Initial PoDs and Start of the Mad War (1427-1485)
If asking a contemporary citizen of Early-Mid 15th Century Europe what Dynasty and Nations do they think will be the most powerful in the future, many would say France for Nation and Habsburgs for the Dynasty. When asked about a non-important at the time German dynasty in the North about them rising to prominence, they'd say it'd be possible but would take decades, centuries even, before they could ever effectively challenge the Habsburgs in the Holy Roman Empire. If told that said Dynasty would go on to absorb the Habsburgs into their lineage and forever change Europe in the span of two life-times, many would assume you a lunatic and leave you be. However, the truth is stranger than fiction, as from the 1420s to 1500, such a thing did happen.
Frederick II 'The Iron Tooth' was born in 1413, the second son of Frederick I von Hohenzollern, the newly declared Elector of Brandenburg. Frederick I was the last Burgrave of Nuremburg, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and the Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach; he had been made proxy Elector of Brandenburg to help Sigismund of Bohemia in the Imperial Elections of 1410-1411 , and was given Brandenburg in 1415. Later, Frederick II 'The Iron Tooth' was made heir designate of the Electorate, and succeeded his father in 1440. On April 12th, 1421, he was betrothed to Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (born in 1408), daughter of King (of Poland) and Grand Duke (of Lithuania) Wladyslaw II Jagiellon, and twin sister of the future Wladyslaw of Cracow [1], Wladyslaw II's heir, with the agreement that Frederick and Hedwig would marry in 1427. This secured a Polish alliance for Brandenburg in its conflict with Pomerania.
A year after this agreement, this betrothal would be put in danger when Wladyslaw of Cracow married Sophia of Halshany, who saw her sister-in-law as a political rival. Frederick I, fearing what might happen to Hedwig and his potential alliance with Poland, requested that she be transferred to Berlin using the idea that she could learn how to speak German and get herself properly accustomed to the German way of life before the marriage as an official way to keep her out of any potential danger. To make Wladyslaw II more susceptible to the marriage, Frederick I would provide 200 troops in the Gollub War [2]. These moves allowed for tensions to remain warm and friendly and Wladyslaw II would not annul the agreement despite mounting political pressure from inside his realm, the Holy Roman Emperor Sisigmund, and King Eric III, VII, and XIII of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, respectfully. In 1427, Sophia would give birth to Wladyslaw of Cracow's son, the future Casimir IV. She would give birth to their daughter, Hedwig Jagiellon.
Thus, on December 1st, 1427, Frederick II and Hedwig Jagiellon, renamed Hedy, would marry, though the marriage wouldn't be compensated until 1431, four years later, as a private agreement between the two. While Wladyslaw of Cracow would die in September of 1432, seeing his son Casimir become the new heir to the Polish throne. On October 5th, 1432, their first son Johann, who's own grandchild would ironically change the fate of Europe, was born. He would have an additional two sons and two daughters that lived to adulthood : Anna (May 1st, 1434), Karl (July 5th, 1437), Heinrich (March 12th, 1443), and Maria (January 1st, 1449). There would also be two sons and a daughter dying in their youth (Frederick (b. April 2nd, 1435; d. June 7th, 1441), Wilhelm (b. August 11th, 1442; d. July 2nd, 1446), and Sophia (b. January 2nd, 1451; d. October 19th, 1460) and a stillborn son born in 1452. In 1437, Frederick I, frustrated with the stubborn nobility of Brandenburg, would effectively retire to his castle at Cadolzburg while still remaining Elector, granting his eldest son and Frederick's incapable brother Johann the Principality of Bayreuth and having Frederick II assume the Governance of Brandenburg, preparing himself for when he was the Elector of Brandenburg. Upon his father's death, Frederick II would move away from Imperial Politics, instead focusing on pacifying the nobility and forcing the towns of the Electorate to recognize him as its ruler.
Starting in 1440, quarrels with the city of Berlin began when Frederick began planning to construct a new residence on the Colln Island just opposite of Altberlin of the river Spree. Eight years later, an open revolt due to indignation at the Elector's seizing of territory for a stronghold, with citizens flooding the construction site of the Stadtschloss, though Frederick would continue undaunted and soon prevail over the city, with a new residential palace built and the city's rights and power successfully curtailed. With the Polish Alliance, he would also bring Pommerania to kneel, annexing the Eastern Portion of it while recognizing the rest of it as Independent, for the time being. To bring about a longer period of peace, he set up several marriages, seeing his heir, Johann, marry Anna von Wettin of Saxony, his second son, Karl, marry his cousin Hedwig Jagiellon, daughter of his uncle Wladyslaw of Cracow, his first daughter Anna to marry Casimir IV Jagiellon, son of her uncle Wladyslaw of Cracow and brother of her sister-in-law Hedwig. of Pomerania, and his second daughter Maria to marry Duke Bogislaw X von Griffin. Meanwhile, Heinrich would die before he could marry himself. These marriages allowed for Brandenburg to have an interconnected web of warm relations through blood and a continuation of the Alliance with Poland for when after Frederick and his wife died.
Johann, unlike his father, would take an interest and imperial politics, cozying up to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III von Habsburg and becoming a decent and well-respected Companion of his. So much so, that following the birth of Johann's son Albert and Frederick's daughter Kunigunde, an agreement of marriage was made without Frederick II's knowledge, with his attention being more on the acquired lands of Neumark from the Teutonic Order. Dying in 1479, Frederick II had created a stable Brandenburg that had known peace for the first time in a long time. Johann would succeed him as Johann VII and would set about a way to ensure the Hohenzollerns would be stable for the future. Making it public knowledge of Albert and Kunigunde's future marriage, he allowed the two to spend a decent amount of time with each, hoping they'd get used to one another enough that they would have a stable and long-lasting relationship. Interestingly enough, Johann was doing these things not out of sense that he could truly do something great for his dynasty later on, but instead because it would help the Hohenzollerns rise to prominence and land them in the Emperor's good graces, at least, for a time.
Meanwhile, as the fortune of Brandenburg turned around for the better, an accident would by some twist of fate land them into the Annals of History as the Dynasty that became powerful not because of careful calculation, conquest, or smart diplomacy, but sheer luck and chance. In 1476, the then 17 heir to Frederick III, the future Maximillian I von Habsburg, who was betrothed to Princess Mary de Valois-Burgundy and would marry her in 1477, was riding outside Wien when something, perhaps a rat or bee, spooked the Horse, causing it to rear up and Maximillian, unable to grab hold and calm down his horse quick enough, fell off and landed on the ground hard in an awkward position. This accident would leave him sterile and unable to produce children. [3] A few years later, Albert and Kunigunde would marry while Mary of Burgundy and Maximillian would divorce, with the latter claiming insanity upon the divorce but not moving to annul it either. Mary would go on to bed wedded to Johann's nephew by Karl, Phillip through sheer coincidence and at Maximillian's recommendation. Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, allowed the Marriage to happen and continued his wars to strengthen the Burgundian state though conquest after surviving battle against the Swiss and Lorraines at Nancy [4], though he was disappointed he was aligned with a lowly German Electorate and not the Holy Roman Emperor himself. Finally, for news about Western Europe before the truly interesting introduction into the mess that is France of this time period, Edward IV Plantagenet of England would recover from an ailment he had picked up during Easter of 1483 and would slowly focus on preparing his son and heir, Edward Plantagenet, to rule in several years time, giving him tasks such as dealing with the nobility while also having his brother continue to train him to be ready for combat and to lead an army. [5]
In France, internal strife would finally reach a boiling point following the death of King Louis XI de Valois at age 60 in 1483, leading to his son, Charles VIII de Valois becoming King at the age of 13. Ruling as his regent would be what became the power struggle that would bring an end to any idea of a unified French State and instead allow it to be controlled by Foreign powers for several centuries, at least, in the form of Duchies. At the start of Charles reign, Louis II de Valois-Orleans, Duke of Orleans and Charles VIII's cousin attended a newly gathered Estates General in Tours, France in January of 1484 that was called to discuss the issues facing the new King, with Louis II attending as part of the Second Estate, which was the nobility and royalty of France. The First Estate, being the Catholic Church, wanted a renewal of the Pragmatic Sanction that had been instituted by King Charles VII, Charles VIII's Grandfather, had excluded the Papacy from the process of appointing bishops and abbots in France, granting these positions by appointment filings instead to the Cathedrals and Monastery Chapters themselves, meaning a return to it would see the King of France appoint church prelates as opposed to the Pope.
The Second Estate, being the nobility as previously mentioned, wanted a ban on foreigners from being given command of military forces while the Third Estate, being the Merchant and Trader Class, wanted a drastic reduction in taxes with the crown receiving necessary funding by reducing royal pensions and cutting down the number of offices in the government. All three, however, were in agreement that the sale of the offices of the government was to be prohibited. On March 7th, Charles declared he was leaving Tours due to Poor Health and on the twelfth, the Estates General was told that the government could not pay their salaries, seeing the Estates concluding their business and going home, leaving these reforms to never be enacted until centuries later due to the division of France. With Charles being 13 at this time, his elder sister Anne would take over as Regent along with Peter II de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, with both ruing France until Charles was twenty, though he would be married at 16 by agreement to Scottish Princess Margaret Stewart, the at the time fourteen year old daughter of James III to continue the Auld Alliance. [6] During the 1484 Estates General, Louis II of Orleans had tried to seize the regency for himself, but was rejected and in April was forced to head to Brittany to join up with Duke Francis II de Dreux-Montfort. At the same time, he would send a request to Pope Innocent VIII to annul his marriage to Joan de Valois, the King's sister, so that he'd be free to be betrothed to Isabeau, Francis' daughter behind the already taken Anne, who was betrothed to England's King's Edward IV Plantagenet''s heir Edward, Prince of Wales.
On November 23rd, he signed a treaty that planned for his marriage to Isabeau before returning to the Royal Court in Paris. Upon his return, he'd try to take the King into his custody, but was stopped by Regent Anne and her supporters, using force to stop him from doing so, placing him under house arrest at Gien. This wouldn't contain him for long, however, as he would escape on January 15th, 1485 to invest Paris, granting himself control of the city, but would fail and would flee in February to Alencon, making Amende honorable (a type of punishment in France where the offender stripped to his shirt and barefoot and led into a church with a torch in one hand and a noose around his neck held by an executioner to beg pardon on his knees from his God, his king, and his country). In an attempt to stop any further movements he might make, Anne placed detachments of forces around the city of Evreux to prevent a potential linking of Orleans and Breton forces while she would also fear of an English intervention in this crisis, leading her to convince James III to allow Margaret to arrive in Paris to meet with Charles VIII, get her accustomed to French traditions, and prepare her for becoming Queen one day, with the hope that England, if they intervened, would allow messages to reach James of how his daughter was being treated in France.
As this was going on, while Louis was locked up in Orleans this time, the Breton nobility was being forced into order by royal troops after being roused into going against Charles. In August, Louis declared the regency was by all accounts illegal and he was the legitimate person to lead the regency of his cousin and brother-in-law. An attempt to once again capture him and this time contain him for good failed as Louis successfully escaped to Beaugency, where he was able to defeat a young Louis II de La Tremolle [7], with him dying in the battle, in September. The month prior, however, Francis II agreed to a year long truce, which was declared the Peace of Bourges, was signed on the 2nd of November 1485, temporarily halting all hostilities. But as this occurred, events would happen outside of France that would spell the beginning of the end for Anne's regency and Charles VIII's reign, as the death of Charles the Bold while in battle in 1485, when France was distracted internally, allowed for Mary and her husband, Phillip, to take the Burgundian throne while France could only watch, allowing for an uneventful rise to the throne with their son, Charles, born in 1484. This hold in Burgundy would see the Holy Roman Empire take an interest in France at the urging of Johann VII and Albert's urging, while both Edward IV and the Monarchs of Spain also began taking a keen interest in France. When the war began anew in 1486, it would be more than just rebel duchies against the King, but several other rulers also opposing Charles VIII, seeing this as a prime opportunity to weaken France and expand their own influence and power. The Mad War had begun.
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[1] - Changed this bit a little so that we can have no Poland throne drama, at least, for the time being. Thanks to @Jan Olbracht for helping me on this and correcting me there.
[2] - These prevent rising tensions that led to the marriage being postponed, among other things.
[3] - The second minor POD; With Maximillian I being unable to produce heirs, the line of succession goes to Kunigunde's children, which leaves the Habsburgs extinct.
[4] - POD here, but since I have him die seven years later in another post, only this this prevents is a war of the Burgundian succession.
[5] - Another PoD here, since Edward IV died at literally the right moment for everything to go wrong.
[6] - Fictional Daughter, had her be born in 1470 (a year after James III married his wife) but James IV and his two others sons still exist as well.
[7] - I don't know how much of an effect this would have on French military history, so if anyone could tell me, it'd be much appreciated.
Anyways, yes, a lot of butterflies did die, but for all intents and Purposes, besides Edward IV not dying when he did, Maximillian going sterile (a genetics thing not really related outside of him for the time being) and a lowly German elector being married to a Polish princess, I don't see how much can change. It wouldn't effect the HYW, it wouldn't really effect Italy or much else, and it hurts to admit that I have inadequate level;s of research for those areas. As time goes on, however, I am glad to state that the Butterflies will begin flapping its wings wildly from here on out as the Mad War goes on and we soon reach the Modern Day. If anyone wants to see what the current royal lines look like and for which important dynasty, just ask and I'll give you a list. Hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave comments besides "Stop killing butterflies."
Thanks and I'll shall talk to you all again soon.
Frederick II 'The Iron Tooth' was born in 1413, the second son of Frederick I von Hohenzollern, the newly declared Elector of Brandenburg. Frederick I was the last Burgrave of Nuremburg, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and the Margrave of Brandenburg-Kulmbach; he had been made proxy Elector of Brandenburg to help Sigismund of Bohemia in the Imperial Elections of 1410-1411 , and was given Brandenburg in 1415. Later, Frederick II 'The Iron Tooth' was made heir designate of the Electorate, and succeeded his father in 1440. On April 12th, 1421, he was betrothed to Princess Hedwig Jagiellon (born in 1408), daughter of King (of Poland) and Grand Duke (of Lithuania) Wladyslaw II Jagiellon, and twin sister of the future Wladyslaw of Cracow [1], Wladyslaw II's heir, with the agreement that Frederick and Hedwig would marry in 1427. This secured a Polish alliance for Brandenburg in its conflict with Pomerania.
A year after this agreement, this betrothal would be put in danger when Wladyslaw of Cracow married Sophia of Halshany, who saw her sister-in-law as a political rival. Frederick I, fearing what might happen to Hedwig and his potential alliance with Poland, requested that she be transferred to Berlin using the idea that she could learn how to speak German and get herself properly accustomed to the German way of life before the marriage as an official way to keep her out of any potential danger. To make Wladyslaw II more susceptible to the marriage, Frederick I would provide 200 troops in the Gollub War [2]. These moves allowed for tensions to remain warm and friendly and Wladyslaw II would not annul the agreement despite mounting political pressure from inside his realm, the Holy Roman Emperor Sisigmund, and King Eric III, VII, and XIII of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden, respectfully. In 1427, Sophia would give birth to Wladyslaw of Cracow's son, the future Casimir IV. She would give birth to their daughter, Hedwig Jagiellon.
Thus, on December 1st, 1427, Frederick II and Hedwig Jagiellon, renamed Hedy, would marry, though the marriage wouldn't be compensated until 1431, four years later, as a private agreement between the two. While Wladyslaw of Cracow would die in September of 1432, seeing his son Casimir become the new heir to the Polish throne. On October 5th, 1432, their first son Johann, who's own grandchild would ironically change the fate of Europe, was born. He would have an additional two sons and two daughters that lived to adulthood : Anna (May 1st, 1434), Karl (July 5th, 1437), Heinrich (March 12th, 1443), and Maria (January 1st, 1449). There would also be two sons and a daughter dying in their youth (Frederick (b. April 2nd, 1435; d. June 7th, 1441), Wilhelm (b. August 11th, 1442; d. July 2nd, 1446), and Sophia (b. January 2nd, 1451; d. October 19th, 1460) and a stillborn son born in 1452. In 1437, Frederick I, frustrated with the stubborn nobility of Brandenburg, would effectively retire to his castle at Cadolzburg while still remaining Elector, granting his eldest son and Frederick's incapable brother Johann the Principality of Bayreuth and having Frederick II assume the Governance of Brandenburg, preparing himself for when he was the Elector of Brandenburg. Upon his father's death, Frederick II would move away from Imperial Politics, instead focusing on pacifying the nobility and forcing the towns of the Electorate to recognize him as its ruler.
Starting in 1440, quarrels with the city of Berlin began when Frederick began planning to construct a new residence on the Colln Island just opposite of Altberlin of the river Spree. Eight years later, an open revolt due to indignation at the Elector's seizing of territory for a stronghold, with citizens flooding the construction site of the Stadtschloss, though Frederick would continue undaunted and soon prevail over the city, with a new residential palace built and the city's rights and power successfully curtailed. With the Polish Alliance, he would also bring Pommerania to kneel, annexing the Eastern Portion of it while recognizing the rest of it as Independent, for the time being. To bring about a longer period of peace, he set up several marriages, seeing his heir, Johann, marry Anna von Wettin of Saxony, his second son, Karl, marry his cousin Hedwig Jagiellon, daughter of his uncle Wladyslaw of Cracow, his first daughter Anna to marry Casimir IV Jagiellon, son of her uncle Wladyslaw of Cracow and brother of her sister-in-law Hedwig. of Pomerania, and his second daughter Maria to marry Duke Bogislaw X von Griffin. Meanwhile, Heinrich would die before he could marry himself. These marriages allowed for Brandenburg to have an interconnected web of warm relations through blood and a continuation of the Alliance with Poland for when after Frederick and his wife died.
Johann, unlike his father, would take an interest and imperial politics, cozying up to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III von Habsburg and becoming a decent and well-respected Companion of his. So much so, that following the birth of Johann's son Albert and Frederick's daughter Kunigunde, an agreement of marriage was made without Frederick II's knowledge, with his attention being more on the acquired lands of Neumark from the Teutonic Order. Dying in 1479, Frederick II had created a stable Brandenburg that had known peace for the first time in a long time. Johann would succeed him as Johann VII and would set about a way to ensure the Hohenzollerns would be stable for the future. Making it public knowledge of Albert and Kunigunde's future marriage, he allowed the two to spend a decent amount of time with each, hoping they'd get used to one another enough that they would have a stable and long-lasting relationship. Interestingly enough, Johann was doing these things not out of sense that he could truly do something great for his dynasty later on, but instead because it would help the Hohenzollerns rise to prominence and land them in the Emperor's good graces, at least, for a time.
Meanwhile, as the fortune of Brandenburg turned around for the better, an accident would by some twist of fate land them into the Annals of History as the Dynasty that became powerful not because of careful calculation, conquest, or smart diplomacy, but sheer luck and chance. In 1476, the then 17 heir to Frederick III, the future Maximillian I von Habsburg, who was betrothed to Princess Mary de Valois-Burgundy and would marry her in 1477, was riding outside Wien when something, perhaps a rat or bee, spooked the Horse, causing it to rear up and Maximillian, unable to grab hold and calm down his horse quick enough, fell off and landed on the ground hard in an awkward position. This accident would leave him sterile and unable to produce children. [3] A few years later, Albert and Kunigunde would marry while Mary of Burgundy and Maximillian would divorce, with the latter claiming insanity upon the divorce but not moving to annul it either. Mary would go on to bed wedded to Johann's nephew by Karl, Phillip through sheer coincidence and at Maximillian's recommendation. Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, allowed the Marriage to happen and continued his wars to strengthen the Burgundian state though conquest after surviving battle against the Swiss and Lorraines at Nancy [4], though he was disappointed he was aligned with a lowly German Electorate and not the Holy Roman Emperor himself. Finally, for news about Western Europe before the truly interesting introduction into the mess that is France of this time period, Edward IV Plantagenet of England would recover from an ailment he had picked up during Easter of 1483 and would slowly focus on preparing his son and heir, Edward Plantagenet, to rule in several years time, giving him tasks such as dealing with the nobility while also having his brother continue to train him to be ready for combat and to lead an army. [5]
In France, internal strife would finally reach a boiling point following the death of King Louis XI de Valois at age 60 in 1483, leading to his son, Charles VIII de Valois becoming King at the age of 13. Ruling as his regent would be what became the power struggle that would bring an end to any idea of a unified French State and instead allow it to be controlled by Foreign powers for several centuries, at least, in the form of Duchies. At the start of Charles reign, Louis II de Valois-Orleans, Duke of Orleans and Charles VIII's cousin attended a newly gathered Estates General in Tours, France in January of 1484 that was called to discuss the issues facing the new King, with Louis II attending as part of the Second Estate, which was the nobility and royalty of France. The First Estate, being the Catholic Church, wanted a renewal of the Pragmatic Sanction that had been instituted by King Charles VII, Charles VIII's Grandfather, had excluded the Papacy from the process of appointing bishops and abbots in France, granting these positions by appointment filings instead to the Cathedrals and Monastery Chapters themselves, meaning a return to it would see the King of France appoint church prelates as opposed to the Pope.
The Second Estate, being the nobility as previously mentioned, wanted a ban on foreigners from being given command of military forces while the Third Estate, being the Merchant and Trader Class, wanted a drastic reduction in taxes with the crown receiving necessary funding by reducing royal pensions and cutting down the number of offices in the government. All three, however, were in agreement that the sale of the offices of the government was to be prohibited. On March 7th, Charles declared he was leaving Tours due to Poor Health and on the twelfth, the Estates General was told that the government could not pay their salaries, seeing the Estates concluding their business and going home, leaving these reforms to never be enacted until centuries later due to the division of France. With Charles being 13 at this time, his elder sister Anne would take over as Regent along with Peter II de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon, with both ruing France until Charles was twenty, though he would be married at 16 by agreement to Scottish Princess Margaret Stewart, the at the time fourteen year old daughter of James III to continue the Auld Alliance. [6] During the 1484 Estates General, Louis II of Orleans had tried to seize the regency for himself, but was rejected and in April was forced to head to Brittany to join up with Duke Francis II de Dreux-Montfort. At the same time, he would send a request to Pope Innocent VIII to annul his marriage to Joan de Valois, the King's sister, so that he'd be free to be betrothed to Isabeau, Francis' daughter behind the already taken Anne, who was betrothed to England's King's Edward IV Plantagenet''s heir Edward, Prince of Wales.
On November 23rd, he signed a treaty that planned for his marriage to Isabeau before returning to the Royal Court in Paris. Upon his return, he'd try to take the King into his custody, but was stopped by Regent Anne and her supporters, using force to stop him from doing so, placing him under house arrest at Gien. This wouldn't contain him for long, however, as he would escape on January 15th, 1485 to invest Paris, granting himself control of the city, but would fail and would flee in February to Alencon, making Amende honorable (a type of punishment in France where the offender stripped to his shirt and barefoot and led into a church with a torch in one hand and a noose around his neck held by an executioner to beg pardon on his knees from his God, his king, and his country). In an attempt to stop any further movements he might make, Anne placed detachments of forces around the city of Evreux to prevent a potential linking of Orleans and Breton forces while she would also fear of an English intervention in this crisis, leading her to convince James III to allow Margaret to arrive in Paris to meet with Charles VIII, get her accustomed to French traditions, and prepare her for becoming Queen one day, with the hope that England, if they intervened, would allow messages to reach James of how his daughter was being treated in France.
As this was going on, while Louis was locked up in Orleans this time, the Breton nobility was being forced into order by royal troops after being roused into going against Charles. In August, Louis declared the regency was by all accounts illegal and he was the legitimate person to lead the regency of his cousin and brother-in-law. An attempt to once again capture him and this time contain him for good failed as Louis successfully escaped to Beaugency, where he was able to defeat a young Louis II de La Tremolle [7], with him dying in the battle, in September. The month prior, however, Francis II agreed to a year long truce, which was declared the Peace of Bourges, was signed on the 2nd of November 1485, temporarily halting all hostilities. But as this occurred, events would happen outside of France that would spell the beginning of the end for Anne's regency and Charles VIII's reign, as the death of Charles the Bold while in battle in 1485, when France was distracted internally, allowed for Mary and her husband, Phillip, to take the Burgundian throne while France could only watch, allowing for an uneventful rise to the throne with their son, Charles, born in 1484. This hold in Burgundy would see the Holy Roman Empire take an interest in France at the urging of Johann VII and Albert's urging, while both Edward IV and the Monarchs of Spain also began taking a keen interest in France. When the war began anew in 1486, it would be more than just rebel duchies against the King, but several other rulers also opposing Charles VIII, seeing this as a prime opportunity to weaken France and expand their own influence and power. The Mad War had begun.
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[1] - Changed this bit a little so that we can have no Poland throne drama, at least, for the time being. Thanks to @Jan Olbracht for helping me on this and correcting me there.
[2] - These prevent rising tensions that led to the marriage being postponed, among other things.
[3] - The second minor POD; With Maximillian I being unable to produce heirs, the line of succession goes to Kunigunde's children, which leaves the Habsburgs extinct.
[4] - POD here, but since I have him die seven years later in another post, only this this prevents is a war of the Burgundian succession.
[5] - Another PoD here, since Edward IV died at literally the right moment for everything to go wrong.
[6] - Fictional Daughter, had her be born in 1470 (a year after James III married his wife) but James IV and his two others sons still exist as well.
[7] - I don't know how much of an effect this would have on French military history, so if anyone could tell me, it'd be much appreciated.
Anyways, yes, a lot of butterflies did die, but for all intents and Purposes, besides Edward IV not dying when he did, Maximillian going sterile (a genetics thing not really related outside of him for the time being) and a lowly German elector being married to a Polish princess, I don't see how much can change. It wouldn't effect the HYW, it wouldn't really effect Italy or much else, and it hurts to admit that I have inadequate level;s of research for those areas. As time goes on, however, I am glad to state that the Butterflies will begin flapping its wings wildly from here on out as the Mad War goes on and we soon reach the Modern Day. If anyone wants to see what the current royal lines look like and for which important dynasty, just ask and I'll give you a list. Hope you enjoyed and feel free to leave comments besides "Stop killing butterflies."
Thanks and I'll shall talk to you all again soon.
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