Eugenio Lascorz y Labastida (26 March 1886 – 1 June 1962) was a Spanish lawyer who claimed to be a descendant of the medieval Laskaris family (believing his last name Lascorz to be a corruption of Laskaris), which had ruled the Byzantine Empire in Nicaea from 1204 to 1261. In 1917, he changed his legal name to Eugenio Láscaris-Comneno (typically shortened to Eugenio Láscaris). As the supposed titular Emperor of Constantinople, Eugenio used the regnal name Eugene II Lascaris Comnenus. In addition to his royal and imperial claims, which he supported by creating invented and fabricated genealogies, Lascorz also claimed the titles "Prince Porphyrogenitus", Duke of Athens and Grand Master of the Constantinian Order of Saint George and a self-proclaimed order, the "Order of Saint Eugene of Trebizond". Though he practised law, Lascorz was also interested in history, especially that of Ancient Greece and Byzantium, and published several books, both fiction and non-fiction, exploring what he perceived to be the history of his ancestors. His life's work was his attempt to have his claims recognised and his desire to claim the throne of the Kingdom of Greece and restore the Byzantine Empire. Despite being exposed as a forger in the Spanish media in 1953, Lascorz maintained his claims until his death in 1962. His claim to descend from the Laskaris dynasty was continued by his son Teodoro ("Theodore IX Lascaris Comnenus", 1921–2006) and grandson Eugenio ("Eugene III Lascaris Comnenus", born 1975). Biography Ancestry and early life Eugenio Lascorz y Labastida was born in Zaragoza on 26 March 1886 and as per Spanish naming customs, took the surnames of both of his parents, Manuel Lascorz y Serveto (born in 1849) and Carmen Labastida y Paschal (born in 1857). He was baptised two days after his birth in the parish church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar (meaning "Our Lady of the Pillar"). His paternal grandparents were the labourer Victorián Lascorz y Abad and Raimunda Serveto; his maternal grandparents were Manuel Labastida and Ramona Paschal. His great-grandfather (Victorián's father) was a man named Alonso Lascorz y Cerdan. The Lascorz family, and Eugenio's other ancestors, were of Basque—not Greek—origin and were likely part of an influx of migrants who had arrived in Zaragoza in the third quarter of the 19th century. The Lascorz family was wealthy. Eugenio's father, Manuel, had studied law and the Latin language and was an important man in Zaragoza, working