Great Pretenders: History’s Boldest Impostors, Fake Royals & Master Con Artists – Searchable Biographical Dictionary (Digital PDF)

Uncover twenty-five centuries of counterfeit kings, fabricated manuscripts, imaginary colonial empires, and high-society confidence games in one searchable 156-page biographical reference edition.

Compiled directly from twenty foundational historical, literary, colonial, and judicial works—spanning Bram Stoker’s Famous Impostors (1910), John Henry Ingram’s Claimants to Royalty (1882), Charles Mackay’s Extraordinary Popular Delusions (1852), James Anson Farrer’s Literary Forgeries (1907), John Heneage Jesse’s Memoirs of the Pretenders (1845), P. T. Barnum’s Humbugs of the World (1865), survivor narratives of the 1822–1823 Poyais colonial fraud, Howell’s State Trials, and Borrow’s Celebrated Trials—Great Pretenders reconstructs the real origins, aliases, confederates, and courtroom unmaskings of 374 historical figures.

What’s Inside This Searchable Digital PDF Edition

• 374 Audited A–Z Biographical Profiles: Structured under a rigorous three-tier evidentiary model—from concise archival stubs for single-record confederates to rich multi-source narratives for major royal claimants, Scottish adventurers, literary forgers, occult adepts, and Old Bailey defendants.
• 156 Typeset, Fully Searchable PDF Pages: Instant keyword search across every surname, alias, ship, parish, courtroom, prison, and source citation, complete with an introductory five-part historical essay and full twenty-volume bibliography.
• Index I — Primary Surnames, Aliases & Allied Individuals (2,317 Entries): Cross-references birth names, archaic 17th- to 19th-century spelling variants, assumed royal titles, spouses, patrons, victims, and co-conspirators.
• Index II — Parishes, Estates, Courts, Prisons & Locations (1,193 Entries): Tracks locations from Edinburgh, Leith, Inverness, Stirling, London’s Old Bailey, Newgate, and Fleet Prison to Versailles, Venice, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Mosquito Shore.
• Index III — Dynasties, Schemes, Syndicates & Movements (185 Entries): Groups individuals by claimed royal house, speculative company (Mississippi Scheme, South-Sea Bubble, Principality of Poyais), literary hoax, or state trial.

Complete A–Z Roster of Profiled Subjects & Surnames (374 Entries)

Adams, Jack ("The Blind Buzzard"); Adams, James Capen ("Grizzly Adams"); Agrippa, Henry Cornelius; Agrippa's Slave (Postumus Agrippa Impostor / Clemens); Ahasuerus ("The Shoemaker of Jerusalem" / "The Wandering Jew"); Aislabie, John; Aitken, James ("John the Painter"); Alain de Lisle; Albertus Magnus; Alexander, The False (Sidonian Jew); Alexis, Pseudo-Czarevitch (Circassian Youth under Stenko Razin); Alexis II, First Pseudo-Emperor of the East; Alexis II, Second Pseudo-Emperor of the East (The Paphlagonian); Alfarabi; Allen, Charles Stuart ("Charles Edward Stuart, Count d'Albanie"); Allen, Henry B. & Randall, Dr.; Allen, John Hay ("John Sobieski Stuart, Count d'Albanie"); Althotas; Aluys, Albert; Alvares, Matheus ("King of Ericeira" / Second False Sebastian); Andrews, E., M.D.; Andrews, Henry; Andriscus ("The False Philip of Macedon"); Annesley, James; Annesley, Richard, 6th Earl of Anglesea; Annius of Viterbo (born Nanni, Giovanni); Apollonius of Tyana; Apone, Pietro d'; Archelaus, Pseudo-Prince of Pontus & King-Consort of Egypt; Ariarathes, The False, of Cappadocia; Armenian Archbishop's Servant ("Cartaphilus" Mythmaker); Artemion ("The False Antiochus of Syria"); Artephius; Aubant, Madame d' ("Princess Charlotte Christine Sophie of Russia"); Audrey, Roderick; Augurello, John Aurelio; Bagnone, Francisco; Balas, Alexander ("King Alexander Epiphanes of Syria"); Baldarroch Servant Lasses; Barbarin, Chevalier de; Barrington, George; Barthelemy, Peter; Bateman, Mary (nee Harker); Becher, John Joachim; Beckford, William (of Fonthill); Bedloe, "Captain" William; Bel, Priests of; Bell, Lifeguardsman; Bernard of Treves; Berry, John; Bertram, Charles Julius; Binder, Catherine & Senfrit, Margaret (with Osnaburg Fasting Girl); Bingham, Jinny ("Mother Damnable" / "Mother Red-Cap"); Bisley Boy, The (Alleged Male Impersonator of Queen Elizabeth I); Blacre, Gilles; Blood, Colonel Thomas; Blunt, Sir John, Bart.; Boccold, John (John of Leyden); Bolland, James; Booth, Mr.; Borri, Joseph Francis; Brandreth, Dr. Benjamin; Brinvilliers, Marie-Madeleine, Marquise de & Sainte-Croix, Godin de; Briscoe, Ralph; Brittan, S. B. & Davis, Andrew Jackson; Brodie, Deacon William; Brothers, Richard ("Nephew of the Almighty" / "Prince of the Hebrews"); Bruneau, Abbe [Constant-Marie]; Bruneau, Mathurin ("Charles de Navarre" / Fourth False Dauphin); Bryan, Jacob; Byron, "Major George Gordon de Luna"; Cade, Jack; Cagliostro, Count Alessandro di (born Joseph Balsamo); Canning, Elizabeth; Canopus, Egyptian Priest of; Carew, Bampfylde Moore ("King of the Beggars"); Carleton, Mary ("The German Princess"); Cartouche, Louis-Dominique; Castaigne, Gabriel de; Caswall, Sir George (with Fellowes, Janssen, & Gibbon); Catizzone, Marco Tullio ("The Knight of the Cross" / Fourth False Sebastian); Cawston, Abraham ("The Fortunate Youth"); Charke, Charlotte (nee Cibber; "Mr. Charles Brown"); Charteris, Colonel Francis; Chatterton, Thomas; Children's Crusade Monks & Merchants; Chudleigh, Elizabeth, Duchess of Kingston; Cigala, Jean Michael ("Mahomet Bey, Pretended Turkish Prince"); Clarke, Mary Anne (nee Thompson); Clovis III, The False (Puppet Boy-King of Ebroin); Cludius, Hermann Heimart; Coeur, Jacques; Collier, John Payne; Collins, Joseph ("Funny Joe"); Colup, Tilon ("The False Frederick II of Germany"); Combe, William ("Dr. Syntax"); Conant, Mrs. J. H.; Cooke, Thomas ("Cabbage Cooke"); Cornhill Anonymous Projector; Corradino Dall'Aglio, Giovanni Francesco; Cottle, Elizabeth; Craggs, James (Elder & Younger); Croly, David Goodman & Wakeman, George; Crouch, Captain [Charles]; Cunningham, Allan; Cunningham, Peter; Damberger, Christian Frederick (Zachary Taurinius); Dangerfield, Thomas; Davenport, Ira Erastus & William Henry (with William Fay); Davies, Christian ("Mother Ross"); Dee, Dr. John; Delisle, Jean; Demetrius II, The Second False ("The Rebel of Tushino"); Demetrius III, The Third False; Demetrius the Younger ("Czarevitch Demetrius"); Deshayes, Catherine ("La Voisin"); D'Eslon, Dr. Charles; Dexter, Mr.; Digby, Sir Kenelm; Dodd, Rev. Dr. William ("The Macaroni Parson"); Douville, Jean-Baptiste; East, Mary ("James How"); Egan, James; Elias the Adept; Eon de Beaumont, Chevalier Charles d' ("La Chevaliere d'Eon"); Erskine, John, 6th Earl of Mar ("Bobbing John"); Espinosa, Gabriel de ("The Cook of Madrigal"); Este, Pseudo-Hercules d' (Jean Francois, "Prince of Modena"); Evemerus (Euhemerus of Messene); Eynesso, Manuel ("Manuel Enes"); Faria, Abbe Jose Custodio de; Faustus, Doctor Johann; Feilding, Major-General Robert ("Beau Feilding"); Feliciani, Lorenza de ("Countess Serafina de Cagliostro"); Fian, Dr. John; Finch, Margaret ("Queen of the Norwood Gipsies"); Flamel, Nicholas (with Wife Petronella); Fludd, Dr. Robert; Fontolive ("Louis XVII" / Third False Dauphin); Forman, Dr. Simon ("Dr. Panurgus"); Forster, Thomas, Esq., of Bamborough; Foster, Charles H.; Fowler, Mr.; Fox, Margaretta (with Sisters Leah & Kate Fox); Fraser, Simon, Lord Lovat; Freeland, Jack; Frith, Mary ("Moll Cutpurse"); Gassner, Father Johann Joseph; Gauden, Dr. John (Bishop of Exeter & Worcester); Goltzius, Hendrick & Raimondi, Marc Antonio (with Bernard Picart); Gondebaud ("Ballomer" / "The False Clotaire II of France"); Gosling, Leonard; Gourie, Andrew ("Mr. Goucher"); Greatraks, Valentine; Green, Hannah ("The Ling-Bob Witch"); Grin, Henri Louis ("Louis de Rougemont"); Haggart, David ("The Switcher"); Hales, William; Hall, Lieut.-Col. Hector; Harden-Hickey, Baron James Aloysius ("James I, Prince of Trinidad"); Hardynge, John; Haring, Georg Wilhelm Heinrich ("Willibald Alexis"); Harrison, John; Hauser, Caspar ("The False Hereditary Prince of Baden"); Hawker, Rev. Robert Stephen; Hebert, Henri Etienne ("Baron de Richemont" / Fifth False Dauphin); Heerkens, Gerard Nicolaus; Henry V, The False (Cluniac Monk Pretender of Germany); Hervagault, Jean Marie ("Louis XVII" / First False Dauphin); Heydon, John; Hind, "Captain" James; Hohenlohe, Prince Alexander von; Hook, Theodore Edward ("The Berners Street Hoax"); Hopkins, Matthew; Howard, Lady Frances, Countess of Essex & Somerset; Howard, Mr. W. (Two Boston Studio Painters); Hunter, John Dunn; Huntington, William (born Hunt, William; "S.S."); Inghirami, Curzio; Innes, Rev. Alexander; Ireland, William Henry; Isidore, Pseudo- ("Isidorus Mercator"); Ivy, Dame Theodosia (Lady Ivy); Johnson, "Captain" Charles; Katterfelto, Gustavus; Kellerman ("The Hermit-Alchemist of Lilley"); Kelley, Sir Edward (born Edward Talbot); Kincaid, John & Welsh, James (with John Bain); Kinnersley, Rev. Thomas; Knight, Robert; La Boissiere, Comte M. de; Lacunza, Manuel ("Juan Josaphat Ben-Ezra"); Lamb, Dr. John; La Motte, Jeanne de Saint-Remy de Valois, Comtesse de; Langley, Gilbert; Lauder, William; Law, John, of Lauriston; Leguay, Marie Nicole ("Baronne d'Oliva"); Lilly, William; Lloyd, "Harry"; Locke, Richard Adams ("The Great Moon Hoax"); Loutherbourg, Philip James de (with Wife & Mary Pratt); Lucas, Denis Vrain-; Luie, Jean ("Sailor Luie"); Lulli, Raymond (Ramon Llull); Macdaniel, Stephen; MacGregor, General Sir Gregor; MacIver, Major-General Henry Ronald Douglas; MacKinnon, Colonel Daniel; Maclaine, James; Macpherson, James; Mainauduc, Dr. John Bonniot de & Holloway, John; Mali, Stefan ("Stephen the Little", False Czar Peter III of Montenegro); Mangin, Monsieur; Mansfield, James V.; Marchena, Jose; Marion, Elias; Markowe, Ralston J. ("The Prince of Honolulu"); Martin de Gallardon, Thomas-Ignace; Mathews, Charles (the Elder); Matthews, Robert ("Matthias the Prophet"); Matthias, John (Jan Matthys); Maupin, Madame ("La Maupin" / Julie d'Aubigny); Maximus, Terentius ("The False Nero of Rome"); Maxwell, William, 5th Earl of Nithsdale (and Winifred, Countess of Nithsdale); Mesmer, Franz Anton (Frederic-Antoine Mesmer); Meves, Augustus ("Louis XVII" / English False Dauphin); Meyer, Jacob ("Philadelphus Philadelphia") & Lichtenberg, Georg Christoph; Montagu, John, 2nd Duke of ("The Bottle Conjurer Hoax"); Moore, Ann (of Tutbury); Mormius, Peter; Mumler, William H.; Muncer, Thomas (Thomas Muntzer); Muret, Marc-Antoine (Muretus); Murray, John, of Broughton ("Mr. Evidence Murray"); Mustapha, First False ("Duzmece Mustafa" of Turkey); Mustapha, Second False, of Turkey (Kucuk Mustafa); Mustapha II, The False, of Turkey; Myersbach, Dr. Theodor; Nathan of Gaza; Naundorff, Karl Wilhelm ("Charles-Louis, Duke of Normandy" / Sixth False Dauphin); Nayler, James; Newton, Dr. James Rogers; Nodot, Francois; Nostradamus (Michel de Nostredame); Oates, Titus; Onomacritus; Orton, Arthur ("Thomas Castro" / "The Tichborne Claimant"); Otrepief, Griska ("The First False Demetrius of Russia"); Ottomano, Padre ("The False Ibrahim / Osman of Turkey"); Paine, Mr. (of Worcester); Paisley, Joseph ("The Gretna-Green High Priest"); Paracelsus, Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim; Parsons, Richard & Elizabeth ("The Cock-Lane Ghost"); Partridge, John; Peace, Charles; Penamacor, The King of ("Silvio Pellico" / First False Sebastian); Perkins, Dr. Elisha & Benjamin Douglas; Perreau, Daniel; Perreau, Robert; Perrers, Alice (Lady de Windsor); Perrott, John; Persat (Jersat, "Louis XVII" / Second False Dauphin); Perseus, Pseudo-, of Macedon; Peter, False Czarevitch (Ileika Muromets, "Son of Czar Feodor I"); Pfaff, Christoph Matthaus; Phalaris, Pseudo-; Phillips, Sir Richard ("The Dutch Mail Hoax"); Phillips, Teresia Constantia; Picken, [Young Man]; Pickles, "Witch"; Pigott, Richard; Pinkerton, John; Pisistratus & Solon; Planudes, Maximus; Price, Charles ("Old Patch"); Price, Dr. James (born Higginbotham, James); Prince, Henry James ("Brother Prince"); Psalmanazar, George; Pugatcheff, Yemelka ("The False Peter III of Russia"); Pureney, Rev. Thomas; Puysegur, Armand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet, Marquis de; Rans, Bertrand de ("The False Baldwin of Flanders"); Raousset-Boulbon, Count Gaston Raoulx de; Ratcliffe, Charles, Titular Earl of Derwentwater; Rays, Gilles de Laval, Marechal de & Prelati, Francis; Reboc, Jacques ("The False Voldemar II of Brandenburg"); Retaux de Villette, Marc-Antoine; Richardson, Major William John ("Sir Gregor's Agent in London"); Rischio, Monsignore Cristoforo ("Il Creso"); Riza Bey; Roback, Dr. C. W. (Charles W. Short); Robertson, Miss (of Blackheath); Robinson, Anne ("The Stockwell Ghost"); Robinson, Edmund; Rock, Dr. Richard; Rohler Brothers (of Brugglen); Rosencreutz, Christian; Rosenfeld, Hans; Rosselot, Abbe; Rudd, Margaret Caroline; Ryves, Lavinia Jannetta Horton (nee Serres); Saint-Germain, Count de; Salmon, James; Sampford Ghost Conspirators (Chave Household); Sendivogius, Michael; Serapis, Priests of (at Alexandria); Serle, William; Serres, Olive (nee Wilmot, "Princess Olive of Cumberland"); Seton, Alexander ("The Cosmopolite"); Sevi, Sabatai (Sabbatai Zevi); Shaw, Christiana (of Bargarran); Shipton, Ursula ("Mother Shipton"); Sicilian Pretender ("Son of King William of Sicily"); Sigonio, Carlo (Carolus Sigonius); Simms, Henry ("Gentleman Harry"); Simnel, Lambert ("King Edward VI" / "Earl of Warwick"); Simonides, Constantine; Sixtus V, Pope (Felice Peretti); Smerdis, The Magian ("The False Smerdis of Persia" / Gaumata); Smith, Joseph, Jr.; Snell, Hannah ("James Gray" / "The Female Warrior"); Sobieski, Princess Clementina Maria ("Jeanneton"); Southcote, Joanna (Joanna Southcott); Spear, Rev. John Murray; Stanhope, Lady Hester Lucy; St. Bruno, Six Carthusian Monks of; Stearne, John ("John Stern"); Steevens, George; Strangeways, Captain Thomas, K.G.C.; Stuart, Charles Edward ("Bonnie Prince Charlie" / "The Young Pretender"); Stuart, Henry Benedict ("Cardinal York" / "King Henry IX"); Stuart, James Francis Edward ("The Old Pretender" / "King James III and VIII"); Suatocopius, The False, of Moravia; Surtees, Robert, of Mainsforth; Surville, Joseph-Etienne, Marquis de; Swift, Very Rev. Jonathan ("Isaac Bickerstaff" & Elliston Hoax); Tedworth, Drummer of (William Drury); Thom, John Nichols ("Sir William Courtenay"); Tofts, Mary (of Godalming); Tonge, Rev. Dr. Israel; Tooke, John Horne; Tophania (Giulia Tofana) & Spara, Hieronyma; Trithemius, Johannes; Trois-Echelles, Jean de; Turner, Mrs. Anne; Umlimo ("The Matabele Cave Oracle"); Van Dusen, Alexander & Boult, Thomas ("Lottery Sharks"); Vaux, James Hardy; Villeneuve, Arnold de; Villiers, Barbara, Duchess of Cleveland; Wadsworth, Mary ("Madame Delaune"); Wagenfeld, Friedrich; Wainewright, Thomas Griffiths; Wakefield, Peter; Walker, General William ("The King of the Filibusters"); Warbeck, Perkin ("Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York" / "King Richard IV"); Ward, John, MP (of Hackney); Ward, Sir Patience; Warde, Thomas, of Trumpington ("The False Richard II"); Wardlaw, Elizabeth, Lady (nee Halket); Warren, Robert (with "Peter Funk" Thompson & John Pease); Whiston, William (with 1524 London Deluge Astrologers); Wild, Jonathan; Wilford, Ralph (The Suffolk Earl of Warwick Impostor); Willcocks, Mary (married name Baker, Mary; "Princess Caraboo of Javasu"); Williams, Rev. Eleazar ("Lazar" / Seventh False Dauphin); Woodbine, Brigadier-General George, K.G.C.; Woods, Mary ("Cunning Mary of Clerkenwell"); Young, Charles Mayne ("The Toll-Gate Hoax"); Young, Mary ("Jenny Diver"); Zachaire, Denis; Zaga Christ ("Zaga-Christo, The False Prince of Abyssinia"); Ziito (Zito of Bohemia).