I've been having discussions in a number of other threads about the Dutch revolt, and the subsequent division of the Netherlands between the Dutch Republic and the Spanish/Austrian Netherlands (which ended up becoming Belgium basically).
I'm thinking what if the Burgundian Netherlands was inherited by someone other than the Hapsburgs. Either the House of Valois-Burgundy remains in control, and they convert to protestantism to prevent revolt, or the whole shebang is inherited by a protestant German prince. I'm thinking protestant is necessary to prevent revolt.
Could we see a second Kingdom (second to Bohemia) within the HRE? Would there be difficulty in centralizing these lands into a Kingdom? Once centralization occurs, would they want to separate from the HRE? Or could they be a strong state within the HRE like Prussia?
I'm thinking all of this because it seems to me that Flanders and the Netherlands really "should" be the same state, and the only reason they're not is the history of the Netherlands being inherited by the Habsburgs. I'm thinking the Walloons would be suppressed, assimiliated, and/or driven out in this scenario....