Qalawun, Mongols, 1250-1300
The Mamluk dynasty rose to power in Egypt through a series of crises forced upon the Ayyubid dynasty by exterior threats. The Mamluks themselves were slaves purchased in large quantities by Sultan al-Salih Ayyub (r.1240-1249), who were then trained as soldiers, converted to Islam, and then manumitted. The Mamluks
Egypt under the Mamluks, c.1250-1500.
Formed an elite corps of soldiers with loyalty only to their former master. With the Mongol invasions of the Kipchak steppe, in what is now Russia, large numbers of Turks were readily available.
The first exterior threat that led to the rise of the Mamluks was the Seventh Crusade led by King Louis IX (1226-1270) of France in 1249. As the army of King Louis invaded Egypt, al-Salih Ayyub died. His son, al-Mu’azzam Turan-shah (r.1249-1250) was not immediately present, and the Ayyubids of Egypt were briefly without leadership. Meanwhile, King Louis’s army had halted at the fortified city of Mansurah. His vanguard swept away all opposition and entered the city before becoming trapped and annihilated by the defenders led by the Bahriyya regiment of al-Salih’s Mamluks. The Muslim forces led by the Mamluks soon surrounded the Crusaders and King Louis. Facing the potential annihilation of his disease-ridden army, King Louis surrendered.
Upon victory, Sultan Turan-shah arrived and became the ruler of Egypt in 1249. The Bahriyya Mam-luks, along with other Mamluks desired more power in the government due to their efforts at Mansurah. Turan-shah, however, disagreed and only placed his own Mamluks in positions of powers, thus alienating his father’s Mamluks. In retaliation, Rukn al-Din Baybars, who also led troops at Mansurah, and other Mamluk leaders staged a coup and assassinated Turan-shah in 1250, three weeks after the victory at Mansurah.
The Mamluks then elevated al-Mu’izz Aybak al-Turkmani (1250-1257) to the throne. During the reign of Aybak, a power struggle between the Bahriyya and other regiments ensued, resulting in the flight of most of the Bahriyya to Syria and to Rum (modern Turkey). After Shajar al-Durr, Aybak’s queen, assassinated him in 1257, the victorious faction, the Mu’izziyya led by Kutuz, elevated Aybak’s son, al-Mansur ‘Ali (12571259) to the throne though he was only fifteen. Nevertheless, he served as a figurehead while the Mamluk leaders waged their own power struggles behind the throne.
The second crisis that led to the firm establishment of the Mamluk dynasty was the invasion of the Mongols. After destroying the Abbasid Caliphate based in Baghdad in 1258, the Mongol armies led by Hulegu (d. 1265), a grandson of Chinggis Khan (1162-1227) marched into Syria, capturing Aleppo and Damascus with relative ease by 1260. There was little reason to think that the Mongols would not also invade Egypt after they consolidated their Syrian territories.
Their arrival prompted a change in policy among the Mamluks. Sultan al-Mansur ‘Ali’s reign came to an end as al-Muzaffar Kutuz (1259-1260) became the ruler under the rationale that it was better to have a seasoned warrior rather than a child. In addition, the Bahriyya regiment led by Baybars came back to Egypt to join the Mamluk army against the Mongols. After executing the Mongol envoys, Kutuz decided to go on the offensive rather than await the Mongol advance. His decision was well-timed as the bulk of Hulegu’s army had withdrawn from Syria, and only a small force remained under the Mongol general Ket-Buqa, whom Kutuz and Baybars defeated at the battle of ‘Ayn Jalut.
Kutuz’s glory was short-lived, however, as Baybars staged a coup against him during their return to Syria. Rukn al-Din Baybars Bunduqari (1260-1277) thus was elevated to the Mamluk throne of a kingdom that now consisted of Egypt and Syria. Baybars immediately began to secure his throne by moving against the Ayyubid princes of Syria as well as dealing with any dissenting Mamluk factions. Furthermore, although the Mongol Empire dissolved into four separate empires and became embroiled in a civil war, the Mongol Il-Khanate of Iran and Iraq remained a very dangerous foe.
To counter this, Baybars arranged an alliance with the so-called Mongol Golden Horde, which dominated the Russian lands to the North, who also fought the Il-Khanate. In addition, Baybars focused his offensive campaigns against the Mongols allies in Cilicia or Lesser Armenia and against the Crusader lord, Bohemund of Antioch (1252-1275) and Tripoli. Baybars’s invasions of their territories effectively neutralized them as a threat.
Not all of the Crusaders allied with the Mongols, as did Bohemund. Initially, Baybars left these in peace while he dealt with more urgent threats. He, however,
The Sultan Barquq complex was built in 1384 by the first tower or Burgi Mameluke sultan who ruled from 1382 until 1399. This complex includes a cruciform medersa; a khanqa, which offered living quarters for the Sufi mystics; and a tomb of one of the sultan’s daughters. Cairo. © Mich. Schwerberger/Das Fotoarchiv.
Was very active in ensuring their downfall. Through
Diplomatic efforts, he was able to divert another Crusade led by King Louis IX to Tunis with the help of Charles D’Anjou, the king’s own brother. Charles D’Anjou enjoyed profitable commercial and diplomatic relations with Egypt and did not want to dampen them with an invasion. Without the assistance of another Crusade, those Crusaders who remained in Palestine could only defend their territories. Baybars quickly relieved them of a number of strongholds including Crac des Chevaliers, Antioch, Caesarea, Haifa, Arsuf, and Safad. He also crowned his military career with a second defeat of the Mongols at Elbistan in 1277.
Baybars died in 1277. His military success was due to not only generalship but also to his use of diplomacy to gain allies, which in turn prevented the Mongols of Iran from focusing their efforts on him. Much of Baybars’ reign focused on securing Syria from the Mongols, which led to his efforts against the Crusader states, and Cilicia. Furthermore, in Egypt he solidified the power of the Mamluks, allowing their rule to continue after his death.
Baybars’s son and successor, al-Malik al-Sa’id Muhammad Barka Khan (1277-1279), however, did not have the opportunity to equal his father’s deeds. Although appointed as joint sultan in 1266, and secretly elevated to power on his father’s deathbed, another coup soon developed in which another Mamluk emir named Qalawun committed regicide, as had the previous rulers, and soon rose to the throne in 1279.
To secure his power, Qalawun (1279-1290) purged the al-Zahirriya, or Baybars’ own Mamluks. He then quelled any internal revolt. Qalawun, like Baybars, however, still had to contend with the Mongols. Abaqa (1265-1282), the ruler of the Il-Khanate of Persia sent another army into Syria in 1281. This force, however, met a similar fate as those before it. Qalawun’s army emerged victorious and routed the Mongols.
This victory allowed Qalawun to turn his attention against the remaining Crusaders. Through diplomacy and force, Qalawun steadily reduced the Crusader castles one by one. By 1290 only Acre and few minor castles remained in the hands of the Crusaders. Though he laid siege to Acre, Qalawun would not see the fall of this remaining stronghold, as he died in 1290.
Qalawun, however, was somewhat more successful than Baybars at establishing a hereditary succession. His son, al-Ashraf Khalil (1290-1293) continued the siege and captured Acre in 1291. This victory allowed him to firmly establish himself on the throne. After this, al-Ashraf swept away the remaining Crusader footholds and ended their two hundred year presence in Palestine.
Regicide, however, was an ever-present threat in the Mamluk sultanate. When al-Ashraf attempted to replace the Turk-dominated Mamluk corps with Circassian recruits, the Mamluks rebelled again. Qalawun had actually initiated the introduction of Circassians, but al-Ashraf’s continuation of it and arrogance prompted another rebellion. Though al-Ashraf Khalil died under the sword in 1293, his Mamluks, known as the Burjiyya, successfully gained control of Cairo and the sultanate allowing the Qalawunid dynasty to continue in name, if not in actual power.
The uncertainty of the Mamluks’ legitimacy as rulers that surrounded the Mamluk kingdom and the threat of the Mongols in the Middle East hampered the Mamluks’ interests in Africa. Trade with North and Sub-Saharan Africa remained a constant. Furthermore, the Mamluks did maintain and stabilize their rule in southern Egypt by quelling the Beduin tribes. As the threat from the Mongols and Crusaders diminished, the Mamluks began to become more involved with other powers to the south and west.
Timothy May
Further Reading
Amitai-Preiss, R. “In the Aftermath of ‘Ayn Jalut: The Beginnings of the Mamluk-Ilkhanid Cold War.” Al-Masaq 3 (1990): 1-21.
Ayalon, D. Outsiders in the Lands of Islam. London: Variorum Reprints, 1988.
Holt, P. M. The Age of the Crusades: The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517. London: Longman, 1986.
-. Early Mamluk Diplomacy (1260-1290): Treaties with
Baybars and Qaldwun with Christian Rulers. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1995.
Humphreys, R. Stephen. From Saladin to the Mongols: The Ayyubids of Damascus, 1193 to 1260. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1977.
World History
