Hungarians are completely collapsing on their own, keep up the alliance with them because they ensure the HRE is not completely surrounded and keeps the Ottomans away from them. The Hungarians will probably also be helping them in fighting any possible invasions of the HRE from the surrounding catholic powers, because if they go, they're possibly next.

One of the major goals the HRE should have in my opinion as well be having when it stabilizes is taking Calais so that the English would have a far harder time supporting any French invasions of the Low Counties. Also the HRE, if possible, should be trying to find a way to gain enough allies in Northern Italy to kick the French out so that they don't have another possible route into the Empire opened up. Though that is incredibly doubtful to happen with the virulent anti-German sentiments that appeared to had happened in Northern Italy from the Sack of Padua and the HRE going protestant.

Also can't wait to see what is happening in France that is causing such major trouble that they completely ignored the civil war in the HRE.

P.S. In case anyone is getting the wrong idea on what I'm doing in my comments, or I'm giving the wrong impression; I am writing the above not as specific orders to the writer or something like that but as me talking-or in this case writing- out loud to get ideas in my own brain out for the possible development of the future of the timeline. I also apologize in case my comments earlier seemed to be demands or anything like that.