Anti-king
An anti-king, anti king or antiking is a would-be king who, due to succession disputes or simple political opposition, declares himself king in opposition to a reigning monarch. The term is usually used in a European historical context where it relates to elective monarchies rather than hereditary ones. In hereditary monarchies such figures are more frequently referred to as pretenders or claimants.
Anti-kings are most commonly referred to in the politics of the Holy Roman Empire, before the Golden Bull of 1356 issued by Emperor Charles IV defined the provisions of the Imperial election. Other nations with elective monarchies that produced anti-kings included Bohemia and Hungary. The term is comparable to antipope, a rival would-be Pope, and indeed the two phenomena are related; just as German kings and Holy Roman Emperors from time to time raised up antipopes to politically weaken Popes with whom they were in conflict, so too Popes sometimes sponsored anti-kings as political rivals to emperors with whom they disagreed.
Several anti-kings succeeded in vindicating their claims to power, and were recognized as rightful kings: for example, King Conrad III of Germany, Emperor Frederick II, and Emperor Charles IV. The status of others as anti-kings is still disputed: e.g. in the case of Duke Henry II of Bavaria and Margrave Egbert II of Meissen.
List of anti-kings
Germany
| Name | Dates | In opposition to: |
| Arnulf the Bad | 919–921 | Henry the Fowler |
| Henry the Wrangler | 984–985 | Otto III |
| Rudolf of Rheinfelden | 1077–1080 | Henry IV |
| Hermann of Salm | 1081–1088 | Henry IV |
| Conrad III | 1127–1135 | Lothair III |
| Frederick II | 1212–1215 | Otto IV |
| Henry Raspe | 1246–1247 | Frederick II |
| William II of Holland | 1248–1250 | Frederick II |
| William II of Holland | 1250–1254 | Conrad IV |
| Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall | 1257-1272 | Alfonso X of Castile |
| Frederick the Fair | 1314–1330 | Louis IV |
| Charles IV | 1346–1347 | Louis IV |
| Charles IV | 1349 | Günther of Schwarzburg |
| Frederick of Brunswick-Lüneburg | 1400 | Wenceslaus, King of the Romans |
German double elections
Bohemia
| Name | Dates | In opposition to: |
| Matthias Corvinus | 1469–1471 | George of Poděbrady |
| Matthias Corvinus | 1471–1490 | Vladislaus II |
| Frederick of the Palatinate | 1619–1620 | Ferdinand II |
| Charles Albert of Bavaria | 1741–1743 | Maria Theresa |
Hungary
Japan
Korea
- Wang Go
- Yeongjong of Goryeo
Scotland
| Name | Dates | In opposition to: |
| Edward Balliol | 1332-1356 | David II |
| - | - | David II |