Andreas Palaiologos
1453 – 1502 · Generation XLI · Palaiologos
Andreas (AD 1453 – 1502). Son of Thomas; titular Byzantine emperor in exile. He was born four months before Constantinople fell, the eldest son of Thomas Palaiologos and Catherine Zaccaria. The Ottoman invasion of the Morea in 1460 drove the family to Corfu, and after his father died in 1465 the boy went to Rome, where Cardinal Bessarion saw to his education, Pope Paul II recognised him as Despot of the Morea, and he became a Catholic. From 1483 he styled himself “Emperor of Constantinople.” A dwindling papal pension left him poor; in 1480 he travelled to Russia to seek money from his sister Sophia, and a planned crossing to Greece in 1481 was called off. In 1494 he sold his imperial rights to Charles VIII of France, reclaiming them after Charles died in 1498. He married a Roman, Caterina, but left no proven heirs, and died impoverished in 1502, willing his titles to Ferdinand and Isabella; he was buried in St Peter’s.
One of 19 people of Palaiologos (1190–1503) in this archive. The last and longest-lived house — it retook the city in 1261 and lost it in 1453.
Line of descent: Manuel Komnenos → John Komnenos → Alexios I Komnenos → Theodora Komnene → Andronikos Angelos Doukas → Alexios III Angelos → Irene Angelina → Theodora Palaiologina → Michael VIII Palaiologos → Andronikos II Palaiologos → Michael IX Palaiologos → Andronikos III Palaiologos → John V Palaiologos → Manuel II Palaiologos → Thomas Palaiologos → Andreas Palaiologos.
Parents
- Thomas Palaiologos (1409 – 1465)
- Catherine Zaccaria (1410 – 1462)
Siblings
- Helena Palaiologina (1431 – 1473)
- Sophia Palaiologina (1449 – 1503)