it is not clear why maria enjoyed such strong support of the sultans in her various conflicts and plain frauds. an explanation might be offered by the narrative of her relative theodore spandounes, who lived for some time with her aunts and whose family maintained close relations with the branković dynasty. he wrote that queen maria married a "sipahi" with whom she had no children, but went so far as to claim that she was captured by the turks in bosnia and forced into the marriage, which is evidently untrue.