Rudolf IV of Austria was pretty much the sort of guy who would lie, cheat and steal his way to the top (which he pretty much did, since he invented the title of archduke to give him parity with the electors after he was denied an electorate; he set his capital of Vienna up as a rival to the imperial capital of Prague, managing to bluff his way into making Vienna the seat of an bishopric in all but name) etc.

He was married to Karl IV's daughter, Katharina, but when Rudolf went with his brother to Milan for said brother's wedding to Viridis Visconti, he caught the plague and died in 1366. He left no children, and his brothers fell to petty dynastic squabbles after his death.

So, what if Rudolf lived? Could he manage to claim his dearest wish, to be emperor, on the death of his father-in-law in 1378? How would Rudolf's survival change Habsburg fortunes?
 
So I'm thinking that when Rudolf comes back from Milan, he and his wife get to making babies. Their first son is born in 1366 or 67.

But not only that, Rudolf's survival would negate a whole lot of backbiting between Rudolf's brothers, who subdivided the Habsburg lands and basically started a rivalry which only ended when the Leopoldine line outlived the male Albertines. Also, Rudolf seems to have been a figurewho could keep his brothers in check.
 
Something interesting I mentioned in a conversation with Zulfurium is that if Rudolf is emperor to follow on Karl IV, Richard II might marry Rudolf's daughter (assuming she's of an appropriate age) rather than Anna of Bohemia, since here, Anna is not the sister to the emperor - which could affect her prospects. I admit, its a big jump from 1366 to 1382, but a Habsburg queen of England makes for an interesting possibility (if not necessarily practical).
 
Sure Rudolf might invented the position of Archduke Palatine, but he did have the right political intuition to do so. I fact giving himself, or rather declaring to keep the privileges his father in law tried to take from his dynasty, was a smart move. Giving his capital an University and laying the groundwork for a bishopric, is just smart dynastic politics the counter the rival Luxembourgs.
Even when not becoming Emperor a more united Habsburg front would be interesting.
 
Something interesting I mentioned in a conversation with Zulfurium is that if Rudolf is emperor to follow on Karl IV, Richard II might marry Rudolf's daughter (assuming she's of an appropriate age) rather than Anna of Bohemia, since here, Anna is not the sister to the emperor - which could affect her prospects. I admit, its a big jump from 1366 to 1382, but a Habsburg queen of England makes for an interesting possibility (if not necessarily practical).

And if such a marriage gives Richard II surviving children that has it's own implications.
 
Something interesting I mentioned in a conversation with Zulfurium is that if Rudolf is emperor to follow on Karl IV, Richard II might marry Rudolf's daughter (assuming she's of an appropriate age) rather than Anna of Bohemia, since here, Anna is not the sister to the emperor - which could affect her prospects. I admit, its a big jump from 1366 to 1382, but a Habsburg queen of England makes for an interesting possibility (if not necessarily practical).

And if such a marriage gives Richard II surviving children that has it's own implications.
Butterflying the Lancaster takeover and the War of Roses, right...
And a daughter of Rudolf and Katharina, if they had any, would be likely around Anne of Bohemia's age (if she is their second or third child a couple of years younger), but considering who when he died Rudolf was 25 years old and Katharina was almost 23 why do not let them starting to have children before his journey to Milan?
 
Rudolf was 25 years old and Katharina was almost 23 why do not let them starting to have children before his journey to Milan?

IIRC there was something there, since I know Katharina or her sister, Eliska (or both) were married to their husbands, but kept in residence in Prague AWAY from their husbands. I think it was with Katharina's 2e Wittelsbach husband though (in order for there to be no heirs - since her husband claimed/held the title of margrave of Brandenburg, which the Luxemburgs contested).

If Rudolf survives, Eliska won't marry his brother Albrecht - so they'd both marry elsewhere. Which means that Albrecht might get to making babies earlier than OTL.

@Kellan: why would Rudolf's daughter necessarily replace Anna? It's not like Anna was the most attractive brides in terms of dowry etc? Sure, she had the most powerful man in Europe as a father, but Richard had to pay her dipsomaniac/manic-depressive brother a rather tidy sum (rather than receiving a dowry). So Richard might still wed Anna against all logical reasons. A Habsburg queen of England WOULD be interesting, but we'd be skipping ahead ~20years from our POD, (which could see the Black Prince or Edward of Angoulême survive), and ignoring butterflies along the way.
 
IIRC there was something there, since I know Katharina or her sister, Eliska (or both) were married to their husbands, but kept in residence in Prague AWAY from their husbands. I think it was with Katharina's 2e Wittelsbach husband though (in order for there to be no heirs - since her husband claimed/held the title of margrave of Brandenburg, which the Luxemburgs contested).

If Rudolf survives, Eliska won't marry his brother Albrecht - so they'd both marry elsewhere. Which means that Albrecht might get to making babies earlier than OTL.

@Kellan: why would Rudolf's daughter necessarily replace Anna? It's not like Anna was the most attractive brides in terms of dowry etc? Sure, she had the most powerful man in Europe as a father, but Richard had to pay her dipsomaniac/manic-depressive brother a rather tidy sum (rather than receiving a dowry). So Richard might still wed Anna against all logical reasons. A Habsburg queen of England WOULD be interesting, but we'd be skipping ahead ~20years from our POD, (which could see the Black Prince or Edward of Angoulême survive), and ignoring butterflies along the way.
Likely the bride to which you are thinking was Elisabeth who was married too young for a full marriage (she was eight when she married Albert and died at fifteen). Maybe also Katharina as the beginning as she was not yet fourteen at the time of her wedding to Rudolf
 
Elizabeth of Pomerania can marry Rudolf instead since Katharina and her sister looked infertile...Karl IV did his best to prevent this from happening.
 
Elizabeth of Pomerania can marry Rudolf instead since Katharina and her sister looked infertile...Karl IV did his best to prevent this from happening.
Well Elisabeth's wedding likely was not consumated as she was too young, while Katharina's two are a mystery: the reason for the missing children can very well be who neither consummed, or too little time spent together with her first husband (plus her second husband was childless also from his first wife)...
Elizabeth of Pomerania is a little too young for marry Rudolf instead of Katharina (Katharina was almost fourteen at the time of her political wedding and her future stepmother was four years younger than her)
 
Well Elisabeth's wedding likely was not consumated as she was too young, while Katharina's two are a mystery: the reason for the missing children can very well be who neither consummed, or too little time spent together with her first husband (plus her second husband was childless also from his first wife)...
Elizabeth of Pomerania is a little too young for marry Rudolf instead of Katharina (Katharina was almost fourteen at the time of her political wedding and her future stepmother was four years younger than her)

What about Elisabeth of Pomerania for Albrecht then? He married a child (Eliska was 8) OTL, so marriage to a 10yo is slightly better...
 
What about Elisabeth of Pomerania for Albrecht then? He married a child (Eliska was 8) OTL, so marriage to a 10yo is slightly better...
If Albrect marries Elizabeth that means the Poland-Austria alliance will happen.


Likely butterflies PLC.
 
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What about Elisabeth of Pomerania for Albrecht then? He married a child (Eliska was 8) OTL, so marriage to a 10yo is slightly better...
This is a good idea and Elizabeth is much older than her namesake stepdaughter (Eliska was born in 1358, her half-sister Katharina in 1342 and her last stepmother Elisabeth in 1347) so that match can happen at any moment before her OTL wedding to Charles IV
 
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