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During the 16th century the nobles of the House of Savoy were quite unlucky regarding surviving legitimate male heirs. Philibert II didn't have any, both Charles III and Emmanuel Philibert one had only one child, and Philip, Duke of Nemours (the younger brother of Philibert II and Charles III) only had one too. So, WI this trend had got worse and the family had gone extinct by the that century?

I assuming two PODs here. The first is that Anna D'Este, the wife of Jacques of Savoy (son of Philip, Duke of Nemours) fails to deliver him her two OTL sons, or both of them die at an young age in the early 1570's. Jacques still dies in 1585 as IOTL.

The second POD is that Charles Emmanuel I dies in 1585 too, before his marriage to Catherine Michelle of Spain. So, in this year, with the death of Charles Emmanuel and Jacques the House of Savoy goes extinct.

How the succession would go? Savoy was part of HRE, so could the Habsburgs annex it to their domains as they did with Milan before when the Sforzas died out? In the other hand, the general heir of the Savoys, if we follow bloodline and primogeniture would be Henry III of France. I simply can't see the French not raising a claim to such strategic territory. So, what could happen?
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