Central Europe 1600-1650 (Chaos)

~1600: 100 years after the , the German population has completely recovered and even grown further. The German nobles repeatedly raised taxes, which the peasants in Saxony, , and Swabia can't pay any more, because in these areas, the peasants divide their lands among all kids - so their plots become smaller and smaller. The revolters demand a "jubilee" (when all debts are to be cancelled), no lord except emperor, pope and God, liberation of the serfs, election of the clerics by the people, peace among Christians, restitution of their old rights and lower taxes. The uprisings are mixed with religious movements (which are, sadly, often antisemitic). Except for the Swiss confederation, the uprisings are defeated everywhere. Those who can, try their luck elsewhere - some going even to .
1607: University of (old capital of ) re-founded.
The (technically equivalent to OTL Gregorian Calendar) is introduced in Western / Central Europe. Only the refuses to introduce it, which will happen later in 1679.
1612: After the death of king , his younger sons receive small shares too (Namur and ). Namur secedes soon and is subsequently swallowed by .
1615: After the lost war against , Poland elects mighty king new king.
1616-19: "Island uprising" in after trying to reform the administration too fast (after French example). proves unable to overwhelm them again, but gets the promise from France that they won't try to conquer them.
1627-32: . At the beginning the Swiss are in advantage, but later the rebellion in the gives France the opportunity to strike against the Swiss. In the , the Swiss have to give the French-speaking area around , some fortresses in Alsace and at the Rhine (like Kehl) to France, and Savoy joins the , becoming a French satellite.
1628: Florence, still grumbling, bribes the Portuguese commander of the fortress , so he gives them the city, which they keep, to protect their connection to Atlantis.
1629: The disgraced commander of the Mediterranean fleet, a duke Francisco of , goes to Sicily, together with the occupation forces fled from the Marches and Algeria, sets up the (unrecognized) kingdom of (incl. , , the Baleares). Threatened by the , he makes an alliance with France.
1630-35: France and - fight the in the . In the , the Dutch choose to keep their Caribbean colonies, give Denmark-Braunschweig . France gets a good part of and all of Hennegau / Hainaut. As the Dutch say, now their Silver Age has also ended.
1631: Florentines finally part with the , since the Florentines want to annex the Duchy of the . They make a compromise with France: While the former Papal state is still nominally under the pope, Florence will "administrate" it for him. This is also seen as a compensation for the pope staying in , while many Italians still wish for his return to Rome. In addition, Florence has to allow France's ally to annex the more valuable North: Bologna, Ferrara and Ravenna.
1634: and Sicily make a contract: Spain acknowledges the independence of Sicily (not however, the fact that Sicily is a kingdom), gets the Baleares back.
King, duke and elector -Braunschweig dies without a son, makes his daughter new queen.
1637: joins GN, to be better protected against the ns, and even gets one electoral vote. Its German neighbors secretly claim that this is for keeping them in check.
1638: Reforms in the Netherlands after the lost war give more power to the parliament, which is democratically elected by all adult men who own a house above a certain value.
1639: Sicily conquers Corsica and Sardinia with their fleet. France and Spain are preoccupied and can't interfere.
Princess Mary of Spain's plan to marry her sister Isabella to "the other Francisco", king of Sicily, fails.
1640: King , Northern and founds the with , - and - against Polish or Russian threats.
1642: Government of the "Twin princes" François / (also king of Poland) and Charles / begins. Introducing enlightened absolutism, they practice religious tolerance, thus stabilizing the until then very shaky Hungary (having Catholics in Hungary and Slovakia, Orthodox in and Bohemian brothers in, well, , made governing the state extremely difficult). Even the Jews and Muslims in the country profit from the new tolerance.