page_title: Theodore Paleologus
section_title: Legacy
hierarchical_section_title: Theodore Paleologus / Legacy
caption_attribution_description: English: Rubbing of the tombstone of Theodore Paleologus in Landulph, Cornwall
context_page_description: Theodore Paleologus was a 16th and 17th-century Italian nobleman, soldier and assassin. According to the genealogy presented on Theodore's tombstone, he was a direct male-line descendant of the Palaiologos dynasty, which had ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1259 to its fall in 1453. Though most of the figures in the genealogy can be verified to have been real historical figures, the veracity of his imperial descent is uncertain.
  Born in Pesaro around 1560, Theodore was forced into exile after being convicted for the attempted murder of man called Leone Ramusciatti. He lived in exile for many years and went on to become a proficient soldier and hired assassin. In 1597, Theodore arrived in London, hired by the authorities of the Republic of Lucca to kill a man named Alessandro Antelminelli. After failing to track down Antelminelli, Theodore stayed in England, possibly for the rest of his life.
  In 1600, Theodore was hired by Henry Clinton, the Earl of Lincoln, ostensibly as "Master of the Horse" but in reality probably as a henchman and assassin. At the time, Clinton was perhaps the most hated nobleman in the entire country.
context_section_description: Theodore's grave was accidentally opened in 1795, revealing an oak coffin. Inside, his body was discovered in a good enough state to ascertain that Theodore was far above common height and had possessed an aquiline nose and a long white beard reaching low on his breast. His well-preserved body means that he had probably been embalmed before being buried.
  To this day, Theodore's tomb brings many Greek visitors to Landulph. Greek Orthodox memorial services have been observed for him twice, first in the late 20th century by the Welsh-born archimandrite Barnabas (1915–1995) and then in 2007 by Archbishop Gregorios, head of the Greek Orthodox community in Britain. Barnabas's service for Theodore in the late 20th century was the first service of any kind conducted in Theodore's name since his burial in 1636. Gregorios's rite, conducted on 18 April 2007, involved draping Theodore's grave in silk ribbons with the colors of the Greek flag, and also displaying flags with the double-headed eagle. The rite was not technically a full traditional memorial rite, since Theodore was not Orthodox, but included chants and incense. The two rites were evocations of ancient Byzantium never before seen in Landulph. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a member of the modern Greek royal family, visited Theodore's tomb together with his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1962.
  Theodore has sometimes figured in popular culture. In the novel Sir John Constantine (1906) by Arthur Quiller-Couch, a band of Cornish squires called the "Constantines" are descended from Theodore. The novel is purported to be the 1756 memoirs of Sir John Constantine Paleologus, who with the rest of the Constantines go on several adventures. John Constantine is described as having white hair and an aquiline nose, clearly based on descriptions of the real Theodore Paleologus. In an earlier novella by Quiller-Couch, The Mystery of Joseph Laquedem (1900), a girl named Julie Constantine, also a fictional descendant of Theodore, features in the plot, alongside the actual grave of Theodore himself.
  During World War I, playwright William Price Drury wrote and produced a play called The Emperor's Ring, in which the central plot revolves around a delegation from various states in the Balkans arriving to Landulph to bend the knee to a living descendant of Theodore, an aged miner called Simon Paleol in the play. After a telegram arrives informing the delegation of the death of Simon's only son in the trenches, their hopes are dashed and as Simon grows more and more tired of the delegation hoping for him to take his place on the throne of Greece, he grabs Theodore's old signet ring, a priceless heirloom, and throws it in the Tamar river. The Emperor's Ring was later reworked to a short story, published in 1919 with the title All the King's Men. All the King's Men also features a passage inspired by the opening of Theodore's grave, with the addition that his body crumbles to dust as the grave is opened.
  The novel Days Without Number (2003) by Robert Goddard is a thriller with supernatural elements and incorporates fictional modern descendants of Theodore as a central plot element. In the novel, Theodore's Paleologus descendants battle with James Bond-style villains through murders, seductions and car and speedboat chases, all in order to find a lost stained glass window with an inscription supposedly containing the date of the Second Coming, preserved by the Knights Templar through the ages.
caption: 19th-century rubbing of Theodore's tombstone
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