User:Thhist/List of Norwegian civil war era pretenders

The following table shows a detailed list of Norwegian civil war era pretenders. The list includes known pretenders who claimed the throne and enjoyed a varying degree of support, but who are excluded from the generally accepted list of Norwegian monarchs. As only a few sporadic pretenders are known from other periods, with no significant impact (excluding usurpers), the list is limited to pretenders during the civil war era in Norway, between 1130 and 1240.

Background
While most pretenders based their claim to the throne on being a son of a former monarch, a majority of the pretenders claimed a descent that was controversial as it was not factually verifiable, and at times disputed by others (often opposing parties) as being outright false. The claims of descent of a pretender was thus in practice more in the effect of choosing a "side" or "party" in the ongoing dynastic disputes, rather than claiming a genealogical connection.

At certain times, the distinction between Norwegian monarchs and pretenders are artificial since a pretender may have held more de facto power, and has only been established due to the eventual victory of one party later on. In 1184, Sverre Sigurdsson successfully usurped the throne with support of the Birkebeiner party, and as he had been a pretender to the throne with some limited support since 1177, Sverre is the only established pretender who actually managed to usurp the throne. Sverre himself based his claim to the throne on the highly dubious claim of being a son of Sigurd II. The most significant later rebel party, the Bagler, at times surpassed the established Birkebeiner monarchs in actual power, but never successfully usurped the throne.