George Palaiologos Kantakouzenos

George Palaiologos Kantakouzenos (; ca. 1390 – 1456/59 ) was a Byzantine aristocrat, a member of the Kantakouzenos family, and adventurer. He is also known by the Turkish nickname Sachatai, which he earned in the service of the Despot Constantine early in his military career.

Life George Palaiologos Kantakouzenos was likely the son of Theodore Palaiologos Kantakouzenos. Among his siblings were the Despotess of Serbia Irene Kantakouzene, the Empress of Trebizond Helena, and the unnamed wife of King George VIII of Georgia. He was also a cousin of the last two Byzantine emperors, John VIII Palaiologos and Constantine XI Palaiologos.

Family Hugues Busac, compiling the genealogy of his wife Carola Cantacuzene de Flory, describes George Palaiologos Kantakouzenos as her grandfather and the brother of the Grand Domestic Andronikos Palaiologos Kantakouzenos. Spandounes claimed him as his maternal grandfather, and elsewhere describes him as the grandson of the Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. Nicol believes Spandounes is in error, and the Emperor John VI was his great-grandfather and Matthew Kantakouzenos his grandfather.

Although there is no surviving record of his wife's name, Hugues Busac credits him with a family of nine children, four sons and five daughters. According to Nicol, they are: Theodore Kantakouzenos (died 1459?) Manuel Kantakouzenos (flourished 1450–1470) Thomas Kantakouzenos (flourished 1460), only known through Busac's genealogy. Demetrios Kantakouzenos, of whom nothing certain is known. An unnamed daughter, who married George Raoul; Raoul served as an envoy for the Despot of the Morea Thomas Palaiologos in July 1460 Another unnamed daughter, who married Nicholas Palaiologos. Zoe Kantakouzene de Flory, who married James II de Flory, Count of Jaffa, and the parents of Hugues Busac's wife Carola. Anna Kantakouzene, who married Vladislav Hercegović Another unnamed daughter, whom Nicol speculates was the mother of Eudokia Kantakouzene, the mother of Theodore Spandounes.