 Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo, the ambassador Henry III of Castile sent to Tamerlane in 1403, stayed with Francesco at one point in his outward journey, and records he met John VII Palaiologos, "the young Emperor" in his household; de Clavijo notes that John "resided a good deal in this island".The name of Francesco's wife is not known.The only clue to her identity is the statement of Konstantin the Philosopher, biographer of Stefan Lazarević, who wrote around 1431 that Stefan's wife, Helena Gattilusio, was "through her mother a niece of the emperor Manuel, from whom the lords and lineage of her family were named Palaiologi."