Theodore Paleologus (; – 21 January 1636) was a 16th and 17th-century Greek nobleman, soldier and assassin. According to the genealogy presented on Theodore's tombstone, he was a direct male-line descendant of the Palaiologos dynasty, which had ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1259 to its fall in 1453. Though most of the figures in the genealogy can be verified to have been real historical figures, the veracity of his imperial descent is uncertain.
Born in Pesaro around 1560, Theodore was forced into exile after being convicted for the attempted murder of a man called Leone Ramusciatti. He lived in exile for many years and went on to become a proficient soldier and hired assassin. In 1597, Theodore arrived in London, hired by the authorities of the Republic of Lucca to kill a man named Alessandro Antelminelli. After failing to track down Antelminelli, Theodore stayed in England, possibly for the rest of his life.
In 1600, Theodore was hired by Henry Clinton, the Earl of Lincoln, ostensibly as "Master of the Horse" but in reality probably as a henchman and assassin. At the time, Clinton was perhaps the most hated nobleman in the entire country. Theodore probably accompanied Clinton on his visits around the country, most of them having to do with Clinton's frequent battles with the law. In Clinton's service, Theodore also met the famous captain and explorer John Smith, whom he gradually helped introduce back into society after Smith had elected to live as a recluse.
While living in Plymouth in 1628, Theodore was offered employment by the Duke of Buckingham, George Villiers, almost as hated as the now deceased Earl of Lincoln, but Villiers was assassinated soon thereafter. Theodore was then invited by a Sir Nicholas Lower to stay with him at his house, Clifton Hall, in Landulph, Cornwall. There, Theodore lived until his death in 1636. He was buried at Landulph and was survived by five of the six or seven children whom he had with his wife, Mary Balls. Of these children, only Ferdinand Paleologus, who later emigrated to Barbados, is known to have had children of his own.
Biography Early life
Born in Pesaro in the north central east coast of Italy around 1560, Theodore Paleologus was the son of Camilio Paleologus, about whom very little is known. The name of his mother is not known. Theodore's family might have been late-surviving descendants of the Palaiologos dynasty, which ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1259 to 1453. They claimed descent from Thomas Palaiologos (Camilio being Thomas's supposed great-great-grandson), a brother of the final emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, through a son called John, whose existence can not be confirmed through contemporary sources. All other purported ancestors (descendants of this John) of the later Paleologus family can be verified through contemporary records. On account of the absence of evidence for John's existence, English Byzantininst Donald Nicol wrote in 1974 that "Theodore’s claim to be a descendant of Thomas Palaiologos [...] must be held unproven". John Hall, author of a 2015 biography on Theodore, believes that it would be wrong to "dismiss Theodore's claim out of hand" on account of a single missing link.
During his early life, Theodore lived with his two uncles, Camilio's brothers, Scipione and Leonidas Paleologus, in Pesaro. In 1578, the three found themselves embroiled in a scandal, as they were convicted for the attempted murder of Leone Ramusciatti, a man who was also of Greek descent. After failing to kill him, in an attempt to avoid arrest, they barricaded themselves in a church. Contemporary records from Pesaro refers to the three as a something akin to a gang, and alludes to a previous (successful) murder committed by them. The fate of Scipione is unknown, but Leonidas was executed. Theodore, who is referred to as a minor (though he was obviously old enough to partake in the crime, probably 16–18 years old) was spared the death penalty and instead banished not only from Pesaro, but from the entire Duchy of Urbino.
Career as an assassin Theodore is not attested again until nineteen years later, upon his arrival to England in 1597. If Theodore's own later account is to be believed, some of the time in exile was spent fighting for the Protestants in the Netherlands, alongside the famous general Maurice of Nassau, as part of the Dutch Revolt. Theodore arrived in England as an assassin, hired to track down and kill Alessandro Antelminelli, a 25-year old citizen of the Republic of Lucca in Italy. Antelminelli's father and three brothers had been captured, tortured and executed in Lucca on charges of treason one year prior. Though Antelminelli had been absent during the time of the supposed crime, he had nonetheless been summoned to stand trial for his supposed complicity. Understanding that being at the trial would mean certain execution, he had instead fled to England and assumed the alias of "Ambergio Salvetti", claiming to be from Florence. As "Salvetti", Antelminelli became a comrade of the diplomat and poet Henry Wotton.
Around 40 years old, Theodore was by this point in time evidently well-established as an assassin. At some point between 1578 and 1597, he had been pardoned at Pesaro and had been allowed to return to his hometown, as proven by a letter addressed to "Signor Teodoro Paleologo" in Pesaro, dated 1597. The tone of this letter, signed by the senior magistrate of Lucca, Francesco Andreotti, speaks to Theodore's apparently impressive reputation:
The authorities at Lucca had first hired another assassin to kill Antelminelli, Marcantonio Franceotti. Franceotti had been paid 200 pounds in advance, but had failed to track down Antelminelli and suggested that the authorities at Lucca commission a "more seasoned killer". Franceotti recommended Paleologus, and is probably the same person as the one who personally delivered the Lucchese message ("the bearer of this" referred to in the letter). Like Franceotti before him, Paleologus also failed to find and kill Antelminelli. Despite further attempts to kill him until at least 1627, Antelminelli eventually died of natural causes in 1657.
In the service of the Earl of Lincoln After failing to track down Antelminelli, Theodore chose to stay in England. To earn money, he entered into the service of Henry Clinton, the Earl of Lincoln, in 1599. Theodore would spend many years living at Clinton's castle, Tattershall Castle in Lincolnshire. The castle had once been denounced by King Henry VIII as "one of the most brutal and beastly [castles] of the whole realm" and the town it overlooked, also called Tattershall, was scarcely more than a village at this point in time, having suffered a drastic depopulation in the late 16th century. Henry Clinton was almost sixty years old and one of the most brutal, feared and hated feudal lords in Britain. Clinton is frequently described as waging war on his neighbors and is often credited with rioting, abduction, arson, sabotage, extortion and perjury. At one point, Clinton even expanded his castle walls into the nearby churchyard.
Clinton officially hired Theodore as his Master of the Horse, but he clearly had intended uses for Theodore beyond the Italian's skills with horses, and presumably knew of Theodore's previous work. It is thus likely that Clinton's real intended use for Theodore was as a soldier and assassin. Theodore himself probably entered Clinton's service due to his advancing age, hoping to find a safer and more stable profession than his many years as a hired killer. Clinton was often at London due to his frequent entanglements with the law, during which Theodore, as Master of the Horse, would likely have accompanied and escorted him.
While staying at Tattershall, Theodore met his future wife, Mary Balls. Mary had been born in Hadleigh, Suffolk (she is known to have been 24 years old in 1599) and had no known friends or family outside that town, making her sudden appearance at Tattershall in 1599 somewhat puzzling. The only certain previous link between her family and Tattershall is her father, William Balls, being recorded as a witness to a legal document in Tattershall in 1585. William might thus have been known at the Tattershall household in some capacity.
Mary conceived Theodore's first child , and she married him in Cottingham, East Yorkshire on 1 May 1600, at which point she was several months pregnant. It is possible that the reason for the wedding being so late, only six weeks before the birth of their child, was Theodore accompanying Clinton on one of his law-related trips to London. The ceremony took place in the Church of St. Mary in Cottingham, where the marriage register records the marriage of Thedorus Palelogu and Maria Balle. The couple might have chosen to marry at Cottingham, nearly seventy miles away from Tattershall, due to Cottingham being under the rule of the Duke of Suffolk, Clinton's feudal superior. Because of the relation between the duke and the earl, the priest in Cottingham might have avoided asking awkward questions in regards to Mary's pregnancy. Their first child, named Theodore, was baptised on 12 June but died an infant on 1 September.
During their time in Lincolnshire, Theodore and Mary had further children. Baptismal records at Tattershall confirms the baptisms of three of their five, possibly six, later children. On 18 August 1606, their daughter Dorothy (identified in the records as "Dorathie, daughter of Theodore Palalogo") was baptised, followed by Theodore Junior ("Theodore Palalogo, son of Theodore Palalogo") on 30 April 1609 and John Theodore ("John Theodore, son of Paleologo Theodore) on 11 July 1611. There is also a partially legible entry for "Elizabeth, daughter of Theo ..." from August 1614, likely another child of Theodore. Since no further records are known of this Elizabeth, she is likely to have died in infancy.
On 14 May 1600, Francis Norreys, the son of Clinton's wife Elizabeth Morrison by a previous marriage, wrote to the Secretary of State, Robert Cecil, in the hope that he would intervene in Clinton's affairs, since Clinton had recently ordered that Elizabeth be confined to Tatershall Castle. The letter references an "Italian murderer", likely Theodore. With Clinton pressured to release her as more and more letters describing her situation came in to Cecil, Elizabeth was released later that year. A passage of Norreys's message reads:
During his time at Tattershall, Theodore also met and befriended John Smith (later a famous captain and explorer in the Americas). After Smith had served as a soldier in the Netherlands, he had returned home to Lincolnshire in 1600 and, tiring of the company of the locals, lived as a recluse, constructing a small wooden house a decent distance away from any major town or village. In his own writings, Smith describes how he was befriended by a “Thaedora Polalaga, Rider to Henry Earle of Lincolne” and describes the man as an “excellent horseman” and a “noble Italian gentleman”. Theodore taught Smith Italian and skill at arms, and might have encouraged him to return to the battlefield. In Philip L. Barbour's The Three Worlds of Captain John Smith (1964), Theodore is thought to be the culprit behind filling "John Smith's fancies with further adventurous notions" through legends of the Ottoman Turks. In Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler's Captain John Smith (2006), Theodore is credited with "igniting the spirit of the Crusaders" in Smith. Smith would later partake in military campaigns against the Ottomans before his more famous ventures in the Americas (such as the establishment of Jamestown, Virginia and his encounter with Pocahontas).
Later years