The Venetian Palaiologoi were not related to the imperial family, but they might have been distant cousins. One of the earliest references to Palaiologoi in Venice is a 1479 Senate decision concerning Theodore Palaiologos, who had recently proven himself in a campaign in Friuli. Theodore had a well-documented career as a "stratiote". Born in 1452, and probably originally from Mystras in the Morea, Theodore was originally a debt collector for the Ottomans in the Morea. In 1478, Theodore travelled to Venice with his father, Paul, and became a "stratiote". For his merits in the service of Venice, Theodore was granted the island Cranae, though he later ceded it to another family. In 1495, Theodore partook in a siege of Novara and also partook in later battles in Savona and Cephalonia. Due to his knowledge of the Turkish language, Theodore also accompanied Venetian ambassadors in diplomatic missions to the Ottoman Empire, visiting Constantinople several times. He died in 1532, being buried in the Orthodox church of San Giorgio dei Greci.