Claiming to be heir to the emperors of Byzantium, an exotic but elusive figures called Theodore Paleologus surfaced in mysterious circumstances in the Elizabethan underworld. This first biography of an extraordinary character presents new documentary evidence which supports his imperial pretensions - long dismissed by historians - but also exploses him as a seducer, a spy and, most intriguingly of all, a ruthless assassin in the pay of the wicked Earl of Lincoln. Yet memorial services are still conducted in Theodore's honour at his grave in Cornwall with the double-headed eagle flag of Byzantium unfurled over the tomb. In this remarkable account, award-winning author John Hall plots the real lives of Theodore Paleologus and his three sons - from contract killings to fighting in the Civil War and pioneering days in the Caribbean slave trade - and sets their story against parallel careers on the wilder shores of literature, ranging from dainty Regency verses to Magic Realism, along with crime thrillers, fantastic tales of reincarnation, the bloodline of Christ, and a claim to the throne of England.