page_title: Andreas Palaiologos
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Andreas Palaiologos / Biography / Early life
context_page_description: Andreas Palaiologos or Palaeologus, sometimes anglicized to Andrew, was the eldest son of Thomas Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea. Thomas was a brother of Constantine XI Palaiologos, the final Byzantine emperor. After his father's death in 1465, Andreas was recognized as the titular Despot of the Morea and from 1483 onwards, he also claimed the title "Emperor of Constantinople".
  After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the subsequent Ottoman invasion of the Morea in 1460, Andreas's father fled to Corfu with his family. After Thomas died in 1465, the then twelve-year-old Andreas moved to Rome and, as the eldest nephew of Constantine XI, became the head of the Palaiologos family and the chief claimant to the ancient imperial throne. Andreas's later use of the imperial title, never claimed by his father, was supported by some of the Byzantine refugees who lived in Italy and he hoped to one day restore the empire of his ancestors. Andreas married a Roman woman called Caterina. Though some primary sources allude to the possibility that he had children, there is no concrete evidence that Andreas left any descendants.
  As his stay in Rome continued, Andreas fell deeper into poverty.
context_section_description: Constantine XI Palaiologos, the last Byzantine emperor, died defending Constantinople from the Ottomans on 29 May 1453. Andreas had been born just four months earlier, on 17 January 1453, as the oldest son of Thomas Palaiologos and Catherine Zaccaria. Following the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople, Andreas's family continued to live in the Morea as vassals of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. However, constant bickering between Thomas, who tried to rally support to restore the Byzantine Empire, and his brother Demetrios, who sided with the Ottomans, led to the Sultan invading the Morea in 1460; Thomas and his family escaped to Corfu. Thomas then left the rest of the family to go to Rome, where he was welcomed and financially supported by Pope Pius II. Thomas maintained hope that he would one day recover his lands and when preparations were being made for a crusade in 1462, which never took place, Thomas personally rode around Italy to drum up support.
  Catherine Zaccaria died in August 1462, but it was only in spring 1465 that Thomas summoned the children to Rome. Andreas, his younger brother Manuel, and their sister Zoe, accompanied by their guardian and some exiled Byzantine nobles, arrived at Ancona, but they never met their father, who died on 12 May. 
  Andreas was 12 years old at the time, and Manuel was 10. Zoe's age is unknown, but she was the oldest of the three. The children went on to Rome, where they were put in the care of Cardinal Bessarion, who had also fled the Byzantine Empire many years ago. Bessarion was one of the few Byzantine clerics who had supported the union of the churches. He provided an education for the children and was the mastermind behind Zoe's marriage to Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow, which was arranged in June 1472. Andreas continued to stay in Rome by consent of Pope Paul II, who recognized him as the heir of Thomas and the Despot of the Morea. Andreas converted to the Roman Catholic Church.
  Initially, Andreas's seal bore the double-headed eagle of the Palaiologan emperors and the title "By the grace of God, Despot of the Romans" (Latin: Dei gratia despotes Romeorum). Perhaps in response to feeling as if he was not receiving the respect due to him, Andreas eventually started styling himself as the "Emperor of Constantinople" (Latin: Imperator Constantinopolitanus), a title never adopted by his father. The first use of that title was in April 1483, when he issued a chrysobull to the Spanish nobleman Pedro Manrique, Count of Osorno, authorizing him and his descendants to bear the arms of the Palaiologan emperors, to create palatine counts, and to naturalize his illegitimate offspring. Though this title differed from the traditional title used by the Byzantine emperors ("Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans"), it was the traditional designation used for the Byzantine emperors by western Europeans, in particular the papacy. Andreas's upbringing in Rome may have left him unaware that his title differed from the title that had actually been used by the Byzantine emperors. Although hereditary succession had never been officially used in the empire, Andreas was recognized as the rightful heir by some of his contemporaries, most prominently Cardinal Bessarion. One of Thomas Palaiologos's advisors from Patras, George Sphrantzes, visited Andreas in 1466 and recognized him as "the successor and heir of the Palaiologan dynasty" and his rightful ruler. Outside of his aspirations of restoring his empire, Andreas's claim to be an emperor was mostly expressed through insisting on various honors, such as insisting that he be allowed to carry the same type of candle as the cardinals during a 1486 procession in the Sistine Chapel.
caption: Contemporary painting of Cardinal Bessarion
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