Andreas Palaiologos

Andreas Palaiologos (or Palaeologus) (1453 - 1502 [ [http://www.maltagenealogy.com/libro%20d'Oro/paleologo.html Libro d'Oro di Melita ] ] ) "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. Before entering Italy, Thomas and all his children made the conversion to the Roman Catholic religion. 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"), where he married a Roman prostitute. [Norwich, John Julius, "Byzantium - The Decline and Fall", p.446]

During his lifetime, Andreas is 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 tried to sell the rights to the Byzantine crown since the death of his father Thomas. Charles VIII of France originally agreed to purchase the rights of succession from Andreas in 1494. However Charles predeceased him 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 for a comfortable pension.

Andreas died a pauper in 1502, having sold his titles to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. [Norwich, John Julius, "Byzantium - The Decline and Fall", p.446] . 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.

8 years after Ivan III of Russia matrimony with Andreas sister Zoe and only 1 year after birth of son in 1480 he have started to call himself tsar (emperor). This was related to Russia's growing ambitions to become an Orthodox "Third Rome" (Constantinople is second Rome) and Byzantine heir. In the end emperor of Russia title is recognized to Vasili III of Russia by Maximilian I, the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in 1514. ["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. Vasily III responded by referring to Maximilian as "Maximiliano Dei gratia Electo Romanorum Caesare", i.e., "Roman Caesar". 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. Both monarchs demonstrated the letter to foreign ambassadors; Peter even referred to it when he proclaimed himself Emperor.] This letter in legal sense is needed for somebody to be proclaimed Roman emperor or heir of Roman or Byzantine empire

While most scholars believe Andreas left no descendants of his own, 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.

References

* 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 Geneologia" I, 1933.