Andreas Palaiologos
Andreas Palaiologos (or Palaeologus) (1453 - 1502) de jure Byzantine emperor and Despot of Morea from 1465 until death in 1502.
He was the nephew of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine Emperor of Constantinople. After Constantine was defeated and killed by the forces of Mehmed II on May 29, 1453, Andreas continued to live in Morea, which was ruled independently by Andreas' father Thomas Palaiologos, the younger brother of Constantine, until 1460. At this time he escaped to the Italian peninsula following an Ottoman invasion. When his father died in 1465, Andreas stayed in Italy under the protection of the Papal States. He lived in Rome, styling himself Imperator Constantinopolitanus ("Emperor of Constantinople"). [1]
During his lifetime, Andreas was believed to have wasted enormous sums of money given to him by the Pope. However, modern historians now believe that the money received from the Pope was only enough for a meager standard of living.
Looking for money and a better life, Andreas sold the rights to the Byzantine crown which he held since the death of his father, Thomas. Charles VIII of France purchased the rights of succession from Andreas in 1494 and died on April 7, 1498.
Andreas' younger brother Manuel Palaiologos arranged a deal with the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid II, exchanging his rights to the Byzantine throne, which were already lawfully sold to France, for a comfortable pension.
Andreas died a pauper in 1502, in spite of having sold his titles and royal and imperial rights again to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile.[1]. Neither of them, however, is attested to have used the title of Imperator Constantinopolitanus, or anything similar, and the title appears to have fallen into desuetude.
Eight years after the marriage of Ivan III of Russia with Andreas' sister Zoe, and only 1 year after the birth of their son in 1480, Ivan had started to call himself tsar (emperor). This was related to Russia's growing ambitions to become an Orthodox "Third Rome" (Constantinople being the second Rome) and Byzantium's heir. Finally, in 1514, Vasili III of Russia was recognized in the title of emperor of Russia in a letter from Maximilian I, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. [2] Maximilian's letter was of great importance to Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great, when they wished to back up their titles of "tsar" and "emperor", respectively. This letter was needed for somebody to be legally proclaimed Roman emperor or heir of Roman or Byzantine empire. Both monarchs demonstrated the letter to foreign ambassadors; Peter even referred to it when he proclaimed himself Emperor.
While most scholars believe Andreas left no descendants, Donald M. Nicol's The Immortal Emperor recognises a Constantine Palaiologos who served in the Papal Guard and a Maria who married Russian noble Mihail Vasilivich as possible offspring of Andreas.
Ancestry
| 16. Andronikos III Palaiologos | |||||||||||||||||||
| 8. John V Palaiologos | |||||||||||||||||||
| 17. Anna of Savoy | |||||||||||||||||||
| 4. Manuel II Palaiologos | |||||||||||||||||||
| 18. John VI Kantakouzenos | |||||||||||||||||||
| 9. Helena Kantakouzene | |||||||||||||||||||
| 19. Irene Asanina | |||||||||||||||||||
| 2. Thomas Palaiologos | |||||||||||||||||||
| 20. Dejan | |||||||||||||||||||
| 10. Constantine Dragaš | |||||||||||||||||||
| 21. Theodora of Serbia | |||||||||||||||||||
| 5. Helena Dragaš | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1. Andreas Palaiologina | |||||||||||||||||||
| 24. Centurione I Zaccaria | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12. Andronico Asano Zaccaria | |||||||||||||||||||
| 25. Asanina | |||||||||||||||||||
| 6. Centurione II Zaccaria | |||||||||||||||||||
| 26. Erard III, Baron of Arcadia and Saint-Sauveur | |||||||||||||||||||
| 13. Mavros of Arcadia | |||||||||||||||||||
| 3. Catherine Zaccaria of Achaea | |||||||||||||||||||
| 28. Leonardo I Tocco | |||||||||||||||||||
| 14. Leonardo II Tocco | |||||||||||||||||||
| 29. Maddalena Buondelmonti | |||||||||||||||||||
| 7. Creusa Tocco | |||||||||||||||||||
Patrilineal descent
Descent before Michael VIII is taken from [1] and may be inaccurate.
- Nikephoros Palaiologos
- George Palaiologos
- Nikephoros Palaiologos
- Michael Komnenos
- Alexios Palaiologos
- Andronikos Doukas Komnenos Palaiologos, d. 1246
- Michael VIII Palaiologos, 1223–1282
- Andronikos II Palaiologos, 1259–1332
- Michael IX Palaiologos, 1277–1320
- Andronikos III Palaiologos, 1297–1341
- John V Palaiologos, 1332–1391
- Manuel II Palaiologos, 1350–1425
- Thomas Palaiologos, 1409–1465
- Andreas Palaiologos, 1453–1502
References
- ^ a b Norwich, John Julius, Byzantium - The Decline and Fall, p.446
- ^ "Kayser vnnd Herscher aller Rewssen und Groszfürste zu Wolodimer" in the German text of Maximilian's letter; "Imperator et Dominator universorum Rhutenorum et Magnus Princeps Valadomerorum" in the Latin copy. Vasili III responded by referring to Maximilian as "Maximiliano Dei gratia Electo Romanorum Caesare", i.e., "Roman Caesar".
- Jonathan Harris, Greek Émigrés in the West, 1400-1520, Camberley: Porphyrogenitus, 1995. ISBN 1 871328 11 X
- Jonathan Harris 'A worthless prince? Andreas Palaeologus in Rome, 1465-1502', Orientalia Christiana Periodica 61 (1995), 537-54
- Donald M. Nicol, The Immortal Emperor, Cambridge University Press, 1992, pp. 115-22. ISBN 0 521 41456 3.
- Steven Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople 1453, Cambridge University Press, 1965, pp. 183-4. ISBN 0 521 09573 5
- also see F. Rodriguez, Origine, cronologia esuccesione degli Imperatori Paleologo, "Riv. di Araldica e Genealogia" I, 1933.