an-Nasir Yusuf

Al-Malik an-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ( Arabic الملك الناصر صلاح الدين يوسف, DMG al-Malik an-Nāṣir Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ; * at 1228; † autumn 1260 ) was the last sultan of Syria from the Ayyubid dynasty . He was also the last direct descendant of the famous Saladin , who was his great-grandfather and whose name he bore.

After the death of his father al-Aziz Muhammad in 1236, he was succeeded by an-Nasir as emir of Aleppo . Because he was still a child, his grandmother, Daifah Khatun, initially took over the reign of Aleppo. Their brother, Sultan al-Kamil , intended to reunite Syria with Egypt and came up with an army. Daifah Khatun allied himself with al-Ashraf of Damascus, who died in 1237, after which Damascus was taken by al-Kamil. But there the sultan himself died in March 1238, which ensured the further independence of Aleppo. But even after an-Nasir had taken over the rule himself, he always had to defend himself against Sultan al-Salih Ayyub and allied himself with his cousins ​​from Homs , Kerak and the Christian crusader barons. This alliance suffered a heavy defeat against an Egyptian army in the battle of La Forbie (October 18, 1244), as a result of which Sultan al-Salih was able to take Damascus.

On the death of the Emir al-Mansur Ibrahim of Homs in 1246, an-Nasir allied himself with al-Mansur Muhammad II of Hamah . After Sultan al-Salih had withdrawn to Egypt, the allies conquered Homs in the summer of 1248, which an-Nasir added to his domain. Sultan al-Salih then moved against an-Nasir and besieged him in Homs. But since King Ludwig IX. arrived in Cyprus from France ( Sixth Crusade ), as-Salih broke off the siege to organize the defense of Egypt. According to the crusade writer Jean de Joinville , the sultan's retreat was hastened by a poison attack initiated by an-Nasir after the sultan's health remained chronically compromised. The Sultan died in November 1249 while fighting the Crusaders.

The new Sultan Turan Shah was able to defeat the Crusaders in April 1250, but was then murdered by the Mameluks , who in turn seized control of Egypt. An-Nasir seized the opportunity and occupied Damascus on July 11, 1250, thereby establishing an independent Ayyubid sultanate in Syria. For a common alliance against the Mameluks, he offered Louis IX, who ruled in Acre . a pilgrimage to Jerusalem , but Louis IX. out of consideration for those crusaders still imprisoned by the Mameluks, refused an alliance. On February 21, 1251, an invasion of Egypt failed in the battle of al-Kura , whereupon an-Nasir, militarily weakened, had to give up his ambitions for rule in Cairo. In April 1253 he reached an agreement with the Mameluks on the existing conditions. He then launched attacks on the Crusader cities of Acre and Sidon , killing 2000 residents in the latter. Despite his peace with the Mamluks, an-Nasir tried to turn them against each other in the following years and, among other things, granted Baibars asylum in Damascus. In 1257 Sultan Izz ad-Din Aybak was assassinated and Qutuz took over power in Egypt.

The situation changed suddenly when in 1258 the Mongols broke into Mesopotamia under Il-Khan Hülegü and overthrew the Caliphate in Baghdad . An-Nasir immediately sent his son al-Aziz to Hulegu as a token of his submission. But when Hülegü appeared in Syria in 1259, an-Nasir left Aleppo and gathered troops in Damascus. In January 1260 the Mongols conquered Aleppo and then Homs. Because news of the death of the Mongolian great khan arrived in Syria at the same time, Hülegü withdrew with most of his army to Central Asia, but left strong troops under his general Kitbukha . An-Nasir now contacted Qutuz to ally with him. In March 1260 the Mongols entered Damascus, an-Nasir fled with his troops to Transjordan . Before he could unite with the advancing Mamluk army, he was betrayed by his own followers, extradited to the Mongols, and sent by Kitbukha to Hulegu. When he heard the news of Kitbukha's defeat in the battle of ʿAin Jālūt (September 3, 1260), he had an-Nasir beheaded.

An-Nasir Yusuf was married to Maleka Khatum, a daughter of the Sultan of the Rum Seljuks Kai Kobad I.

literature

• Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades. CH Beck, Munich 1978
• Kenneth M. Setton, Robert Lee Wolff, Harry W. Hazard: A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Later Crusades, 1189-1311. University of Wisconsin Press, 2006

predecessor	Office	successor
al-Aziz Muhammad	Emir of Aleppo 1236-1260	Mongolian Il Khanate
al-Ashraf Musa	Emir of Homs 1248-1260	Mongolian Il Khanate
al-Mu'azzam Turan Shah	Sultan of Damascus (Syria) 1250–1260	Mongolian Il Khanate