The Grand Duchy of the West - A Valois-Burgundian TL
- Thread starter BlueFlowwer
- Start date
Ooh interesting to see the Bourbon faction lose, I suppose we'll see what long-term consequences that has for the French.
Well, the monarchy is in a weaker position now, so expect intrigues and schemes aplenty.
Chapter 14 - The Holy Roman Empire 1477-1490
Chapter 14 – The Holy Roman Empire from 1477 to 1490.
The potential marriage of Mary of Burgundy and Archduke Maximilian had come to naught in 1473 as Mary wedded Nicholas of Anjou that year. With two younger surviving brothers at that time, her status as heiress had been diminished. With that in mind, the Holy Roman emperor had elected to look for another bride for his son. Given the long contestation of the Kingdom of Hungary, Frederick opted to ally with the Jagiellon dynasty in Poland and Lithuania. Hedwig, the eldest daughter of Casimir IV of Poland and Archduchess Elizabeth of Austria had become Maximilian’s bride. By 1490 the marriage had yielded several children, Eleanor in 1475, Elizabeth in 1477, Frederick in 1479 and Hedwig in 1485. Hedwig announced another pregnancy as well in March of that year, with both spouses hoped for a second son.
The death of Matthias Corvinus on the 6th of April changed everything. The kingdom of Hungary had long been contested by Emperor Frederick and despite his failure to claim it gaining control of it (as the emperor was no military commander) in the Austrian-Hungarian war of 1477-88, the marriage of Maximilian and Hedwig proved a sound strategy when Matthias died in 1490. His grandson Frederick had turned eleven years old and a bride to be would need to be found. Preferable a rich one, whose dowry could be used to finance the enterprise. It was time to mend relationship with the Valois-Burgundians. Particularly as Archduke Sigismund died in autumn of 1489. As Sigismund had been childless, his lands returned to Austria, making Maximilian Duke of all of Austria, as well as Tyrol. This gave Maximilian access to the silver mines in Tyrolean mountains, increasing his revenues.
Maximilian and the Emperor ruled in conjunction from 1483 to Frederick’s death in 1493. They were both in agreement in 1489 that Archduke Frederick would marry Anne of Burgundy. The previous attempt to marry Kunigunde to Philip had failed, but in a way, it had benefited them. Since they did not have to pay large dowry as demanded by Flanders, their coffers were fuller. The territories of Breisgau and Upper Alsace became a useful tool in negotiations as well. Sigismund had mortgaged the areas to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy in 1469 and he had died in 1477 trying to claim those areas by force at the hands of the Swiss Confederation. Afterwards the ownership had been uncertain. Brabant weren’t wholly prepared to give them up, while Sigismund was torn between taking them back or not. It had become a moot point in 1489 with Maximilian inheriting it anyway. But Philip could still claim the areas. However, Maximilian knew of Philip’s ambition towards Utrecht, Guelders and Frisia and he could use that too.
Eitel Friedrich II, Count of Hohenzollern
An imperial envoy arrived in Brussels in February of 1490, headed by the Count of Hohenzollern. Maximilian offered great terms for the Estates General, the most important was that the HRE would not defend the territories of the Prince-Bishoprics of Liége and Utrecht of Philip wanted to claim those later. Maximilian would also defend the Palatinate of Burgundy if France attempted to take those as well. Maximilian also promised to aid Philip with men and weapons if he wanted to claim the Province of Utrecht, Groningen, and Frisia.
Philip wanted to increase the import of lumber from Germany to the shipyards in Holland and Zeeland and the bustling activity of shipbuilding. The duke also wanted more networking among the German princes, for his growing family. All of these points were in negotiations for months. Philip also got a promise from Maximilian that in the future, the emperor would elevate him as the King of Lotharingia, a lifelong dream for Charles the Bold.
As it turned out, Maximilian would never fulfil that part of the alliance.
But the Estates Generals agreed to the terms of the marriage and Philip granted Maximilian around 1,500 000 Florins in spring of 1490, the first instalment of Annes dowry. The rest of the 400,000 coins would arrive in three parts over the next two years.
Maximilian Von Hapsburg, King of the Romans and archduke of Austria would have a few eventful years from in the 1490-93. Military campaigns did not come cheaply however, and finances were needed. The Estates of Tyrol had given a liberal sum and fortunately he got the support of Jacob Fugger, head of the wealthy banker family and soldiers from the Low Country also arrived as promised by Philip. In Fugger’s case the price of his help was an establishing of the family’s business in Hungary and the right to mine silver and copper in Hungary.
Jacob Fugger
With his financial matters secured, Maximilian left the governance of his realms into the hands of his wife Hedwig and headed with his army towards the Hungarian border in early July of 1490. The king of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus in April the same year had left the kingdom without a clear successor. Maximilian’s brother-in-law, John Albert had claimed the throne, but had suffered a horse riding accident in late spring and could barely move for several months, losing a valuable advantage. While Casimir IV wanted each of his sons to have a realm of their own, John Albert’s injury caused a hitch in his plan. Hedwig took the opportunity to plead her husband’s cause to her father, as her unborn child grew in her belly. Her mother Elizabeth opposed her daughter as she refused to favour her son in law against her sons. But John Albert’s condition occupied the queens time, as he was her favourite son.
The Hungarian diet were to gather in the summer to elect the next king, but the advancing army of Maximilian caused it to dissolve. The electors had initially favoured Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia, but no gathering came to be. Thus, when Maximilian’s army came to Budapest, comprising of 18,000 men, multiple artillery pieces, led by Christop of Bavaria, the city were captured rather swiftly and without many casualties. Maximilian managed to control his troops to an unusually strong degree for the time.
Vladislaus effort to dismantle Maximilian’s campaign in Hungary had proved in the summer of 1490 to have several weaknesses. The first proved to be the numbers of men enlisting, far less than the desired number. The support of Stephen Zapolya, a Hungarian palatine vaned and Zapolya threw in his lot with Maximilian, causing Vladislaus to lose one of his strongest supporters. Faced less opposition from any claimant for the throne of Hungary, Maximilian captured Vladislaus II in autumn, removing the latter as a threat.
However, the biggest obstacle in Vladislaus’s effort proved to be the royal women in Hungary, Bohemia and Austria. Beatrice of Naples kept herself well informed about Maximilian’s campaign and the capture of Budapest sent a clear message: The king of the Romans would be triumphant. Hedwig, queen of the Romans had also corresponded with the dowager, who was unpopular with the Hungarian nobles. Austrian consolidation continued after the summer and in early September Beatrice sent an envoy to Maximilian as well a summon for the diet to gather in Buda.
At the same time Hedwig intercepted correspondence between Hungarian nobles and Vladislaus, laying bare a secret for Vladislaus to marry Beatrice to strengthen his claims to the Hungarian crown. Armed with that information, she dealt a deadly blow to the Bohemian campaign. Copies of the letter went out to different kingdoms, the most important to the Papal States in Rome, along with a noted copy of the Treaty of Weiner-Neustadt from 1463. The treaty had stated that if Matthias I Corvinus died without a legitimate male heir, the Hungarian Kingdom would be inherited by Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke Maximilian. Hedwig also penned a letter to Pope Innocent VIII urging him to support Maximilian's claim, to condemn any marriage between Vladislaus and dowager Beatrice as bigamous, as the king were already married to Barbara of Brandenburg and to remind him that a united kingdom of Austria and Hungary stood a better chance to prevail against the encroaching Ottoman Sultanate.
Hedwig also sent copies of the letter, to Barbara and the elector of Brandenburg, her brother John II Cicero. Neither sibling took the attempted bigamous match with Beatrice of Naples well. Maximilian took the opportunity to offer John the chance to purchase the Lusatian areas around Zossen, getting the Brandenburg elector on his side permanently. Barbara fell into a extreme grief upon hearing of her husband’s plans, despite their fragile and cold marriage. In late September Barbara slammed the final nail in the coffin of Vladislaus attack on Vienna. Vladislaus’s wife threw herself from the window of her chamber in Prague Castle on the 24th in the noon.
When the news that Queen Barbara had committed suicide spread from Prague, Maximilian had won another victory. The outcry from other European monarchs rang out like the church bells in Prague for the queens soul. Brandenburg, Saxony, Mentz and Trier all voiced their opposition to Vladislaus’s actions. Philip of Brabant spread the news to all corners of his duchy, from Luxemburg to Utrecht, calling Vladislaus a attempted bigamist and a neglectful and self-indulgent ruler who drove his wife to commit the ultimate sin in the Christian church. Several high-ranking Bohemians living in the duchy were arrested and their property seized during October and November.
The papal states and Pope Innocent VIII did not take kindly to Vladislaus’s attempted bigamous marriage and Queen Barbara’s suicide. A papal envoy arrived in Prague in mid-October and the imprisoned Vladislaus were forced to acknowledge Maximilian’s rightful claim to Hungary and to bury Queen Barbara with a magnificent funeral in the St Vitus cathedral.
For Maximilian, the death of Barbara came as a gift and the pendulum swung in his favour. In Hungary, the Diet had been shocked by the events when it gathered in early October in Buda. Beatrice knew that the game was up, a remarriage to Vladislaus were in this case impossible and the clear successor to Matthias were the King of the Romans, Archduke Maximilian of Austria.
On the third of November the Hungarian Diet crowned Maximilian as King of Hungary as right by lawful inheritance and conquest. The new king would find himself with his hands full at once, bad weather, a need to rescue the harvest, cold winter storms, managing nobles and small rebellions erupting in different cities. However, the rebels were coved by the incoming frost and snow, and Maximilian’s diligence in preserving food and supplies for the winter helped his image with the common people. However, in early december, dowager queen Beatrice of Naples passed away from pnumonia.
When the court gathered for Christmas celebrations in Buda at the end of the year 1490 things had settled to a degree that Maximilian threw a large party with invited nobles and clerics. It would not be until early summer of 1493 that Maximilian returned to Austria, due to his father, Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor’s health deteriorating. Frederick died in august the same year, due to a botched amputation of his leg.
Now began the reign of Maximilian, Holy Roman Emperor.
Author's Note:
*John the Mad died before Henry IX of Glogow died and Barbara kept her dowry, so she lives in Prague and is Vladislaus's queen, but it's not a happy match and they have no kids.
So from the start the death of Matthias I is gonna start a different reaction from Maximilian. In this TL, he's not tied up with troubles in the Low Countries or Brittany, he's in Austria and had much calmer years and more time to gather his resourses and acting quicker. Plus we butterflies away the troubles his hired troops caused, so conquering Buda is much better. And no secret marriage between Vladislaus and Beatrice, given Barbara committing suicider and Maximilian is pretty much standing on Hungary's toes with a army so, yeah.
I'm sorry if this chapter is subpar. I'm just not very good with Hapsburgs and Jagellonicans. All credit goes to @Jan Olbracht who helped me iron out the worst wrinkles.
The potential marriage of Mary of Burgundy and Archduke Maximilian had come to naught in 1473 as Mary wedded Nicholas of Anjou that year. With two younger surviving brothers at that time, her status as heiress had been diminished. With that in mind, the Holy Roman emperor had elected to look for another bride for his son. Given the long contestation of the Kingdom of Hungary, Frederick opted to ally with the Jagiellon dynasty in Poland and Lithuania. Hedwig, the eldest daughter of Casimir IV of Poland and Archduchess Elizabeth of Austria had become Maximilian’s bride. By 1490 the marriage had yielded several children, Eleanor in 1475, Elizabeth in 1477, Frederick in 1479 and Hedwig in 1485. Hedwig announced another pregnancy as well in March of that year, with both spouses hoped for a second son.
The death of Matthias Corvinus on the 6th of April changed everything. The kingdom of Hungary had long been contested by Emperor Frederick and despite his failure to claim it gaining control of it (as the emperor was no military commander) in the Austrian-Hungarian war of 1477-88, the marriage of Maximilian and Hedwig proved a sound strategy when Matthias died in 1490. His grandson Frederick had turned eleven years old and a bride to be would need to be found. Preferable a rich one, whose dowry could be used to finance the enterprise. It was time to mend relationship with the Valois-Burgundians. Particularly as Archduke Sigismund died in autumn of 1489. As Sigismund had been childless, his lands returned to Austria, making Maximilian Duke of all of Austria, as well as Tyrol. This gave Maximilian access to the silver mines in Tyrolean mountains, increasing his revenues.
Maximilian and the Emperor ruled in conjunction from 1483 to Frederick’s death in 1493. They were both in agreement in 1489 that Archduke Frederick would marry Anne of Burgundy. The previous attempt to marry Kunigunde to Philip had failed, but in a way, it had benefited them. Since they did not have to pay large dowry as demanded by Flanders, their coffers were fuller. The territories of Breisgau and Upper Alsace became a useful tool in negotiations as well. Sigismund had mortgaged the areas to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy in 1469 and he had died in 1477 trying to claim those areas by force at the hands of the Swiss Confederation. Afterwards the ownership had been uncertain. Brabant weren’t wholly prepared to give them up, while Sigismund was torn between taking them back or not. It had become a moot point in 1489 with Maximilian inheriting it anyway. But Philip could still claim the areas. However, Maximilian knew of Philip’s ambition towards Utrecht, Guelders and Frisia and he could use that too.
Eitel Friedrich II, Count of Hohenzollern
An imperial envoy arrived in Brussels in February of 1490, headed by the Count of Hohenzollern. Maximilian offered great terms for the Estates General, the most important was that the HRE would not defend the territories of the Prince-Bishoprics of Liége and Utrecht of Philip wanted to claim those later. Maximilian would also defend the Palatinate of Burgundy if France attempted to take those as well. Maximilian also promised to aid Philip with men and weapons if he wanted to claim the Province of Utrecht, Groningen, and Frisia.
Philip wanted to increase the import of lumber from Germany to the shipyards in Holland and Zeeland and the bustling activity of shipbuilding. The duke also wanted more networking among the German princes, for his growing family. All of these points were in negotiations for months. Philip also got a promise from Maximilian that in the future, the emperor would elevate him as the King of Lotharingia, a lifelong dream for Charles the Bold.
As it turned out, Maximilian would never fulfil that part of the alliance.
But the Estates Generals agreed to the terms of the marriage and Philip granted Maximilian around 1,500 000 Florins in spring of 1490, the first instalment of Annes dowry. The rest of the 400,000 coins would arrive in three parts over the next two years.
Maximilian Von Hapsburg, King of the Romans and archduke of Austria would have a few eventful years from in the 1490-93. Military campaigns did not come cheaply however, and finances were needed. The Estates of Tyrol had given a liberal sum and fortunately he got the support of Jacob Fugger, head of the wealthy banker family and soldiers from the Low Country also arrived as promised by Philip. In Fugger’s case the price of his help was an establishing of the family’s business in Hungary and the right to mine silver and copper in Hungary.
Jacob Fugger
With his financial matters secured, Maximilian left the governance of his realms into the hands of his wife Hedwig and headed with his army towards the Hungarian border in early July of 1490. The king of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus in April the same year had left the kingdom without a clear successor. Maximilian’s brother-in-law, John Albert had claimed the throne, but had suffered a horse riding accident in late spring and could barely move for several months, losing a valuable advantage. While Casimir IV wanted each of his sons to have a realm of their own, John Albert’s injury caused a hitch in his plan. Hedwig took the opportunity to plead her husband’s cause to her father, as her unborn child grew in her belly. Her mother Elizabeth opposed her daughter as she refused to favour her son in law against her sons. But John Albert’s condition occupied the queens time, as he was her favourite son.
The Hungarian diet were to gather in the summer to elect the next king, but the advancing army of Maximilian caused it to dissolve. The electors had initially favoured Vladislaus II, King of Bohemia, but no gathering came to be. Thus, when Maximilian’s army came to Budapest, comprising of 18,000 men, multiple artillery pieces, led by Christop of Bavaria, the city were captured rather swiftly and without many casualties. Maximilian managed to control his troops to an unusually strong degree for the time.
Vladislaus effort to dismantle Maximilian’s campaign in Hungary had proved in the summer of 1490 to have several weaknesses. The first proved to be the numbers of men enlisting, far less than the desired number. The support of Stephen Zapolya, a Hungarian palatine vaned and Zapolya threw in his lot with Maximilian, causing Vladislaus to lose one of his strongest supporters. Faced less opposition from any claimant for the throne of Hungary, Maximilian captured Vladislaus II in autumn, removing the latter as a threat.
However, the biggest obstacle in Vladislaus’s effort proved to be the royal women in Hungary, Bohemia and Austria. Beatrice of Naples kept herself well informed about Maximilian’s campaign and the capture of Budapest sent a clear message: The king of the Romans would be triumphant. Hedwig, queen of the Romans had also corresponded with the dowager, who was unpopular with the Hungarian nobles. Austrian consolidation continued after the summer and in early September Beatrice sent an envoy to Maximilian as well a summon for the diet to gather in Buda.
At the same time Hedwig intercepted correspondence between Hungarian nobles and Vladislaus, laying bare a secret for Vladislaus to marry Beatrice to strengthen his claims to the Hungarian crown. Armed with that information, she dealt a deadly blow to the Bohemian campaign. Copies of the letter went out to different kingdoms, the most important to the Papal States in Rome, along with a noted copy of the Treaty of Weiner-Neustadt from 1463. The treaty had stated that if Matthias I Corvinus died without a legitimate male heir, the Hungarian Kingdom would be inherited by Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke Maximilian. Hedwig also penned a letter to Pope Innocent VIII urging him to support Maximilian's claim, to condemn any marriage between Vladislaus and dowager Beatrice as bigamous, as the king were already married to Barbara of Brandenburg and to remind him that a united kingdom of Austria and Hungary stood a better chance to prevail against the encroaching Ottoman Sultanate.
Hedwig also sent copies of the letter, to Barbara and the elector of Brandenburg, her brother John II Cicero. Neither sibling took the attempted bigamous match with Beatrice of Naples well. Maximilian took the opportunity to offer John the chance to purchase the Lusatian areas around Zossen, getting the Brandenburg elector on his side permanently. Barbara fell into a extreme grief upon hearing of her husband’s plans, despite their fragile and cold marriage. In late September Barbara slammed the final nail in the coffin of Vladislaus attack on Vienna. Vladislaus’s wife threw herself from the window of her chamber in Prague Castle on the 24th in the noon.
When the news that Queen Barbara had committed suicide spread from Prague, Maximilian had won another victory. The outcry from other European monarchs rang out like the church bells in Prague for the queens soul. Brandenburg, Saxony, Mentz and Trier all voiced their opposition to Vladislaus’s actions. Philip of Brabant spread the news to all corners of his duchy, from Luxemburg to Utrecht, calling Vladislaus a attempted bigamist and a neglectful and self-indulgent ruler who drove his wife to commit the ultimate sin in the Christian church. Several high-ranking Bohemians living in the duchy were arrested and their property seized during October and November.
The papal states and Pope Innocent VIII did not take kindly to Vladislaus’s attempted bigamous marriage and Queen Barbara’s suicide. A papal envoy arrived in Prague in mid-October and the imprisoned Vladislaus were forced to acknowledge Maximilian’s rightful claim to Hungary and to bury Queen Barbara with a magnificent funeral in the St Vitus cathedral.
For Maximilian, the death of Barbara came as a gift and the pendulum swung in his favour. In Hungary, the Diet had been shocked by the events when it gathered in early October in Buda. Beatrice knew that the game was up, a remarriage to Vladislaus were in this case impossible and the clear successor to Matthias were the King of the Romans, Archduke Maximilian of Austria.
On the third of November the Hungarian Diet crowned Maximilian as King of Hungary as right by lawful inheritance and conquest. The new king would find himself with his hands full at once, bad weather, a need to rescue the harvest, cold winter storms, managing nobles and small rebellions erupting in different cities. However, the rebels were coved by the incoming frost and snow, and Maximilian’s diligence in preserving food and supplies for the winter helped his image with the common people. However, in early december, dowager queen Beatrice of Naples passed away from pnumonia.
When the court gathered for Christmas celebrations in Buda at the end of the year 1490 things had settled to a degree that Maximilian threw a large party with invited nobles and clerics. It would not be until early summer of 1493 that Maximilian returned to Austria, due to his father, Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor’s health deteriorating. Frederick died in august the same year, due to a botched amputation of his leg.
Now began the reign of Maximilian, Holy Roman Emperor.
Author's Note:
*John the Mad died before Henry IX of Glogow died and Barbara kept her dowry, so she lives in Prague and is Vladislaus's queen, but it's not a happy match and they have no kids.
So from the start the death of Matthias I is gonna start a different reaction from Maximilian. In this TL, he's not tied up with troubles in the Low Countries or Brittany, he's in Austria and had much calmer years and more time to gather his resourses and acting quicker. Plus we butterflies away the troubles his hired troops caused, so conquering Buda is much better. And no secret marriage between Vladislaus and Beatrice, given Barbara committing suicider and Maximilian is pretty much standing on Hungary's toes with a army so, yeah.
I'm sorry if this chapter is subpar. I'm just not very good with Hapsburgs and Jagellonicans. All credit goes to @Jan Olbracht who helped me iron out the worst wrinkles.
@BlueFlowwer ! That was incredible! The Last Knight lived up to his epithet! Leading his men to glory and with an impressive woman at his side!
Long live Maximilian and the Habsburgs!
Long live Maximilian and the Habsburgs!
Thank you so much
I had difficulties writing this chapter.Yes, they will do rather fine!
But you managed and it turned out great as always!Thank you so much
Yes, they will do rather fine!
And hope the Habsburg/Burgundian alliance remains strong in the future agaisnt the joint tyrannies of the french and ottomans.
And i a father! Dear Max expended the family's holdings and power!I feel like a proud mother
I feel like a proud mother
@Dragonboy and @eliamartin65, I can assure you both that I could not have written this chapter without both of you cheering me on as well.
Well, expect lots more cheers because you absolutely knocked it out of the park with my boy maximilian!
Aww! I'm happy to have helped.
And I have to thank you for listening to my TL ideas whenever I want to scream about my OC Burgundian Princess.