Records: Austria joins Germany

## **Sharing a Culture**

The Duchy of Austria was the home of the House of Habsburg, a chief rival of the House of Luxembourg. Late Emperor Charles IV had successfully minimized their voting role in the Empire. From the original timeline, this had set the rivalry in motion over a long and bloody arc. In *this* timeline, the Ricardian Crown was attempting to consolidate the culture that strengthened it rather than dividing it into competing factions.

This brought the situation to April 1382, where the old Luxembourg isolation of the Habsburg duchy had rolled over into the recent creation of the Kingdom of Germany, but now left Austria both a loose end (outside trade benefits with the Plantagenets) and a loose cannon (without control of waging foreign wars).

### **The State of Germany**

The Kingdom of Germany was already a spicy blend of old policy and procedure with *Magna Carta-*style techniques mixed in with the Imperial Diet's rules of order. The old ways were being shown the door, especially with a Ricardian Margrave of Brandenburg, three Noble Plantagenet Electors now in the old Church Prince-Bishoprics (Cologne, Mainz and Trier), and a strong ally in King Rupert *the Red* (himself Count Palatine of the Rhine, another of the original seven Prince-Electors according the ratified Golden Bull of 1356).

With the Kingdom of Bohemia excluded from the Kingdom of Germany (no offense, neighbor), that had taken the German land to six electors as they coasted on the old rules. While three former ecclesaistical votes were technically independent (and sometimes demonstrably went their own way), they were overall unified in voting towards progressive policy (including Magna Carta-related issues). Or, by the critics' estimation, they were effectively extensions of the Ricardian Crown.

The Plantagenet Bloc, in turn, had a lock on four of the six deciding votes. When the very close alliance with Rupert was added to it, that brought it to five of six. This left only Wenceslas I, House of Ascania, the Duke of Saxony-Wittenberg as a potential dissenting vote (short of the rest of Germany rioting). Wenceslas walked a fine line in that role, cognizant of the role as the token non-Plantagenet (or ally).

### **To the Great Relief of Wenceslas**

The Saxony vote was rarely out of step with the "Greater Bloc" for several reasons, and raw military power was admittedly one of them. Representing the rest of the countryside, however, wasn't that difficult as the magic and Jesuit-led Church reform (and associated healing) had largely won over most of Germany at large (short of the few factions that resisted change as a force of loss of power).

Margrave Rick of Brandenburg had already been a force for change, with the Diet adopting bits and pieces of the Magna Carta as they progressed – and was pushing for an overall adoption (albeit a distinctly German version). Three things were helping this along:

* **Revision of Extant House rules:** essentially the corporatization of noble houses, this allowed compoent houses to remain a viable political unit without focus on salic primogenture. This was now the rule for the House of Plantagenet and indeed, the CMC. Followng the old ways was, in fact, one of the criteria that had been used to limit selection for the Prince-Electors from the huge selection of German Aristocracy.
* **A Parliamentary structure:** this would give the largely disenfranchised nobility (and most of the rest of the commons), a vote in their respective house of parliament. This alone had most of Germany lining up behind the transition, with the major point of contention now being what borders constituted each jurisdiction (and that was a mess).
* **An Inclusion of Formerly Excluded major houses or jurisdictions.** While the Ricardian Crown now had an ally in the House of Wittelsbach, the Duchy of Bavaria was still excluded from Prince-Elector voting based on the rules of the Golden Bull of 1356. Bavaria was at least within Germany, however, versus the borders created that excluded the House of Habsburg altogether.

### **The Austrian Expansion of Germany**

Austrian culture had its unique flavors, but compared to the rest of the world, it was definitely Germanic. In that respect alone, the Austrians wanted to be included and Rick wanted them in the club. At stake, however, was limiting the right to conduct warfare independent of approval of the German Crown, taxes, and so forth.

Most of these issues were already under fierce debate regarding the Hanseatic League (in the north), especially in relation to trade group interference in state issues (the turbulence with Sweden). Austria had their own issues that connected to turbulence in their Italian and Croatian neighbors.

The Ricardian Crown was able to bring the Habsburgs to negotiations and shortly after, brought them into the kingdom as a *voting* member. This now replaced the former vote of Bohemia, brought the electors back to a prime seven with benefit of a tie-breaker if that was necessary.

Further, Austria was included not simply as a duchy, but befitting their southeastern mass, as the Archduchy of Austria. This conferred a few minor and a few more symbolic benefits that would eventually translate to parliamentary weight in a German House of Lords.

For Rick, they already enjoyed the momentum of Germany heading towards a Great Charter (and to the CMC beyond that). Having the Austrains aboard when it happened, and likely their vote as well, would help the perception of validity and increase long-term stability after the transition.