An Empire Once Again Holy and Roman.
@ Derahan: Only Hungary and Serbia's economy collapsed, Austria is actually going through its golden age during this period.
@ asd21593: Trust me, it gets worse...
@ gabor: Thanks! Yep, Bohemia, Hungary's Ally, asked me to help them in an imperial crusade, and my declaration of war prompted the OE to peace out with Hungary for a few provinces, That's what the 'Occupied Hungary' map represents, the territory labeled as directly annexed was what they Peaced Out for, and the occupied territory was territory I would have given the OE had I lost the Crusade. And the situation you describe is essentially why I decided to remove the lucky tag, because with the exception of Louis XIV, I don't think France had a single 'lucky' ruler. That and seeing one too many 'Godly' Regency Councils in the OE.
@ Phi: Okay, Kaiserliche Schwere Kavallerie (K.S.K.) it is. Thanks for your help!
@ mw1776: As You wish!
@ All: I'm going to keep the status of the next update in my Signature to help people follow along. I will try to keep it updated as the Situation Changes.
Also, Here's a Hint I play too much EU3, Zaporozhye now appears in my Open Office Dictionary!
Also Again, does anyone else find it funny that this, the Fourth Post of this AAR, is the first that actually deals with the Country I'm Playing? Hell, if I wanted to Pick some Nits, almost half of this AAR will be over before I actually get to the Nation I end the Game as!
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The World of 1600
Chapter 10: The Holy Roman Empire till 1579
The Great Crusade and the Habsburg Golden Age
The Holy Roman Empire at 1522, at the End of the Great Crusade.
The Very Pale Green represents states too small to be realistically Tracked on this Scale.
The End of the Great Crusade ushered Europe into the Age of the Habsburgs. With their Eastern Border secure, and unprecedented control of the Holy Roman Empire, the Habsburg Empire, as it was now known, was easily able to exert its influence anywhere in Europe, going so far as to challenge and defeat the Kingdom of France virtually singlehandedly, while only committing half of its forces to the War.
The Parade through the Imperial City of Wien was a grand sight, as the entire Kaiserliche Schwere Kavallerie Regiment, now reinforced to its full complement of 8000 strong, strode confidently through the gates of the Imperial Citadel, with Friedrich VI riding triumphantly at its head, silver armor polished and shining in the clear blue sky, with a massive golden drape flowing behind him for nearly a dozen feet.
The entire Crusade had cost the empire less than 10000 troops in combat, and hardly another 10000 in sieges and attrition, as many of the Non-Muslim Forces of the Ottoman Empire had readily surrendered when news of the Second Battle of Prijedore and the Sultan's Capture reached them. However, the true beauty of the Imperial Crusade was far more subtle, particularly within Poland and Hungary.
It has been stated that the Empire's Eastern Border was now secured, however the method of that securing was quite deeper than simply defeating the Ottoman Empire, as the entire Eastern Border had been secured. Not only had the Turks been pushed from the immediate vicinity of the Empire, but so too had the Kingdom of Hungary, who had for so long been a rival of the Habsburg Crown, ever since the break of the two Crowns in 1469. Never again would the Kingdom of Hungary serve as an antagonist to the Habsburg Empire. Indeed, so great was the measure taken to ensure that the Kings of the Balkans would never be able to threaten the Great Dynasty, that even long after the removal of the Habsburg Dynasty from Austria, Hungary was still but a leper state on the border of the Empire, dependent on other larger powers to preserve.
However in addition to this, the brilliance of Friedrich VI also preserved the North Eastern Border of the Empire. Poland had, as was mentioned, provided a great deal of finances to support the Crusade. This financing, in combination with a large revolt in the Zaporozhye, distracted and weakened the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania. However, this was not the True Beauty of the crusade. The True Beauty of the arrangement was giving the Vassals in the Balkans to Poland and Hungary. Poland was given Moldavia, and Hungary was given Bosnia, Serbia, and Wallachia, as said. Thus two nations who were barely able to maintain the stability of their own nation, were given yet more to attempt to command, and fell yet further due to it.
In the end, Hungary would never recover, and it would take Poland almost half of a century to bring itself stability, only for this new strength and stability to be shattered by the Nascent German Confederation.
However in The Empire, there was only Triumph, and Joy. Indeed, Triumph would be the best word to describe this age, and it appears Friedrich himself was quite taken with the word, going so far as to construct three Triumphal Arches in the style of ancient Rome throughout his Empire over the next decade.
The First began construction in 1523, shortly after the end of the crusade, in Wien. The Second would be constructed in Brabant to commemorate the Habsburg Victory in the Second Burgundian War, which will be discussed in the chapter concerning the Burgundian Inheritance, and the third was planned to be constructed in Milan as gratitude to the Italian Princes who supported both the crusade and the Second Burgundian War, however construction on this arch stopped in 1538. This third arch would not be finished until the reign of Empress Annaliese I in 1612, when it was re-dedicated to the Italian People for accepting the Habsburg Exiles.
In the Empire at large, Friedrich took his opportunity from the Great Crusade and his amazing victory to issue the Imperial Bull of 1523, in the process effectively declare himself Hereditary Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, drafting a new constitution that would both replace and extend the Golden Bull of 1356, and invalidate many of its most important stipulations.
The Electoral College remained, however it did so as a largely symbolic institution. The Successor to the Title of Emperor was now effectively declared by the Head of the House of Habsburg, who was given the title of First Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, who would carry 5 votes in the Electoral College, thus ensuring that it would take a virtually unanimous vote to oust the Habsburgs from Power. It thus became standard precedence that the Current Ruler of Austria was free to name himself as Holy Roman Emperor.
To this day, it remains unknown why Friedrich allowed a state where a Unanimous Vote could oust a Habsburg Emperor, given that, at the time, with all of the small states of the Empire having given much of their manpower to the Imperial Army, directly under the control of Friedrich VI, and the amazing popularity he enjoyed amongst the people, he could easily have fully declared the Empire Hereditary.
It was by this move that Austria claimed absolute dominance in the Empire, however in a surprising twist, and because Friedrich surely realized that the principle lords of the Empire would never give up their lands without a fight, the local authority of most of the states of the Empire was never touched upon. Where it was, the effect was less the annexation of these states and more the strengthening of their ties with Austria. The Only states to be officially annexed by the Imperial Bull of 1523 were a few small states who were already directly vassal states of Austria, namely Hesse, Wurtemburg, Munster, Mainz, and a host of very small states in Northern Germany, principally in the area around Munster-Brunswick. The Archbishop of Mainz retained his Electoral Vote, living on a very small semi-autonomous estate near the city of Frankfurt.
The Bull also reorganized a great deal of the Imperial Legislative System. Whereas before, all Imperial States reported directly to the Emperor unless otherwise stated, as in the case of Silesia, which reported to the King of Bohemia, who then reported to the Emperor, under the new administrative system, the Territory of the Empire not directly controlled by the Emperor was placed into a series of 'Reichskreise' (Imperial Circles) divided according to the specific German Subculture of the area, with a large Italian Circle controlling most of Northern Italy and a larger Imperial Circle comprising the Habsburg Lands and the lands of states directly under their oversight.
All Imperial Circles were given a capital and Lord Protector who would report to the Emperor and bear the Emperor's Seal and Authority for him, including the right to raise up an Imperial Army and declare an Imperial Admonition on a member state of the Empire who violated the sanctity and stability of their circle. In addition to this, all Imperial Circles were given their own Kreistag which would function in concert with the Larger Reichstag, and which was allowed to make any provisions, treaties, and laws as it saw fit, so long as they did not contradict the laws or provisions of the Reichstag or an Imperial Decree. Lastly, the Conveners of an Imperial Circle were added to the First Bench of the Reichstag, in the common situation that a state was both an Elector and the Convener of an Imperial Circle, they would thus carry double Weight at the Reichstag, while the Emperor would gain two full votes of their own, and any who bore the title 'First Elector' would be given an extra vote. With their status as Emperor, Convener, and First Elector, the Habsburg Emperor of Austria was thus given Five Votes in the First Bench, of a total 22 Votes.
The Imperial Circles, Listed Below, With their Names, the Colors they appear in, and the Name of its Lord Protector:
Imperial, White, The Habsburg Emperor
Wurttemberg, Purple, The Lord Protector and Duke of Switzerland
Bohemian, Brown, The Elector and King of Bohemia
Bavarian, Gray, The Duke of Bavaria
Upper Saxon, Red, The Elector and Margrave of Brandenburg
Lower Saxon, Yellow, The Prince of Mecklenburg
Franconian, Blue, The Archbishop of Wurzburg
Electoral Rhenish, Teal, The Elector of the Rheinland Palatinate
Upper Rhenish, Orange, The Duke of Lorraine
Lower Rhenish, Peach, The Archbishop of Cologne
Italian, Green, the Duke of Modena
The Bull also fixed the Imperial Capital at Nuremberg in Perpetuity, a law that holds true to this day, even after the constitution of The Empire has been completely rewritten. Nuremberg also saw the establishment of the Administration of the Imperial Army, where generals from all states in the empire would meet and act as the Emperor's Fist should he be distracted with more pressing business. Sadly, the Imperial Army would not see any real usage until the institution of a Reichsverweser after the Revolution, as with the beginning of the Wars of Religion in the Empire, the loyalty of the Imperial Army became Suspect, and it was forcibly dismantled before it could even march out to war.
While the first part of the Imperial Constitution of 1523 dealt largely with the political structure of the Empire, and sought to establish a far reaching, dynamic, and comprehensive bureaucracy to administrate Imperial Lands and carry out the Emperor's Will, the second part of the bull was devoted to determining just what that Will would be.
The Second Part of the Imperial Bull concerned itself primarily with what rights Leaders of the Imperial Circles would gain, and what laws would be included in the Imperial Gesetzbuch. Most of the provisions included in the Bull at this point dealt with the definition of Legal Claim to a territory, and reaffirmed the process by which such would be decided in the Reichskammergericht. Further stability was added to the empire by the official confirmation of various powers given to local nobility and temporal princes.
There were also a number of small specific laws which will not be discussed here for space.
One of its little discussed and lesser known provisions was to strip much of the power from many of the smaller states. This was caused in large part by the establishment of the Imperial Circles, which gave, along with the power call up an Imperial Army to defend minor states and raise taxes from those small states to provide for it, also included a little known 'Autonomy Clause' which stipulated that any small state deemed unable to defend itself at short notice, would be directly subject to the Lord Protector of the Imperial Circle it was contained within. This Provision was little discussed in the Reichstag, and appears to have been included without many princes realizing it existed. It should be noted that a comprehensive definition of what being able to defend oneself would entail was not provided, and this would lay the framework for a great centralization of the Empire that would be carried out from 1532-34.
The Imperial Bull of 1523 was a brilliant success. It was passed unanimously after a long speech by Emperor Friedrich VI, and entered Imperial Law faster than any other such Proclamation. The Accounts of this Imperial Diet record that Emperor Friedrich was almost universally loved at this point, with the entire affair becoming little more than one massive ceremony devoted to glorifying his accomplishments. It seems that most of the nobles were consumed by the moment and Friedrich's Personal Charisma, as later, after the Diet had been adjourned and the Bull Proclaimed, many would openly write of how they could not believe the acted, or even believed, as they did. At the time however, there was little more than Joy and Glory to be presented and reveled in. However not all was joy at this time.
The Bull itself did not declare who would occupy the position of Lord Protector of an Individual Circuit, stating only that the position must be occupied by a Male Monarch or Archbishop, who must request the position and have it granted to them by the Emperor Himself. Any State was able to have its position as Lord Protector revoked at the whim of the Emperor, and the Emperor could deny any request for the Title of Lord Protector for any reason, although Imperial Authority would likely decline from such a thing.
When the various Princes began approaching the Emperor for the title, most were only accepted to the status if they were the largest state in their circle. There was one exception to this, that would lead to war.
The Savoyard War
The Duke of Modena, Cesare I, had been in attendance for the Sitting of the Reichstag and the voting upon it. He had been a guest at the Habsburg Palace for a long while, with his home lands ruled by proxy and by his brother. Despite this, he made frequent return trips to Italy, and spent a great deal of time in Austrian Milan. His Patronage of the Arts and Architecture had led him to construct a massive Imperial Summer Home at Parma that would eventually house the fleeing Habsburgs during the Revolution, and his many gifts of fine art and brilliant artists to the Vienna Academy of the Arts ensured that he and Friedrich VI, himself a great fan of the arts, who had gone so far as to push Austria itself towards such patronage, were good friends. Thus, when Duke Cesare I requested the title of Lord Protector of Italia, Friedrich was all too eager to grant his friend this prestigious gift.
This would inevitably anger the Duke Carlo I of Savoy. Savoy was, at this point, a vastly larger entity than Modena, with at least three times as much territory, a greater army and navy, and a stronger Economy. By all Rights Savoy would have been better qualified to defend Italia in Friedrich's Absence. They thus disputed the claim of Cesare I to the title of Lord Protector, claiming that Friedrich had personally snubbed them out of fear of the might of the Duchy of Savoy, and that this act had been a calculated move to undermine the Authority of the Duchy in Northern Italy. When their cries fell on deaf ears, Carlo I decided the only recourse was to invade Modena and prove them unable to defend even themselves, let alone Italia.
By All accounts Carlo I was not a particularly bright man. Although capable at Military Organization, Strategy, and even somewhat skilled at Battlefield Tactics, he was not a pleasant person to be around, lacked charm and grace, and attempted to push his reforms through without negotiation or respect for the workings of government. When the Invasion began, he presented to his generals an incredibly ambitious design, which would, at its culmination, result in Savoy invading and annexing Modena, Tuscany, and Siena, taking the Austrian Territory in Italy, as well as taking the Lombard territory from Venice, and crowning Carlo I with the Iron Crown of Lombardy and thus becoming King of Italy.
The Strength of his Duchy was dependent largely on the efforts of his predecessors, some of which had been exceedingly talented. It had been Carlo Emanuele I, Carlo's Grandfather, who had reformed the Savoyard Military and Bureaucracy, and expanded its diplomatic clout until it was able to, in a single war, not only invade Genoa, but force the Genoese Government to flee and cede de-facto control of both the city, and its valuable trade to the Duchy of Savoy. The Genoese Merchants then fled to Venezia, where their former rival was all too happy to absorb the Republic's former Island Territories.
When 12 Thousand Savoyard Troops crossed the border into Modena, they found themselves surrounded on all sides by a massive alliance of Italian States. The Diplomatically Brilliant Cesare I had gathered to him an alliance consisting of Venezia, Tuscany, Aragon, Austria, and even the Swiss Confederation, now under the nominal leadership of the Habsburg Prince Johann, while Savoy was alone and isolated, all of Austria's Perennial Rivals being occupied with their own engagements. Friedrich, although the official leader of this massive alliance, gave control of all Austrian Forces committed to this war and control of all negotiations to Cesare I, telling him 'Show your Worthiness to Bear My Seal'. Cesare would accomplish all of this and more.
Had this war been simply between Modena and Savoy, it is likely the latter would have emerged victorious. Savoy's army numbered 16 Thousand in total against Modena's Four Thousand, however with Modena's Allies backing them, the forces at their disposal could easily have reached over One Hundred Thousand Strong, although only perhaps one quarter of that were actually committed to the War at Hand.
The Initial Savoyard army made significant headway before being stopped by a Combined Tuscan-Modenese army numbering 21 Thousand Strong, while the Austrian Habsburgische Armee pushed westward from Milan into Piedmont, and the armies of the Swiss Confederation marched south into the small counties between Switzerland and Piedmont. These Counties easily surrendered to Switzerland, while the Savoyard army in the South was pushed back into Genoa. There it was surrounded by Allied Forces and quickly destroyed, with the Savoyard Duke Carlo I being killed in battle. As Carlo had no children, the duchy fell to his cousin, the infant son of Jacob, Friedrich's Third Son, thus gaining yet another state for the Growing Habsburg Dynasty. Once all was done, the war lasted less than Eight Months.
The Treaty of Genoa was a brilliant Diplomatic Coup for Cesare I, as he brokered an immense amount of good will by not taking control of any territories himself. The Only Territories to change hands were in Northern Piedmont, where the Swiss Confederation seized two small Counties and incorporated them into the Current Framework of Cantons. The Local Lords of these Counties were more than willing to join the Decentralized Swiss Confederation and escape the increasingly heavy handed Duchy of Savoy, and so these territories remained under Swiss Control. The only gain given to Modena was to force the Duchy of Savoy to rescind all claim to the title of Lord Protector In Perpetuity. Likewise, on the Provocation of Venezia, Savoy was forced to declare the Genoese Republic to be officially disbanded. Savoy had maintained the Republic as a token autonomous force, ruling in reality only one square block of the city, such that Savoy could, should they desire and find the means to, lay claim to Genoa's Naval Empire in the Mediterranean, now incorporated into the Empire of Venice. Thus the war ended, quickly and quietly, with Cesare I having clearly shown himself to be a power in Northern Italy, despite the lack of military Strength Available to him directly.
The Danish War
The Second cause for hostility came in 1525, with the expansion of the estates of the Empire and the further consolidation of the territory in Imperial Circles. In Late October, the Archbishop of Cologne demanded that the King of Denmark allow Imperial Agents into the county of Oldenburg. This Territory was, but the definition of an Imperial Circuit, within the Lower Rhenish Circuit, and Cologne demanded that the Crown of Denmark-Norway enforce laws written by the Emperor and the Archbishop in this small strip of land. The King of Denmark naturally refused, and thus began The Danish War.
The Danish war was over even faster than the Savoyard War, lasting only Five Months before Sweden Intervened by declaring war on Denmark, and giving Friedrich the Leverage he needed to Force the Danish King to cede the County of Oldenburg to the Imperial Demesne. There had been no major battles, and only a brief campaign in the Lower Marches of Sleiswig before Oldenburg had been occupied.
Surprisingly, this short, minor war would have far reaching consequences, as Friedrich's abandonment of Sweden to Denmark would, despite the Swedish-Danish war ending in White Peace, so embitter The Swedish King to Friedrich VI, himself openly acknowledged as the Master of the Papacy, that the Swedish King would, within three years, declare himself Master of the Church in his Realm, thus further exacerbating the already flowering Reformation.
The Empire at 1529, after the Danish War, the Savoyard War, and the Second Burgundian War
The Swiss Confederacy was rewarded with a large territory East of the Original Cantons in honor of the Valuable Service of Swiss Mercenaries in the Second Burgundian War and the Savoyard War.
The Centralization of the Empire
As Mentioned above, the Imperial Bull of 1523 gave the ability to local powers to consolidate their Holdings. In 1529, after the amazing victory over France, Friedrich, enjoying even greater popularity in his reign, gave permission for various Large Estates to Absorb their Smaller Neighbors.
Only those Small States that could not recruit a Regiment of at least 2000 Soldiers were to be disbanded, and thus the primary location of these territorial changes were in the Western and Southern Empire. In the Northern Empire, especially near Brandenburg, the cities were rich enough, especially with the support of the Hanseatic League, to raise the troops they needed to continue to be considered Independent. In the rest of the empire, a Feeding Frenzy Ensued.
Some States, such as the Duchy of Bavaria or the Rheinland Palatinate, almost doubled in Size, while other states, such as the County of Baden, were merely able to finally make their lands Contiguous.
In Italy, very little changed hands, with the small states between Austrian Milan and Savoy remaining independent so as not to extend the front lines should the two powers go to war again.
Friedrich Himself did not seize any large pieces of territory, preferring to let the smaller states of the Empire consolidate his Empire for him.
This would lead to many things, and ultimately changed the entire face of the Empire. Where once there were over 300 small states in the empire, now less than 50 remained. Entirely new States were created purely to attempt to throw off attempts at absorbing them. In the North, a League of Small Counties declared themselves to be the Federated Duchy of Hannover, staying united just long enough to convince Friedrich to end this period. In the far North, the Hanseatic League became more Centralized and United than it had ever been. Both of these Leagues would remain semi-active in the coming years, with the League of Hannover federating almost to nonexistence but persisting with a unified military capable of defending itself, and the Hanseatic League returning to trading matters now that the potential crisis was averted.
This was a deceptive move on Friedrich's Part. The Estates were still very independent, even those small states that could not raise troops to defend themselves had preserved a great deal of autonomy, and very small estates still existed as nominally independent. There were still a host of Imperial Cities that remained free to pursue their own Political Policy, and two of the Large States formed were openly defiant of Friedrich VI. In many ways, although the Empire was stronger than ever, it was even further divided. Likewise, although the Nobles celebrated their newfound authority and territorial holdings, the First Peasant's War had just begun in Central Germany, and the Reformation was building itself into a powerful Movement. With England and Sweden openly challenging the Church's Authority, and Friedrich lacking any sort of motivation to fight this, considering it little more than an 'Affair for Squabbling Monks', the next age would rend this phantom order into bits, and lay bear the chaos just barely restrained.
Perhaps, this is a mark of further Brilliance on Friedrich's Part. Only he could have navigated these waters, and had a lesser Emperor been at the rudder, the Empire Could have been undone. Friedrich had halted the slow decline that had beset the Empire for Centuries. Had he been lesser, the Institution likely would have beaten itself to Irrelevance, and finally Death.
The Empire after the Imperial 'Consolidation' of 1534. The Pale Green represents the Federated Duchy of Hannover, while Territory shown in Lubeck's Deep Red were the territories that declared themselves officially joined as part of the Hanseatic League.
The Habsburg Dynasty in 1534, the height of its power.
The Habsburg Dynasty at this age experienced the height of its Power. The Romance of Friedrich VI and Maria de Burgundy has since become Legendary, not only for their infamous Rivalry for Power and Influence that somehow managed to not destroy their marriage, or even their love, but also due to the veritable horde of Children they had. Their Last child, Eugenia, was their 15th to Survive to Adulthood, and their 23 in total. The Last of the Five Girls whom survived, she and her 10 Brothers would bring the Habsburg Dynasty control of almost half of Europe, through one form or another.
Friedrich's First Child, also named Friedrich, was an average person granted control of the Duchy of Tirol to test his ability. Although lacking in overt Talent, he possessed a dogged determination and a sense of honest simplicity and bluntness that endeared him to his father. He lacked the grace necessary to succeed at military matters, however was fully aware of this, and thus left his army in the hands of capable generals selected by his own overview, and the recommendation of his peers.
He was, as the eldest, in line for the Imperial Throne, and Friedrich seemed content with him.
The Second Child and Son, Karl, was first given the title of Lord Protector and Duke of the Swiss Confederation, until he married into the house of Hohenzollern, and eventually gained control of the Electorate of Brandenburg through his son Maximilian, ruling as regent until turning the Margraviate over to his son fully. When he Left Switzerland for Brandenburg, the Confederation passed to his younger Brother Johann.
The Third Son of Friedrich, Jacob, would, as has been said, become Regent over Savoy until his Infant Son Berthold would inherit it.
Friedrich's First Daughter and Fourth Child, Amalia Von Habsburg-Valois, would be married to the King of Portugal, gaining The Habsburg Dynasty an influence in the New World and India, as well as a powerful Navy to aid it in the Wars of Revolution. To this day, Portugal is a confirmed enemy of the German Republic.
Willhelm was the Fifth Child and Fourth Son, and his son would gain the title Duke of Lorraine.
The Sixth Child would be Stillborn, as would the Seventh, leading to fears of Infertility in Maria.
However those fears would be quashed by the birth of Dedrick, Eighth Child and Fifth Son in 1509 Dedrick would become Count of Ansbach after the previous Count died without Heir.
The Ninth Child would also be Stillborn, reviving Fears, until the birth of Casper in 1511, Sixth Son and Tenth Child. Sadly, although his Son would become the Count Palatine and Elector of the Rheinland Palatinate, this son would be born after Casper's Unfortunate Death in 1534.
Casper's brother Kass would be born in 1511, Eleventh Child and eventual father of the Duke of Bavaria; Johann.
Kass would be followed by his Brother Ansaldo, Twelfth Child and Eighth Son. Ansaldo would go into the Priesthood as befitting of his name, where he would serve as an official in the Papal States after serving as the Archbishop of Salzburg. Little is known of Ansaldo, and he was given the nickname 'Rune' Meaning Secret, even by his own family and friends.
Ansaldo would be followed by his brother Johann, who would be granted the title of Lord Protector of the Swiss Confederation at the age of 17 in 1523, a title that had recently been vacated by his older brother Karl.
Johann is followed by his Second Sister Augusta, born in 1516. She would marry into the House of Wittelsbach but remain landless herself, until her Daughter Maria would marry the Landgrave of Hesse and play a crucial role in the Reformation.
The Fifteenth Child would be another girl, and would be named Maria Theresia after her Mother. She would give birth to a son named Friedrich, later Friedrich VIII and the last of the so called 'Three Friedrichs'. She would largely reign as Queen Regent over her largely invalid Son.
Maria Theresia would be followed by her brother Siegfried in 1521. Siegfried would remain childless and would never marry, leading to rumors of his sexuality, however after the death of Maria Theresia in 1554 he would become Regent over the Empire, and such rumors would be quickly dropped.
Siegfried would be followed by his Sister Alexandra in 1522, who would marry the King of England and rule as Queen Regent. She would prove to be a lively person, with a power personality and, although she would lack in grace, would assist her husband greatly in the Reforms of his Country after the English Wars of Religion. She would Remain Catholic in a Protestant Country, however would publicly support Tolerance and accept the Protestant Rites as her own, giving her an interesting take on Religion that she would latter write often of. She is still, to this day, regarded as one of England's Better Queens, although she is generally overshadowed by her Daughter Elizabeth.
The Last Child to live through Birth would be named Eugenia. She would eventually go against the judgments of society and marry a young Officer in the Imperial Army, who would then be promoted to a small landless noble. Friedrich apparently approved of their marriage, as he would entertain no thoughts of breaking them up, however this is likely due to a sense of nostalgia on his part, as the young couple were said to resemble the Emperor and Empress.
The Remaining pregnancies of Maria would all end in Stillborn children who were vastly underdeveloped. The cause of this remains unknown as the earlier Stillborns were described as normal, dead from no apparent cause, while the latter stillborns would seem to have only been half developed. These Stillbirths would not pose too great of a health risk to the Empress, and she would remain active well into her later years.
Outside of the Couple's Children, Various Brothers and Sisters of the Couple would also rise to prominence. Friedrich, For Instance, would have Two Brothers. His First Brother, Rudolf, would become the Disastrous King-Regent of Hungary, while Friedrich's Youngest and Slightly More skilled Brother Karl would become Elector and King of Bohemia. Friedrich's Only Sister Cacilie would marry the Heir to the Throne of Aragon, bringing yet more influence to the Habsburg Dynasty. Maria's Elder Sister Jeanette would be Married to a Noble of the Kingdom of France, becoming Duchess of Burgundy after the Second Burgundian War. Maria's Younger Sister Clara would marry Duke Cesare I of Modena, further strengthening the ties of the two Countries.
More Distant Cousins of Friedrich would also hold the titles of Duke of Silesia, Duke and Elector of Saxony, Duke of Pommerannia, Count of Urbino, and Count of Baden.
It was once said that "Although Jerusalem is the center of the World, the World Revolves around Wien."
The States who had Members of the Habsburg Dynasty Either as their Monarch, the Regent and Parent of their Monarch, or as the Wife of the Monarch.
This period is thus known as the Habsburg Golden Age, and saw the Dynasty claim control of almost half of the crowns of Europe through some means or another. Where they had no Dynastic Claim, they instead pursued Alliances, where those were not possible, they crippled whoever might stand against them. In the summer of 1537, God must surely have seemed to be Austrian, however it was, sadly, not to last, and the Habsburg Golden age is now known to have a concrete, resolute, end.
Although their power would remain for long after the events that would occur, the life of the Habsburg Dynasty fled it in the early morning of a tragic day in the early months of 1538.
On March 27th, in the Year of our Lord 1538; Maria de Burgundy, Empress of Rome, Duchess of Imperial Burgundy, Brabant, Limburg, Lothier and Luxembourg, Margravine of Namur, Countess of Artois, Vallenciennes, Flanders, Hainault, Holland, and Zeeland, and Countess Palatine of Burgundy, at the age of 54, died from injuries sustained in a fall from Horseback.