al-Mansur, Qalawun
Born on 1222
Died on 1290
Qalāwūn aṣ-Ṣāliḥī;
(Arabic: قلاوون الصالحي, c. 1222 – November 10, 1290) was the seventh Bahri Mamluk sultan; he ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1290.n.
Qalawun was a Kipchak who became a mamluk (slave soldier) in the 1240s after being sold to a member of Sultan al-Kamil’s household. Qalawun was known as al-Alfī (“the Thousander”) because as-Salih Ayyub bought him for a thousand dinars of gold.
Qalawun initially barely spoke Arabic, but he rose in power and influence and became an emir under Sultan Baibars, whose son, al-Said Barakah, was married to Qalawun’s daughter. Baibars died in 1277 and was succeeded by Barakah. In early 1279, as Barakah and Qalawun invaded the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, there was a revolt in Egypt that forced Barakah to abdicate upon his return home. He was succeeded by his brother Solamish, but it was Qalawun, acting as atabeg, who was the true holder of power. Because Solamish was only seven years old, Qalawun argued that Egypt needed an adult ruler, and Solamish was sent into exile in Constantinople in late 1279. As a result, Qalawun took the title al-Malik al-Manṣūr.
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