Andreas Palaiologos

Andreas Palaiologos (or Palaeologus) (1453–1502) was the titular Byzantine emperor and Despot of Morea from 1465 until his death during 1502.

Biography

He was the nephew of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine Emperor of Constantinople. After Constantine was defeated and presumably 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 after an Ottoman invasion. When his father died during 1465, Andreas stayed in Italy under the protection of the Papal States. He lived in Rome, styling himself Imperator Constantinopolitanus ("Emperor of Constantinople").^[1] Andreas is considered^[who?] the last "titular" Roman (Byzantine) Emperor who, curiously, lived in Rome years after the end of the Eastern Roman Empire.

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 style of life.

Desiring more money and a better life, Andreas sold the rights to the Byzantine crown which he possessed since the death of his father, Thomas. Charles VIII of France purchased the rights of succession from Andreas during 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 during 1502, in spite of having sold his titles and royal and imperial rights again to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I 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 (Sophia), and only one year after the birth of their son during 1480, Ivan had started to refer to himself as 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, during 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 evidence 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 was proclaimed Emperor by the Senate and the Synod.

Andreas visited his sister in Moscow during 1480 and 1491.

Children

While most scholars believe Andreas left no descendants, Donald M. Nicol's The Immortal Emperor recognises a son, Constantine Palaiologos who served in the Papal Guard and a daughter, Maria who married the Russian noble Vasily Mikhailovich as possible offspring of Andreas.

Russian sources tell of a great scandal in Moscow regarding Sophia's niece Maria. The Grand Duchess arranged the marriage of her niece with Prince Vasily Mikhailovich of Vereya-Belozersk (dynasty of princes of Mozhaysk). Vasily was the son of Prince Mikhail Andreevich of Mozhaysk (Михаил Андреевич Можайский), who was the grandson of Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy and cousin of Grand Duke Ivan III. During 1483 Sophia gave to her niece a necklace from the dowry of Ivan III's first wife Maria of Tver, mother of her stepson Ivan the Young, the heir. When Ivan III wanted to present the same necklace to Ivan the Young's wife Elena of Moldavia he find that the jewel was missing. Because of this scandal, Maria and her husband Vasiliy escaped to Lithuania, and Mikhail Andreevich of Mozhaysk lost the Principality of Vereya. Only during 1493 did Sophia persuade her husband to forgive Maria and Vasiliy.^[3]

Ancestry

Patrilineal descent

Descent before Michael VIII is taken from es:Dinastía Paleólogo and may be inaccurate.

1. Nikephoros Palaiologos
2. George Palaiologos
3. Nikephoros Palaiologos
4. Michael Komnenos
5. Alexios Palaiologos
6. Andronikos Doukas Komnenos Palaiologos, d. 1246
7. Michael VIII Palaiologos, 1223–1282
8. Andronikos II Palaiologos, 1259–1332
9. Michael IX Palaiologos, 1277–1320
10. Andronikos III Palaiologos, 1297–1341
11. John V Palaiologos, 1332–1391
12. Manuel II Palaiologos, 1350–1425
13. Thomas Palaiologos, 1409–1465
14. Andreas Palaiologos, 1453–1502

References

Sources

• 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.