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In 1488, Francis II Duke of Brittany died in a riding accident, leaving his 11-year old daughter Anne as his heiress. Anne, who feared for her Duchy's independence against the ambitions of France, arranged a marriage between herself and Maximilian, who had already married Mary of Burgundy in much the same circumstances in 1477. The Beaujeus refused to countenance such a marriage, however, since it would place Maximilian and his family, the Habsburgs, on two French borders; Brittany was invaded by the French army, Maximilian was unable to help, and Anne of Brittany was forced to renounce Maximilian (whom she had only married by proxy), and agree to be married to Charles VIII instead.
WI Maximilian had arranged to smuggle her somehow out of Brittany and married her formally thus annexing Britanny to the Habsburg Empire? Is this possible? How is this altering History? Any thoughts?
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