House of Mecklenburg - Claims To Norway

Claims To Norway

This country, the Hereditary Kingdom of Norway, has been the only medieval Scandinavian realm whose kingship was hereditary, not elective. Already when Olav IV of Norway was little and his mother Margaret was regent, the Dukes of Mecklenburg advanced their claims.

The right is based on their descent from Euphemia of Sweden, granddaughter of Haakon V of Norway.

When Olav IV died in 1387, Norway was without a monarch, under the government of the regentess Margaret. She soon chose an heir, Eric of Pomerania, whose mother Maria of Mecklenburg had been Eufemia's eldest granddaughter. Maria's uncle, Margaret's old opponent was left without.

When Eric's nephew king Christopher died (before the death of the deposed Eric III of Norway), after some hiatus another magnate, Christian VIII of Oldenburg, of a female descent from Eufemia and the Mecklenburg (Eufemia's daughter's great-grandson), was in 1450 chosen as king of Norway, this time surpassing his cousin and male-line rival, Duke Henry the Fat of Mecklenburg.

The Dukes of Mecklenburg continued to regard themselves as rightful heirs of Norway, however they were unable to gain the kingdom from the Oldenburgs.

Read more about this topic:  House Of Mecklenburg

Famous quotes containing the words claims to, claims and/or norway:

    The purpose of education is to keep a culture from being drowned in senseless repetitions, each of which claims to offer a new insight.
    Harold Rosenberg (1906–1978)

    Has anyone ever told you that you overplay your various roles rather severely, Mr. Kaplan? First you’re the outraged Madison Avenue man who claims he’s been mistaken for someone else. Then you play the fugitive from justice, supposedly trying to clear his name of a crime he knows he didn’t commit. And now you play the peevish lover stung by jealously and betrayal. It seems to me you fellows could stand a little less training from the FBI and a little more from the Actors Studio.
    Ernest Lehman (b.1920)

    Such was the very armor he had on
    When he the ambitious Norway combated.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)