So we all know the story and the man: Karl V, Carlos I el César, Holy Roman Emperor, inherited half the world through his grandparents' marriages (Maximiliam of Austria and Mary of Burgundy, the Catholic Monarchs), the conquests of greedy Spanish adventurers (Cortez, Pizarro, etc.) and several deaths.
Let's assume one of those deaths doesn't occur. Say, Juan de Trastamara leads a long, healthy happy life instead of dying of eh *checks chronicles* fucking, or Miguel da Paz doesn't die in his infancy, or the aforementioned Juan's wife, Margaret of Austria, gives birth to a health boy in 1497 insead of a dead girl. So one of those guys inherits the Spanish Thrones and the New World, while Charles the Big Jaw just gets the lands left by Grandpa Max and Grandma Mary, still a considerable do ain for a guy his age once Maximilian dies.
What becomes of him? Can he still get the Wesler and Fugger Banks to finance him and his bid for the Imperial Throne? How does he manage without the vast Spanish resources? How does he deal with Francis I and the Reformation? Et cetera, et cetera...you know the rest.
Let's assume one of those deaths doesn't occur. Say, Juan de Trastamara leads a long, healthy happy life instead of dying of eh *checks chronicles* fucking, or Miguel da Paz doesn't die in his infancy, or the aforementioned Juan's wife, Margaret of Austria, gives birth to a health boy in 1497 insead of a dead girl. So one of those guys inherits the Spanish Thrones and the New World, while Charles the Big Jaw just gets the lands left by Grandpa Max and Grandma Mary, still a considerable do ain for a guy his age once Maximilian dies.
What becomes of him? Can he still get the Wesler and Fugger Banks to finance him and his bid for the Imperial Throne? How does he manage without the vast Spanish resources? How does he deal with Francis I and the Reformation? Et cetera, et cetera...you know the rest.