WI: No Spanish Habsburgs

They would definitely try it. Even in our Timeline they setup a Colonial Company out of Ostend. Just based on Wikipedia it was pretty profitable and carried quite a bit of volume despite being established a century after its main competition.

With the Austrian Habsburgs keeping the entire Netherlands (at least for a time, although I expect any Dutch Revolt that does occur will do so vastly differently) they'll probably be in the initial Colonial Rush. This will rustle some feathers, primarily with England, but without the absolute Behemoth that was Habsburg Spain they will still probably be more willing to work with Austria against France.

And yeah it will probably be flying under both the Habsburg Banner and the banner of whatever Province/City it is located in. I expect it will be referred to as the "Habsburg-Antwerpen Company".
 
I wonder..

Would the Habsburgs even stay in Vienna? Charles V obviously was more interested in his Burgundian possessions, but his son ended up being more Spain-focused. With no 'royal' title to compete (at least initially), who knows? Maybe the heart of Habsburg power moves to the Netherlands... or maybe they split between a Netherlandic and a Austria-Bohemia-Hungary branch.
 
I wonder..

Would the Habsburgs even stay in Vienna? Charles V obviously was more interested in his Burgundian possessions, but his son ended up being more Spain-focused. With no 'royal' title to compete (at least initially), who knows? Maybe the heart of Habsburg power moves to the Netherlands... or maybe they split between a Netherlandic and a Austria-Bohemia-Hungary branch.

Most likely, no, they don't. Vienna is, at this point, an on-again, off-again capital by necessity that the Habsburgs don't even like that much. Charles moves to Brussels--as he frequently considered--Ferdinand, if things go in anyway close the way they went IOTL, moves to Prague, and Vienna remains a moderately important trading city.
 
Do no Spanish Habsburgs mean less incest and we get more capable Austrian and Spanish monarchs?

Actually it means the Austrian incest is worst with less of a pool of high ranking relatives to marry.

But yeah the Spanish monarchs will be better off.
 
Actually it means the Austrian incest is worst with less of a pool of high ranking relatives to marry.

But yeah the Spanish monarchs will be better off.

It's gonna depend on how the *Reformation goes - if it goes anywhere as OTL we'll see the Habsburg gene pool still curve upon itself.

Also, Ferdinand and Isabella were cousins IIRC, and the Trastamaras weren't exactly the pinnacle of genetic diversity in OTL either.
 
Yeah, as regards Spain, the most probable marriages are a lot of Portugal/Castile-Aragon crossings until one side or the other lucks into inheriting the whole shebang. Or they both suffer genetic collapse. Whichever comes first.
 
Yeah, as regards Spain, the most probable marriages are a lot of Portugal/Castile-Aragon crossings until one side or the other lucks into inheriting the whole shebang. Or they both suffer genetic collapse. Whichever comes first.

With a few Habsburgs here and there, and quite possibly a few Tudors if Catherine manages to give ol' Henry VIII a son. That's a big if though. ;)
 
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