Theodora Kantakouzene

Theodora Kantakouzene (c. 1330–c. 1396) was a daughter of Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos and Irene Asanina. In January 1346 she was betrothed to the Ottoman ruler Orhan Gazi to seal her father's alliance during the Byzantine civil war, and that summer she was escorted to Bithynia, where the wedding took place.

Unusually, she kept her Christian faith and worked to protect Christians under Ottoman rule. Halil Bey, often considered her son although his parentage is disputed, was executed by his half-brother Murad I after Orhan died in 1362. Theodora spent her later years in Constantinople, held at Galata by Andronikos IV in 1379–1381.