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John IV
Lancelot Volders - Portrait of Henry Casimir II, Prince of Nassau-Dietz
Grand-Duke John IV
Grand-Duke of Luxembourg
Reign 6th July, 1669 - 27th July, 1697
Predecessor Henry X
Successor Henry XI
King of Bohemia
Reign 6th July, 1669 - 25th December, 1680
Predecessor Henry III
Successor Rudolph II
Holy Roman Emperor
Reign 1st August, 1687 - 27th July, 1697
Predecessor Rudolph III
Successor George-William
Born 6th September, 1616
Antwerp, Luxembourg
Died 27th July, 1697
Delft, Luxembourg
Spouse Madeline of Arles

Sophie-Elizabeth of Sorbia
Katharine of Halle

Issue Henry XI
House Luxembourg-Limburg
Father Charles III
Mother Countess Palatine Susanna

John IV was Grand-Duke of Luxembourg, King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor in the late 17th century.

The 4th son of Charles III and Susanna, Countess Palatine, John was groomed from a young age for administration. For centuries the Luxembourg children, legitimate or not, were put to use governing parts of the expanding realm, or in semi-vassalised statelets around the Empire. At the age of 3 John was given the Duchy of Rethel, seized by Charles III in 1604 and once he came of age he ran it more of less independently of his father's wider realm.

Of course his freedom of action was much constrained by the course of the Fifty Years War, especially once France joined the fray in 1623. John was far more interested in agriculture and trade than military matters but along with the capable Luxembourg general Hans-George of Soleuvre stymied the French attacks on Champagne and forced them into lengthy sieges which restricted their freedom of movement. John would frequently side with Hans-George against Emilie Heldenstein and may have had a hand in arranging the assassination of the generalissimo in 1642.

His long and happy marriage to Madeline of Arles had produced no children, not an issue when a mere count but a different matter when he became heir to the throne. His elder brother Henry X had succeeded Charles III in 1650 at the age of 53. Henry outlived all of his own six children and began to outlive his brothers and sisters too. From 1667 John was heir apparent and two years later was Grand-Duke. Under pressure from the nobles John reluctantly divorced Madeline. He was wed to his second wife Sophie-Elizabeth of Sorbia the same day as his coronation as King of Bohemia. Though he tried to build a harmonious household with the princess thirty years younger than himself he would never forgive the nobles who had pushed him into the marriage and the relationship soured. The couple would have a single stillborn son and a girl who lived for three weeks.

Louis, Grand Condé

Charles of Utrecht

His presumed heir was his brother, the widely loathed Charles of Utrecht, was renowned for his single-minded ruthlessness, religious intolerance and brutality. When John fell ill in 1680 and was, by all accounts, near-death, the state was wracked by foreboding about what Charles' regime would entail. The cities of Flanders and Holland, already having been on the receiving end of Charles' wrath during the Fifty Years War, went into outright revolt. Charles, predictably unleashed hell on the rebellion, targeting Calvinists in particular. Thousands of Dutch, Calvinist or otherwise, often merchants or in skilled trades, were soon on the move to friendlier regimes in Germany, Anglia, Kaapstad or even Vinland (see Jobst of Meerzisch). This loss of skilled tradespeople would do much to hinder the economy as it sluggishly recovered from half a century of war.

The Diet of Prague went one further, signing a declaration to reaffirm the crown of Bohemia was elective and that they did not consider Charles a fit successor. Even though John was still alive they offered the crown out to Rudolph VI of Austria (the Austrian Archdukes had been liberally bribing various Diet members since the Luxembourgs had retaken the kingdom in 1668).

It soon became clear John was not going to die, though he would be bedridden for several months, but the damage was already done. When Ruldolph entered Prague and was crowned on Christmas Day 1680, John declared war. The 'War of Bohemian Succession' was a conflict neither party was really in any fit state to conduct. Targeting the Austrian territories in Swabia the Luxembourg army instead fought a series of tentative battles with the Austrians mostly in the Palatinate. On the Austrian side Rudolph was unable to commit his full force to the war; Bohemian Lutherans were in revolt.

When the first clashes proved inconclusive both parties were made aware of Denmark and France's willingness to join the war, or at least exploit the combatants' weaknesses. Harald V was eager to begin his own reign with pressing Danish claims to the Bohemian throne and Charles VIII was looking for any excuse to shore up his long frontier with Luxembourg. When John's spy masters presented him with a trove of diplomatic letters between Paris and Copenhagen, which they had secretly copied out, the Grand-Duke supposedly wept. Even if his armies proved victorious against Austria he would then face a two-front war against France and Denmark. The state's finances clearly couldn't sustain a long drawn-out conflict either, with most Italian bankers, those who hadn't been completely ruined by the Fifty Years War, supporting Rudolph. Bowing to political reality John formally declared he respected the wishes of the Bohemian Diet (being careful not to actually acknowledge Rudolph as the king of Bohemia).

Partly to make up for the loss of Brandenburg and Bohemia John was elected Holy Roman Emperor after the death of Rudolph III in 1687. His tenure as Emperor was, like in his own lands, focused primarily on restoring the economic health of the devastated region. Considering his age, frequent trips to Frankfurt were out of the question and so he would employ a small army of diplomats to direct the Imperial Diet's business (as much as the massed assembly could be directed at all). Economic recovery was stymied by a large Catholic rebel army which was marauding Northern Germany unchecked.

Luxembourg's territorial aggrandizement was not neglected however. He would fight a brief war against Charles VIII over the pro-French Bishopric of Speyer/Spires. The bishopric was officially Lutheran but heavily repopulated after devastation during the Fifty Years War by French Catholics. Wary of being deposed bishops had therefore publicly steered toward French policy to keep their new subjects happy but had also secretly allied with John IV following incidents during the Bohemian War. When Bishop Friedrich died in March 1699 the populace rioted, demanding a Catholic bishop. Charles VIII moved in to quell the revolt provoking John into declaring war. France's normal allies were distracted by the Kalmar-Wessex War and Charles VIII could only count on Aquitaine's assistance, John meanwhile had the Imperial Diet on his side and many Lutheran states pledged their armies. The French were therefore significantly outnumbered at the Battle of Deidesheim on August 1699 Speyer would get a Catholic bishop but its independence was revoked and it was henceforth part of the United Netherlands.

Meanwhile Charles of Utrecht died in 1690. By the end of the year out of John's many siblings only two half-sisters remained alive. There were five half-nephews from whom John was urged to pick a successor but curiously he did not. Technically the most senior of the various claimants was Sigismund of Klenová but he was in Vinland and all the others were infants.

Herman Hendrik Quiter d.y

Katharine of Halle, John IV's 3rd wife

A potentially ruinous succession dispute was averted when, improbably, John became a father at the age of 80. Of course historians have questioned the baby prince's actual lineage but John's doctors, his attendants and his third wife, the 19 year-old Katharine of Halle, all swore to the Diet that young Henry was indeed the Grand-Duke's son.

John died in 1697 and was succeeded by his son Henry. Luxembourg and its growing overseas lands were for the time being governed by a regency of Katharine of Halle and the Dutch Stadtholder Maurits van Vlissingen.

The Imperial crown would go, after a short election, to George-William of Anhalt. The Count had already been a prominent figure in the Imperial Diet attempting to resolve the back-log of a century's worth of property claims and the electors opted for a candidate who would continue on that basis, and not be distracted by the affairs of a large country to run as well. The seizure of Speyer rather than its restoration soured the opinion of many in the Imperial Diet and Electoral College. John would be the last emperor from the Luxembourg dynasty.

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