Preface
This will come as a shock to no one that once again I've begun work on a Habsburgcentric timeline. Perhaps I should be working on my long promised rewrite of
Austria: Never Forget Thy Past with the few free moments I have, perhaps I should be sleeping, but in any case, this project currently holds my interest and attention and I pray that it will until I finish it to my own satisfaction. I must give two very large credits where credit is due. First to Thespitron 6000 and his timeline
A More Personal Union. I have a feeling anyone who plans to read my latest work already follows Thespitron 6000's timeline, however if you currently are not, I highly recommend it.
A More Personal Union sparked my desire to write a second early modern timeline (after
All Hail Germania), especially one involving dynastic struggle. I also must thank DrakeRlugia, who not only helped to spark the basic premise of
What Venus's Gift Hath Wrought but has since read a draft of the first sections and given me infinitely helpful feedback and criticism. His help is greatly appreciated. I can make no promises of where this project will go or when it will end, but I hope those of you who read it, enjoy it.
- IV
Proem
On the union of Austria and Burgundy, symbolized by the marriage of Mary the Rich to Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, Matthias I of Hungary reputedly remarked, “Let others wage war, but thou, O happy Austria, marry; for those kingdoms which Mars gives to others, Venus gives to thee.” The Magyar King’s off-handed comment, later made famous in William Shakespeare’s Magnum opus,
The Passion of Venus [1], however, would prove an insight that remained incredibly accurate and lasting long after his death. The House of Habsburg would find in the decades and centuries succeeding the marriage of Mary and Maximilian that it could use the ties of blood far more effectively than the fire of war. No other European Dynasty would ever be blessed with the prodigious ability to expand its influence through martial diplomacy, though that is not to say others would not try. The French House of Valois attempted to steal a page from their rivals’ playbook and lead Europe into centuries defined by two competing poles, a dynasty on either side. An age that started off defined by wars of religion would rapidly shift to being defined in terms of dynastic and sometimes national identity, with loyalty to the Monarch and State prized above all else and not how one’s Christian faith was practiced. As with centuries past, Princes carried dynastic vitality in their veins, while the right Princess brought with her lands and power. Consequently, power-couples rose and shaped the political landscape of a continent and indeed the world, and their children both expanded and lost their parents' fortunes.
[1] – A dramatization and fictionalization of the rise to power of a certain European Dynasty in England