Origin and Early Career
He ruled from 1250 to 1257. He was an Emir/commander of Turkic origin who served with other Turkmens in the court of the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub and therefore was known among the Bahri Mamluks as Aybak al-Turkmani. He raised to the position of Emir (commander) and worked as a Jashnkir (taster of the sultan's food and drink) and used the rank of a Khawanja (Sultan's accountant).
After the death of as-Salih Ayyub during the Frankish invasion of Damietta in 1249 and the tragic murder of his heir and son Turanshah in 1250, Shajar al-Durr, the widow of as-Salih Ayyub, with the help and support of the Mamluks of her late husband, seized the throne and became the Sultana of Egypt. The Ayyubids lost control over Egypt.
Both the Ayyubids in Syria and the Abbasid Caliph al-Musta'sim in Baghdad defied the Mamluk move in Egypt and refused to recognize Shajart al-Dur as a Sultana but the Mamluks in Egypt renewed their oath to the new Sultana and appointed Aybak to the important position of Atabeg (commander in chief).
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