Question:  The leader of the Crimean Karaites followed Şahin Giray to what protectress who was the country's longest-ruling female leader and arguably its most renowned?

 He was the royal treasurer of Şahin Giray, the last Crimean Khan, and therefore is called in Karaite literature "ha-Neeman" ("the Trusted")—an appellation bestowed also upon his father Samuel, who died in 1770, and who probably held the same office under former khans.  When Şahin Giray fled for his life from his rebellious subjects, and sought succor from his protectress Catherine II in St. Petersburg, Benjamin Aga followed him, hoping to collect the large sums of money that he had advanced to the fugitive.  Following the last partition of Poland in 1795, after Crimea had been under Russian rule for over a decade, Vilnius, Lutsk and Trakai came under Russian Rule.  Benjamin Aga, Solomon ben Nahamu Bobowitz, and the astronomer Isaac of Kalea, the son-in-law of Jacob Aga, who was the elder brother of Benjamin, went to St. Petersburg as a delegation from the Crimean Karaites, to petition the empress to release their sect from the double rate of taxation which all the Jews then had to pay.  Through the intervention of Count Nikolay Zubov, the delegation obtained from the empress the exemption from the "Jewish" taxes, some land grants, and other privileges which had not been asked for.  This established an important precedent for exempting the Karaites from subsequent anti-Jewish legislation. Benjamin Aga (Karaim: Беньямин Агъа), who died in 1824, was the leader of the Crimean Karaites.  The extraordinary success of the mission served to arouse great enthusiasm among the Karaites, and Aga and his fellow delegates were received with great honor on their return.  A large monolith, fashioned out of marble, with fitting inscription, was erected in the court of the kenesa at Eupatoria, to commemorate an event so important in the history of the Karaites of Russia. <SEP> Hacı I Giray, Melek Haji Girai (Crimean Tatar: "Bır Hacı Geray ", بیر-حاجى كراى ‎ ; "Melek Hacı Geray ", ملک خاجى كراى ‎; died 1466) was the founder and the first ruler of the Crimean Khanate.  He is sometimes referred to as Hacı Devlet Giray or Devlet Hacı Giray.  He is said to have been an 11th generation descendant of Tughril, Khan of the Keraites whose descendants intermarried with the Genghisids (Mongol imperial clan of Genghis Khan and his successors). <SEP>  She came to power following a "coup d'état" when her husband, Peter III, was assassinated. Catherine II (Russian: Екатерина Алексеевна "Yekaterina Alekseyevna"; 2 May [O.S. 21 April] 1729 – 17 November [O.S. 6 November] 1796 ), also known as Catherine the Great (Екатери́на Вели́кая , "Yekaterina Velikaya"), born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, was Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796, the country's longest-ruling female leader and arguably its most renowned, regardless of gender (although Peter the Great was the only Tsar officially designated as "The Great" ).  Russia was revitalised under her reign, growing larger as well as stronger in military terms and becoming recognised as one of the great powers of Europe. <SEP> Seraya Shapshal or "His Excellency Hajji Seraya Khan Shapshal " (Karaim: Серая Бен Мордехай Шапшал; Lithuanian: "Seraja Šapšalas" ; Polish: "Seraj Szapszał" ; Russian: Серге́й Маркович Шапшал ) (1873–1961) was a hakham and leader of the Crimean and then the Polish and Lithuanian Crimean Karaites (Karaim) community.