Children
While most scholars believe Andreas left no descendants, Donald M. Nicol's The Immortal Emperor recognises Constantine Palaiologos who served in the Papal Guard, and a woman Maria who married the Russian noble Vasily Mikhailovich as possible son and daughter of Andreas.
An illegitimate daughter of Constantine Palaiologos is present in some Italian sources; it is identified as Dominique, the concubine of Evandro Conti (a Roman nobleman descendant of the family of Pope Innocent III) and mother of his illegitimate sons: the children of this couple, Mars (Marzio) and John Caesar (Giovanni Cesare) Conti, did not claim their rights to the throne of Constantinople.
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 found 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.
Read more about this topic: Andreas Palaiologos
Famous quotes containing the word children:
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