Who has the best claim to the title of Roman Emperor?

Roman Emperors Family Tree chart:

Thanks to all the channels that participated:

Stefan Milo:

Al Muqaddimah:

M. Laser History:

Jack Rackham:

A Long, Long Time Ago:

This is Barris:

History & Headlines:

The Cynical Historian:

Fiveable:

Tom Richey:

House of History:

Hikma History:

History's Who Yesterday's Nation:

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Who Would Be Tsar of Russia?

[gijoel]

The historically correct answer is the guy with the largest army.

[iapetusmccool]

Surely the answer is: whoever can pay the Praetorian Guard the most money.

[ElGuapo]

King Felipes lineage is so deep he essentially has a claim as ruler for almost the entirety of Europe regardless of his Roman claim

[youraveragetemplar]

What people seem to forget about is in Rome. The title of emperor or imperator was not given based on blood connection. But was actually given based on wealth, influence, and military power.

[flynn]

What if the true Roman Emperor were the friends we made along the way?

[MashPatayta]

Well, Romanov is a 97 year old artist, and his oldest son is an accountant in the SF bay area. The idea of the Emperor of Rome being an accountant in California just tickles the shit out of me.

[avyay]

It should totally be King Felipe VI, as he has Habsburg ancestry from his father's Spanish side, and Charlemagne's Frankish blood from the other side, as he is part of the House of Bourbon. Also, he is part of the Capetian dynasty, the oldest royal line in Europe. He also has a relation to the Greek throne through his mother's side, which used to be the heartlands of the Byzantines.

[DrNatemiester]

12:43 love that you included the up-and-coming and truly charming, Stephan Milo!

[matheustroan]

One more proof King Felipe have the best claim: Spain can't get a century without Civil War, nothing more Roman Empire than this

[Christiangjf]

By Roman tradition the Emperor is the one who has the largest army. Phillip VI is the only one who is commander in chief of an actual army of an actual country.

[giantWario]

King Felipe's claim is definitely the only legitimate one as far as I'm concerned, I mean first of all since he can trace his lineage so far back, he legitimately has the blood of Austrian and Russian royalty in his veins as well so he could easily claim the Habsurbg and Romanov claims for himself anyway. But more importantly, Romans generally did not care all that much about bloodline, they cared about the law which is why plenty of Roman emperors were not related in any way to the previous emperor and they cared about military might which is why some Roman generals could just straight up take the throne for themselves if the army followed them. Felipe has the legal will of the last Roman Emperor and he's the only one on the list with an army.

But all of that being said Napoleon definitely has the most entertaining claim.

[marie]

I also opt for the King of Spain. In fact Spain is the real and legal heir to the Roman Empire, it was something it had and still has. Even the Spanish empire was also known as the transcontinental Roman empire, and many of the Roman emperors like Marcus Aurelius or Trajan were either Hispanic or of Hispanic origin. In Ancient Rome, the most beloved land in the entire empire after the Italic peninsula was Hispania, it even had its own senate (SPQH)

[Jeremias]

I think there is only one way to decide this - the Roman way: The claimants have to fight it out in a civil war.

[alex_inside]

I actually have a member of the Habsburg family in my school.

Austria is strange, you'll meet the president in the subway and the grand grand son of the former Kaiser at school.

[starborneolympus]

Interesting how three of those lines were cut by the WW1. Trully shows you how much the map of the world changed by this conflict.

[micupedro]

Felipe VI of Spain.
He is perfectly heir to Fernando and Isabel, he is directly descended from them. The last Habsburg of Spain, Carlos II died without issue and left the throne of Spain, in his will, to his great-nephew Felipe de Borbon, descendant (grandson) of his sister Teresa of Habsburg, wife of the King of France, the future Felipe V. from Spain. The other claimant who claimed the throne once Philip had already been proclaimed and was King of Spain, was Carlos of Habsburg who was also a great-nephew of Charles II, grandson of another sister, but had not been named heir by the last Habsburg King of Spain.

[morgoth]

I mean to be fair, the Romans themselves would probably argue who would be Emperor and each man would eventually build his own faction of sorts.

[jccybergen]

Don’t forget that King Felipe’s mom is princess Sofia of Greece (to many the descendants of the byzantines) and Denmark. She is a direct descendant of queen Victoria and also Russian royalty. Spain has by far the most direct line.

[Shiggy_]

It seems like we’ve decided on the Spanish claim. Now on to the important stuff, like how do we bring forward the Neo-Roman Empire?

[RENATVS_IV]

It was crazily interesting and I had a lot of fun hearing all the arguments for every candidate. Personally I go with you, even though spanish royalty didn't claim it, it's true that the romans valued the legal standpoint, so the Spanish King, Felipe IV is a big candidate. Thank you for this video 🥰