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.

[6] 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".

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.

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.

The tone of this letter, signed by the senior magistrate of Lucca, Francesco Andreotti, speaks to Theodore's apparently impressive reputation:[11] Very Magnificent SignorI have heard with much pleasure that you keep me in your remembrance as I do you, and to show my confidence in you I take the opportunity of employing you in my affairs.

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".

Clinton is frequently described as waging war on his neighbors and is often credited with rioting, abduction, arson, sabotage, extortion and perjury.

[1] 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.

Mary had been born in Hadleigh, Suffolk c. 1575 (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.

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.

[22] A passage of Norreys's message reads:[25] He keeps her docked up like a prisoner, without suffering her either to write or hear from any of her friends, having appointed to guard her an Italian, a man that hath done divers murders in Italy and in the Low Countries, from which he fled to England, from whom, I protest, she has just cause hourly to fear the cutting of her throat.

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.

[30] 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).

[35] On account of corruption, enormous wealth and incompetence (for instance having supported unsuccessful wars with France and Spain), as well as interference with the politics of King Charles I, Villiers was, like Henry Clinton before him, one of the most hated men in all of England.

[37] In Theodore's letter to Villiers, he describes himself as "capable as one who has lived and shed his blood in war since his youth, at the pleasure of the late Prince of Orange, and other diverse English and French lords who have seen and known me and can bear witness" and calls himself a gentleman of a good family, worthy of the name he bears on account of his many accomplishments, but "unlucky in the misfortune experienced by my ancestors and myself".

[41] Lower's home, Clifton Hall, was divided to accommodate two families after Mary and the Paleologus daughters (and probably Ferdinand) moved in shortly after Theodore.

At Clifton Hall, Theodore probably served the Lowers as a scholar of history and the Greek language, possibly helping to educate their children.

This previous marriage would have taken place on 6 July 1593 on the island Chios, his bride being "Eudoxia Comnena", a daughter of the nobleman Alexius Comnenus and his wife Helen Cantacuzene (both parents possessing surnames of Byzantine imperial dynasties).

Eudoxia was to have died on 6 July 1596, three years after the wedding, in childbirth, and the couple's only child was said to have been a girl named "Theodora Paleologus", married in 1614 in Naples to "Prince Demetrius Rhodocanakis".

Though this genealogy has been accepted by some historians in the past, and notably convinced the papacy and the British Foreign Office, it originates from forgeries created in the 1860s by the London-based Greek merchant Demetrius Rhodocanakis, who claimed that one of Theodora's descendants was Dr. Constantine Rhodocanakis (a real historical figure), who Demetrius in turn claimed was his ancestor.

Inside, his body was discovered in a good enough state to ascertain that Theodore was far above common height and had possessed an aquiline nose and a long white beard reaching low on his breast.

[63] Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a member of the modern Greek royal family, visited Theodore's tomb together with his wife, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1962.

John Constantine is described as having white hair and an aquiline nose, clearly based on descriptions of the real Theodore Paleologus.

[65] During World War I, playwright William Price Drury wrote and produced a play called The Emperor's Ring, in which the central plot revolves around a delegation from various states in the Balkans arriving to Landulph to bend the knee to a living descendant of Theodore, an aged miner called Simon Paleol in the play.

In the novel, Theodore's Paleologus descendants battle with James Bond-style villains through murders, seductions and car and speedboat chases, all in order to find a lost stained glass window with an inscription supposedly containing the date of the Second Coming, preserved by the Knights Templar through the ages.