sentences:  This relative stability for a time strengthened the monarch's power and increased the number of his supporters among the nobility.Threatened by the emerging great empires of the East – those of the Ottomans and the Safavids– the kings of Kakheti persuaded a carefully staged politics of balance, and tried to establish an alliance with the co-religionist rulers of Muscovy against the shamkhals of Tarki in the North Caucasus.An Ottoman-Safavid peace deal at Amasya in 1555 left Kakheti within the sphere of Safavid Iranian influence, but the local rulers still maintained considerable independence and stability by showing willingness to cooperate with their Safavid overlords.