would liberate themselves and proclaim him as their monarch. In the proclamation, Lascorz stressed his supposed descent from "Prince Andronikos Theodoros Laskaris", "hero of the Greek War of Independence", and he ended the text with "Long live Greece! Long live Cyprus! Long live the Megali Idea, neither dead nor forgotten!". The proclamation received little attention in Cyprus. In 1961, a court in Zaragoza ruled that Lascorz's change in name to Láscaris had been illegitimate and legally reverted his surname to the surname he had at birth, Lascorz y Labastida. The reasons for the decision are unclear, though it might stem from the earlier period of controversy. Lascorz died in Madrid on 1 June 1962. His death garnered some media attention, for instance being reported in the 26 July issue of the Colombian newspaper Diario de Boyacá and in the 15 August issue of the French newspaper Lyon-Information (also known as Independance), there under the article title "L'Hellénisme en deuil: Son Altesse Impériale et Régent le Prince Flavius Eugène II Láscaris Comnène" ("Hellenism in mourning: His Imperial and Royal Highness Prince Flavius Eugene II Lascaris Comnenus"). Legacy Lascorz' children continued to maintain his claims and his self-proclaimed chivalric orders. His descendants, the Láscaris or Láscaris-Comneno family, survive to this day. Many of his children left Spain, having become exhausted by the controversies in which the family became embroiled. His heir as "titular emperor" was his oldest son, Teodoro Láscaris-Comneno ("Theodore IX", 27 October 1921 – 20 September 2006), who moved across the Atlantic together with Eugenio's other male children, Juan Arcadio and Constantino. Teodoro, Juan Arcadio and Constantino worked as teachers in Latin America, teaching at universities in Costa Rica, Venezuela and Colombia. Teodoro propagated the idea that the Americas represent "New Byzantium" and the "Fourth Rome"; where Christian faith, Western thought, and Greek civilization would continue to survive. The younger son Constantino, who died in 1979, enjoyed a noteworthy academic career as a philosopher in Costa Rica. Teodoro's son Eugenio (born on 10 October 1975), or Eugene III Theodore Emmanuel Lascaris Comnenus, maintains his family's claims. To this day, supporters of the family maintain Lascorz was legitimate, and that he was a restorer of traditional Byzantine institutions. See also Succession to the Byzantine Empire Notes References Citations Bibliography Web sources 1886 births 1962 deaths Impostor pretenders People from Zaragoza Byzantine pretenders after 1453