Antiking

An Antiking (German: Gegenkönig Latin: Contrarex) is a would-be king who, due to succession disputes or simple political opposition, declares himself king in opposition to a reigning monarch. Antikings are more often found in elected monarchies than in hereditary monarchies like those of England and France; such figures in hereditary monarchies are more frequently referred to as pretenders or claimants. They are most commonly referred to in the politics of the Holy Roman Empire down to the beginning of the 15th century. The term is comparable to Antipope, a rival would-be Pope, and indeed the two phenomena are related; just as German kings and emperors sometimes raised up antipopes to politically weaken Popes with whom they were in conflict, so too Popes sometimes sponsored antikings as political rivals to emperors with whom they disagreed.

Several antikings succeeded in vindicating their claims to power, and were recognized as rightful kings: for example, the Emperors Conrad III, Frederick II, and Charles IV (see table below). The status of others as antikings is still disputed to this day: e.g., Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and Egbert II, Margrave of Meissen.

Other nations that produced antikings included Bohemia and Hungary.

Notable German antikings

Name	Dates	In opposition to:
Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria	919-921	Henry the Fowler
Rudolf of Rheinfelden	1077–1080	Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Hermann of Salm	1081–1088
Conrad III of Germany	1127–1135	Lothair III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor	1212–1215	Otto IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry Raspe	1246–1247	Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Count William II of Holland	1248–1250
	1250–1254	Conrad IV of Germany
Alfonso X of Castile	1257–1273	Richard, 1st Earl of Cornwall
Frederick I of Austria	1314–1325	Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor	1346–1347
Günther of Schwarzburg	1349	Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick of Brunswick-Lüneburg	1400	Wenceslaus, King of the Romans