Theodore Palaeologus

In the chapel of St Michael in Westminster Abbey is the grave of Theodore Palaeologus, who was buried on 3rd May 1644. He was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War and served under Oliver, Lord St John. He was present at the battle of Edgehill. His grave is near the monument of Lady St John, an earlier relative of Oliver's. There was no gravestone for him until the present one was laid down by Dean Stanley in the late 19th century. It reads simply:

THEODORUS PALAEOLOGUS 1644

Theodore's brother Ferdinando emigrated to Barbados and brother John was killed at the battle of Naseby. Their father Theodore fought with Elizabeth I's army in the Netherlands and married as his second wife Mary Ball or Balls. A memorial to the elder Theodore in Landulph church in Cornwall sets out his descent from the brother of Constantine Paleaologus, "the last Christian Emperor of Greece".