al-Mansur

Who he is

Name

Nasir al-Din Muhammad ibn al-Aziz Uthman

Title

al-Malik al-Mansur, sultan of Egypt

Since

Late November 1198 (Muharram 595), on his father's death

Born

About 1189 if, as Abu'l-Fida says, he was nine at his accession; other accounts make him twelve then (born about 1186)

Family

Son of al-Aziz Uthman (d. November 1198) and grandson of Saladin; his mother and brothers live with him (names not pinned). Ward of his uncle al-Afdal.

Confidence

high

Abu'l-Fida, RHC Or. I, pp. 157, 159, 161; Wikipedia, al-Mansur.

Overlord

The Abbasid caliph, named in the khutba; in fact governed by his guardian al-Afdal

What it holds

• The throne, the khutba and the coinage of Egypt
• The palaces of Cairo and the unfinished citadel
• In law, all the iqta's and offices of Egypt, granted in his name

How it was acquired

Succession to his father in November 1198; placed on the throne by Jaharkas and the amirs (Abu'l-Fida).

Allies and rivals

His guardian al-Afdal and the Asadiyya and Kurds who brought al-Afdal in; his uncle al-Zahir of Aleppo. Al-Adil and the Salahiyya want the guardianship and, in time, the throne.

How things stand that morning

On 1 January 1200 he is in Cairo, sultan in name, while his guardian is with the army in southern Syria after the failed siege of Damascus. He has no army of his own.

Wealth

The treasury and the sultan's own lands (al-khass) are managed in his name by the government offices under Ibn Mammati.

Military

None of his own beyond the palace guard and the Cairo garrison, whose commander that winter is not pinned.

Threats

• Al-Adil's coming conquest, which will make him a guardian's puppet and then set him aside
• Being used by one faction of amirs against another

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. February 1200 onwardWhen al-Adil takes Cairo (9 February 1200, Abu'l-Fida) the boy passes under his guardianship; al-Adil then drops his name from the khutba and takes the title of sultan (17 February 1200 in Wikipedia; later in 1200 in other accounts). The boy stays in Egypt until al-Adil sends him, his mother and brothers to Syria, reported by Abu'l-Fida under 599 AH (1202-1203); he ends his days at Aleppo with al-Zahir.Depends on: Al-Adil defeating al-Afdal and taking Cairo. Stopped by: Al-Afdal holding Egypt, or the amirs keeping the boy as a figurehead under a new guardian.

Where the sources disagree

• Age at accession: nine (Abu'l-Fida) or twelve (Wikipedia).

Evidence: His accession, guardianship and deposition are in all the Arabic chronicles; little is known of him personally.

On the map: A ruler in name only; his map part marks the capital, not a personal domain.

Primary sources for Egypt

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• The Book of the Two Gardens, on the Reigns of Nur al-Din and Saladin, and its Sequel, Abu Shama (Shihab al-Din Abd al-Rahman al-Maqdisi) (about 1240 to 1267, at Damascus). The Rawdatayn ends with Saladin's death in 1193 and matters for 1200 as the store of Imad al-Din al-Isfahani's lost al-Barq al-Shami and of al-Qadi al-Fadil's letters, quoted at length, which describe the Ayyubid princes, the Jazira and the frontier a few years earlier. Read online
• The Chronicle of Ernoul and Bernard the Treasurer, Ernoul, squire of Balian of Ibelin, and later compilers (the 1187 core soon after the event; the whole in its present form 1227 to 1232). The Ibelin household's version of events in Outremer. Read online
• The Complete History, Izz al-Din Ibn al-Athir (about 1200 to 1231, at Mosul). The widest Muslim narrative for the years 596 to 597 AH (1199 to 1201): al-Adil's entry into Cairo and his taking of the sultanate from his nephew al-Mansur Muhammad early in 1200, the quarrels of the Ayyubid princes at Damascus, Aleppo and Hama, the Nile failure and the great famine of Egypt, Mosul under Nur al-Din Arslan Shah and the Jazira under Gokbori and the Artuqids, Baghdad under the caliph al-Nasir, the Khwarazmshah Tekish's death in 1200 and Muhammad's accession, the Ghurid wars in Khurasan, the Eldiguzids and Georgia, the Almohads in the west, and the Seljuks of Rum in passing. Read online
• The Cream of the History of Aleppo, Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Adim (about 1240 to 1260). The annals of Aleppo. Read online
• The Dispeller of Anxieties, on the History of the Ayyubids, Jamal al-Din Ibn Wasil (about 1272 to 1285, at Hama). The fullest Ayyubid dynastic history, written at Hama with access to the family's own tradition and to Ibn al-Athir, Ibn Abi Tayy and Sibt ibn al-Jawzi. Read online
• The Mirror of Time, on the History of Notables, Sibt ibn al-Jawzi (Shams al-Din Yusuf) (about 1240 to 1256, at Damascus). A Damascene preacher's year-by-year chronicle with obituaries, written by a grandson of the Baghdad scholar Ibn al-Jawzi, so it carries both the Baghdad view (the caliph al-Nasir and his court) and the Damascus view (al-Adil's court, the famine refugees of 1200, prices, the plague of 1201). Read online
• The Old French Continuation of William of Tyre (Eracles), Anonymous continuators, the earliest drawing on Ernoul (about 1220 to 1277; the first continuation (1184 to 1197, the Lyon Eracles) compiled about 1230 from material of the 1190s). For the Latin East at 1200 it narrates the aftermath of the Third Crusade: the truce of 1192, the succession to Jerusalem through Queen Isabella's marriages to Henry of Champagne (died September 1197) and Aimery of Lusignan, Aimery's rule as king of Jerusalem from 1198 while king of Cyprus, the German crusade of 1197 to 1198 and the recovery of Beirut and Sidon, the truce with al-Adil of 1198, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond IV and Leo of Armenia, and the Pisan plot against Aimery. Read online
• The Road to Knowledge of the Dynasties of Kings, Taqi al-Din al-Maqrizi (about 1400 to 1440, at Cairo). A late compilation, but for Ayyubid Egypt it keeps lost material: for 596 to 598 AH it records al-Adil's entry into Cairo, the removal of the boy al-Mansur Muhammad, the oath to al-Kamil as heir, the appointments at Cairo, the low Niles of 1199 and 1200 and the famine and plague of 1200 to 1202 with grain prices, the reports of cannibalism and the death tolls, together with Yemen, the Hijaz and the Mecca emirate. Read online

15 more in the sources library for The Latin East and the Ayyubids.