 Their descent is questionable since there is no surviving contemporary evidence that Andronikos had children.That Andronikos suffered from elephantiasis and epilepsy, and that he died at a young age, makes it unlikely that he married and had a son.Another family which claims to descend from the old imperial dynasty are the Paleologu of Romania, claiming to be the descendants of an otherwise unattested son of Theodore II Palaiologos, Despot of the Morea, called Emanuel Petrus (Manuel Petros in Greek).