Al-Mansur Qalawun

Saif ad-Dīn Qalawun aṣ-Ṣāliḥī (also Qalāʾūn or Kalavun) (Arabic: قلاوون الصالحي‎) (epithet: al-Malik al-Manṣūr Saif ad-Dīn Qalāʾūn al-Alfi as-Ṣālihī an-Najmī al-ʿAlāʾī (Arabic: الملك المنصور سيف الدين قلاوون الألفى الصالحى النجمى العلاءى) (c. 1222 – November 10, 1290) was the seventh Mamluk sultan of Egypt. He was in the Baḥrī line and ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1290.

Biography and rise to power

Qalawun was a Kipchak Turk who became a Mamluk in the 1240s after being sold for 1000 dinars to a member of sultan al-Kāmil's household. Qalawun was known as al-Alfi ['the Thousand-man'] because al-Malik aṣ-Ṣāliḥ bought him for a thousand dinars of gold. He barely spoke Arabic. He rose in power and influence and became an emir under sultan Baibars, whose son Barakah Khan 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-Mansur. The governor of Damascus, Sungur, did not agree with Qalawun's ascent to power and declared himself sultan. Sungur's claim of leadership, however, was repelled in 1280, when Qalawun defeated him in battle. In 1281, Qalawun and Sungur reconciled as a matter of convenience when the Mongol Il-Khan emperor of Persia, Abaqa, invaded Syria. Qalawun and Sungur, working together, successfully repelled Abuqa's attack at the Second Battle of Homs.