Prepare Al-Zahir Baybars, the most prominent and strongest of the Bahri Mamluk sultans, participated in the expulsion of the Seventh Crusade in the Battle of Mansoura, and was the military commander of the Mamluk army in the Battle of Ain Jalut.
He ascended the throne of Egypt after he participated in the killing of Sultan Qutuz, and revived the Abbasid caliphate in Egypt after it was overthrown by the Tatars in Baghdad in 656 AH / 1258 CE. He died in Muharram 676 AH / 1277 CE in Damascus after returning from a decisive battle with the Mongols in the Sultanate of Rum.
Origin and formation
Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari - nicknamed al-Zahir - was born in the land of Qibjak (now Kazakhstan) Around the year 625 AH, he was captured in the campaigns of the Mongols in Central Asia, and sold until he reached the good king Najm al-Din Ayyub (d.: 647 AH), who annexed him to the Bahri Mamluks who resided on the shore of the Nile.
He acquired from the knowledge what his peers were acquiring in terms of legal sciences and respected ethics, in addition to the military and administrative experiences in which they receive a comprehensive qualification to be the tools of rulers and sultans, and the arms with which they oppress and upon which they lean.
Baybars drew the attention of his master, so he freed him and made him one of his properties, then quickly promoted him to the rank of Emir, and he proved that he was worthy of this promotion when Najm al-Din Ayyub left many of those around him after he fell into captivity following a struggle over power within the Ayyubid house, and only a number remained around him. Few were led by Baibars.
Historians described him as courageous, daring, and daring, and his contributions were indicated in the internal conspiracies that were part of the politics of that era. On this boldness, which made him occupy the most important position among his peers from the Bahri Mamluks.
Among the most influential of these conspiracies in the life of Baybars was what Faris al-Din Aqtay (d.: 652 AH), the leader of the Bahri Mamluks and commander of the Mamluk army, wrought against King al-Muizz Aybak (d.: 655 AH), who was quick to get rid of his rival Aqtay and dispersed - in the hands of his Mamluks al-Mu’izzi, headed by Saif al-Din. Qutuz (d.: 658 AH) - included the navy; Baybars fled with a group of his companions to the Levant to take refuge in the remnants of its Ayyubid rulers.
When the drums of war sounded, announcing the approach of the Mongols to the walls of Egypt; Baybars sent to Qutuz asking him for safety, so the latter pardoned him and did good to him and put him down in the ministry house and cut him off in and around Qalyub.
Military and political experience
Rukn al-Din Baybars gained a good reputation as a result of his active participation in the Battle of Mansoura, which would have opened the door for the Mamluks to rule Egypt, and Baybars' participation was apparent in responding to the aggression of the Seventh Crusade led by Louis IX (d.: 1270 AD), the king of France who was captured In the battle his brother was killed.
Baybars was the owner of a plan to lure the Crusaders into the city of Mansoura when he opened one of its doors, so the Crusader forces entered from it thinking that it was empty of its thrones, as was the case with Damietta a few months before that, so what frightened them was that the Egyptian soldiers pounced on them after they blocked the exit outlets, which Some of them were forced to throw themselves into the Nile, and the battle resulted in heavy losses on the part of the Crusader forces, which withdrew to Damietta.
A few years after this important battle; The Mongols surrounded the Islamic world, crawling from the east, uprooting all kingdoms and states, until they reached the doorsteps of Egypt threatening its emerging Mamluk sultan, so King Al-Muzaffar Qutuz and his army commander Rukn al-Din Baybars set out for them in the decisive battle of Ain Jalut, which was the military atabeg (Atabeg is a Turkish word meaning military commander ) Baybars effort in which is not denied.
The author of the reference to Qutuz was to kill the messengers of Hulagu who came carrying his message with threats and intimidation, and the purpose of killing them was to cut off the way for the Mamluk princes who were reluctant to fight the Mongols because they knew of their ferocity in the fighting and their massacres against the unarmed and safe, and their permissiveness in the blood of those who oppose them.
This is in addition to his main effort by leading the front of the army that stormed the camp of the Mongols and dragged them to the plain of Ain Jalut, where the main body of the Egyptian and Shami army, led by Qutuz, pounced on them, inflicting on them a loss that was the first in their history since their departure from Central Asia under the banner of Genghis Khan 4 decades before History of the Battle of Ain Jalut.
Baybars also pursued the remnants of the Mongols until he reached Homs, so the Tatar forces left the Levant, one city after another, defeated and broken, so victory over the Mongols took place, and this battle marked the unification of the Levant and Egypt under the banner of the Mamluks.
The killing of Sultan Qutuz.. the blood that brought Baybars to the throne of Egypt
The news of victory soon spread throughout the Islamic world until the rivalry between Sultan Qutuz and his army commander, Rukn al-Din Baybars, stirred up. On top of them is Qutuz, in addition to his aspirations to rule in the hearts of the victors without the Sultan after the battle. All this led to the conspirators - and in the heart of them Baybars - seizing the opportunity to harm Qutuz, so they shot him dead before he could rejoice in victory over his enemies among his people, as they finished him off before his arrival in Cairo.
And according to the policy followed at the end of the Ayyubid state and the beginnings of the Mamluk state, “rule is for those who conquer” was the main rule in assuming power and power at the time, and for this reason, as soon as the vanguard of the victors, led by Rukn al-Din Baybars, reached Salihiya - the city that Al-Salih Ayyub built and had one of the centers of government - until The representative of the Sultanate asked them about the killer of Qutuz, so the crowd advanced Baybars, referring to himself, proud of what he did, so he ascended the throne of the Sultanate, then the soldiers and princes were summoned to take the oath of allegiance, so they swore to him on the day that the Muzaffar King Qutuz was killed.
Then he quickly went to Cairo before the news of the assassination reached, so he pledged allegiance there, and was called Al-Qaher, then changed his name - due to the misfortune of those who were called him - to the title of Al-Zahir.
Arrangement of the inner house and the revival of the Abbasid Caliphate
The arrival of al-Zahir Baybars to power through the assassination of his predecessor caused the movement of nuclei loyal to Sultan Qutuz, in addition to movements from the remnants of the Ayyubids wishing to regain power again, in addition to the results of the Mongol attacks on the countries of Islam in terms of migrations, demographic changes and difficult economic conditions, and for this All of it, the new Sultan decided to face the internal challenges and arrange the situation in the Mamluk house.
He began by abolishing the taxes imposed by his predecessor for the sake of the war, and this decision had good echoes that brought him popular support, then he won over a number of princes and leaders with employment, donations and gifts, so he secured the side of the inner circle surrounding him.
Then he hastened to eliminate the disturbances caused by his opponents and opponents who resented him because of the killing of Qutuz, so he campaigned to Damascus and Aleppo, so he returned them to his authority.
He also eliminated the revolution of Al-Korani, one of the Fatimid advocates who were calling for the return of Fatimid rule to Egypt, so they robbed security from the streets of Cairo after stealing weapons and threatening people with their livelihoods, so Baybars managed them and executed their leader.
However, the most important step taken by al-Zahir Baybars to consolidate his power and legitimize it was to revive the Abbasid caliphate and transfer it to Cairo, after the Mongols erased it from Baghdad, which gave him a golden opportunity to control the Holy Land.
In the year 659 AH, Baybars pledged allegiance to Abu al-Qasim Ahmad ibn al-Dhafir, one of the sons of the Abbasid house, and he met him with honor and respect, and he walked him according to his desire to Baghdad, but he was killed before he reached it when he was intercepted by a Mongol military garrison, and only Prince Abu al-Abbas Ahmed, who returned He turned to Cairo, so al-Zahir Baybars pledged allegiance to him and assigned him a special wing in the castle, and thus Cairo became the seat of the Abbasid caliphate, which lasted until the Ottomans seized it in 923 AH / 1517 CE.
And the wars of Muslims against the Mongols did not stop after Ain Jalut, as the apparent king continued to fight them for years until they defeated them after their alliance with the Seljuks of Rome in Central Asia at the Battle of Al-Abulstein (near the Turkish city of Kahramanmaraş now) in the year 675 AH, and entered Caesarea (the city of Kayseri in central Anatolia in Turkey) the capital of their kingdom, and he was called to him on its platforms, and it was his last conquest.
During his long rule, he succeeded the Crusaders on the Levantine coast, so he recovered from them many forts and a number of kingdoms and emirates, including the Principality of Antioch, which is the capital of the Second Crusade. He also took control of the cities of Jableh, Latakia, Safed, Jaffa, and Haifa, and conquered Al-Husn Castle, which is one of the largest castles of the Crusaders in Tripoli. Which he prepared to fall at the hands of Sultan Qalawun.
The apparent king Baybars was the first to take over the grievances himself from the Mamluk sultans, and he is the one who established the House of Justice, sitting in it to adjudicate cases surrounded by judges and scholars.
And when the high prices spread in Egypt, al-Zahir dispersed the poor over the rich and obliged them to feed them. He paid great attention to the economy, was keen on spreading security, cared about roads, built bridges and khans, cared about agriculture as the pillar of the economy, and established orchards on the outskirts of Cairo and in the countryside until they became comparable in quality to the orchards of Syria and production.
Al-Nuwayri (d.: 733 AH) said about him: “He was a majestic, courageous, majestic king, good politics, a lot of tricks.
his death
Sultan Baybars remained ruler of Egypt, Nubia, the Levant, the island, the Hijaz, Yemen, and parts of Asia Minor for a period of 17 years, and thus he would be the longest-lived Mamluk ruler on the throne, and the most accomplished of them on the external military and internal reform levels.
After returning to Damascus from his victorious campaign against the Seljuk state of Rum, which was under the control of the Mongols of Persia, and dealing a crushing blow to the Mongol army in the Battle of Applestein; His health deteriorated and he complained of fever, then he had diarrhea and bleeding, which weakened his powers, and the disease worsened until he died on Thursday 28 Muharram 676 AH / 1277 CE.
Some historians have reported accounts indicating that he died of poisoning, and this opinion is not excluded in a political atmosphere that knew victory as a way to power. He was buried in Damascus and the Zahiriya School, whose name was derived from his surname, was built over his tomb.