Theodore Palaiologos (Italian: Teodoro Paleologo, ; 1452–1532) was a 15th- and 16th-century Greek stratiote (light-armed mercenary cavalryman) and diplomat in the service of the Republic of Venice and one of the key early formative figures of the Greek community in Venice. He was not related to the Palaiologos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, but his family may have been their distant cousins.
Originally a soubashi (debt-collector/police enforcer) in Ottoman service in the Peloponnese, Theodore left Greece in 1478. He would serve as a stratiote for more than forty years, partaking in numerous battles and campaigns and would also serve as a military governor on the Venetian-held Greek island of Zakynthos for thirty years, from 1483 to 1513. As one of the most respected Greeks in Venice, the esteem held for Theodore by the Venetian government is probably what led to the Venetians allowing the local Greeks to construct their own Greek Orthodox church, San Giorgio dei Greci, in the city. After giving up soldiering in 1525, Theodore served as a diplomat and translator, and since he could speak Italian, Greek and Turkish, he accompanied Venetian ambassadors to the Ottoman Empire several times.
Biography
Background and early life
Theodore Palaiologos was born in 1452, the son of Paulos Palaiologos. Paulos was probably from the Morea (the medieval name for the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece) and Theodore was likely born at Mystras, the peninsula's capital. They shared their last name with the Palaiologos dynasty, the final ruling dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, but are unlikely to have been related to the imperial family. The Palaiologos family had been extensive even before they became the empire's ruling dynasty, so it is plausible that Theodore and his family were distant cousins of the emperors. Theodore had three siblings; Georgios (Giorgio or Zorzi in Italian), Matthew (who would become the abbot of a monastery on Zakynthos) and a sister whose name remains unknown.
In his youth, Theodore originally worked as a soubashi (debt-collector/police enforcer) in the Peloponnese on behalf of the Ottoman Empire, which conquered the Morea in 1460, before he, his father, and his brother Georgios, took up service with the Republic of Venice as stratioti (light-armed mercenary cavalrymen) in 1478. In due time, Paulos, Theodore and Georgios would all rise through the ranks to become capo dei stratioti ("head of the stratioti").
Career as a stratiote
One of the earliest preserved references to Theodore is a 1479 decision by the Venetian Senate concerning him, which states that he had recently proven himself in battle on a campaign in Friuli.
In 1483, Theodore and his brother Georgios were appointed as military governors on the Venetian-held Greek island of Zakynthos, being granted grand properties and salaries.
On 15 November 1486, Theodore married Maria Kantakouzene in Corfu. She was the daughter of a Demetrios Kantakouzenos and a woman by the name of Simone Gudellina. Since Maria and her father appears to have been genuine members of the noble Byzantine Kantakouzenos family, Theodore's branch of the Palaiologoi must have had a certain noble status. Theodore and Maria had two sons; Paolo and Demetrio, and six daughters; Efrosina, Emilia, Lucia, Helena, Nicolosa and a sixth daughter whose name is unknown.
In 1489, Theodore was granted the small island of Cranae by the Venetian government, but he soon ceded it to another family. In the autumn of 1495, he was present at a siege of Novara, where the Venetians attempted to take the city from France. In March 1496, Theodore was one of the stratioti who accompanied Venetian naval captain Domenico Malipiero in a campaign in Savona. In 1500 he partook in the Siege of the Castle of Saint George on the island of Cephalonia. In December 1502, Theodore was captured at Canosa di Puglia by French troops, though he was soon freed. In February 1503, he was fighting alongside other stratioti in Calabria. In August 1511 he was stationed as a guard at Treviso, and from 1511 to 1512 he is recorded as travelling around Italy, serving as a guard and scout. Theodore was taken captive at the Battle of La Motta (7 October 1513), but was released at the end of the month.