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.
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Famous quotes containing the word children:
“Let America first praise mediocrity even, in her children, before she praises ... the best excellence in the children of any other land.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“The “universal moments” of child rearing are in fact nothing less than a confrontation with the most basic problems of living in society: a facing through one’s children of all the conflicts inherent in human relationships, a clarification of issues that were unresolved in one’s own growing up. The experience of child rearing not only can strengthen one as an individual but also presents the opportunity to shape human relationships of the future.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“The children despise their parents until the age of 40, when they suddenly become just like them—thus preserving the system.”
—Quentin Crewe (20th century)