Pretender
Crown pretender is a redirect to this article. See also: The Crown Pretenders.
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A pretender to the throne is a person who lays claim to a throne but is not officially recognized as a monarch. This is especially true of hereditary monarchies. The existence of multiple pretenders to the throne was often the cause of protracted civil wars, such as the Wars of the Roses in 15th century England or the Carlist Wars in 19th century Spain.
The word pretender is derived from the Latin verb praetendere, which means 'to claim'. It was adopted into German via French as the loanword 'prätendieren'.
Historical pretenders to the throne (selection)
- In France the Orléanists stood against both the Bonapartists and the Legitimists, and formed a whole dynasty of pretenders.
- In Japan, during the Nanboku-chō ('Period of the Southern and Northern Courts'), there were a number of "counter-emperors" of the Ashikaga clan, the first of whom was Emperor Kōgon.
- Duke Louis I of Anjou was pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples in 1382 and also titular emperor of the Latin Empire.
- The so-called False Mustafa, also called Küçük Mustafa (Turkish for 'little Mustafa'), was pretender to the throne of the Ottoman Empire against Murat II.
- Gáspár Bekes of Kornyát was pretender to the throne of the principality of Transylvania from 1571 to 1576.
- António of Crato failed in his attempt to secure the Portuguese crown in 1580 against Philip II of Spain.
- Charles VI was pretender to the throne of Spain before his election as emperor.
- The Spanish Carlists were a dynasty of pretenders.
- The Jacobites were a dynasty of pretenders. They failed in their attempt to establish a Roman Catholic dynasty in the United Kingdom.
- Alexander of Yugoslavia
See also
- List of French pretenders to the throne
- List of Jacobite pretenders to the throne
- List of Carlist pretenders to the throne
