Chalil (Sultan)

Tughra of al-Ashraf Shaban

Tomb of al-Ashraf Khalil

Al-Malik al-Ashraf Salah ad-Din Chalil (also Khalil , Arabic الملك الأشرف صلاح الدين خليل, DMG al-Malik al-Asraf Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Ḫalīl ; † December 1293 ) was a sultan of the Mamluks in Egypt (1290-1293) and ruler from the Bahri dynasty . He conquered the last remnants of the crusader states in Palestine and Syria .

Chalil was the son of the Sultan Qalawun and was appointed Vice-Sultan after the death of his older brother as-Salih Ali in 1288. Qalawun did not trust him and initially refused to recognize his son's status. In August 1290, there was a massacre of Muslim traders in Acre by Italian crusaders. Thereupon Sultan Qalawun demanded the extradition of the crusaders involved and compensation in the amount of thirty thousand Venetian zecchins . As Akkon's city council rejected both demands, the sultan decided to attack Akkon immediately. However, when he died shortly before the campaign in November 1290, Chalil was appointed sultan. As Sultan, Chalil continued his father's work and set out in March 1291 with his Egyptian army in Cairo , which was reinforced in Syria by further contingents and reached an enormous size. After six weeks of siege , Acre was stormed by the armed forces on May 18, 1291. Any resident who did not flee was massacred. In August of that year, Chalil had finally captured the remaining crusader castles Tire , Sidon , Haifa , Tartus and Beirut and returned to Cairo. With that the crusaders were completely driven out of Palestine and Syria. Because of these victories, Chalil was called the new Alexander .

In 1292 he invaded the kingdom of Lesser Armenia with his armed forces , where, after a month of siege, he captured the castle of the Armenian patriarch . Before he threatened the small Armenian capital Sis with a second campaign, the Armenians bought peace by ceding some lands to him. In addition to these military successes, he was also able to establish trade relations with the kingdoms of Cyprus , Aragon and Sicily .

Chalil continued his father's policy of replacing Turkish Mamluks with Caucasian ones, considering the former to be disloyal. He appointed the Arab Ibn al-Salus as a vizier. Despite his precautionary measures, Chalil was murdered by his Turkish regent Baydara in December 1293 . Baydara proclaimed himself sultan, but was immediately killed by the Caucasian Mamluks (probably Adygen ). In 1293, Khalil's brother al-Malik an-Nasir Muhammad became his successor.

predecessor	Office	successor
Qalawun	Sultan of Egypt ( Bahri Dynasty ) 1290–1293	al-Malik an-Nasir Muhammad