Having a claim to a title means you've got a justification for it being yours. Claims are used as Casus Belli for war, and less frequently as a justification for title revocation.
Types of claims
Claims come in two varieties, weak and strong. The difference between a strong and a weak claim can be determined by the graphics, and mousing over a claim will indicate whether it will currently be inherited.
A holder of either type of claim is eligible to have their claim pressed by a faction, and also automatically qualifies as a potential candidate under Feudal Elective succession. Lieges with either type of claim on a title may revoke that title from a vassal without incurring tyranny.
Strong Claims
Strong claims are, as the name implies, the more useful type of claim. A strong claim can be pushed against anyone by almost anyone. There are two exceptions:
- You cannot push a woman's claim on a title that uses Agnatic succession law. (If you are female, however, you may press your personal claims regardless of the title's succession law.)
- The claims of female Muslims can't be pressed, not even if they are your personal claims. Only if the woman converts to a non-Islamic religion, or (in case of inheritable claims) after her sons inherit the claims, can they be used at all.
With strong claims, it becomes possible for rulers to usurp duchies and kingdoms from a character in the same realm, provided the title is not the same rank or higher ranked than their liege's. Characters who are rulers and hold multiple strong claims may push all of them in the same war.
Weak Claims
A weak claim can only be pushed if:
- the title holder is female and the claimant is male (except with Full Status of Women or gender equality game rule)
- the title holder is in regency (due to imprisonment, incapability, youth, pilgrimage, or in hiding)
- the title is currently contested in another war
- or claimant is 2nd or 3rd in line to the title.
Generation of claims
When a title holder dies, the second and third in line get strong claims, and other children get weak claims. Exceptions include:
- Under feudal elective succession, the second and third in line only get weak claims.
- Under gavelkind succession, the primary heir does not get claims on titles that are passed to junior heirs who become vassals.
- Theocracies, republics, and merchant republics do not generate claims.
Claims can also be generated by:
| Method | Type of claim |
|---|---|
| Chancellor mission to Fabricate Claim | Strong, uninheritable claim |
| Plot to Forge Claim | Strong, inheritable claim |
| Request claim from Pope | Strong, uninheritable claim |
| Lost title through war, peaceful usurpation, or folding to claimant faction | Strong, inheritable claim |
| Abdicated due to banishment, fleeing arrest, being elected Pope, or losing Overthrow Ruler war | Strong, inheritable claim |
| Title was destroyed upon becoming landless (even through revocation) | Strong, inheritable claim |
| Lost title to liege who "emergency usurped" the vassal county upon losing their last county | Strong, inheritable claim |
| Lost title to liege who revoked the title | Weak, inheritable claim |
| Lost control of direct vassal title when vassal gained a higher title | Strong, inheritable claim |
| Lost control of direct vassal title through independence war | Strong, inheritable claim |
| Lost control of direct vassal title through independence faction war or ultimatum | Weak, inheritable claim |
| Viceroy became independent (grant independence or during rebellion) | Strong, uninheritable claim |
| Inherited from previous claimant | Weak, uninheritable claim |
It is also possible to lose titles without getting a claim. For example, losing a county due to nomad agitation when the top liege dies does not generate claims.
Pressing a claim
A claim is "pressed" when war is declared using that claim as a casus belli. Pressing a claim "renews" it, ensuring that it will be inherited by the claim holder's children. Even if the war ends in white peace or inconclusively, the claim remains pressed. It is sometimes useful to press a claim of a courtier and then get white peace or murder the courtier. In both cases, the courtier's children - belonging to your dynasty, perhaps - will inherit the claim.
Multiple strong claims against a single opponent may be pressed in a single war, but only if they're all held by the attacker; you can only push a single claim by someone else at a time.
Finding claimants
When viewing a title, clicking the "show claimants" button will display a list of all claim holders, together with an icon indicating whether they will accept an invitation to your court. Note that this display does not distinguish between strong and weak claimants, nor does it show characters who will get claims upon the deaths of their parents but do not presently have them. To find potential claimants, try looking at the family tree of the dynasty that holds the title.
Impact of claims on AI
Your AI vassals with claims on one of your titles will have a lower opinion of you. Additionally, the AI is much more reluctant to release a prisoner with a claim on their title. AI rulers will not let you take a concubine who has a claim on any title.