Paleologist, Jacob

Jacob Paleologue ( Giacomo da Chio ; c. 1520, Chios - March 23, 1585, Rome) - a religious and political figure in Europe of the 16th century of Greek origin, a follower of the teachings of the anti-Trinitarians, a spiritual writer.

Born in a Genoese colony on the island of Chios; his father was Greek and his mother Italian. In his youth he took monastic tonsure and joined the Order of the Dominicans. Educated at Dominican schools in Genoa and Ferra, and then at the University of Bologna; assuming the name Jacob Paleolog, he later claimed to be a descendant of Byzantine emperors until the end of his life. In 1554 he returned to the east, lived in a Dominican monastery in Constantinople, and here he became an adherent of the ideas of anti-Trinitarians. In 1556 he moved to his native Chios, where he began to agitate secular Genoese authorities against the local bishop, for which he was arrested in Genoa in 1557; in 1558 he fled to Constantinople, but was soon arrested in Ragusa and sent to the Inquisition prison, from where he fled in 1559 during the unrest in the city. In 1561, he was sentenced in absentia by the Roman Inquisition to death. At this time, he was hiding first in France, where he unsuccessfully tried through one of the cardinals to cancel the sentence of the Inquisition, then in the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1563 he received asylum in Prague, becoming close to the emperor Maximilian III who began to rule in 1564. In 1571, however, due to the intrigues of the papal court, he was forced to go to Poland, where he did not get in touch with local anti-Trinitarians in Krakow and was imprisoned for some time. Having enemies everywhere, in 1573 fled to Klausenburg to the prince of Transylvania Janos II Zapolyay; after the death of the prince in the same year, he supported the candidate for Benes ’presto, who was an antitrinitarian, but after the defeat of him in the struggle for power, he fled to Krakow in 1575 and then to Moravia. In December 1581, he was arrested by order of Emperor Rudolph III, who ruled since 1576 as a potential spy. Although his guilt was not proven, in May 1582 the Paleologist was extradited to Rome. On February 19, 1583, he was sentenced to be burned at the stake, but, for fear of execution, renounced his beliefs, but refused to cooperate with Pope Gregory XIII. As a result, he was beheaded in Rome in 1585 (some sources mistakenly state that he was burned).

His writings were mainly devoted to polemics with Polish anti-Trinitarians.