Sangar al-Halabi

Sangar al-Halabi († after July 1261) was a Mameluk who was briefly an independent ruler of Damascus from 1260 to 1261 . As such, he carried the title of al-Malik al-Mujahid .

Sangar was a Mamluk officer under Sultan Qutuz . From this he was appointed governor in Damascus after the victorious battle of ʿAin Dschālūt against the Mongols (September 1260).

Qutuz was murdered in Egypt in October 1260 by Baibars , who himself usurped the sultanate. Upon hearing of this overthrow, Sangar had the city walls of Damascus repaired. On November 12, 1260 he proclaimed himself ruler ( al-Malik ) and thus positioned himself as an independent ruler. Since he kept the name of the Baibar on the coins struck in Damascus next to his own, it is assumed that Sangar intended to continue to recognize the formal sovereignty of the Sultan of Egypt, only that he, as Lord of Damascus, claimed primacy over all other princes of Syria. The Ayyubid emirs as well as most of the commanders of the Mamluk units stationed in Syria, however, rejected a rule of the Sangar and immediately recognized Baibars as their direct overlords.

In December 1260 the Mongols invaded Syria again, but a coalition of the Ayyubid emirs of Homs and Hama defeated them in a battle near Homs. Sangar had no part in this victory. In January 1261, emissaries from Egypt arrived in Damascus who proclaimed Baibars sole lord of Syria and called on Sangar to unconditional submission. On January 15, 1261, his troops were defeated in a skirmish with the Mameluks who were holding at Baibars, and two days later they entered Damascus. With this, Sangar's ambitions had failed and he retired to a hiding place in Baalbeck .

In the months that followed, Sangar was able to achieve a reconciliation with Baibars, who took him back into the Mamluk officer corps. He was even appointed governor of Aleppo and entrusted with the capture of this city, in which another Mameluk, Aqqush al-Burli , had meanwhile become independent. On July 2, 1261, Sangar was able to move into Aleppo, but Aqqusch managed to recapture the city a short time later. Sangar was then replaced by Ala 'ad-Din Aydekin , after which he is no longer reported in the traditions.

source

• Ibn Wasil , Mufarrij al-kurub fi akhbar bani Ayyub , BnF Paris, ms. arabe 1703, fol. 164r-168v

literature

• Stefan Heidemann: The Aleppine Caliphate (AD 1261): from the end of the Caliphate in Baghdad via Aleppo to the restorations in Cairo , In: Islamic history and civilization , Volume 6 (BRILL, 1994)

predecessor	Office	successor
Qutuz	Sultan of Syria (Damascus) 1260–1261	Union with Egypt to form the Mameluk Sultanate