WI: A Kingdom for Charles the Bold

Just like it says on the tin. What if Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III agrees to create the Kingdom of Burgundy, with Charles the Bold as its king? Does this effect who his daughter Mary marries? Does she still marry Archduke Maximilian of Austria, or somebody else? Does the 40-year-old Charles try to father a male heir, instead?
 
One of the conditions of Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg was marriage between his heir Maximilian and the heiress of duke Charles I of Burgundy Mary. So if Charles gets his crown the marriage will have to go through.
 

yourworstnightmare

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One of the conditions of Emperor Frederick III of Habsburg was marriage between his heir Maximilian and the heiress of duke Charles I of Burgundy Mary. So if Charles gets his crown the marriage will have to go through.
It would only mean Mary marries Maximilian earlier than OTL, and of course that the Habsburgs get a royal crown.
 
The problem is a bit Lower than Charles' Head

Yeah pretty much. Suddenly being crowned King of Burgundy/Lothringia is not going to change the fact that Charles' only child is still Mary of Burgundy.

You could possibly get it to make Charles less Bold and thus say it gets him to survive longer, which may give him time to sire a Son, but that isn't Guaranteed and honestly, if 20+ some odd years wasn't enough time, I doubt a few more would help much. Charles, although he died in battle, was 44, it wasn't like he was some rambunctious 20 something cut down before he had a chance to shine.

Without resolving the lack of a male heir, all you've done is give the Hapsburgs yet one more Royal Crown to add to their collection.

ADDENDUM: What it could do, which would be an interesting direction to take this PoD, is get the Division of the Hapsburg Territories to change. Alternatively, if the Maximilian-Mary Marriage is recognized earlier, you might give Max and Mary a stronger position, so they might keep more of the Burgundian Territories.
 
But he does have a brother, a bastard true, but one that was legitimized ( in 85) in otl. The line of Burgundy might survive in him or his issue if Charles lives longer than otl.
 
@ JCVocke: Except when this was negotiated the only Royal title frequently held by a Habsburg was an elective one, the position of king of the Romans. However it wasn't that long ago that the house of Habsburg had lost the thrones of Bohemia & Hungary with the death of Ladislaus the Posthumous. In other words at this point their collection wasn't really large.

@ Arafeel: Charles the Bold had in total 18 recognized bastard siblings. Still legitimized or not, they won't be able to inherit most of the significant parts of the inheritance.
 
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