It never actually fell. I've heard that the continuity of the Byzantine Empire was assured by the Cantacuzino branch [1] that emigrated north to what we call to

It never actually fell. I've heard that the continuity of the Byzantine Empire was assured by the Cantacuzino branch [1] that emigrated north to what we call today Romania and they played a role in the creation of the country along freemasonry. Actually, Romania is an invention of the freemasonry and one of the Cantacuzinos descendants was an official member, Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino.[2] Sounds like an Assasins's Creed saga but it is true. Exctract from Wikipedia: "In advance of the Wallachian Revolution of 1848, a Freemason-inspired secret society known as Frăţia ("The Brotherhood") was set up. Ion Ghica, Nicolae Bălcescu, Christian Tell, Dimitrie Bolintineanu, Cezar Bolliac, Constantin Daniel Rosenthal, C. A. Rosetti, Dimitrie and Ion Brătianu, Alexandru G. Golescu and others belonged to Frăţia and were at the forefront of the revolution." The elite of what was soon-to-become-Romania consisted entirely of people following Masonic principles. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantacuzino_family https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantacuzino_family [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry_in_Romania https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freemasonry_in_Romania