al-Kamil

Emperor Friedrich II. (Left) meets Sultan al-Kamil (1229)

St. Francis of Assisi tries to convert Sultan al-Kamil. Representation from the 15th century.

Al-Kamil Muhammad al-Malik ( Arabic الكامل محمد الملك, DMG al-Kāmil Muḥammad al-Malik ; * around 1180 ; † March 6, 1238 ) was the fourth sultan of the Ayyubids in Egypt (1218–1238). He is considered one of the most important medieval Islamic rulers of the Orient after his uncle Saladin .

Life

Early Years and Crusade by Damiette

After the death of his father al-Malik al-Adil I , who had emerged victorious from the power struggles after Saladin's death and who had elevated himself to sultan in 1200, al-Kamil succeeded him in Egypt. The government in Syria and Upper Mesopotamia ( Jazīra ) had fallen to his brothers al-Mu'azzam and al-Ashraf .

First, al-Kamil had to deal with the crusaders who had landed in Egypt while his father was still alive (see Damiette's crusade ). After they had conquered the Damiette fortress in November 1219 , al-Kamil offered the crusaders negotiations, which were rejected by the papal legate and the Italian maritime republics . Venice , Pisa and Genoa in particular hoped to expand their influence in Egypt after a victory by the Crusaders. When the crusaders advanced to Cairo in 1221 , they were crushed by the united Ayyubids at al-Mansura and had to withdraw from Egypt.

During the crusade, al-Kamil met Francis of Assisi , who allowed himself to be led into the sultan's camp to preach the gospel and convert him to Christianity. The Sultan was deeply impressed by this encounter and gave Francis a bugle as a thank you, but the latter could not induce him to accept the Christian faith.

Emperor Friedrich II in the Holy Land

However, the Ayyubid Empire was soon threatened again when Emperor Frederick II set out on the crusade (1228–1229). Since al-Kamil was primarily concerned with expanding his power in Syria , he entered into negotiations with Friedrich at an early stage. His diplomatic skills as well as his great sympathy for Islam and the oriental world played a major role in the fact that on February 18, 1229 the peace of Jaffa was concluded for a period of ten years. In this a large part of Jerusalem was ceded to the Kingdom of Jerusalem , whose sovereignty was thus confirmed by the Ayyubid ruler. The city was not allowed to be fortified by the crusaders. After this peace treaty between Orient and Occident , which is unique in the history of the world, material and cultural exchange with Europe intensified . Domestically, however, the treaty was condemned very much by the Arab and Christian sides, as it did not see any success for either side and the history of the crusade at that time did not yet know a crusade without bloodshed.

Last years

After this peace treaty and the death of his brother al-Muazzam in 1228, al-Kamil and his brother al-Ashraf conquered Damascus and the empire was divided between them. While al-Ashraf now received central Syria in addition to Upper Mesopotamia, al-Kamil controlled Palestine and northern Syria in addition to Egypt and was able to further expand the Ayyubid empire. After he had defeated the Choresmians in association with the Rum Seljuks (1230), a campaign to Anatolia (1234) failed .

The resistance of the Ayyubid ruling class gathered behind al-Ashraf to the centralization policy of al-Kamil also increased. When he returned to Cairo in 1235, almost all Ayyubid sultans and family members were against him. After al-Ashraf's death (1237), he finally succeeded in conquering Damascus (1238) and disempowering his youngest brother as-Salih , with which the Ayyubid Empire was formally reunited. However, al-Kamil died on March 6, 1238, so that he could not realize the organization of a real central state and the empire broke up again immediately. Al-Kamil's successor in Cairo was his 18-year-old son al-Adil II.

progeny

He had at least three sons and three daughters:

• al-Mas'ud Yusuf († 1229), governor of Yemen
• al-Adil II. († 1248), 1238–1240 Sultan of Egypt
• as-Salih Ayyub († 1249), 1238–1239 and 1245–1249 Sultan of Damascus, 1240–1249 Sultan of Egypt
• Fatima Khatun, ⚭ 1231 al-Aziz Muhammad, Emir of Aleppo
• Ghazia Khatun, ⚭ 1229 al-Muzaffar Mahmud, Emir of Hamah
• Ashwara († after 1237)

literature

• Giuseppe Gabrieli: San Francesco e il Soldano d'Egitto. In: Oriente Moderno. 6, 1926, pp. 633-643. ( JSTOR 25807701 ).
• Hans Ludwig Gottschalk : Al-Malik al-Kāmil of Egypt and his time. A study of the history of the Middle East and Egypt in the first half of the 7th / 13th centuries. Century. Otto Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 1958.
• Louis Massignon : Convegno Volta dell'Acc. dei Lincei. In: Oriente e Occidente nel Medio Evo. Roma 1957, pp. 32-34.
• Hans Eberhard Mayer : History of the Crusades. (= Kohlhammer-Urban pocket books. 86). 10., completely revised. u. exp. Edition. W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-17-018679-5 .
• Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades. (= Beck's special editions ). Special edition in one volume without reference to source or literature. CH Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-02527-7 .

Web links

• El-Malek el-Kamel Mohammed at fmg.ac (English)

predecessor	Office	successor
al-Adil I.	Sultan of Egypt 1218-1238	al-Adil II.
as-Salih Ismail	Sultan of Damascus 1238	al-Adil II.