I will be writing next about a Byzantine princess who bridged the East West divide and helped setting in motion a religious shift in an Asian nation that has significant geopolitical ramifications even now.
https://twitter.com/Arby_K/status/1316742016210882560
Princess Theodora was the daughter of Emperor Alexios Ioannes IV of Trebizond and his Georgian wife, one of the rump states formed out of the former Byzantine Empire, when it collapsed after the sack of Constantinople in 1204 by the Latin Crusaders. 1/10 
Though the Greeks recovered Constantinople in 1261, the Komneni of Trebizond were left largely to fend for themselves, becoming vassals of Georgia and the Horde and with marital alliances with their neighbours. 2/10
With the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Emperor in Trebizond attempted to forge an alliance with the neighbouring Aq Qoyunlu by marrying Theodora off to Uzun Hasan, their mightiest ruler. Trebizond had maintained marital alliances with the Aq Qoyunlu earlier as well. 3/10
The Aq Qoyunlu had reached its pinnacle under Uzun Hasan, which rivalled the Ottomans in its zenith, albeit temporarily. But the alliance was to no avail, for Trebizond would fall in 1463. Theodora would assist Aq Qoyunlu in signing a treaty with the Republic of Venice 4/10
A battle in 1473 between the Aq Qoyunlu and the Ottomans would end decisively in favour of the latter, thanks to the usage of Ottoman firearms against Turkomen Cavalry, crushing any hopes of a return for the last Christian dominion in Anatolia 5/10
While Uzun Hasan would survive the defeat, his death in 1478 and the civil war that followed would hasten the collapse of the vast empire he had created. In place of the Aq Qoyunlu, another would rise up; one led by a grandson of the Greek princess 6/10
Despina Khatun (Princess Theodora) had a daughter named Halima with Uzun Hasan, who married her cousin, Sheikh Haydar bin Junaid, the leader of the Safavid Order, the main proponent of the Twelver Shia movement. 7/10
Though Sheikh Haydar's attempts to glory would fail, his son Ismail would be more successful. In 1501, at the age of 14, he would be crowned Shahanshah of Iran. He would find support from his grandmother's nephews, Constantine II of Kartli & Alexander I of Kakheti, as well. 8/10
Ismail would go on to displace Aq Qoyunlu from the map, and would enlarge his dominion till he ran into the Ottomans at Chaldiran in 1514. The Ottomans would also gain from the collapse of the Aq Qoyunlu. 9/10
Finally, it was Ismail who made Twelver Shia the official religion of his dominion, paving way for the Shia population in present day Iran, Iraq and Azerbaijan. 10/10
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