Baibars al-Jashankir ( ar, بيبرس الجاشنكير; died 1310) or Baibars II, royal name al-Malik al-Muzaffar Rukn ad-Din Baibars aj-Jashankir al-Mansuri (), also known as Abu al-Fath (), was the 12th Mamluk sultan of
Mamluk Egypt
The Mamluk Sultanate ( ar, سلطنة المماليك, translit=Salṭanat al-Mamālīk), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz (western Arabia) from the mid-13th to early 16th ...
in 1309–1310.
Background
He was a
Circassian Mamluk of Sultan
Qalawun
( ar, قلاوون الصالحي, – November 10, 1290) was the seventh Bahri Mamluk sultan; he ruled Egypt from 1279 to 1290.
He was called (, "Qalāwūn the Victorious").
Biography and rise to power
Qalawun was a Kipchak, ancient Turki ...
and served at the court of Qalawun's Sons
Al-Ashraf Khalil
Al-Ashraf Salāh ad-Dīn Khalil ibn Qalawūn ( ar, الملك الأشرف صلاح الدين خليل بن قلاوون; c. 1260s – 14 December 1293) was the eighth Bahri Mamluk sultan, succeeding his father Qalawun. He served from 12 Novem ...
and
Al-Nasir Muhammad
Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun ( ar, الملك الناصر ناصر الدين محمد بن قلاوون), commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad ( ar, الناصر محمد), or by his kunya: Abu al-Ma'ali () or as Ibn Qal ...
. He became an
Emir
Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...
(a prince) then a Jashnakir. During the second reign of Sultan Al-Nasir Mohammed from 1299 to 1309 he was the Vice-Sultan of Egypt. In 1302 he took part in suppressing a rebellion in upper Egypt and in 1303 he was a commander in the Egyptian army that defeated the Mongols led by
Qutlugh-Shah at the
Battle of Shaqhab.
In 1302, the Mamluk army of Sultan
al-Nasir Muhammad
Al-Malik an-Nasir Nasir ad-Din Muhammad ibn Qalawun ( ar, الملك الناصر ناصر الدين محمد بن قلاوون), commonly known as an-Nasir Muhammad ( ar, الناصر محمد), or by his kunya: Abu al-Ma'ali () or as Ibn Qal ...
crushed a
Bedouin rebellion in
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south.
In ancient E ...
and ''"slew mercilessly every Bedouin in the land and carried off their women captive"''. G. W. Murray said that ''"This drastic solution of the Bedouin question removed the pure Arab descendants of the Conquerors from the scene and so enabled the Beja to preserve themselves as an African race practically uninfluenced by Arab blood, while leaving the desert edges of Upper Egypt free for settlement by the Western Bedouin."'' The army was led by the
Oirat Mongol
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...
Mamluk
Sayf al-Din Salar
Sayf al-Dīn Salār al-Manṣūrī (–September or October 1310) was the viceroy of the Mamluk sultan al-Nasir Muhammad during the latter's second reign (1299–1310). As a boy he was taken captive at the Battle of Elbistan in 1277 and became a ma ...
and Circassian Mamluk al-Baibars al-Jashnakir (Beibars).
Etymology of the name
The monarch's name was a combination of Turkic, Persian and Arabic terms. The given name Baibars was a
Turco-Mongolian name, meaning "Chosen by the chief/lord". The title of al-Malike al-Muzaffar was an Arabic honorific title that meant "the victorious king", and the title Rukn ad-Din was an Arabic honorific title meaning the "pillar of faith". The second portion, "Jashangir", is Persian, meaning "Food connoisseur": the mamluk prince who tastes the Sultan's food to make sure it is not poisoned.
Rise to power and fall
![Cairo, kanqa di baybars al jashankin, 1306-09, cortile](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Cairo%2C_kanqa_di_baybars_al_jashankin%2C_1306-09%2C_cortile.JPG)
With Emir Sayf al-Din Salar he dominated the young Sultan al-Nassir Muhammad who, feeling distressed, moved to
Al Karak and resigned in 1309. Baibars al-Jashnakir became a Sultan after the position was imposed on him by Emir Sayf al-Din Salar and the
Burji Mamluks.
The brief period of his reign (ten months and 24 days) was marked by economical and political unrest in addition to threats from crusaders and Mongols. The poverty-stricken commons kept rampaging the streets of Cairo, calling him ''Rakin'' (useless) instead of ''Rukn'' (principal) demanding the return of Sultan al-Nasir Muhammad to Egypt. In 1310 Baibars al-Jashnakir stepped down and fled with his Mamluks from the angry mob. Sultan An-Nasir Muhammad returned to Egypt and Baibars al-Jashnakir was arrested and executed.
References
Sources
*
Al-Maqrizi
Al-Maqrīzī or Maḳrīzī (Arabic: ), whose full name was Taqī al-Dīn Abū al-'Abbās Aḥmad ibn 'Alī ibn 'Abd al-Qādir ibn Muḥammad al-Maqrīzī (Arabic: ) (1364–1442) was a medieval Egyptian Arab historian during the Mamluk era, kn ...
, Al Selouk Leme'refatt Dewall al-Melouk, Dar al-kotob, 1997. In English: Bohn, Henry G., The Road to Knowledge of the Return of Kings, Chronicles of the Crusades, AMS Press, 1969.
*
Ibn Taghri, al-Nujum al-Zahirah Fi Milook Misr wa al-Qahirah, al-Hay'ah al-Misreyah 1968
*Mahdi, Dr. Shafik, Mamalik Misr wa Alsham ( Mamluks of Egypt and the Levant), Aldar Alarabiya, Beirut 2008
*Sadawi. H, Al-Mamalik, Maruf Ikhwan, Alexandria.
External links
Qur'an manuscript commissioned by Baibars II: zoomable images, information, audioComplex of Baibars al-Jashnakir
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baibars 02
Bahri sultans
1310 deaths
Year of birth unknown
14th-century Mamluk sultans
Regents of Egypt
Circassian Mamluks
13th-century Egyptian people