Faris al-Din Aktay

Faris ad-Din Aktai al-Jemdar ( Arabic: فارس الدين أقطاى الجمدار ) (d.1254, Cairo)

Not to be confused with his namesake and contemporary the commander in chief Faris ad-Din Aktai al-Mostareb ( Arabic : فارس الدين أقطاى المستعرب )

Biography

Was an Emir (prince) and the leader of the Mamluks of the Bahri dynasty. When the Ayyobid Sultan as-Salih Ayyub died he was sent to Hasankeyf to recall Turanshah, the son and heir of the dead sultan, to Egypt. During the Battle of al-Mansurah he was one of the Mamluk commanders who defeated the Frank forces led by the French king Louis IX. He was one of the Mamluks who collaborated in the murdering of Turanshah after the battle of al-Mansurah. During the era of Sultan Aybak, he led the Egyptian forces that defeated the army of the Ayyubid ruler of Syria an-Nasir Yusuf in Gaza and, as a general, he played a crucial role in the final defeat of an-Nasir Yusuf in the battle of Kora. In 1252, together with Faris ad-Din Aktai al-Mostareb, he suppressed a major rebellion led by al-Sharif Hesn ad-Din Thalab (Arabic: الشريف حصن الدين ثعلب) in middle and upper Egypt. In 1251 he conquered parts of Syria and in 1252 the port city of Alexandria in northern Egypt became his own domain.

Feeling that Aktai and his Mamluks were defying his authority and almost installed a state within his state, Aybak decided to kill him. In a conspiracy involving Aybak, Qutuz and some Mamluks, Aktai was murdered in the sultan's fort and his Mamnluks, including his friend Baibars al-bunduqari, fled to Syria and al-Karak.

See also

• Bahri dynasty
• Mamluk
• Aybak