al-Mansur Abu Bakr

Al-Malik al-Mansur Saif ad-Din Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ( Arabic الملك المنصور سيف الدين أبو بكر بن محمد, DMG al-Malik al-Manṣūr Saif ad-Dīn Abū Bakr b. Muḥammad , * 1321 ; † 1341 in Cairo ) was Sultan of the Mamluks in Egypt in 1341 .

Life

The great emirs had sworn on the deathbed of Sultan an-Nasir Muhammad I that “they were the mamluks of his house and that as long as there was only one blind daughter of the ruler, they would remain loyal to his house until her death. “In the following 41 years, twelve descendants of an-Nasir Muhammad came to the throne, who were favored by various rival groups of the leading Mamluks. The first was Abu Bakr, born on Nasir in 1321 and thus the eldest son, a charming twenty-year-old who was considered generous, friendly and ambitious and whom his father had recommended as his successor. The emirs proclaimed Abu Bakr sultan in the citadel of Cairo with the consent of his older brother Ahmad, who was staying in Kerak (in present-day Jordan ) .

The new ruler appointed his stepfather, the Emir Saif ad-Din Tuquzdamur as vice-sultan, and Qausun, one of his father's most influential emirs, and the Emir Bashtak as his secretaries. Together with the emirs and legal scholars of the citadel, he continued to reinstate the Abbasid - Caliph al-Hakim II. In his office and, to the delight of the population, introduced both gold and silver coins. He also set up a foundation for the recitation of the Koran in the mausoleum of his grandfather Qalawun's tomb complex .

While the Mamluk Empire was not exposed to any external dangers during its reign, an internal conflict loomed that ultimately led to the overthrow of Abu Bakr. It all began with Bashtak wanting to be appointed by the Sultan as his deputy in Syria , which is what Abu Bakr's father, an-Nasir Muhammad, supposedly wanted. Qausun was strictly against this appointment, whereupon Bashtak tried to bribe the other Mamluk emirs to his side. Qausun now convinced Sultan Abu Bakr that Bashtak planned to ascend the throne himself and must therefore be arrested. So Bashtak was interned together with his Mamluks and followers in Alexandria and his property (including fiefs) was confiscated from the Sultan and partly distributed to Qausun and other emirs. Qausun, now the most powerful emir in Egypt, soon began to oppose the sultan and showed his dislike of the behavior of Abu Bakr, who celebrated nightly parties in the citadel with his friends, drank alcohol and enjoyed dance and music performances. He sent Abu Bakr's stepfather to him with the request to give up his evil pleasures, which were already known to the people. The Sultan was not impressed by this, however, whereupon Qausun assembled the emirs and explained to them: “It is not appropriate for the Sultan of Egypt to celebrate festivals with singers and libertines. Has his father ever acted like this? ”When Abu Bakr heard about this, his emirs advised him to arrest Qausun. He was supposed to be arrested after Friday prayers, but Qausun did not appear in the mosque, instead marching to the citadel that same evening with his Mamluks and emirs. The Sultan was completely surprised by this rebellion while celebrating with his friends, and on top of that, several of his own emirs and Mamluks defected to Qausun.

After only two months in power, Abu Bakr was dethroned, replaced by his seven-year-old brother al-Ashraf Ala ad-Din Kütschük and interned with his emirs and six of his brothers in the Upper Egyptian Qus . Shortly afterwards he was murdered in prison on the orders of Qausun, who was now the real ruler of the country.

Sources and literature

• Abu l-Fida : Muchtasar tarich al-bashar
• Al-Maqrizi : As-Suluk li-marifat duwal al-muluk , Dar al-kutub, 1997
• Al-Maqrizi: Kitab al-Mawaiz wa-l-itibar bi-dhikr al-khitat wa-l-athar , Maktabat al-adab, Cairo 1996, ISBN 977-241-175X .
• Ibn Taghribirdi : An-Nudschum az-zahira fi muluk Misr wa-l-Qahira , al-Hay'ah al-Misrehyah 1968 (translated by William Popper: History of Egypt, 1382-1469 AD , University of California Press, 1954)
• Jörg-Dieter Brandes: The Mameluks - the rise and fall of a slave despotism. Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1996, ISBN 3-7995-0090-1 .
• Doris Behrens-Abouseif: Cairo of the Mamluks. A History of the Architecture and its Culture. Tauris, London 2007, ISBN 978-1-8451-1549-4 .
• Henry G. Bohn: The Road to Knowledge of the Return of Kings, Chronicles of the Crusades , AMS Press, 1969
• Urbain Bouriant: Description topographique et historique de l'Egypte , Paris 1895

predecessor	Office	successor
al-Malik an-Nasir Muhammad	Sultan of Egypt ( Bahri Dynasty ) 1341	al-Ashraf Kujuk