Al-Malik al-Mansur Sayf ad-Din Abu Bakr ( ar, الملك المنصور سيف الدين أبو بكر), better known as al-Mansur Abu Bakr ( ar, المنصور أبو بكر), (ca. 1321 – November 1341) was the
Bahri Mamluk
Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...
sultan in 1341. From an early age, Abu Bakr received military training in the desert town of
al-Karak
Al-Karak ( ar, الكرك), is a city in Jordan known for its medieval castle, the Kerak Castle. The castle is one of the three largest castles in the region, the other two being in Syria. Al-Karak is the capital city of the Karak Governorate.
...
. His father, Sultan
an-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 ...
(r. 1310–41), groomed him as a potential successor to the throne and made him an emir in 1335. He was consistently promoted in the following years, becoming the ''na'ib'' (governor) of al-Karak in 1339. In June 1341, he became sultan, the first of several sons of an-Nasir Muhammad to accede the throne. However, his reign was short-lived; in August, Abu Bakr was deposed and arrested by his father's senior emir,
Qawsun
Sayf ad-Din Qawsun ibn Abdullah an-Nasiri as-Saqi (1302 – April 1342), commonly known as Qawsun (also spelled ''Qausun'' or ''Qusun'') was a prominent Mamluk emir during the reigns of sultans an-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1310–41), al-Mansur Abu Bakr ( ...
. Abu Bakr was imprisoned in the
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 ...
ian city of
Qus
Qus ( ar, قوص, older name ar, قوص واروير, translit=qus warwir, from cop, ⲕⲱⲥ ⲃⲉⲣⲃⲓⲣ) is a city in the modern Qena Governorate, Egypt, located on the east bank of the Nile.
History Naming
Its modern name is one of ...
, along with several of his brothers, and executed on Qawsun's orders two months later. He was formally succeeded by his younger half-brother,
al-Ashraf Kujuk
Al-Ashraf Ala'a ad-Din Kujuk ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun ( ar, الأشرف علاءالدين كجك), better known as al-Ashraf Kujuk (also spelled ''Küchük''), (1334 – September 1345) was the Bahri dynasty, Mamluk sultan from August 1341 to Ja ...
, but Qawsun was left as the strongman of the sultanate.
Early life and career
Abu Bakr was born around 1321 to his sultan father
an-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 ...
(r. 1310–1341) and his concubine mother, Narjis.
[Bauden 2009, p. 63.] Narjis also gave birth to Abu Bakr's younger full brothers Ramadan (died 1343) and Yusuf (died 1346).
Information about Abu Bakr's early childhood is unavailable in the Mamluk sources.
[Bauden 2009, p. 74.] The first mention of Abu Bakr came in 1332.
At that time, Abu Bakr had been sent to the desert fortress of
al-Karak
Al-Karak ( ar, الكرك), is a city in Jordan known for its medieval castle, the Kerak Castle. The castle is one of the three largest castles in the region, the other two being in Syria. Al-Karak is the capital city of the Karak Governorate.
...
to join his half-brothers
Ahmad
Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet.
Etymology
The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...
and Ibrahim in their military training.
Also during that year, Abu Bakr left al-Karak to accompany his father and half-brothers Anuk and Ahmad at
al-Aqaba and from there to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
to perform the
Hajj
The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
pilgrimage. However, an-Nasir Muhammad had them return to al-Karak before the trek to
Mecca
Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red ...
.
In 1335, Abu Bakr was recalled to
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
and made an emir by his father.
The event was marked by a royal procession, led by Emir
Qawsun
Sayf ad-Din Qawsun ibn Abdullah an-Nasiri as-Saqi (1302 – April 1342), commonly known as Qawsun (also spelled ''Qausun'' or ''Qusun'') was a prominent Mamluk emir during the reigns of sultans an-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1310–41), al-Mansur Abu Bakr ( ...
, in which Abu Bakr was dressed in the attire of an emir.
At around the same time, an-Nasir Muhammad arranged Abu Bakr's marriage to a daughter of Emir Tuquzdamur al-Hamawi, who married Narjis sometime earlier.
Later, during his 59-day reign as sultan, Abu Bakr also married two slave girls, spending 100,000 gold
dinar
The dinar () is the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, and its historical use is even more widespread.
The modern dinar's historical antecedents are the gold dinar and the silver dirham, the main coin of ...
s for each of their bridal veils. In 1337/38, Abu Bakr was promoted to an ''amir arba'in'' (emir of forty
ounted_''mamluks''.html" ;"title="mamluk.html" ;"title="ounted ''mamluk">ounted ''mamluks''">mamluk.html" ;"title="ounted ''mamluk">ounted ''mamluks''.
[Bauden 2009, p. 75.]
![Jordan-17A-093 - Karak Castle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Jordan-17A-093_-_Karak_Castle.jpg)
Abu Bakr was sent back to al-Karak in 1339 to replace Ahmad as ''na'ib'' of the province. By then, Ahmad had been dropped by an-Nasir Muhammad as a potential successor.
Anuk remained the sultan's favored son to replace him, but with Ahmad deemed unfit to rule, Abu Bakr became the runner-up.
Sometime that year, Abu Bakr paid a visit to his father with a gift of 200,000 silver dirhams that he apparently extorted from the inhabitants of al-Karak.
He later returned to al-Karak where he remained until 17 July 1340.
At that point, Anuk had been dropped as a potential successor by the sultan, who invited Abu Bakr back to Cairo.
There, an-Nasir Muhammad had his emirs swear an oath of allegiance to Abu Bakr.
Abu Bakr then set off for al-Karak until he was recalled to Cairo once more in 1341, arriving on 24 January.
When he returned, he brought his father a sum of 100,000 dirhams, while an-Nasir Muhammad issued another order recalling all of Abu Bakr's ''mamluks'' and soldiers in al-Karak to Cairo.
Abu Bakr remained in Cairo effectively to wait for his ailing father to die. In the months prior to an-Nasir Muhammad's death, Abu Bakr was given a large ''
iqta
An iqta ( ar, اقطاع, iqṭāʿ) and occasionally iqtaʿa ( ar, اقطاعة) was an Islamic practice of tax farming that became common in Muslim Asia during the Buyid dynasty. Iqta has been defined in Nizam-al-Mulk's Siyasatnama. Administrato ...
'' (fief), his interests were put under the care of Emir Bashtak and he was transferred a large number of ''
wafidiyya The ''wāfidiyya'' were troops of various ethnic backgrounds who came into the military service of the Mamlūk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria in exchange for asylum. The term is a collective noun formed from the singular ''wāfid'', meaning "one who ...
'' (immigrant, typically Mongol, soldiers) from
Aleppo
)), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black".
, motto =
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...
and other troops.
[Bauden 2009, p. 76.] On 4 June 1341, while on his deathbed, an-Nasir Muhammad had all of his emirs recognize the transfer of the sultanate to Abu Bakr in the event of his death.
Moreover, he crowned Abu Bakr as "al-Malik al-Mansur", the title of the latter's grandfather, 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 Turkic ...
(r. 1277–90), and gave him Qalawun's sword.
The throne was peacefully passed to Abu Bakr when an-Nasir Muhammad died on 7 June.
Reign
Although Abu Bakr was made sultan, the reins of power were held by an-Nasir Muhammad's senior emirs, chief among whom were his son-in-law Qawsun and Bashtak.
[Drory 2006, p. 20.] According to historian Amalia Levanoni, Abu Bakr sought to restore the traditional concepts of ''mamluk''-master relations and the modes of hierarchical advancement set by his grandfather Qalawun and abrogate the growing independence of the emirs that developed under his father.
[Levanoni 1995, pp. 79–80.] However, the post-Qalawun ''mamluk'' norms of conduct proved too resilient for Abu Bakr.
In the view of the emirs and the low and middle-ranking ''mamluks'', Abu Bakr was to solely play the role of a figurehead and not disturb the system created by his father. Thus, Abu Bakr's attempts to rule in his own right were consistently stymied by the emirs.
Of the latter, the most prominent was Qawsun, who sought to become the ''mudabbir ad-dawla'' (organizer of the state), in effect the strongman of the sultanate. After neutralizing Bashtak, his principal rival, Qawsun moved against Abu Bakr; Qawsun had feared that Abu Bakr would attempt to imprison him.
On 5 August 1341, Qawsun had Abu Bakr arrested on concocted charges of frivolity.
Abu Bakr and six of his brothers were subsequently sent to prison in
Qus
Qus ( ar, قوص, older name ar, قوص واروير, translit=qus warwir, from cop, ⲕⲱⲥ ⲃⲉⲣⲃⲓⲣ) is a city in the modern Qena Governorate, Egypt, located on the east bank of the Nile.
History Naming
Its modern name is one of ...
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 ...
.
In November 1341, Abu Bakr was executed by the governor of Qus on orders from Qawsun.
After his death, Qawsun installed Abu Bakr's infant half-brother,
Kujuk
Al-Ashraf Ala'a ad-Din Kujuk ibn Muhammad ibn Qalawun ( ar, الأشرف علاءالدين كجك), better known as al-Ashraf Kujuk (also spelled ''Küchük''), (1334 – September 1345) was the Mamluk sultan from August 1341 to January 1342. He ...
, as sultan and became the Kujuk's regent.
Meanwhile, dissent mounted against Qawsun in Syria and Cairo and he was ousted in a revolt, along with Kujuk. The new sultan, Abu Bakr's half-brother Ahmad, later had Qawsun and the governor of Qus (who apologized for killing Abu Bakr) executed in early 1342.
[Drory 2006, p. 25.]
Notes
References
Bibliography
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{{Mamluk Sultans of Egypt
1321 births
1341 deaths
14th-century Mamluk sultans
Bahri sultans
Year of birth unknown