Qalawun
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Saif ad-Din Qalawun al-Alfi al-Mansur (also Qala'un or Kalavun) (Arabic: المنصور سيف الدين قلاوون الألفي) (c. 1222-November 10, 1290) was a Mameluk sultan of Egypt.
Qalawun was a Burj Oghlu Kipchak Turk, and became a Mameluk in the 1240s after having been purchased for 1000 dinars by a member of the household of sultan al-Kamil. He never learned to speak Arabic fluently. He rose in power and influence and was an emir under sultan Baibars, whose son Baraka Khan was married to Qalawun's daughter. Baibars died in 1277 and was succeeded by Baraka. In 1279 Baraka and Qalawun invaded Armenia, but while they were away there was a revolt in Egypt and Baraka was forced to abdicate when he returned. He was succeeded by his brother Salamish, but it was in fact Qalawun who held power as atabeg. As Salamish was only a child, Qalawun argued that Egypt needed an adult ruler, and Salamish was deposed later in 1279. Qalawun took the title al-Malik al-Mansur. Sungur, the governor of Damascus, did not agree with this and declared himself sultan, but was defeated in battle in 1280. In 1281 the Mongol il-khan Abaqa invaded Syria, but was defeated at the Battle of Homs by Qalawun and Sungur, who had by this time reconciled.
Baraka, Salamish, and their brother Khadir were exiled to Kerak, the former Crusader castle. Baraka died there in 1280 (it was rumoured that Qalawun had him poisoned), and Khadir gained control of the castle, until 1286 when Qalawun took it over directly.
As Baibars had done, Qalawun made treaties with the remaining Crusader states, and often with the military orders and individual lords who wished to be independent; he recognized Tyre and Beirut as separate from the Kingdom of Jerusalem, now centred on Acre. The treaties were always in Qalawun's favour. In his treaty with Tyre, for example, it was agreed that the city would not build any new fortifications, would stay neutral in any wars between the Mameluks and other Crusaders, and Qalawun would be allowed to collect half the city's taxes. In 1281 Qalawun also negotiated an alliance with Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus against Charles of Anjou, who was threatening both the Byzantine Empire and the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Before his death in 1290 he concluded trade alliances with the Genoans and the Kingdom of Sicily.
Despite the treaties with the Crusaders, in 1285 he captured the Hospitaller fortress of Margat, previously thought to be impregnable, and established a Mameluk garrison there. He also captured and destroyed the castle of Maraclea. He captured Latakia in 1287 and Tripoli on April 27, 1289, thus ending the Crusader County of Tripoli. Here was supposedly urged on by the Venetians and the Pisans who were opposed to Genoese influence in the county. His ultimate aim was the complete destruction of the Crusader states, and he marched towards Acre in 1290, despite having signed a ten-year truce with the city in 1284; his excuse was that the attack was revenge for an Italian riot in the city earlier in the year that had killed some Muslims. He died on November 10 before taking the city, but it was captured the next year by his son Khalil.
Khalil succeeded him after his death, although Qalawun did not entirely trust him. Khalil continued his father's policy of replacing Turkish Mameluks with Circassians, which eventually led to conflict within the Mameluk ranks, and Khalil himself was assassinated by the Turks in 1293.
