An-Nasir Yusuf - Conflict With Egyptian Mamluks

Conflict With Egyptian Mamluks

When the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt as-Salih Ayyub died and his son Turanshah was murdered by the Bahri Mamluks of Egypt, Shajar al-Durr ( widow of as-Salih Ayuub ) seized the throne of Egypt (1250). An-Nasir Yusuf, being an Ayyubid, refused to recognize Shajar al-Durr as the Sultana of Egypt and, as a sign of support, the Emirs of Syria granted him the city of Damascus, in Syria.

Alarmed by these developments, the Mamluk leaders in Egypt decided to replace Shajar al Durr with the Atabek (commander in chief) Aybak. In October 1250 an-Nasir Yusuf sent forces to Gaza to conquer Egypt and overthrow Aybak, but Egyptian forces led by Faris ad-Din Aktai defeated them.

In January 1251 an-Nasir Yusuf led another army to Egypt and clashed with Aybak's army in a significant battle with Yusuf's defeat. He fled back to Damascus, though some of his soldiers who could reach Cairo spread the initial impression inside Egypt that Yusuf had won the battle. Later when the news of Aybak's ultimate victory arrived, the soldiers and their commanders were arrested, and Aybak sent back the soldiers, some 3,000 in number, to Damascus on the backs of donkeys.

In 1253, through mediation of some Emirs, an accord was reached between an-Nasir Yusuf and Aybak which gave the Egyptians control over Gaza, Jerusalem, Nablus, and the coastline of al-Sham. In 1254, another power shift occurred in Egypt, as Aybak killed Faris ad-Din Aktai, the leader of the Bahri Mamluks. Some of his Mamluks, among them Baibars al-Bunduqdari and Qalawun al-Alfi, fled to an-Nasir Yusuf in Syria, persuading him to break the accord and invade Egypt. Aybak wrote to an-Nassir Yusuf warning him of the danger of these Mamluks who took refuge in Syria, and agreed to grant him their territorial domains on the coast, but an-Nasir Yusuf refused to expel them and instead returned to them the domains which Aybak had granted.

In 1255 an-Nasir Yusuf sent new forces to the Egyptian border, this time with many of Aktai's Mamluks, among them Baibars al-Bunduqdari, and Qalawun al-Alfi, but he was defeated again.