WI: Crusades in the 1500s?

My Pope Tamás Bakócz thread (actually Kellan's but never mind) got me thinking about the logistics of crusading in the 1500s. From what I gather, while there were plans for crusades for centuries after the main numbered crusades, they never happened due to the double-whammy of the Italian Wars and the Protestant Reformation.

Assuming the Italian Wars don't happen, or at least don't happen on the scale they did OTL, could a crusade (likely against the Ottomans) happen? Would a TTL pope approving the sale of indulgences for a crusade go over differently compared to the OTL reasons?
 
A different PoD for this could be a successful Varna Crusade—although I’m not exactly sure what would constitute a success there. That “proves” the validity of crusading in the Renaissance era.
 
My Pope Tamás Bakócz thread (actually Kellan's but never mind) got me thinking about the logistics of crusading in the 1500s. From what I gather, while there were plans for crusades for centuries after the main numbered crusades, they never happened due to the double-whammy of the Italian Wars and the Protestant Reformation.

Assuming the Italian Wars don't happen, or at least don't happen on the scale they did OTL, could a crusade (likely against the Ottomans) happen? Would a TTL pope approving the sale of indulgences for a crusade go over differently compared to the OTL reasons?

Meh... There were some kind of 'Crusades' but the initiative was non existent. The Varna Crusade was largely Eastern European. France was not interested, neither was England. Crusades had lost its meaning.

In an alternate TL it won't be too different. A 'Crusade' might happen but don't expect too much enthousiasm. Especially if some nations have nothing to gain from it.
 
A different PoD for this could be a successful Varna Crusade—although I’m not exactly sure what would constitute a success there. That “proves” the validity of crusading in the Renaissance era.

Even that was largely Eastern European and two biggest powers were Poland and Hungary.
 
Someone suggested a pretty good point of divergence for this once, but one possibility would be to have the Spanish spend less of the 16th century focuses on the politics of mainland Europe and more of it focused on making concerted efforts to expand into Northern Africa. They might try to spin this as a Crusade, but other Europeans would probably see this simply as an extension of the Reconquista.
 
My Pope Tamás Bakócz thread (actually Kellan's but never mind) got me thinking about the logistics of crusading in the 1500s. From what I gather, while there were plans for crusades for centuries after the main numbered crusades, they never happened due to the double-whammy of the Italian Wars and the Protestant Reformation.

Assuming the Italian Wars don't happen, or at least don't happen on the scale they did OTL, could a crusade (likely against the Ottomans) happen? Would a TTL pope approving the sale of indulgences for a crusade go over differently compared to the OTL reasons?

It could happen. In 1537 Venice and the papacy planned a large crusade to recapture Constantinople. Emperor Charles V joined the following year, promising to send substantial forces. The Venetian-papal fleet was launched, but it was quickly defeated by the Turks. Charles then backed out of the crusade, leaving Venice to fight alone. Charles conducted three major campaigns that could be considered crusades: in central Europe in 1532 (IIRC, this was mostly done by his brother), against Tunis in 1535, and against Algiers in 1541 (he began planning a Mediterranean crusade against Algiers in 1541, but the Christians abandoned it when their fleet was wrecked in a storm)
 
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