Baybars

The fourth Mamluk sultan who defeated the Mongols at Ain Jalut and captured Antioch.

Al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari, commonly known as Baibars or Baybars and nicknamed Abu al-Futuh ('Father of Conquests'), was the fourth Mamluk sultan of Egypt and Syria, ruling from 1260 to 1277. Of Turkic Kipchak origin, he rose from slavery to become a prominent military leader. He is noted for leading the vanguard at the Battle of Ain Jalut, which inflicted the first substantial defeat on the Mongols, and for his successful campaigns against the Crusaders.

Quick Facts

Predecessor

Saif ad-Din Qutuz

Successor

Al-Said Barakah

Reign

24 October 1260 – 30 June 1277

Full name

al-Malik al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari Abu al-Futuh

Burial place

Zahiriyya Library, Damascus

Spouse

Iltutmish Khatun (likely a daughter born from a Khwarazmian Emir and a Daughter of Berke), Al-Karakiya

Issue

Al-Said Barakah
Solamish
Khizir
Tidhkarbay Khatun

House

Zahiri

Lore & Background

Baybars was born in the Dasht-i Kipchak steppe region north of the Black Sea, likely between 1223 and 1228. He belonged to the Barli tribe. After his parents were massacred by Mongols invading Bulgaria around 1242, he was captured and sold into slavery in Sivas, then Hama, before arriving in Cairo. In 1250, he commanded Muslim forces that defeated King Louis IX of France at the Battle of Al Mansurah and Fariskur during the Seventh Crusade. Following internal Mamluk strife, he fled to Syria but returned to Egypt under Sultan Qutuz. After decisively defeating the Mongols at Ain Jalut in 1260, Baybars orchestrated Qutuz's assassination on a hunting expedition and seized the throne. As sultan, he asserted authority in Syria, secured Ayyubid loyalty, captured Antioch in 1268, forged an alliance with the Golden Horde to counter the Ilkhanate, and subjugated Makuria in Nubia in 1276.

Reader's Guide

Historically, Baybars set about asserting Mamluk authority in Syria after becoming sultan in 1260. He launched extensive campaigns against the Crusader states, culminating in the capture of Antioch in 1268. He also dealt with internal threats, such as routing the troops of Alam al-Din Sinjar al-Halabi outside Damascus in January 1261 and suppressing a Shiite rebellion in Cairo led by al-Kurani. To gain legitimacy after the fall of Baghdad to the Mongols in 1258, Baybars proclaimed Abu al-Qasim Ahmad as Caliph al-Mustansir II in 1261, receiving investiture as sultan. When this caliph was killed later that year, Baybars installed another Abbasid, Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad (al-Hakim I), in 1262.

Did You Know?

Baybars' name in Turkic means 'great panther' or 'lord panther,' and he used a panther as his heraldic blazon on coins and buildings.
He was described as having olive skin, blue eyes, broad shoulders, slim legs, a powerful voice, and a cataract in one eye.
In 1263, Baybars laid siege to Acre, the capital of the remnant of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.