who had also fled the Byzantine Empire many years ago. Bessarion was one of the few Byzantine clerics who had supported the union of the churches. He provided an education for the children and was the mastermind behind Zoe's marriage to Grand Prince Ivan III of Moscow, which was arranged in June 1472. Andreas continued to stay in Rome by consent of Pope Paul II, who recognized him as the heir of Thomas and the Despot of the Morea. Andreas converted to the Roman Catholic Church. Initially, Andreas's seal bore the double-headed eagle of the Palaiologan emperors and the title "By the grace of God, Despot of the Romans" (). Perhaps in response to feeling as if he was not receiving the respect due to him, Andreas eventually started styling himself as the "Emperor of Constantinople" (), a title never adopted by his father. The first recorded use of that title was on 13 April 1483, when he issued a chrysobull to the Spanish nobleman Pedro Manrique, Count of Osorno, authorizing him and his descendants to bear the arms of the Palaiologan emperors, to create palatine counts, and to naturalize his illegitimate offspring. Though this title differed from the traditional title used by the Byzantine emperors ("Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans"), it was the traditional designation used for the Byzantine emperors by western Europeans, in particular the papacy. Though Jonathan Harris believes that Andreas's upbringing in Rome could have left him unaware that his title differed from the version actually used by the Byzantine emperors, Andreas did render his imperial title as the standard Byzantine version on those occasions when he rendered it in Greek. Although hereditary succession had never been officially used in the Byzantine Empire, Andreas was recognized as the rightful heir by some of his contemporaries, most prominently Cardinal Bessarion. One of Thomas Palaiologos's advisors from Patras, George Sphrantzes, visited Andreas in 1466 and recognized him as "the successor and heir of the Palaiologan dynasty" and his rightful ruler. Outside of his aspirations of restoring his empire, Andreas's claim to be an emperor was mostly expressed through insisting on various honors, such as insisting that he be allowed to carry the same type of candle as the cardinals during a 1486 procession in the Sistine Chapel. Financial troubles The financial troubles which would persist throughout Andreas's life began shortly after Cardinal Bessarion died in 1472. By