X-Nico

unusual facts about Constantine XI



Ivan III of Russia

After the death of his first consort, Maria of Tver (1467), and at the suggestion of Pope Paul II (1469), who hoped thereby to bind Russia to the Holy See, Ivan III wedded Sophia Paleologue (also known under her original Greek and Orthodox name of Zoe), daughter of Thomas Palaeologus, despot of Morea, who claimed the throne of Constantinople as the brother of Constantine XI, the last Byzantine emperor.

Leonard of Chios

The Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI had sent a request to the pope, asking that efforts be made to effect a union between the Latin and 'Greek' (Orthodox) Churches: for this purpose Leonard was selected to accompany Isidore, Cardinal Bishop of Sabine, to Constantinople.


see also

Theodora

Theodora Tocco, despoina consort of Constantine, Despot in Morea (later Constantine XI Palaiologos).