In the meantime, I'll start catching up to my current date by covering 1577-99...
"The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people."
-Machiavelli
How Lands Change Hands
Two years later, in 1579, Albrecht IV of Bavaria died of pneumonia, and so his brother Philip Moritz Maria became King and Emperor. His short reign is remembered almost exclusively for his inheriting - upon the death of the last Valois King there - the throne of England. Thus the Wittelsbach line came to Britain. Few realize, however, that he also founded what is today the world's largest tobacco corporation. He was succeeded by Albrecht's son, Joseph Ferdinand, in 1586.
In 1587, Joseph Ferdinand supported the Catholic lords of Modena when they demanded independence from their Tuscan overlord. Through diplomatic pressure, he arranged for the Duchy to be join the Imperial Demesne, under his own authority. He compensated Ferdinando III by admitting Urbino into the Empire.
Some idiot event can't tell the difference between Mantua and Modena, lol
But Ferdinando was more than compensated a year later when the Catholic Queen Maria III of Sicily died without an heir. Her closest living relative, through her mother's cousin's father's grandnephew's carriage driver's mother-in-law, was in fact, the Grand Duke Ferdinando III of Tuscany. The Protestant Medici had never persecuted Catholics outright, and Ferdinando was prudent enough to grant the Sicilian nobles' request for autonomy.
Before he died in 1591, he began the building of a rudimentary Tuscan fleet by hiring Dutch and Sicilian shipwrights to train Tuscans in the art of shipbuilding. Under his 8 year old second son, Francesco Stefano, the administration of Tuscany was left to a regency council.
In 1592, the long War of the Two Henrys (of course, both had died by that time and two Bavarians had come to the throne in England) came to an end. Spain held its New World colonies and annexed Braganca and Algarve from Portugal. However, it lost the Canaries to the English, and more importantly, not only Rousillon but Navarre and northern Aragon to France. The war was a critical turning point in French history: the King centralized and consolidated his (non-English-held) lands and the Imperial duchies of Hainaut and Lorraine threw off their vassalage to the French Crown.
The Fools' War
One of the most forgotten wars in history broke out late in 1592, when the Swiss Confederation invaded Milan. A renegade Swiss court, under the influence of a radical Protestant minister, declared the Confederation had a legitimate claim to the lands of the Duchy. Not wanting to let a few crazed Swiss represent all Protestants, Tuscany led a Catholic coalition in defense of Milan.
Military incompetency plagued both sides, most notably when the Tuscan Regent led 16,000 men north against the Count Palatine. Despite numerical superiority, atrocious leadership caused the Tuscans to be slaughtered and they fled the field. Following the disaster at Franken, Tuscany ended the six month war with a truce (though Milan forced the Swiss to revoke their claim).
A year later, for protecting Milan from Swiss invasion, the Duke of Milan (under pressure from the Emperor) finally recognized Tuscany's de facto rule over Parma.
One Sicily, Two Sicily
Succession crises continued in the 1580s as the Emperor Joseph Ferdinand rose to the throne of Hesse as well. With his death in 1598, his oldest son Albrecht V of Bavaria became King, Emperor, and Duke of Hesse; while his younger son converted to Catholicism to become King Charles III of England. 3 different Wittelsbach Kings now ruled Bavaria, England, and Scotland at this time, and a something of an understanding developed between the British and German Protestants.
But in late December of 1598, the first large conflict over succession was about to break out, as Francesco Stefano I took the throne of Tuscany, and united it with the crown of Sicily. At the same time, through his claim to Kingdom of Sicily, he claimed the rights to the Neapolitan Kingdom as well.
Chapter VIII - Dynastic Succession
"The best fortress which a prince can possess is the affection of his people."
-Machiavelli
How Lands Change Hands
Two years later, in 1579, Albrecht IV of Bavaria died of pneumonia, and so his brother Philip Moritz Maria became King and Emperor. His short reign is remembered almost exclusively for his inheriting - upon the death of the last Valois King there - the throne of England. Thus the Wittelsbach line came to Britain. Few realize, however, that he also founded what is today the world's largest tobacco corporation. He was succeeded by Albrecht's son, Joseph Ferdinand, in 1586.
In 1587, Joseph Ferdinand supported the Catholic lords of Modena when they demanded independence from their Tuscan overlord. Through diplomatic pressure, he arranged for the Duchy to be join the Imperial Demesne, under his own authority. He compensated Ferdinando III by admitting Urbino into the Empire.
Some idiot event can't tell the difference between Mantua and Modena, lol
But Ferdinando was more than compensated a year later when the Catholic Queen Maria III of Sicily died without an heir. Her closest living relative, through her mother's cousin's father's grandnephew's carriage driver's mother-in-law, was in fact, the Grand Duke Ferdinando III of Tuscany. The Protestant Medici had never persecuted Catholics outright, and Ferdinando was prudent enough to grant the Sicilian nobles' request for autonomy.
Before he died in 1591, he began the building of a rudimentary Tuscan fleet by hiring Dutch and Sicilian shipwrights to train Tuscans in the art of shipbuilding. Under his 8 year old second son, Francesco Stefano, the administration of Tuscany was left to a regency council.
In 1592, the long War of the Two Henrys (of course, both had died by that time and two Bavarians had come to the throne in England) came to an end. Spain held its New World colonies and annexed Braganca and Algarve from Portugal. However, it lost the Canaries to the English, and more importantly, not only Rousillon but Navarre and northern Aragon to France. The war was a critical turning point in French history: the King centralized and consolidated his (non-English-held) lands and the Imperial duchies of Hainaut and Lorraine threw off their vassalage to the French Crown.
The Fools' War
One of the most forgotten wars in history broke out late in 1592, when the Swiss Confederation invaded Milan. A renegade Swiss court, under the influence of a radical Protestant minister, declared the Confederation had a legitimate claim to the lands of the Duchy. Not wanting to let a few crazed Swiss represent all Protestants, Tuscany led a Catholic coalition in defense of Milan.
Military incompetency plagued both sides, most notably when the Tuscan Regent led 16,000 men north against the Count Palatine. Despite numerical superiority, atrocious leadership caused the Tuscans to be slaughtered and they fled the field. Following the disaster at Franken, Tuscany ended the six month war with a truce (though Milan forced the Swiss to revoke their claim).
A year later, for protecting Milan from Swiss invasion, the Duke of Milan (under pressure from the Emperor) finally recognized Tuscany's de facto rule over Parma.
One Sicily, Two Sicily
Succession crises continued in the 1580s as the Emperor Joseph Ferdinand rose to the throne of Hesse as well. With his death in 1598, his oldest son Albrecht V of Bavaria became King, Emperor, and Duke of Hesse; while his younger son converted to Catholicism to become King Charles III of England. 3 different Wittelsbach Kings now ruled Bavaria, England, and Scotland at this time, and a something of an understanding developed between the British and German Protestants.
But in late December of 1598, the first large conflict over succession was about to break out, as Francesco Stefano I took the throne of Tuscany, and united it with the crown of Sicily. At the same time, through his claim to Kingdom of Sicily, he claimed the rights to the Neapolitan Kingdom as well.
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