Shams al-Dën Luþluþ al-Amënë (died 3 February 1251) was one of the regents of Aleppo for the Ayyà «bid ruler al-NÃÂá¹£ir Yà «suf and later his chief advisor and the commander-in-chief of his armies. He dominated the government of al-NÃÂá¹£ir from 1242 until his death.
Shams al-Dën Luþluþ was a native of Mosul of Armenian origin. He was a freedman (ÿatëq) of Amën al-Dën Yumn, who was in turn a freedman of Nà «r al-Dën ArslÃÂn ShÃÂh ibn MasÃ¿à «d, ruler of Mosul. In 1225 or 1226, he invited his fellow Mosul native, Ibn BÃÂá¹Âësh, back to Aleppo, where the latter had previously lived in 1205âÂÂ1206 and 1223. According to Ibn al-ÿAdëm's biographical dictionary of Aleppo, Ibn BÃÂá¹Âësh lived with Shams al-Dën, who relied on his advice in conducting his affairs. According to ÿIzz al-Dën ibn ShaddÃÂd, Shams al-Dën founded a school in Aleppo.
By 1236, Shams al-Dën held the rank of emir. In that year, he was one of two emirs appointed to the four-man regency council for the seven-year-old al-NÃÂá¹£ir, the other being ÿIzz al-Dën ÿUmar ibn Mujallë. The vizier Ibn al-Qifá¹Âë also sat on the council, while actual power was exercised by the child's grandmother, á¸Âayfa KhÃÂtà «n, who was represented on the council by JamÃÂl al-Dawla IqbÃÂl al-KhÃÂtà «në. The regency formally ended with her death in 1242, but, as the ruler was still a child, Shams al-Dën was the de facto head of government in Aleppo. He remained throughout his life the commander-in-chief of the Aleppan army. Towards the end, however, he was distrusted by the Turkic mamlà «ks (slave soldiers) of the elite ÿAzëziyya and NÃÂá¹£iriyya contingents.
In May 1246, Shams al-Dën, in alliance with Emir al-Maná¹£à «r of Homs, led the army of Aleppo against the KhwarÃÂzmians. Because of his greater experience with the KhwarÃÂzmians, al-Maná¹£à «r took command of the combined army and on 18 May crushed the KhwarÃÂzmian power in Syria permanently in a battle near the Lake of Homs. The head of the KhwarÃÂzmian leader, Baraka ḴhÃÂn, was given to Shams al-Dën, who had it hung from the gate of the citadel in Aleppo.
In 1248, Shams al-Dën convinced al-NÃÂá¹£ir Yà «suf to annex Homs, then ruled by al-Ashraf Mà «sÃÂ, to prevent it from forming a potent alliance with al-á¹¢ÃÂliḥ Najm al-Dën Ayyà «b of Egypt. He led the army himself that successfully besieged Homs from May to August 1248. The Egyptian siege that soon followed, led by Fakhr al-Dën ibn al-Shaykh, was broken off at the insistence of the ÿAbbÃÂsid caliph, al-Mustaÿṣim, and because of the impending Seventh Crusade. As a result, Egypt recognized al-NÃÂá¹£ir as ruler of Homs.
Shams al-Dën moved with al-NÃÂá¹£ir to Damascus after its conquest in 1250. He urged al-NÃÂá¹£ir to send an embassy to Karakorum to make formal submission to Mongke, Great Khan of the Mongols. Ultimately, Zayn al-Dën al-ḤÃÂfiáºÂë was sent in 1250 and returned with formal recognition of al-NÃÂá¹£ir's position from the Great Khan.
Following the mamlà «k uprising in Egypt, Shams al-Dën urged al-NÃÂá¹£ir to re-conquer Egypt for the dynasty. Ibn WÃÂá¹£il records that his own mamlà «ks had begun to favour their Turkic co-ethnics in Egypt. During the invasion of Egypt, he was captured at the battle of KurÃÂÿ on 3 February 1251. Despite the entreaties of ḤusÃÂm al-Dën ibn Abë ÿÃÂlë, who believed the captive was a valuable hostage, the Mamlà «k ruler, Quá¹Âb al-Dën Aybak, ordered Shams al-Dën executed. Ibn WÃÂá¹£il blames his defeat and capture on his own "mismanagement", but admits that had he "not been killed ... he would have entered Cairo" at the head of the other commanders such as al-MuÿaáºÂáºÂam Tà «rÃÂnshÃÂh ibn á¹¢alÃÂḥ al-Dën, who were actually brought to Cairo as captives.
The death of his "guiding spirit" and "chief advisor" was a major blow to al-NÃÂá¹£ir, whose reign never again saw the succession of triumphs that had characterized it under Shams al-Dën.