And by survives, I mean just barely hanging on.
For a pod with minimum butterflies, Boguslaw XIV marries someone other than his 35/45yo (depending on which source you take) wife. I'd say he can simply marry her earlier, but considering that his brother and father married two of her sisters, and all of them left no issue, it seems to me that there was a problem on one or both sides. Or it could just be the age gap.
Be that as it may, he marries someone else. But because he possibly is at least partially at fault for the lack of children, let's assume either he has some STD (like syphilis which was all the rage among the royals of the day
) or just a low-sperm count. Either way, they have a kid - who happens to be their only child, and, as luck would have it, the child is healthy and male. So, the Griffins putter on into the next generation, with this kid (Ernst II Bogislaw b.1615/1616) becoming duke of all Pomerania (perhaps he can finally step in to avoid further partitioning of the place if he has more than one son).
Ernie II in turn grows up and succeeds as duke. He gets married (suggest a bride, I like the duke of Courland's niece/cousin, Theodora von Kettler, who OTL married a prince of Croy - if not for the age gap she would've made a nice match for OTL Ernst de Croy, son of Anna of Pomerania) and they have a couple kids - including two boys, Bogislaw (b.1641) and Philipp (b.1645). However, tragedy strikes when Bogislaw predeceases his dad without being married or having issue (although I was thinking of an engagement to Karoline of Brieg, OTL duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg). Still, never mind, there's Philipp. One problem, Phil went on his Grand Tour of Europe and while he's in Rome, what do you know, he converts and becomes a Jesuit priest. Ernie II disinherits Philipp, thinking that Bogislaw will marry and sire heirs in any case, but he doesn't prepare for the hunting accident when his son and heir is thrown from a horse. Philipp is now the heir, but he's Catholic, and as a priest, not likely to marry.
Philipp succeeds as duke of Pomerania. But while he gets released from his clerical vows (he joined up like most nobles' second sons - minor orders nothing more), and marries, but outlives three of his sons, although his youngest son leaves a seven-year-old son when he shuffles off).
That's all I've got for now (and most of it is based on the OTL shenanigans going on, like Ernst de Croy's bastard son, Ernst von Croyengreiff, really did end up being converting and being disinherited, although he died in a monastery in Bavaria without issue). But what would the impact be of Pomerania not going to Sweden? Or would it still end up under Swedish dominance? AIUI the capital (Rügenwalde?) was quite the cultural hotspot under Bogislaw XIV. Of course, with the 30 Years War (yes, it's still happening as OTL) going on this seems unlikely to remain the case. How would the 30 Years War affect Pomerania? Would it be Tom Tiddler's fleecing ground to the invading armies (Wallenstein and Gustaf Adolf)? Could it preserve some semblance of independence or is it doomed to be turned into a Swedish satellite?
For a pod with minimum butterflies, Boguslaw XIV marries someone other than his 35/45yo (depending on which source you take) wife. I'd say he can simply marry her earlier, but considering that his brother and father married two of her sisters, and all of them left no issue, it seems to me that there was a problem on one or both sides. Or it could just be the age gap.
Be that as it may, he marries someone else. But because he possibly is at least partially at fault for the lack of children, let's assume either he has some STD (like syphilis which was all the rage among the royals of the day
Ernie II in turn grows up and succeeds as duke. He gets married (suggest a bride, I like the duke of Courland's niece/cousin, Theodora von Kettler, who OTL married a prince of Croy - if not for the age gap she would've made a nice match for OTL Ernst de Croy, son of Anna of Pomerania) and they have a couple kids - including two boys, Bogislaw (b.1641) and Philipp (b.1645). However, tragedy strikes when Bogislaw predeceases his dad without being married or having issue (although I was thinking of an engagement to Karoline of Brieg, OTL duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg). Still, never mind, there's Philipp. One problem, Phil went on his Grand Tour of Europe and while he's in Rome, what do you know, he converts and becomes a Jesuit priest. Ernie II disinherits Philipp, thinking that Bogislaw will marry and sire heirs in any case, but he doesn't prepare for the hunting accident when his son and heir is thrown from a horse. Philipp is now the heir, but he's Catholic, and as a priest, not likely to marry.
Philipp succeeds as duke of Pomerania. But while he gets released from his clerical vows (he joined up like most nobles' second sons - minor orders nothing more), and marries, but outlives three of his sons, although his youngest son leaves a seven-year-old son when he shuffles off).
That's all I've got for now (and most of it is based on the OTL shenanigans going on, like Ernst de Croy's bastard son, Ernst von Croyengreiff, really did end up being converting and being disinherited, although he died in a monastery in Bavaria without issue). But what would the impact be of Pomerania not going to Sweden? Or would it still end up under Swedish dominance? AIUI the capital (Rügenwalde?) was quite the cultural hotspot under Bogislaw XIV. Of course, with the 30 Years War (yes, it's still happening as OTL) going on this seems unlikely to remain the case. How would the 30 Years War affect Pomerania? Would it be Tom Tiddler's fleecing ground to the invading armies (Wallenstein and Gustaf Adolf)? Could it preserve some semblance of independence or is it doomed to be turned into a Swedish satellite?