Forum:Pretenders

We've got seven of these Kings of Jerusalem: Mary I of England, Charles I of Austria, Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Alfonso XIII of Spain, Ferdinand II of Aragon, Philip II of Spain, and Philip III of Spain. Every one of them lived centuries after the kingdom had fallen; it had never amounted to much at the best of times, and when the Mongols lost interest in the Middle East and all the local powers they'd bitched around were able to fight each other again, Jerusalem went down faster than Emily Pinkard.

There's a boatload of dueling claims, and most people who can make one of them don't care about it, including most of the above. Also, these claims cancel each other out. For instance, Alfonso XIII and Charles I both claimed, or could have claimed, the title at the same time, so if you give it to one you exclude the other. I'm for throwing them all into the category, if we want to create it at all. Turtle Fan 23:49, January 21, 2011 (UTC)


 * There are several other pretender/claimants to various thrones. Every English king between Henry VI and George III claimed the French throne, for example. We might want a big ole' "Pretenders" category, and sub-cat into "Pretenders to the throne of Jerusalem", etc. TR 21:25, January 24, 2011 (UTC)
 * It happens in the fantasy novels, too, God knows. Isn't the term "Pretender" a bit perjorative, though? Turtle Fan 22:31, January 24, 2011 (UTC)


 * From the wikipedia article: "The term in itself is not pejorative. The original meaning of the English word pretend, from the French word prétendre, means 'to put forward, to profess or claim'." So, it would appear not, or that an argument exists that it isn't, anyway. TR 22:52, January 24, 2011 (UTC)
 * Also, I suppose since there are fantasy characters, we should have the OTL/Fictional Split. TR 23:01, January 24, 2011 (UTC)