Barsbay

Al-Ashraf Saif ad-Din Barsbay ( Arabic الأشرف سيف الدين برسباي, DMG al-Asraf Saif ad-Dīn Barsbāy ; * 1369 ; † June 7, 1438 ) was Sultan of the Mamluks in Egypt from 1422 to 1438.

Tomb of Sultan al-Ashraf Barsbay (color lithograph)

Gold coin of the sultan

Barsbay already held the reign under his predecessor, the Sultan az-Zahir Tatar (1421-1422). After direct assumption of power, he pushed through a strong government, without the exploitation of the land by the emirs of the Mamelukes to prevent.

Initially, an attempt was made to reorganize the state finances by increasing taxes and tariffs in order to be able to cover the high costs of maintaining the Mamluk army. Trade monopolies for sugar and spices were also introduced. An attempt to oust the Italian gold currencies from the Egyptian economy by minting their own coins led to the disruption of the financial system. Although Barsbay succeeded in consolidating state finances through his measures, the long-distance trade on which the Egyptian economy depended was severely damaged. These interventions in the spice trade are likely to have spurred the efforts of Europeans to find the sea ​​route to India considerably.

Despite the failed economic policy, Barsbay had significant foreign policy successes when he succeeded in subjugating Cyprus in 1426 . The conquest had become necessary to deprive the Christian pirates of the bases in the eastern Mediterranean . In addition, the power of the Mamluks in the Hejaz could be enforced against the Sherif of Mecca . After Barsbay's death, his son al-Aziz Yusuf was installed under the reign of Jaqmaq before the latter took over rule himself from 1438 to 1453.

Web links

Commons : Al-Ashraf Barsbay  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

literature

• Peter M. Holt: The Age of the Crusades. The Near East from the Eleventh Century to 1517. Longman, London et al. 1986, ISBN 0-582-49303-X .

predecessor	Office	successor
as-Salih Muhammad III.	Sultan of Egypt ( Burji-Mamluken ) 1422–1438	al-Aziz Yusuf