WI Sigismund II of Poland has a daughter?

In 1554 the third wife of Sigismund II of Poland, Catherine of Austria, suffered a miscarriage. Since then the king believed his marriage was cursed, as he had marriage before Catherine's sister, Elisabeth of Austria, he tried to have it annulled, but without success.
But WI Catherine didn't suffer the miscarriage, and gives birth to a healthy child, a daughter? Of course, she wouldn't be the male heir he wanted to keep the Jagiellon dynasty alive, but she would be his only issue, and probably would make everything possible to ensure that her future line have the throne. How would it affect Poland and Lithuania? And, assuming that Sigismund still lives until 1572 as IOTL, who would he choose to be the husband of his daughter and future king of Poland?
 
Hmmmmm.

An interesting POD. There might be some resistance from the Sjem, but I'm pretty sure that Sigismund II can overcome it. After all, there is precedence of Poland at least being inherited through a woman, Jadwiga springs to mind since she was the way the Jagiellons got onto the Polish throne in the first place.

Just browsing through Wikipedia, here are some of the more prominent potential grooms in the surrounding nations.

Hapsburgs: Sigismund apparently had a bit of pro-Austria bent to him, so it wouldn't be uncalled for for a Hapsburg to be a shoe in for the throne if Sigismund thought it was a good idea.

Charles_II_of_Austria

Don John_of_Austria (unlikely, since he was a bastard, but he's here for funsies:cool:)

Archduke_Ernest_of_Austria

Mathias,_Holy_Roman_Emperor

Rudolf_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor

Non-Hapsburg: While Sigismund may have been a wee bit pro-Austria, the Sjem usualy wasn't. So here's some others.

Stephen_Bathory_of_Poland (though he's nearly twenty years Sigismund's daughter's senior, he was king of Poland in OTL (married Sigismund's sister) and a good one at that.)

Joachim_Friedrich

William_V,_Duke_of_Bavaria

Of course, I really only listed potential heirs to the throne of neigbouring kingdoms, and Sigismund/Sjem might go for something that wont entangle them in foreign wars and such, so you might see the brothers of the heirs get to marry into Poland. At this moment I didn't have the time to look up any brothers to most of the Hapsburgs or German princes.

Then again, there is always the Russian connection.

There is the of having Fyodor_I_of_Russia marry his daughter. The problem with Fyodor was that he was reportedly mentaly challenged and never had any kids. If she and Fyodor, Russia could actualy be possibly brought into the union, ending Poland and Lithuania's eastern border problem. This probably doesn't really help the POD since he might not have been able to have kids leading to the extinction of that line as well.

Then again, you could just bypass Fyodor and have Sigismund's daughter marry Ivan_IV. Though too young to be Anastasia's succesor, Ivan could potentialy marry her after the death's of either Maria (died 1569) or Marfa (died 1571).

Perhaps better, you could have Ivan's other son, Ivan_Ivanovich (the son he beat to death) marry Sigismund's daughter. They were even born in the same year.

Ivan IV was held in pretty high regard by a fair amount of Polish nobles, so you might see an interest in the Poles of having the Ruriks become the new kings of Poland and Lithuania. If the Ruriks were to come into power, Russia could actualy be possibly brought into the union, ending Poland and Lithuania's eastern border problem.

This kind of union would be far different from Russia's eventual conquest of Poland-Lithuania, with Poland and Lithuania having quite the cultural influence on Russia.
 
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Thanks for your ideas!:)

Stephen_Bathory_of_Poland (though he's nearly twenty years Sigismund's daughter's senior, he was king of Poland in OTL (married Sigismund's sister) and a good one at that.)

Joachim_Friedrich

The problem with is that Sigismund's sister (let's call her Mary) would probably be married around 1569, when she is 15, or even earlier if the king knows he won't have any other children. By that year he didn't have any proeminence, he wasn't even Prince of Transylvania. And Joachim was a Protestant, what would probably be obstacle.

I have two more ideas for a non-Habsburg husband: Henry III of France (he was elected king of Poland after all) and John II Sigismund Zapolya, who after all would be a cousin of "Maria". Of course, IOTL he died in 1571, but there is a window of time in which he could marry Sigismund's daughter and have a heir. Actually, this situation would be very interesting, since it would make "Maria" as regent for almost two decades for her son, while the Zapolya dynasty survives as kings of Poland-Lithuania.
 
Hmmmmm.

An interesting POD. There might be some resistance from the Sjem, but I'm pretty sure that Sigismund II can overcome it. After all, there is precedence of Poland at least being inherited through a woman, Jadwiga springs to mind since she was the way the Jagiellons got onto the Polish throne in the first place.
But formally Jagiellons remained elected kings, they had no rights to inherit the Polish throne. They inherited the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, this is why they were elected as Polish kings, since prior 1569 the Polish-Lithuanian union was personal.

Thanks for your ideas!:)



The problem with is that Sigismund's sister (let's call her Mary) would probably be married around 1569, when she is 15, or even earlier if the king knows he won't have any other children. By that year he didn't have any proeminence, he wasn't even Prince of Transylvania. And Joachim was a Protestant, what would probably be obstacle.

I have two more ideas for a non-Habsburg husband: Henry III of France (he was elected king of Poland after all) and John II Sigismund Zapolya, who after all would be a cousin of "Maria". Of course, IOTL he died in 1571, but there is a window of time in which he could marry Sigismund's daughter and have a heir. Actually, this situation would be very interesting, since it would make "Maria" as regent for almost two decades for her son, while the Zapolya dynasty survives as kings of Poland-Lithuania.
Sigismund himself was sympathetic to Protestantism even if he remained Catholic.
 
But formally Jagiellons remained elected kings, they had no rights to inherit the Polish throne. They inherited the throne of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, this is why they were elected as Polish kings, since prior 1569 the Polish-Lithuanian union was personal.

Sigismund himself was sympathetic to Protestantism even if he remained Catholic.

But it was understood that each King's heir would assume the throne. They had to make some deals, but Sigismund was pretty good at using the Sjem to his purposes.

The concept of not accepting a dynasty only came about after Sigismund's death and a consequence of the Union of Lublin.
 
But it was understood that each King's heir would assume the throne. They had to make some deals, but Sigismund was pretty good at using the Sjem to his purposes.

The concept of not accepting a dynasty only came about after Sigismund's death and a consequence of the Union of Lublin.
The reason for the Union of Lublin was that Sigismund had no heirs and there were fears that this would put end to the Union. And the concept not accepting a dynasty was far from absolute, there were dynasties even after the Union of Lublin.
 
The reason for the Union of Lublin was that Sigismund had no heirs and there were fears that this would put end to the Union. And the concept not accepting a dynasty was far from absolute, there were dynasties even after the Union of Lublin.

True, but there was only one dynasty afterwards, and that was the Vasa's.

In my opinion though, Poland would have been better off without the Vasas on the throne since they screwed up royally.
 
True, but there was only one dynasty afterwards, and that was the Vasa's.

In my opinion though, Poland would have been better off without the Vasas on the throne since they screwed up royally.
Another was Wetins and they had good chance to last longer.
I agree. And not only royalty.
 
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Sigismund himself was sympathetic to Protestantism even if he remained Catholic.

But being sympathetic would be enough to marry his only daughter to a Protestant? And would the Sejm accept a Protestant king? Of course, he could convert, but I'm not sure if Joachim Frederick would be the right person to pull an August the Strong.
 
But being sympathetic would be enough to marry his only daughter to a Protestant? And would the Sejm accept a Protestant king? Of course, he could convert, but I'm not sure if Joachim Frederick would be the right person to pull an August the Strong.

There were a number of powerfull protestant famillies. Poland was already getting into the mindset that one's religion (at least the various christian ones) was his own affair.

There would be quite the resistance, but their could be the possibility of a Protestant king. I mean Sigismund's second wife, Barbara_Radziwil was a lithuanian protestant.

Another possiblity, this I'm far less sure of is that Sigismund may choose to marry his daughter (Maria?) to one of the great noble famillies of Poland. This of course could have rather bad consequences... so maybe not.
 
Originally posted by dreadnought jenkins
Another possiblity, this I'm far less sure of is that Sigismund may choose to marry his daughter (Maria?) to one of the great noble famillies of Poland. This of course could have rather bad consequences... so maybe not.

I don't think Sigismund would do that. He had his problems with Polish and Lithuanian magnates. Besides, all other powerful houses would protest, crying: why not one from our family?! Maria's husband would have all other magantes against him and only his own family to back him up.
 
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