Graitzas Palaiologos

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Konstantinos Graitzas Palaiologos (Gr. Κωνσταντίνος Γκραίτζας Παλαιολόγος) was the commander of the Byzantine garrison at Salmenikon near Patras during the invasion of the Despotate of Morea by the forces of Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire in 1460.

Graitzas descended from an obscure branch of the Palaiologos family, but showed far more valor than his distant relatives, the siblings and co-ruling Despotes Thomas Palaiologos and Demetrios Palaiologos. Whereas the former fled to Modon, Corfu, and finally Rome and the latter surrendered outright to the Sultan, Graitzas maintained his position. He held his redoubt until July 1461, long after the surrender of his lords, at which point he was offered safe passage and a commission in the armed forces of the Republic of Venice.

[edit] Sources

• The Immortal Emperor, by Prof. Donald M. Nicol.
• The Fall of Constantinople 1453, by Sir James Cochran Stevenson (Steven) Runciman.
• Byzantium: Decline and Fall & A Short History of Byzantium, by John J. Cooper, the 2nd Viscount Norwich.
• Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit, IX no. 21497, ed. E. Trapp et als.