Baybars: Difference between revisions

The reign of Baybars marked the start of an age of Mamluk dominance in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] and solidified the durability of their military system. He managed to pave the way for the end of the [[Crusader states|Crusader]] presence in the [[Levant]] and reinforced the union of Egypt and Syria as the region's pre-eminent Muslim state, able to fend off threats from both Crusaders and Mongols, and even managed to subdue the kingdom of [[Makuria]], which was famous for being unconquerable by previous Muslim empire invasion attempts. As sultan, Baybars also engaged in a combination of diplomacy and military action, allowing the Mamluks of Egypt to greatly expand their empire.

 

In his native [[Turkic languages|Turkic language]], Baybars' name means "great panther"<ref name="Watenpaugh2004">{{cite book |author= Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh |title= The image of an Ottoman city: imperial architecture and urban experience in Aleppo in the 16th and 17th centuries |page=198 |publisher= Brill |year=2004 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=utQo4ek-7BIC&pg=PA198 |isbn=90-04-12454-3}}</ref> or "lord panther"<ref name="Williams">{{cite book |author= Caroline Williams |title= Islamic Monuments in Cairo: The Practical Guide; New Revised Edition |page=185 |publisher= The American University in Cairo Press |year=2008 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=Cmc4HSC5XWgC&pg=PA185 |isbn= 9789774162053}}</ref> (see also Wiktionary: ''[[wikt:bay#Turkish|bay]]'' "rich person, noble" + ''[[wikt:pars#Turkish|pars]]'' "leopard, panther").

 

== Biography ==

Baibars was a [[Kipchaks|Kipchak]] thought to be born in the [[steppe]] region north of the [[Black Sea]], or [[Desht-i Kipchak|Dasht-i Kipchak]] at the time<!-- The cited sources don't specify "Dasht-i Kipchak", they simply say from the Kipchaks north of the Black Sea, but linking to this article is probably reasonable; if not, this detail can be removed. -->.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holt |first=P. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TqasAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA90 |title=The Age of the Crusades: The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517 |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-317-87152-1 |pages=90 |language=en |quote=By origin he was a Kipchak Turk from the territory lying to the north of the Black Sea. When the Mongols conquered this region about 1241, Baybars's people fled across the Black Sea and sought refuge with a Turcoman chieftain in Anatolia, who proved treacherous, and turned on the fugitives with fire and sword. Baybars was among the captives. He was then about fourteen years of age, and his journey southwards can be traced through the slave-markets of Sivas, Aleppo, Damascus and Hamah. |orig-date=1986}}</ref><ref name=":0522">{{Cite book |last=Thorau |first=Peter |url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/baybars-i-al-malik-al-zahir-rukn-al-din-COM_23709 |title=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three |publisher=Brill |year=2010 |isbn=9789004161658 |editor-last=Fleet |editor-first=Kate |location= |pages= |language=en |chapter=Baybars I, al-Malik al-Ẓāhir Rukn al-Dīn |quote=Baybars is described as a tall man with broad chest and shoulders, slim legs, a powerful voice, swarthy skin, and blue eyes. He was probably born about 625/1227–8 in the southern Russian steppes as a member of a Qipçāq-Turkish group. At the age of fourteen he became a slave. The amīr Aydakīn al-Bunduqdār bought him in Ḥamāt (Hama) a short while later. |editor-last2=Krämer |editor-first2=Gudrun |editor-last3=Matringe |editor-first3=Denis |editor-last4=Nawas |editor-first4=John |editor-last5=Rowson |editor-first5=Everett}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fry |first=C. George |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CurSh3Sh_KMC&pg=PA124 |title=Dictionary of World Biography: The Middle Ages |publisher=Routledge |year=1998 |isbn=978-1-57958-041-4 |editor-last=Magill |editor-first=Frank Northen |pages=124 |language=en |chapter=Baybars I |quote=Baybars I, al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn ak-Din Baybars al-Salihi, was born around the year 1223 in what is now southern Russia. A member of the tribe of Kipchak Turks living on the north shores of the Black Sea, Barbars was a victim of the Mongol invasion of his native region in the late 1230's. By the time he was fourteen, Baybars had become a prisoner of war; he was sold in the slave market in Sivas, Anatolia. |editor-last2=Aves |editor-first2=Alison}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Amitai |first=Reuven |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H-k9oc9xsuAC&pg=PA101 |title=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia |publisher=Routledge |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-415-96690-0 |editor-last=Meri |editor-first=Josef W. |pages=101 |language=en |chapter=Baybars I, Mamluk Sultan |quote=Baybars was born around 1220 CE among the Qipchaq Turks, who lived in the steppe region north of the Black Sea. Fleeing from the Mongol invasions in the area in 1241–1242, Baybars and his family moved to Anatolia. There, Baybars was captured and ended up in the slave market of Damascus.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rabie |first=Hassanein Muhammad |title=Baybars I {{!}} Mamlūk Sultan of Egypt & Syria |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Baybars-I |access-date=16 June 2023 |website=Britannica |language=en}}</ref> There is a discrepancy in [[Ibn Taghrībirdī]]'s dating of his birth, since he says it took place in 625 AH (12 December 1227 – 29 November 1228) and also that Baybars was about 24 years old in 1247, which would put his birth closer to 1223. He belonged to the Barli tribe. According to a fellow Cuman and eyewitness, Badr al-Din Baysari, the Barli fled the armies of the [[Mongol Empire|Mongols]], arranging to settle in the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]] (named in the sources [[White Wallachia|Wallachia]]). They crossed the [[Black Sea]] from either [[Crimea]] or [[Alania]], where they had arrived to Bulgaria about 1242. In the meantime, the [[Mongol invasion of Bulgaria and Serbia|Mongols invaded Bulgaria]], including the regions where the Cuman refugees recently settled.<ref name="Fiennes">{{cite book |author=Ranulph Fiennes |title=The Elite: The Story of Special Forces – From Ancient Sparta to the War on Terror |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=2019 |page=64 |isbn=978-1-4711-5664-9 }}</ref> Both Baybars, who witnessed his parents being massacred,<ref name="Fiennes"/> and Baysari were among the captives during the invasion and were sold into slavery in the [[Sultanate of Rum]] at the slave market in [[Sivas]]. Afterwards, he was sold in [[Hama]] to {{ill|'Alā' al-Dīn Īdīkīn al-Bunduqārī|de|Ala' ad-Din Aydekin}}, an Egyptian of high rank, who brought him to [[Cairo]]. In 1247, al-Bunduqārī was arrested and the sultan of Egypt, [[As-Salih Ayyub]], confiscated his slaves, including Baybars.<ref name=Korobeinikov>{{citation |author=Dimitri Korobeinikov |chapter=A Broken Mirror: The Kıpçak World in the Thirteenth Century |pages=379–412 |title=The Other Europe in the Middle Ages: Avars, Bulgars, Khazars, and Cumans |editor1=Florin Curta |editor2=Roman Kovalev |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |year=2008}}.</ref>

 

=== Rise to power ===