1512- With the Empire shaken, King Ladislas III invades Kustrin in Eastern Germany. Maximillian is relatively indifferent to the invasion; but the Reichsregiment is able to get the Diet to approve the raising of troops. In the end, the rapid cavalry forces of King Ladislas III triumph over the empire, and at the treaty of Hamburg in 1514 Poland gains the city of Kustrin; but for doing what the empire could not, the members of the Reichsregiment is able to wield increasing authority over the disparate nobles.

Meanwhile, the Venetian captain Gian Trivulzio sails up and down the coast South America for Spain. He coins the term New World to represent these new lands.

Venetian merchants, in conjunction with those of Pisa, finance an expedition to the New World. Led by Massimiliano Loredan, it sails up and down the coast of Brazil. Upon discovering Brazil wood (important in textiles), they found the colony of Nuevo Verona; so-called because Loredan is from there. Sugar is imported from Crete and Cyprus and grown to feed the insatiable appetite of Europe.

1513- Vasco Da Gama returns to Europe from Asia, bearing silks and spices. Venice is shocked. No longer would merchants have to trust slow caravans; more importantly no longer would merchants in spices have to deal with Venice. It is reported that:

But most thought that this was the hour of doom for the Republic. "The city was stupefied – and the wisest men held it to be the worst news that there could possibly be".

Venice was already in a large debt from the wars; yet it is clear to Venice that there is only one solution: A canal must be built across the isthmus of the Suez. A special advisory committee is set up to determine the cost of such an endeavour; and return with the figure:

90 million ducats, over a period of 15 years, assuming that labor supplies can be found. Negotiations with the Sultan of Egypt occur, and the figure is raised to 110 million ducats, to cover the buying of the land for the canal. How then can the money be raised?

The answer, to the Council of Ten, was simple. Bypassing the Great Council (who would likely override it) The Council announced that it would sell membership in the Venetian nobility to mainland citizens of the Republic for 100,00 ducats a family. Among the applicants are members of the Medici family, who after a long period of debate, they are accepted.

1514- Construction on the Grand Canal begins. Also this year, the English claim North America.

The Reichsregiment begins negotiations with the Hanseatic League. Maximillian assents. The League, being kicked out of Russia the year before, eagerly embraces the proposals of protection and support from the Empire.

The Fuggers finance an expedition to the new world, which explores much of Canada’s coast (Newfoundland, Quebec). Hanseatic fisherman soon follow, along with some fur traders and lumberjacks.

Niccolo Machiavelli enters the Civil Service of Venice (all mainland inhabitants are considered full citizens) and writes the political Treatise The Doge, which states that it is in a governnment’s best interests to channel the people’s energy’s into private enterprise.

1515- Spanish explorers led by Juan de Grijalva land in the Yucatan Penninsula. They return home to Europe, where the tales of the natives are largely dismissed. However, several Venetian merchant companies, hoping to replace the feared loss of trade with the Orient, decide to search for the mythical civilization the natives spoke of.

1516- Antonio Priuli leads an expedition of 9 ships from Pisa to the Carribean. They discover Jamaica, and land at the site of Veracruz. Travelling inland, they reach the court of Montezuma. Although initially considered gods, the fact that they do not come bearing the cross (and Antonio’s nickname the Moor) calm things down a bit. Antonio returns home to Venice, laden with gold, chocolate, and the potential for further trade.

1517- Leonardo Da Vinci dies in Constantinople. Before dying, he was responsible for helping to found the Library of Constantinople, and rebuilding the newly restored Hagia Sophia.

Martin Luther nails 95 theses to the Wuttenburg Church. Due to the invention of the printing press, it rapidly spreads across Europe.

1518- Magellan begins an expedition to reach the spice islands by circumnavigating the globe.

The Aztec Trading House is founded in Venice.

Emperor Maximilian dies a broken man. During the chaos surrounding his death, Martin Luther is able to escape from being executed by the Diet; but he is exiled from the Empire. He flees to Venice, which takes him in. His message regarding the Papal involvement in secular affairs is particularly listened to.

But meanwhile, the Empire is left without an Emperor. Two obvious candidates vie for supremacy. Francis I, King of France, is considered as the leading candidate; as many of the electors were influenced through financial persuasion. But at the same time, the French had recently invaded the Empire, and a French king would do as the Hapsburgs had done. King Charles of Spain is also considered, but his financial resources are less limited, and he is a Hapsburg. The deadlock and Pope Leo transfers support to Charles; but Venice, through agents in the Diet, proposes, Philip I "The Magnanimous" as a candidate. Using its own financial resources, and the unpleasant taste of the two non-German Emperors, Philip is elected on July 2, 1519 at Frankfurt.

Venice eagerly welcomes the new Emperor to Italy, inviting him to stop at Venice on his way to the coronation in Rome. For the course of a week, Philip is enthralled by festivities in Venice. Banquets, plays, acrobats, and a great many festivities go for day and night in the city. Festivities, of course, are occurring not just for the Emperor, but because the Aztec Trading House just received the rights to import basic luxuries such as glassware to Mexico. He also visits the arsenal, where, in the morning, he sees a ship’s keel being laid. Returning at night, the same ship is leaving the dry dock, prepared for war.

1520- Luther is excommunicated from the Catholic Church, and the Pope demands that Venice hands him over to the Inquisition. Venice refuses, mainting its long tradition of tolerance. Besides, Luther’s (toned down) beliefs that the Church had been corrupted by materialistic Popes receives a great deal of sympathy in Venice and Italy, who were nearly conquered by the Empire, French, Spaniards, and each other due to the Papacy. Among the beliefs of Luther is that only faith in God and good works (an influence from the humanist Renaissance in Venetian Italy) earn one entrance into heaven; the sacraments are unimportant. Reading the Bible gains a new emphasis, especially in Germany and Italy. The printing houses of Venice begin to publish propaganda on the Reformation, although much of the Republic is still Catholic.

European diseases devastate the Aztec Empire. Subject tribes take the opportunity to rise up against them, and mercenaries (and weapons) from Europe are bought for gold.

1521- Diet of Worms. It initially opens on the subject of the Hanseatic League, which gains full support and protection. Turning toward the heresies of Luther, the pro-protestant Emperor Philip I decrees that the Empire shall tolerate the heresies, and suggests that the Pope should look long and hard at the reasons for Luther’s doctrine. He promises the support of the Empire for Protestant nobles, but all nobles who confiscate lands from the church must hand over 1 part in 4 as an Imperial fief.

The King of France signs a pact with the Baesilus Basili "The Turk", swearing alliance against Venice. In response, Venice reaffirms its alliance with the Holy Roman Emperor Philip, and King Henry VIII joins in the alliance against Francis. Carlos V, King of Spain and Duke of Austria, is torn. He decides to remain neutral.

Beginning of the Levant Wars.Vasco Da Gama returns to Portugal. This is slightly unnoticed, as all the major powers (save for the Triple Kingdom, which is dealing with revolts from Ukrainian Cossacks) are now at war.

1522- Byzantium blockades the Bosphorus, cutting Venice off from her Black Sea Colonies (which promptly fall). At the same time, however, the attempt to take Negropont fails; Venice’s fleet of 100 galleys drives back the Byzantine one of 150 through "love for Christ, love of Country, love of discipline, and love of courage" and then sacks Smyrna.

Francis attempts to march through Switzerland in an attempt to invade the Duchy of Milan from the North. The Cantons enter a "perpetual alliance" with Venice, and at the battle of Sampach, defeat the French. Sampach marks the beginning of cavalry and artillery superiority on the battlefield. The cantons, Venice, and the Imperial Diet form the League of Geneva, dedicated to ensuring their mutual defense.

Imperial forces, under the Marquis of Brandenburg, march into the French Low Countries. With help from King Henry VIII of England, they are able to retake Flanders.

1523- Thessalonica is taken by Byzantium, along with Varna. However, King Zygmund I of Poland, Lithuania, and Hungary begins making moves along the Byzantine border. A Venetian fleet, to compound problems, succeeds in breaking the blockade of the Bosphorous, and is only pushed back by the fortifications along the strait.

Emperor Basil makes peace with Byzantium. The Black sea is now a Byzantine lake, and Kaffa, Thessalonica, and Varna are returned to Byzantium. But at the same time, the Emperor agrees to only subject Venetian merchants to a 2% tax. The Emperor also invades Rhodes, expelling the Knights of St. John.

With Byzantium out of the war, Venice’s navy raids the Kingdom of Naples, and cuts it off from France. Venice also invades Genoa by sea, which revolts (as does Naples; the French have imposed crushing taxes similar to the Spanish which turned southern Italy into a backwater in OTL).

Charles enters the war, and raises taxes from the Communeros. This leads to the rising of Toledo, Segovia, and other Castillian cities revolt, and though it is put down a year later, it is marked by violent class warfare.

Malta, the barren spanish isle of little importance, is taken by Venice.

1524- Philip is running low on funds, especially with the entrance of the Hapsburgs into the war. This brings southern Germany into a civil war against the Emperor. He comes upon an idea. Much of the south is undecided on Protestantism; what’s more, the Hapsburgs rule much of Southern Germany, were staunchly anti-Luther at the Diet of Worms, and the Emperor decides who rules the ecclesiastical estates; if Emperor were to break away from the Church, the estates (and their treasuries) would fall to the Emperor.

In May of 1524, Philip forms the Imperial Church. With strong Lutheran influences, the Church nevertheless maintains a hierarchal base. Martin Bucer, the reformist who unites the doctrines of Luther and the South German and Swiss reformers, is its first head. The Reichsregiment provides unanimous support of the new Church (coincidentally, many of its members receive estates in the former ecclesiastical lands). The new church is very similar to the Anglican Church, with the Holy Roman Emperor the Supreme leader of the Church, with: "full power and authority from time to time to visit, repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain, and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences, contempt, enormities whatsoever they be which by any manner, spiritual authority or jurisdiction ought or may be lawfully reformed"

Meanwhile, in Italy, the Reformation spreads. The Senate, Council of Ten, Great Council, and Doge all issue decrees banning intolerance of either side. When Luther informs the council that he protests their tolerance, and that he has been moved by God to expel the bishops, the Council informs him that they have been moved by God to execute anyone who disobeys their decrees. He takes the hint.

The Pope excommunicates the Holy Roman Empire, the Diet, and the Riechsregiment. He furthermore elaborates that Papal support is provided only to Charles V and Francis, and that Charles is the rightful Holy Roman Emperor. Henry VIII considers dropping out of the alliance, but is promised the Low Countries in the peace treaty in the event of a victory. The Pope threatens to excommunicate Venice unless they hand over Luther.

Venice is furious. The Reformation has been gaining ground, but up until now it has been as a desire to reform the catholic church, not to replace it. The Doge warns Julius that "You must know that we are, every one of us, resolute and aren’t to the last degree, not merely the Government but the whole nobility and people of our State. We ignore your excommunication: It is nothing to us. Think now where this resolution would lead, were our example followed by others".

1525- Venice invades Rome. Rather than sack the city, the Republican army merely carts off the Papal treasury, and leaves the rest of the city intact. The Pope had already fled to Avignon.

Savoy joins the war on the side of the Empire and Venice, in return for the promise of Marseille in the peace settlement. He marches west, but his mercenary army is defeated at Toulon.

Vienna is invested by Imperial forces.

In a daring move, Naples offers itself to Emperor Basil, along with much of the King of Naples, on the belief that a distant overlord is preferable to the Venetians, French, or Spaniards. He agrees, but religious differences cause problems almost immediately, despite his promises to tolerate the Catholic Church.

Just as Imperial and Venetian forces border on triumph, the Triple Kingdom intervenes, at the behest of the Pope (and an eye for Bohemia, which has been ruled by several Polish kings over the last century, before passing to the Elector of Hesse). They are unable to, however, cross the Oder.

The Pope’s excommunication of Venice continues, and the Doge, when accused of Heresy, responds, "What is a heretic? We are Christians, as is the Pope himself, and Christians we shall die, whether others like it or not."

To cement their ties, King Francis marries Charles’ sister.

1526- Europe is exhausted. At Peace of Nice, the two sides come to an agreement. The Hapsburgs are cast out of the Holy Roman Empire; Austria is divided up among the Protestant princes to the North. The Low Countries are ceded to England, Genoa is ceded to Venice. In return, Venice pays France 40 thousand ducats for injuries to French shipping. Savoy gains Toulon, but not Marseille. The Emperor cedes Imperial territory East of the Oder (and recompenses the princes with Austrian territory). The Pope refuses to remove the excommunication. Much of Northern Italy is now Protestant, by this point, and Luther advocates merging the Church of Venice with that of the Empire.

The Byzantine Emperor goes to war with France over Naples, however. Venice helps the French eject Naples by harassing the Byzantine shipping, and breaking a fleet off of Naxos.

1527- Revolts in Germany by peasants, seeking political freedom, are crushed. Heresies spring up by the dozen, but only the more radical are crushed.

Cortez is finally brought under control by the establishment of the economienda system. He is the first viceroy of New Aragon. Gold begins flooding the Hapsburg treasury, but Venice encourages resistance in the Mayan city-states to the South.

King Henry VIII of England, Holland, and Flandern requests the Pope to anull his marriage. Refusing to take one step back and reaffirm the Church’s superiority, he refuses. England’s treasury is filled by the trade with the Low Countries, and Henry finances several voyages to the New World, landing in Chesapeake Bay.

Emperor Philip travels to Venice to discuss a union of the Churches. Along with him journey Zwengli, Melancthon, and Johanes Oecalampadius, who convene the Colloquy of Mantua. The Council of Ten is rather impatient, and so orders the theologists to endure poor food and conditions. They quickly agree that the Sacrament is symbolic in the material world, but spiritually represents the soul’s joining with Jesus.

The Holy Federated Church is formed. A loose network of the Protestant realms, it combines the Venetian and Imperial Protestant Churches into one religion, although doctrine varies between region. The cornerstone is the superiority of the sovereign rulers over the Church: cuius regio, eius religio (His land, his religion).

The Grand Canal finally opens, and is renamed the Canal of St. Mark. St. Mark, although technically not a Saint to Venice, is still a popular folk hero and myth for the city. An expedition of 20 ships, 10 from Venice, 5 from Florence, and 5 from Pisa, set out, under the command of Antonio Baldunicci. The ships reach Calicut, and Malacca in the following year.

Venetian glassware and European crafts sell well in Calicut, especially weapons. The ships have a profit of 2000%. But Muslim merchants are hostile to them, and Doge Andrea Gritti tells the Senate that they must wage "cruel war with fire and sword", and in 1530, Baldununicci sets out once again to negotiate trading agreements

The Mameluke Sultan begins hinting that unless the Senate begins paying him rent for the canal, he might take control of it. The Senate politely ignores him.

1528- King Henry VIII of England implements the anticlerical policies designed to force Clement to acknowledge the divorce. The Pope still refuses, currying support with King Carlos of Spain. Henry makes inquiries as to the entrance of England into the Holy Federated Church.

The Reicshregiments commissions the shipyards of Lubeck, designed to develop the shipping industry. It also authorizes the integration of the Hanseatic’s League’s navy into the new Imperial fleet. Phillip crushes a revolt by the last Catholic faction in the Swiss Cantons.

Russia crushes the Khanate of Ashtrakhan, opening the gateway to Siberia.

The Mayan cities of the Yucatan continue to resist the conquistadors of Spain. Nueva Aragon, as the former Aztec empire is called, is resettled by Castilans and Aragonians, after most of the Native population died off.

The Portuguese slave trade begins to pick up as the Venetians, Spanish, and English found colonies on the Carribean isles. The Hansea claims Puerto Rico.

The Venetian navy captures Aden, on the end of the Red Sea. The end to a busy year.

1529- Emperor Basil, seeking a last achievement before he dies, comes to an agreement with Venice to dismember the Mameluke Sultanate, in the event of "hostilities inspired by the zealous aggressions of the Infidel."

Baldunicci sets sail, landing on Ceylon. He supports the Raja of Calicut in crushing his longtime rival of Cochin, and obtains very favorable terms in a trading agreement over an empire which rules much of the southwestern Indian coast. He then sets sail north, and captures Goa for Venice. There, he promises to treat the Muslim peoples with good faith, and becomes the Venetian podesta for the city. Goa becomes the first Venetian holding on the Indian subcontinent Baldunicci then establishes a fort at Hormuz, defeats the Persians, and assures the Venetian monopoly on the spice trade.

1530- The Mameluke Sultan Mohammed II decides to take control of the canal, blockading the northern end. Venice and Basil agree to dismember the Empire, and the Byzantine Army invades from Anatolia, smashing the Mameluke armies in its path. The Venetians land a force near Alexandria, and rapidly overrun it and Cairo. Despite the courage of the Mameluke cavalry, it proves no match for Byzantine and Venetian tactics of using artillery and infantry, and within a year the sultanate is overrun.

1532- It is with much rejoicing that Byzantium raises its banner above Jerusalem. The Orthodox church takes possession of the holiest sites, but the Emperor placates the Pope and Islamic Sultans with the promise that the city will be open to all. Sinai and Egypt are given to Venice, who now has the slightly embarrassing problem of ruling an Empire it didn’t really want. Egypt ends up being a complex center of intrigue, where Coptic Christians and the urban classes are pro Venetian, while the Islamic countryside often seethes with revolt. That said, under Venetian rule, Egypt becomes a center for cotton and other tropical fruits, and once again becomes the granary of the Mediterranean.

The Mayan cities continue to resist the Spaniards, but begin to lose due to disease. Not even weapons from Venice and the Empire help them, and by 1540 the Yucatan Penninsula is in Spanish hands.

Phillip negotiates a pact with Venice for the use of the canal, and the reduction of customs between the two realms. Venice may only tax Imperial shipping which uses the Canal. (The Canal is closed to everyone but Venice and the Empire).

The Pope names Carlos the Defender of the Faith, for his persecution of Protestants in Southern Italy and Sicily.

Henry (VIII) pressed Cardinal Wolsey to move the Pope to grant an annulment, but Wolsey was unsuccessful, was accused of treason and died on the way to face the King. A new minister, Thomas Cromwell formulates a plan by which the crown assumed spiritual as well as temporal authority in England.

pizarro leaves Panama for Peru, and promptly conquers the Empire. The Venetians are starting to get irritated by the constant Spanish conquest of their trading partners.

1533- Basil dies, and the new Emperor John comes to power. He seeks to solidify control of the Levant, and dreams of taking the canal. Emperor John of Byzantium conquers Rhodes from the Knights of St. John, who are disbanded. The organization had been reduced to a sorry state of piracy, and was crushed.

Anne is married to Henry, and the popes subsequently excommunicates him. Somehow, based on the past 20 years of excommunication suffered by Central Europe, he isn’t that worried.

Pizarro sacks Cuzco, carrying away thousands of pounds of gold.

1534- The Hanseatic League sells the colonies in Newfoundland to the English for several thousand pounds. This causes a clash between the Reichsregiment and the League, who each viewed the cities as sovereign. Eventually, the emperor consents, but declares that any new settlements founded will be under the Emperor’s juridstiction. To complement this, he sends an expedition to southern south America, which founds the free city of Phillipsburg on the Rio Del Plata. To expel heretics, he issues the edict of tolerance for all who settle in the Imperial colonies.

The English establish a small colony led by the Dutch to OTL Manhatten, which is called New Flanders.

Jan Tarnowski, a Polish noble, calls upon the Triple Kingdom to defend his claims to the throne of Moldovia. It does so, but Byzantine support makes the conquest an expensive one.

1534- Pope Clement VII gives Loyola his full support, and the Society of Jesuits is formed, aimed at driving the protestant heresy from all Christian nations.

Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy. Henry VIII now leads the Church of England.

Jacques Cartiers sails for France, and explores much of the Carolinas and Florida.

1535- Quito is founded by Venetians to support their New World colonies, and act as a buffer to Spanish Peru.

The Venetians sieze control of Tindor, which, along with Ternate, completes the conquest of the spice trade. Money from it finances the development of primitive manufactories in Italy, along with the upgrade of the Venetian navy to a new type of ship designed in the Imperial Low countries.

1536- Calvin preaches in Geneva. Phillip lets the man preach, as his heresies spread in Southern France, Northern Spain, and, of all places, Scotland. He also quietly encourages Calvin’s followers that they might wish to seek out their future in Phillipsburg.

Act of Union ties both Wales and the Counties of Brabant, Flandern, and Hainutt into English Parliament.

Henry VIII approves the Ten Articles, establishing the Anglican Church on a firm protestant basis.

1537- Christian III and Gustavus I of Sweden defeat an attempt by the free city of Lubeck to reinstate King Christian II. The Imperial navy defeats the Danes and Swedes in the Baltic, and King Christian presses his opportunity. He returns Sweden to the Union of Kalmar, and crushes the Swedish rebels. He also favors the teachings of Calvin, which spread throughout Scandinavia. Reforming the Union, Christian will be called the Christian the Good by Future Generations, establishing the power of Scandinavia’s middle and lower classes at the expense of the nobles.

The Jesuits begin their work in Sigmund’s Poland, causing many of the German protestants in Danzig to flee to the West. Phillip begins responding to Emperor John’s diplomatic proposals. Venice would also like Dalmatia back, as Polish pirates have been harassing shipping in the Adriatic.

Profits from the canal begin to flood Italy, causing the joke that the "Hapsburg gold pays for Venetian warships". The Venetian Senate also uses the profits to increase literacy, reform Cyprus and Crete, and modernize the fleet, replacing galleys with warships.

1538- The small reform movement in France is crushed by Francis. The Hapsburgs begin strengthening fortifications in Sicily and on Malta, while Francis and Charles reaffirm their ties. Charle’s brother Ferdinand

The Spanish army invades Algiers, seeking to end the piracy of Barbarossa. They also hope to gain a route to march on Egypt.

1539- The 2nd League of Cambrai is formed by Venice, along with The Empire of Russia, Byzantium, and Empire, to end the Polish oppression of all good Christians, "as the Pope speaks of Heresies in the city of Sodom."

The Council of Palermo. In the stifling sun of Sicily, the Catholic Church reaffirms its doctrines, and swears to fight the heresies. No efforts are reconciliation are made, which disappoints The Senate and People of the Republic of Venice.

Ferdinand, Duke of Sicily, marries Isabella of Portugal.

1540- King Sigismund II dies on a hunting accident. With encouragement from Byzantium and Venice, the nobles of Hungary rise in revolt. Russia supports the Eastern Orthodox populace in Lithuania, who declare for the Czar. Poland asks Francis, Carlos, and John III of Portugal to honor Pope Clement’s pleas and come to his defense. They do so, along with King James V of Scotland, the last Catholic monarch in the British Isles.

Ireland rises in revolt against Henry, and the Scots (lavishly funded with Hapsburg gold) march into Yorkshire.

1541- Henry VIII defeats James’ army, and the Protestant nobles conspire with Henry against James.

Francis invades Savoy, killing its Duke on the battlefield.

Surprisingly, Christian II, who styles himself King of Scandinavia, joins the war on the side of Poland. Christian hopes to gain Holstein from the Empire, long a bone of contention.

Spanish funds encourage the Muslims of The Nile to revolt. They need little encouragement.

But efforts to take the canal are foiled at the battle of Ortranto. A combined Byzantine-Venetian fleet (an irony, there) smashes the Iberian and French fleets. By the end of the year, Venetian forces have taken Malta and Palermo.

1542- At the battle of Pinkie, King James V of Scotland is killed, and King Henry VIII of England achieves the English dream. His son, Edward, will be married to Mary, Queen of the Scots. But invasions of Ireland by England are beaten back.

Rome finally falls to Venetian forces. The Pope flees to Avignon. Again.

Russian armies are defeated by Polish cavalry on the steppes of Russia, but the Empire reaches the Danzig. From Amsterdam, an Imperial fleet sets sail for Copenhagen, but is driven off by a larger Scandinavian force.

1543- Venetian army forces clash at Turin with those of Francis. In a battle fought by starlight, the Italians triumph, driving the French back to Savoy.

From Mombasa, a Portuguese fleet attacks Aden, key to the Red Sea. It is defended, but barely.

A small squadron in the New World of English ships captures the city Marie (roughly where Jamestown was, in otl) from France by a John Smith, but Pocahontas is nowhere to be found. Before departing, however, John does give the Indian the gift of blankets with smallpox.

The Low Countries are (as usual) the scene of battle between England and France. Calais is actually taken, but Francis cannot cross the river.

Luther goes too far. His pamphlet entitled "On Jews and their Lies" has him drawn before the Council of Ten. They warn him that if he continues to urge burning down the property of productive citizens of the Republic, it will be he who is used as kindling.

Calvinists are burned at the stake in France for the first time. Several Italian cities harass Catholics within when news reaches them, forcing the Senate to declare Martial Law in those cities.

1544- In exchange for territorial concessions, Russia drops out of the war with Sigismund III. He uses the Lithuanian cavalry to bring the whip against the Hungarian nobles. Then he gives up Moldavia (rather worseless, in any case) to Byzantium, before turning on Venice.

He quickly retakes the cities of Dalmatia, but cannot take Trieste. However, to compound matters, Emperor John seizes outright, with no provocation, several Venetian trading posts on Morea. (In actuality, doing so was part of his agreement with Poland for Moldovia). The Free City of Ragusa joins the Empire of Byzantium, fearful of being overtaken.

John can now make a bid for his canal but he overestimates the power of a modern fleet. At the battle of Lepanto, new Italian frigates tear through Byzantium war galleys. Then, to repay the courtesy of Morea, sack Athens.

1545- The Mayans rebel in New Spain. In response, Mayan codexes are burned by the thousands. Only 474 survived, mostly in the hands of Venetian art collectors.

The Venetians pay Barbarossa of Tunisia to invade Spanish Algiers, and a Tangiers is taken by a Venetian fleet.

The revolt in Egypt is finally suppressed. The Senate of Venice finally adopts the ideas of Niccolo Machiavelli, the first Venetian Doge of Egypt, and reverse Islamic traditions. For the rebellion, several larger mosques are converted into churches, and Muslims will pay a higher tax than non-Muslims.

1546- The Empire and Venice cannot win a war against Sigismund, Christian, Francis, and Charles at once. But they are not losing either; a stalemate has occurred. The Senate and Reichsregiment both agree to bribing their enemies to leave the war.

Sigismund drops out after the battle of Mohacs. He has solidified Hungary under his rule, and regained Dalmatia, but according to the treaty of Danzig, will return Danzig and the former Imperial territory of Kustrin and Pommerania to the Empire.

Christian leaves the war after receiving Holstein, leaving only Francis and Charles.

1547- Treaty of Amsterdam. Venice gains Sicily, Malta, and the Duchy of Savoy is divided between France and Venice. Byzantium gains all Venetian outposts on Morea, and Moldovia. Rome, reduced to a backwater, is formally incorporated into the mainland empire of Venice, on the condition that she will honor the shrines of the city.

Francis I, tired from the wars, is exhausted. His son, Henry II, has been killed by the English in the low Countries, and he dies soon after. Before dying, he decides that his empire shall pass to Carlos I, King of Spain, and a relative of the King through one of Francis’s sisters.

Now, according to Salic Law, succession cannot pass through a female. But Pope Clement issues the Declaration of Marseilles, which removes the Law from French law, on the basis of the threat to Christendom. Despite this, French nobles rally around the Guise. Spanish gold and guns triumph, however, and by 1550, Carlos is King of Spain and France.