Produced by Al Haines CLAIMANTS TO ROYALTY. BY JOHN H. INGRAM. "_Le public qui veut être dupé à tout prix, en était fort satisfait._"--BOREL. LONDON: DAVID BOGUE, 3, ST. MARTIN'S PLACE, TRAFALGAR SQUARE, W.C. 1882. Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION THE FALSE SMERDIS OF PERSIA THE FALSE ANTIOCHUS OF SYRIA THE FALSE ALEXANDER BALAS OF SYRIA THE FALSE PHILIP OF MACEDON THE FALSE ALEXANDER OF JERUSALEM THE FALSE NERO OF ROME THE FALSE CLOTAIRE THE SECOND OF FRANCE THE FALSE CLOVIS THE THIRD OF FRANCE THE FALSE SUATOCOPIUS OF MORAVIA THE FALSE HENRY THE FIFTH OF GERMANY THE FALSE ALEXIS, EMPEROR OF THE EAST THE FALSE BALDWIN OF FLANDERS THE FALSE FREDERICK THE SECOND OF GERMANY THE FALSE VOLDEMAR THE SECOND OF BRANDENBURG THE FALSE RICHARD THE SECOND OF ENGLAND THE FALSE MUSTAPHA OF TURKEY THE FALSE EDWARD THE SIXTH OF ENGLAND THE FALSE RICHARD THE FOURTH OF ENGLAND THE FALSE MUSTAPHA THE SECOND OF TURKEY THE FALSE SEBASTIAN OF PORTUGAL THE FALSE DEMETRIUS OF RUSSIA THE FALSE DEMETRIUS THE YOUNGER OF RUSSIA THE FALSE ZAGA CHRIST OF ABYSSINIA THE FALSE IBRAHIM OF TURKEY THE FALSE MAHOMET BEY OF TURKEY THE FALSE HERCULES D'ESTE OF MODENA THE FALSE CHARLOTTE OF RUSSIA THE FALSI PETER THE THIRD OF RUSSIA THE FALSE HEREDITARY PRINCE OF BADEN THE FALSE DAUPHINS:-- HERVAGAULT BRUNEAU HÉBERT NÄUNDORFF MEVES WILLIAMS THE FALSE PRINCESS OF CUMBERLAND THE FALSE COUNTS OF ALBANY INTRODUCTION. The History of Popular Delusions might well have contained another chapter, and that one not calculated to have been the least interesting, devoted to a record of aspirants to the names and titles of deceased persons. The list of claimants to the thrones of defunct monarchs is a lengthy one, the chronicles of nearly every civilized country affording more or less numerous instances of the appearance of these pretenders to royalty. Human credulity has afforded a tempting bait for such impostors: _le public_, as Petrus Borel says, _qui veut être dupé à tous prix, en était fort satisfait_, for the discontented and ambitious have always been numerous enough and willing enough to accept, either as a leader or as a tool, any one sufficiently daring to assert his identity with that of the dead prince.