Gian Antonio Lazier
Italian pretender to the Byzantine Empire / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Gian Antonio Lazier (9 June 1678[lower-alpha 1] – 8 April 1738), also known under his claimed official name Ioannes IX Antonius I Angelus Flavius Comnenus Lascaris Palaeologus, and various variations thereof, was an 18th-century Italian impostor and pretender. Born of lowly origins in the Aosta Valley in Italy, Lazier claimed his last name to be a corruption of the surname Laskaris, an imperial dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. Also claiming connections to the Angelos, Komnenos and Palaiologos dynasties as their supposed last legitimate descendant, Lazier claimed the style 'prince of the line of the empire of the east'. Through various noble titles, Lazier claimed to be the rightful ruler of a vast number of former territories of the Byzantine Empire as well as of a selection of other eastern lands. He also claimed to represent the legitimate Grand Master of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, a chivalric order with invented Byzantine connections.
Gian Antonio Lazier | |
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Prince of the Line of the Empire of the East | |
Active | 1720 – 8 April 1738 |
Born | 9 June 1678[lower-alpha 1] Perloz |
Died | 8 April 1738 (aged 59) Vienna |
Spouse | Marie-Marguerite Stévenin |
Father | Francesco Lazier |
Mother | Giacobina Neiro |
There is no evidence that either of Lazier's parents, Francesco Lazier or Giacobina Neiroz, had any connections to former Byzantine royalty. He may have had some form of relation to the Angelo Flavio Comneno family, an Italian noble family which claimed connections to the Angelos dynasty. Sometimes nicknamed "the peasant who wanted to become emperor", Lazier spent several years of his early life travelling around Italy in search of work he found suitable. In the early 18th century, Lazier worked as a shoemaker, lived as a monk, and then operated a hotel in Rome. In 1707, Lazier was condemned by the Inquisition for attempting to marry a young woman when he was already married to his wife, Marie-Marguerite Stévenin. At some point he moved to Brussels, where he began referring to himself as Ioannes Antonius Lascaris and began publicizing his pretensions and claims.
From 1720 to his death in 1738, Lazier operated out of Vienna as if he were a pseudo-Byzantine emperor in control of an imperial government in exile, with his documents describing his imperium Romano-Byzantium as a present, albeit virtual and landless, entity rather than as something of the past. Lazier's Byzantine aspirations went far beyond those of previous grand masters of the Constantinian Order. For instance, in addition to granting the typical ranks of knighthood within the order, Lazier also went further, granting several noblemen rights to estates and lands within former Byzantine territory. Lazier's activities, which until 1725 were fully recognized and supported by the Holy Roman emperor Charles VI, helped revive interest in the Byzantine Empire in Western Europe and might also have led to a late and ephemeral surge in crusading sentiments.
Lazier was involved in a propaganda war with the actual grand master of the Constantinian Order, Francesco Farnese. In 1724, Farnese successfully exposed Lazier as a fraud. Despite this, Lazier maintained a large audience of supporters who recognized his claims, even after Charles' support faded away in 1725. Undeterred by having his fraud revealed, Lazier maintained his claims until his death. Later grand masters and pretenders of the Constantinian Order did not continue Lazier's wide-ranging Byzantine aspirations, meaning that Lazier's landless and imaginary empire died with him.