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
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