Ildeniz

Shams al-Din Ildeniz, Eldigüz or Shamseddin Eldeniz (, died 1175–1176) was an atabeg of the Seljuq empire and founder of the dynasty of Eldiguzids, atabegs of Azerbaijan, which held sway over Armenia, Iranian Azerbaijan, and most of northwestern Persia from the second half of the 12th century to the early decades of the 13th.

== Life == A Kipchak by origin, he was formerly a freedman of Kamal al-Din al-Simirumi, the vizier of Seljuq sultan Mahmud II (1118-1131). After Simirumi's murder at the hands of Assassins in 1122, he passed to the hands of sultan, who entrusted his education to certain emir Nasr. According to Minorsky, after Mahmud's death, he attained to the post of governor of Arran and Azerbaijan under sultan Ghiyath ad-Din Mas'ud (1134–1152) in 1137, who also gave late sultan Toghrul II's widow Momine Khatun and appointed Eldigüz to be atabeg of Arslanshah (son of Toghrul) in 1161. He obtained Iranian Azerbaijan, Arran, Shirvan, Jibal, Hamadan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Isfahan and Rey. The feudal lords of Mosul, Kerman and Persia, Shirvan, Khuzistan, Ahlat, Arzan-ar-Rum and Maragha became his vassals. His rise as the most powerful peripheral emirs of the Seljuq empire was aided by the necessity of having a large army against the frequent incursions from the neighboring Kingdom of Georgia.