Central Europe 1500-1550 (Chaos)

1500-1508: Reforms of the HRE. Everlasting Landfrieden ("public peace" - puts an end to the feuds) proclaimed. Braunschweig-Lüneburg gets the ninth electorate. Otherwise, the electorate system isn't reformed - but the clerical electors (the bishops of Cologne, Mainz and Trier) are now really dependent of their princes, the princes of Jülich-Berg, Nassau and Luxemburg respectively. The Gottesfreistaaten of Münster and Würzburg are put into Reichsacht (means: everyone may kill their people and take their lands). The Reichstag is established. It's not a parliament, more a platform for the princes and the other states. The electors (and later Franconia-Pomerania) have one vote each, while the smaller states only have "shared votes". To counter the Seljuk threat, the Reichsarmee (Imperial army) is founded too. HRE now named "Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation".

1503: The Slovakian estates make an alliance with Poland, after Hungary was conquered by the Seljuks.

1506: Jan the Old (also called the Good) elected new king in Bohemia. After the difficult times of the 15th century, he cuts back the radical religious groups, builds up the economy and science again, and starts diplomatic relations with other European powers.

1511: Francois, the Regent for his nephew, French king Charles VIII, elected Roman king (as Franz I). He has to find out soon that the title is far from meaning much power. To counter this, he founds the "Alliance des Alpes / Alpenbund" with Venice, Bavaria and Württemberg-Carinthia, which is mainly directed against the Seljuks.

With the death of Ottokar III of Carinthia, the Przemyslid dynasty ends. His lands are divided between his daughters - Maria, who marries the duke of Württemberg, gets the electorate, Carinthia and Styria (and theoretically Austria), and Elisabeth, who married the duke of Brandenburg, gets Silesia.

1521-23: Hanseatic League clashes with united Scandinavia (later more) which started the Sund toll. However, the Hanse cities lose this time. As a consequence, the Hanseatic League becomes less and less important. While the cities in the Netherlands (and to a lesser extent, in Braunschweig-Lüneburg) profit from the Atlantean trade, the Baltic cities are not that lucky. Not to mention those cities who suffer under the regime of the theocrats. The League continues officially, but it lost power.

1522: After Poland threatens the (shrunk) lands of the Teutonic Order, the knights appeal to the Holy Roman Emperor. Since he and France can use every supporter, Prussia is made a secular duchy and joins the HRE. The Poles are not too happy about this. King Boleslaw VII and his successor Boleslaw VIII now start a policy with the aim of strengthening the power of Poland and themselves: They build many printing presses and several universities, found colonies and reform Poland in various ways.

1530s: Unhappy about the western schism, Christian reform movements spread in the HRE too. The bible is translated independently three times: Into Swabian German by Josef (who later called himself Gotthold) Füssli, into Northern German in Braunschweig-Lüneburg (this version even spreads into the Netherlands) by Matthias Lieber, and into Upper German by Hieronymus Knoblauch in Upper Palatinate. Except for Bavaria and Prussia, most German princes introduce the one or other translated bible, bring the church in their lands under their control.

1533: Religious uprisings in Florence. The radicals are suppressed, but the duke gives in insofar as he has the bible translated into the vernacular. Otherwise, Florence still stands on the side of the pope.

1538: Poland secularizes church property.

1541-44: Swiss-Savoy war. The former win, get the control over Graubünden, Tessin and Veltlin.

1545: Burgrave Johann von Hohenzollern of Ansbach and Bayreuth defeats the Gottesfreistaat Würzburg, annexes it, thus forming the duchy of Franconia. For this deed, the emperor promises him to support his claims for Pomerania too.