WI Francis I and Eleanor of Austria have a son.

Eleanor of Austria was the second wife of Francis I of France, according to wiki despite there 17 year marriage "Eleanor was ignored by Francis, who seldom performed his marital obligations and preferred his lover(s)" so WI they had children more importantly at least a son, who can personally or through his descendants inherit the throne after Henry II's line of House of Valois-Angoulême dies out if this occurs like otl.

The marriage went occurred from 1530-1547 this is the timeframe in which the child/ren should be born in.

So if this occurred how would a Europe with a French king that has claims on the Habsburg empire look.:eek:
 
Eleanor of Austria was the second wife of Francis I of France, according to wiki despite there 17 year marriage "Eleanor was ignored by Francis, who seldom performed his marital obligations and preferred his lover(s)" so WI they had children more importantly at least a son, who can personally or through his descendants inherit the throne after Henry II's line of House of Valois-Angoulême dies out if this occurs like otl.

The marriage went occurred from 1530-1547 this is the timeframe in which the child/ren should be born in.

So if this occurred how would a Europe with a French king that has claims on the Habsburg empire look.:eek:

In those first few years, while she's only in her early 30s, still young and one of the most beautiful women in Europe, I can see Francis's libido getting the best of him a few times if Eleanor is more alluring personality-wise (from what I've read she seems to have ignored him just as much as he did to her and mostly just kept to a small circle of friends. During that time they could definately have 2/3 children. Let's say 3, because that gives us the most options. Two sons and a daughter: Joan of France (b.1531), Louis of France, Duke of Angouleme (b.1532) and John of France, Duke of Anjou (b.1534). With these three children you have two younger sons who will definitely try for the hand of Elizabeth I of England. Neither will get her and I see at least one of them marrying a daughter of Ferdinand, Holy Roman Emperor (Magdalena or Margaret would work). Maybe Antoinette of Guise (b.1531) or Renata/Dorothea of Lorraine would be good domestic brides. For Joaan, she'd make a good second bride for Philip II of Spain, maybe before Mary I of England can get him.
 
With a POD in 1530, both the Dauphin François AND his younger brother's deaths CAN be butterflied (although both were marked for death: François by his health that never recovered after Madrid, and Charles due to his massive stupidity - (I mean, who in their right mind has a pillowfight in a plague infested house using the reasoning, "the plague never killed a son of France" and whoops, a few days later he proves that reason wrong).)

As to the French succession, the prospect of civil war might be reduced if Valois-Angoulême's main line dies out. It's rather hard to imagine a prince who's half Habsburg consorting too openly with the Huguenots: I expect he'd get a rather abrasive letter from Madrid or Vienna if they did. That said, at the same time, their protection from Protestant-sympathies (depending on their personalities they could either end up as questionably Catholic as Rudolf II or hardline as Ferdinand II (thus heading the ultra-Catholic party instead of the Guises)) due to their Habsburg blood, makes them equally suspect in regards to them being seen as tools of the Emperor in Paris.

As for a match for Jeanne de Valois, I could see her alternatively taking the place of her cousin, Anna d'Este in Bona Sforza's marriage negotiations for Sigismund II. She'd be French, which Bona wants and palatable to Sigismund I and the Habsburgs because of her Austrian blood.
 
Having a Habsburg mother would change the succession in 1589. If Francis I had a last son with Eleonor of Habsburg, this son if still alive in 1589 or his own son, would be the heir of the throne of France by the Salic Law.

The identity of his mother would probably change nothing for the education and policies of the kingdom of France. This prince would be raised as a french prince and drive a policy conform to the strategic interests of his kingdom.

Louis XIII's wife (the mother of Louis XIV and Philip of Orleans) was a spanish Habsburg.
The wife of Louis XIV was a spanish Habsburg too (which genetically made Louis XIV's descendants more Habsburg than Bourbon).

However, France and Spain were at war against each other for most of the 17th century.

The real value of dynasty politics had become obsolete but it took a very long time before they fully realized that dynastic matches was could no longer match raw political and strategic interests of a country.
 
Top