Imperial Palaiologoi inherit Montferrat?

Would it be at all feasible for the Palaiologoi in Constantinople to inherit the March if Montferrat sometime before/immediately after the fall of Constantinople? If so would such an inheritance lead to Montferrat falling under Roman/Byzantine suzerainty, or even allow a legal continuation of the Empire in Italy? The first Palaiologoi ruler in Montferrat was the son of Emperor Andronikos II, so it would seem at least plausible that he somehow also became Emperor due to the deaths of his rivals by whatever means, or perhaps at some later date the extinction of the Palaiologoi in Montferrat would lead to whichever one was ruling in Constantinople to also become Duke/Marquess of Montferrat. Is this in any sense possible, or would the local rulers not accept the legal Roman Emperor coming into the midst through way of inheritance?
 
It could certainly be done, but the effect would likely be underwhelming. IOTL after the fall of the empire and the Despotate of Morea Thomas Palaiologos and his family continued to be the legal imperial family, and were recognized as such by the pope. They could have done so indefinitely, but Thomas' son Andreas chose to sell the title (more than once actually) to pay for his living expences. Having Montferrat might allow the Palaiologoi to have enough money to claim to be an empire in exile for a time, but the likeliness of anything coming of it are no better than they were in OTL, which is to say not good.
 
It could certainly be done, but the effect would likely be underwhelming. IOTL after the fall of the empire and the Despotate of Morea Thomas Palaiologos and his family continued to be the legal imperial family, and were recognized as such by the pope. They could have done so indefinitely, but Thomas' son Andreas chose to sell the title (more than once actually) to pay for his living expences. Having Montferrat might allow the Palaiologoi to have enough money to claim to be an empire in exile for a time, but the likeliness of anything coming of it are no better than they were in OTL, which is to say not good.

Fair enough post 1453, but how about beforehand? The Palaiologoi gained control of Montferrat well before the Empire was totally ruined, so it seems possible that they could gain control of it and its financial resources at a more opportune time than after the conquest...

To be honest though I'm somewhat more interested in the legal implications of Montferrat being "Roman" territory, in particular after the fall. OTL as you said the title was soled several times and was largely meaningless to the sovereigns who purchased it, and the Ottomans don't seem to have considered themselves the "Kaisars-y-Rum" after Mehmed, or at least I haven't heard of that so I can surmise that if they did it wasn't important. If however the title of Roman Empire actually survived in the West in some meaningful sense i.e. there actually *is* a Roman "empire" manifested in Montferrat could this have some ramifications legally? As far as I'm aware Montferrat was legally a part of the HRE, but if inherited by the "real" Roman Empire could this be cause for greater Western involvement in the east? Having the legal Roman Emperor as a vassal to the Holy Roman Emperor would make for an interesting footnote at least.
 
Obviously nothing is guaranteed, but by that time the Europeans saw the last of the Palaiologoi as a curiosity and nothing more, and their imperial title as a fun plaything. I doubt that that would much change just because they held Montferrat, and Montferrat itself isn't a good breeding ground for the reconquest of the old empire or the establishment of a new one. I will say that, while there is no reason why posession of Montferrat in and of itself would change things, you could have one of their rulers be an excellent speaker who is able to gain considerable interest in the cause of the empire's restoration. There were serious attempts to restore Thomas to the throne OTL, but they failed. Perhaps you could have this fellow drum up some more interest and make the crusade more successful, but that is still a tall order.

The other possibility is to have this tiny imperial enclave survive until the collapse of the Ottoman empire. At that point, rather than proclaiming a kingdom of Greece, the Greek nationalists might proclaim the empire restorred and invite the imperial Palaiologoi to be their new rulers. As an integral part of their national image, that might make the Greeks more hard line about reconquering Constantinople, and make the west more interested in helping them achieve that goal, but the butterflies from a 15th century PoD might remove the Ottoman collapse alltogether, so it is hard to say.

Russia claimed to be the third Rome because their Tsars up to Ivan the Terrible were descended from one of Thomas Palaiologos' daughters, so perhaps you could have other nations marrying the Palaiologoi in order to justify pretensions to being a new Rome. Of course, that could be an interesting way of legitimizing the Holy Roman Empire to an extent.
 
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