Mansur ibn Lu'lu'
Manṣūr ibn Luʾluʾ (), also known by his laqab (honorific epithet) of Murtaḍā ad-Dawla (, 'Approved of the State'), was the ruler of the Emirate of Aleppo between 1008 and 1016. He succeeded his father Lu'lu' al-Kabir, with whom he had shared power. Unlike Lu'lu', however, Mansur's rule was opposed by Aleppo's notables, who chafed at his oppression and monopolization of power. Both Mansur and his father harassed the remaining members of the Hamdanid dynasty, in whose name they ostensibly ruled. On the diplomatic front, Mansur balanced ties with both the Byzantine Empire and the Fatimid Caliphate, and maintained the emirate's Shia Muslim orientation. Mansur fought off two attempts to reinstall Hamdanid rule in the city, critically aided each time by the powerful Banu Kilab tribe. In return, Mansur promised the Kilab half of the emirate's revenues, but reneged on the agreement. To rid himself of the Kilab, he set a trap for them by inviting hundreds of their tribesmen to a feast only to ambush them. The tribesmen were either killed or imprisoned in the Citadel of Aleppo between 1012 and 1014. By the latter year, one of the Kilabi chieftains, Salih ibn Mirdas, escaped and went to war with Mansur, who was captured. To gain his freedom, he agreed to release all Kilabi prisoners and accord Salih half of the emirate's revenues. He reneged on the latter stipulation, prompting a renewal of conflict with the Kilab, who effectively besieged Aleppo. In 1016, Mansur's citadel commander, Fath al-Qal'i, rebelled in collaboration with Salih and forced Mansur to flee Aleppo. The Byzantine emperor Basil II gave Mansur asylum in Antioch and a fief near the Byzantine–Arab frontier. Afterward, Mansur became a commander of a Byzantine army unit and was in the entourage of Emperor Romanos III during the Battle of Azaz against Salih's son and successor, Shibl al-Dawla Nasr, in 1030. Early life and career Mansur was the son of Lu'lu' al-Kabir, a former ghulām (slave soldier; pl. ghilmān) of the Hamdanid emirs of Aleppo who became ḥājib (chamberlain) under Emir Sa'd al-Dawla (r. 967–991). Though Sa'd was officially succeeded by his son Sa'id al-Dawla, power was effectively held by Lu'lu' al-Kabir. When Sa'id al-Dawla died in January 1002, Lu'lu' ruled Aleppo in the name of Sa'id al-Dawla's young sons Abu al-Hasan Ali and Abu al-Ma'ali Sharif until ousting them shortly afterward and declaring himself a ruler in his own right. Mansur ruled as his father's deputy and partner. Both Mansur and Lu'lu' harassed the remaining members of the Hamdanid dynasty in Aleppo, prompting one of them, Abu al-Hayja', to flee the city for Byzantine territory where he received official protection. At one point Mansur was made governor of Raqqa, which was taken from him by the Numayrid emir Waththab ibn Sabiq in 1007. Emir of Aleppo Conflict with the Hamdanids Lu'lu' al-Kabir died in 1008 and was succeeded by Mansur. Mansur attempted to concentrate further power into his hands at the expense of the Aleppine aʿyān (local elite), though