Al Ashraf Khalil, the 8th Mamluk Sultan of Egypt

 

On this day, 14 December 1293, Al-Ashraf Salah ad-Din Khalil ibn Qalawun, the eighth Mamluk sultan of Egypt assassinated in Turuja, Buhayra (Egypt). He was well known for conquering the last of the Crusader states in Palestine after the siege of Acre in 1291.

Following Qalawun's death on November 9, 1290, Al-Ashraf Khalil took over. He delayed Qalawun's burial for two months, either as a precaution to ensure his smooth succession or to await the completion of Qalawun's mausoleum. Al-Ashraf Khalil integrated his father's about 6,000 Mansuriyya mamluks into his own 1,200-strong, largely Circassian, mamluk corps, the Ashrafiyya, after his ascent. The Mansuriyya were the sultanate's most formidable mamluk regiment, and al-Ashraf Khalil attempted to co-opt them.

Turuntay launched an assassination attempt against al-Ashraf Khalil during the royal parade following his accession to the throne, but it failed. Turuntay was executed in November after being tortured for three days. Emir ‘Alam al-Din Sanjar al-Shuja‘i al-Mansuri briefly replaced him before being sent to Damascus and replaced by Emir Baydara. Baydara na'ib as-saltana and atabeg al-asakir were created by al-Ashraf Khalil (commander in chief). 

Al-Ashraf Khalil's three-year reign was characterised by the Mansuri emirs' frequent imprisonment and release. Historian Amir Mazor writes that "Al-Ashraf Khalil's policy toward the Mansuriyya was totally arbitrary, haphazard, and lacked long-term political vision," but that Khalil nonetheless avoided directly attacking the Mansuri mamluks as a group and did not supplant Mansuri officeholders with his Ashrafi mamluks.

Conquest of Acre

In 1289, Al- Ashraf's father, Qalawun, captured the County of Tripoli and declared his intention to eliminate the Crusader presence in Syria. He started his march in November 1290 toward Acre, the Kingdom of Jerusalem's capital, but he passed away soon after outside of Cairo.

Later, Al-Ashraf Khalil's army launched an attack on Acre in May 1291. Knights Templar, who owned the castle, fought fiercely. By June 17, the Mamluks had taken Acre, and many of its citizens had escaped by sea. After more combat, last Crusader defenders surrendered from city towers. 

Occupation of Crusader fortresses

The news of Acre's conquest reached Damascus and Cairo. Al-Ashraf Khalil approached Damascus with Franks bound at the feet and captured crusader standards carried upside-down as a symbol of their defeat. After celebrating his victory in Damascus, Khalil travelled to Cairo, which was likewise decked out and ready to celebrate. Following the capture of Acre, al-Ashraf Khalil and his generals set about capturing the remaining Crusader-held fortifications along the Syrian coast. The Mamluks took Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Haifa, and Tartus in a matter of weeks.

According to historian Peter Malcolm Holt, the last Crusader bastion in Syria, the Templar fortress of Atlit south of Acre, was conquered in August, and on 7 August, al-Ashraf Khalil returned to Cairo triumphant as the "ultimate victor in the protracted war with the Crusaders."

Al-Ashraf Khalil travelled from Damascus to Aleppo in 1292 with his vizier Ibn al-Sal'us to besiege the citadel known as Qal'at ar-Rum (Castle of the Romans), also known as Hromgla in Armenian. Khalil besieged Qal'at ar-Rum with 30 catapults for 30 days and renamed it Qal'at al-Muslimin (Castle of the Muslims). Khalil returned to Damascus with prisoners after leaving Emir al-Shuja'i at the fortress. The people of Damascus lighted thousands of candles at night to say goodbye to the Sultan as he went to Cairo. The Sultan reached Cairo through Bab al-Nasr and was greeted by thousands of lighted torches.

In order to assault Sis, the capital of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, the Sultan returned to Damascus and gathered an army, but an Armenian envoy in Damascus had already negotiated arrangements with him. To keep the peace, the Sultan was handed Til Hemdun, Marash, and Behesni. As a result, the Armenian realm, like its Crusader allies, began to decline.

The crusaders' kingdom of Jerusalem had been destroyed by Saladin, Baibars, and Qalawun, and Louis IX's Seventh Crusade against Egypt failed, but they tried to maintain their castles on the Syrian coast intact, hoping to reclaim what they had lost. Pope Nicholas IV attempted to intervene, but he died in 1292, and European rulers became unable to organise new effective crusades due to internal rivalries and difficulties. The Templars were accused of heresy in Europe, and King Philip IV of France and Pope Clement V treated them very badly.

Internal Conflicts and his Assassination:

In December of 1293, Al-Ashraf Khalil, Ibn al-Salus, Baydara, and other Emirs went on a bird-hunting expedition to Turug in northern Egypt. Ibn Al-Salus was dispatched to the adjacent city of Alexandria to supply supplies and collect taxes. 

On 14 December, Baydara and his men assassinated the Sultan when he was walking with Emir Shihab ad-Din Ahmad. After Baydara, Hosam ad-Din Lajin and Bahadir Ras Nubah, then other Emirs, attacked the Sultan. Following Al-Ashraf Khalil's death, Baydara and his supporters travelled to the Dihliz to declare Baydara Sultan.