Pretender

As a pretender to the throne refers to a person who raises the claim to a throne, but is not officially recognized as a monarch. This is especially true for hereditary monarchies. The presence of several pretenders to the throne was often the occasion for lengthy civil wars such as the Wars of the Roses in England in the 15th century or the Carlistenkriege in 19th century Spain.

The word derives from the Latin verb pretender praetendere from, which means claim. It was " pretendieren " taken over the French as a loanword from German.

Historical Pretenders (selection)

• In France, the Orleanist were both against the Bonapartist and the legitimist and formed a whole dynasty of pretenders.
• In Japan, it was during the Nanboku -chō period ( time of the Southern and Northern courts ') a series of " anti-emperor " of the Ashikaga clan, the first of them was Emperor Kōgon.
• Duke Louis I of Anjou in 1382 was pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of Naples and also Titularkaiser of the Latin Empire.
• The so called false Mustafa, also Küçük Mustafa ( Turkish for smaller Mustafa '), was pretender to the throne of the Ottoman Empire against Murat II
• António of Crato failed in his attempt to secure 1580 against Philip II of Spain, the Portuguese crown.
• Charles VI. was before his election as emperor Pretender in Spain.
• 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 UK.