WI Philip II Marries Maria of Portugal

WI Philip II Marries Maria of Portugal alternate wife for Philip II of Spain. Many people thought Philip would marry the Infanta Maria of Portugal, his cousin. So what would the effects of Philip marrying Maria be? Let's say Maria has an heir to Spain and Portugal. What if?

PS: This also means Philip can't marry Mary I of England.

PPS: Not his first wife Maria Manuela, this is Maria, Duchess of Viseu
 
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There would be an early version of the Iberian Union. Perhaps Phillip will integrate Portugal and Spain in a way he didn't OTL, as there were significant differences in the circumstances of the Unions, as well as the length of time they endured for. Barring that, it falls apart sometime after Phillip's successors muck it up, as they did in OTL.

As far as affects on the rest of Europe, Philip now has the additional weight of the Portuguese empire behind the Spanish. The Italian Wars probably can't go much better than OTL, but now the Catholic League has a whole lot more behind it in France. Perhaps this is enough to supplant Henry IV, perhaps not.
 
There would be an early version of the Iberian Union. Perhaps Phillip will integrate Portugal and Spain in a way he didn't OTL, as there were significant differences in the circumstances of the Unions, as well as the length of time they endured for. Barring that, it falls apart sometime after Phillip's successors muck it up, as they did in OTL.

As far as affects on the rest of Europe, Philip now has the additional weight of the Portuguese empire behind the Spanish. The Italian Wars probably can't go much better than OTL, but now the Catholic League has a whole lot more behind it in France. Perhaps this is enough to supplant Henry IV, perhaps not.

OK HOW would this create an early Iberian Union? Maria was never the heir to the Portuguese throne. Hell with such an early POD as, say 1547, we could easily see the Aviz Dynasty survive. After all, Sebastians.... eccentricities were more of an exception rather than the rule for the Aviz Dynasty. And no, Portuguese support wouldn't make a lick of difference in the French religious wars. After all, the Iberian union already existed when Henri IV became King of France and it didn't make the Catholic league succeed in deposing him. So really this would make little difference, except maybe giving Philip II an older heir.
 
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OK HOW would this create an early Iberian Union? Maria was never the heir to the Portuguese throne. Hell with such an early POD as, say 1547, we could easily see the Aviz Dynasty survive. After all, Sebastians.... eccentricities were more of an acceptation rather than the rule for the Aviz Dynasty. And no, Portuguese support wouldn't make a lick of difference in the French religious wars. After all, the Iberian union already existed when Henri IV became King of France and it didn't make the Catholic league succeed in deposing him. So really this would make little difference, except maybe giving Philip II an older heir.

Ah, truly? My apologies then, it was my impression from the OP that Maria was heir to the throne, and Wikipedia had a dearth of information about her. My thinking with Henry IV was the Philip could give greater support to the Catholic League in the French Wars of Religion, which started in 1562, about 18 years before the Iberian Union. Granted, the League served more to undermine the Catholics in France than anything else OTL, so its a tossup whether increased support is a net negative or positive, but in the early days of the war it would have had the potential to change matters drastically.
 
Ah, truly? My apologies then, it was my impression from the OP that Maria was heir to the throne, and Wikipedia had a dearth of information about her. My thinking with Henry IV was the Philip could give greater support to the Catholic League in the French Wars of Religion, which started in 1562, about 18 years before the Iberian Union. Granted, the League served more to undermine the Catholics in France than anything else OTL, so its a tossup whether increased support is a net negative or positive, but in the early days of the war it would have had the potential to change matters drastically.

The Catholic League wasn't actually created until 1576, at the height of the wars of religion and a mere four years before the Iberian Union was established, so I doubt it would make a real difference either way.
 
The other thing is that the Catholic League and Philip had a highly ambivalent relationship--hell, the League's de facto leaders, the Guises, were old dynastic enemies. Which is one reason why instead of honestly backing the League, Philip tended to move back and forth, regularly making demands that alienated all but the 'anybody but Henri de Bourbon' crowd. (Another reason would be the League's proto-constitutionalism, which Philip found somewhat alarming.) Changing who he's married to doesn't change that--in fact it makes him even less likely to assist them, as instead of having a daughter with Valois blood to put on the throne, he's probably going to be looking at a Lorraine as the League's big candidate. With those as his choices, Philip is likely to view it as trying to figure out which is really the lesser of two evils.
 
The Catholic League wasn't actually created until 1576, at the height of the wars of religion and a mere four years before the Iberian Union was established, so I doubt it would make a real difference either way.

The other thing is that the Catholic League and Philip had a highly ambivalent relationship--hell, the League's de facto leaders, the Guises, were old dynastic enemies. Which is one reason why instead of honestly backing the League, Philip tended to move back and forth, regularly making demands that alienated all but the 'anybody but Henri de Bourbon' crowd. (Another reason would be the League's proto-constitutionalism, which Philip found somewhat alarming.) Changing who he's married to doesn't change that--in fact it makes him even less likely to assist them, as instead of having a daughter with Valois blood to put on the throne, he's probably going to be looking at a Lorraine as the League's big candidate. With those as his choices, Philip is likely to view it as trying to figure out which is really the lesser of two evils.

Well then, I'm going to have to concede the point to obviously superior knowledge.
 
I'm pretty sure this marriage would not be good genetically for the Hapsburgs...

Not much difference between this and any other Spanish Habsburg marriages. Well The groom would be the nephew and the bride the aunt, so the normal order reversed, but other than that pretty much the same.
 
Not much difference between this and any other Spanish Habsburg marriages. Well The groom would be the nephew and the bride the aunt, so the normal order reversed, but other than that pretty much the same.

But the nephew is also her cousin. That's even worse than Maria Manuela(double cousin) and Anna of Austria(niece and first cousin once removed)!
 
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