1 Scudo - John George Palaeologus

John George Palaeologus ruled Montferrat as a direct descendant of the Byzantine imperial line — the Palaeologi had held the march since 1305, when Theodoros I inherited it through his mother, a daughter of Guglielmo VII. By John George's reign, the dynasty was a dynastic relic governing a small north Italian territory entirely at the mercy of the French and Habsburg powers maneuvering through the Italian Wars. He died in 1533 without legitimate heirs, ending the Palaeologan line in the West entirely. The march passed by imperial grant to Federico II Gonzaga of Mantua the same year.