Al-Kamil Muhammad al-Malik and Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor.jpg
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Al-Kamil ( ar, الكامل) (full name: al-Malik al-Kamil Naser ad-Din Abu al-Ma'ali Muhammad) (c. 1177 – 6 March 1238) was a Muslim ruler and the fourth
Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynasty ( ar, الأيوبيون '; ) was the founding dynasty of the medieval Sultan of Egypt, Sultanate of Egypt established by Saladin in 1171, following his abolition of the Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid Caliphate of Egypt. A Sunni ...
sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...
of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Crusade. He was known to the Frankish crusaders as Meledin, a name by which he is still referred to in some older western sources. As a result of the
Sixth Crusade The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229), also known as the Crusade of Frederick II, was a military expedition to recapture Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land. It began seven years after the failure of the Fifth Crusade and involved very little actua ...
, he ceded West Jerusalem to the Christians and is known to have met with
Saint Francis St. Francis or Saint Francis may refer to: Roman Catholic saints *Francis of Assisi (1181–1226), Italian founder of the Order of Friars Minor (Franciscans) *Francis of Paola (1416–1507), Italian (Calabrian) founder of the Order of the Minims * ...
.


Biography


Jazira campaign

Al-Kamil was the son of sultan
al-Adil Al-Adil I ( ar, العادل, in full al-Malik al-Adil Sayf ad-Din Abu-Bakr Ahmed ibn Najm ad-Din Ayyub, ar, الملك العادل سيف الدين أبو بكر بن أيوب,‎ "Ahmed, son of Najm ad-Din Ayyub, father of Bakr, the Just K ...
("Saphadin"), a brother of Saladin. Al-Kamil's father was laying siege to the city of
Mardin Mardin ( ku, Mêrdîn; ar, ماردين; syr, ܡܪܕܝܢ, Merdīn; hy, Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on ...
(in modern-day Turkey) in 1199 when he was called away urgently to deal with a security threat in Damascus. Al-Adil left al-Kamil to command the forces around Mardin continuing the siege. Taking advantage of the Sultan's absence, the combined forces of Mosul, Sinjar and
Jazirat ibn Umar Cizre (; ar, جَزِيْرَة ٱبْن عُمَر, Jazīrat Ibn ʿUmar, or ''Madinat al-Jazira'', he, גזירא, Gzira, ku, Cizîr, ''Cizîra Botan'', or ''Cizîre'', syr, ܓܙܪܬܐ ܕܒܪ ܥܘܡܪ, Gāzartā,) is a city in the Cizre Dis ...
appeared at Mardin when it was on the point of surrender, and drew Al-Kamil into battle. He was badly defeated and retreated to Mayyafariqin. However dissent and weakness among his opponents meant that Al-Kamil was able to secure Ayyubid rule in the Jazira Region by taking Harran (in modern-day Turkey).


Viceroy of Egypt

In 1200, after proclaiming himself Sultan, Al-Adil invited Al-Kamil to come from the Eastern Territories to join him in Egypt as his viceroy (na'ib) in that country. Al-Adil's second son,
Al-Mu'azzam Isa () (1176 – 1227) was the Ayyubid emir of Damascus from 1218 to 1227. The son of Sultan al-Adil I and nephew of Saladin, founder of the dynasty, al-Mu'azzam was installed by his father as governor of Damascus in 1198 or 1200. After his father's ...
, had already been made prince of Damascus in 1198. It appears that Al-Adil allowed Al-Kamil a fairly high degree of authority, since he oversaw much of the work on the Cairo Citadel, issued decrees in his own name, and even managed to persuade his father to dismiss the powerful minister Ibn Shukr. Al-Kamil remained viceroy until his father's death in 1218 when he became Sultan himself.


The Fifth Crusade

In 1218 when Al-Adil died, the Ayyubid domains were divided into three parts, with Al-Kamil ruling Egypt, his brother Al-Muazzam Isa ruling in Palestine and Transjordan, and a third brother,
Al-Ashraf Musa __NOTOC__ Al-Ashraf, either from ( ar, الأشرف, 'the most noble') or (, 'the nobles'), may refer to: People * Al-Ashraf Al-Barsbay, Burji Mamluk sultan of Egypt (1422–1438) * Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri, Mamluk Sultan (1501–1516) * Al-Ash ...
in Syria and the Jazira. Nominally the other two recognised Al-Kamil's supremacy as Sultan. Unusually for an Ayyubid succession, there was no obvious dissent or rivalry between the brothers at this point, partly because just before Al-Adil's death, Egypt had been attacked by the forces of the Fifth Crusade. Al-Kamil took command of the forces which defended Damietta against the Crusaders. In 1219 he was almost overthrown by a conspiracy led by the amir Imad ad-Din ibn al-Mashtub, commander of the Hakkari Kurdish regiment, to replace him with his younger and more pliant brother al-Faiz Ibrahim. Alerted to the conspiracy, Al-Kamil had to flee the camp to safety and in the ensuing confusion the Crusaders were able to tighten their grip on Damietta. Al-Kamil considered fleeing to Yemen, which was ruled by his son
al-Mas'ud Yusuf Al-Malik al-Mas‘ūd Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Abū al-Muẓaffar Yūsuf ibn Muḥammad ( ar, الملك المسعود صلاح الدين أبو المظفر يوسف بن محمد‎; 1201–1229) was the sixth and final Ayyubid The Ayyubid dynas ...
, but the timely arrival of his brother Al-Muazzam from Syria with reinforcements brought the conspiracy to a swift end. Al-Kamil made many offers of peace to the Crusaders, all of which were rejected, due to the influence of the
papal legate 300px, A woodcut showing Henry II of England greeting the pope's legate. A papal legate or apostolic legate (from the ancient Roman title ''legatus'') is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic ...
Pelagius. He offered to return Jerusalem and rebuild its walls (which his brother had torn down earlier in the year), and to return the True Cross (which he probably did not have). At one point he even met with
Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...
, who had accompanied the crusade. Their meeting became a subject for painters like Giotto, Taddeo di Bartolo and Taddeo Gaddi. Due to famine and disease after the Nile failed to flood, al-Kamil could not defend Damietta and it was captured in November 1219.Riley-Smith, Jonathan (ed.), The Atlas of the Crusades,Times Books 1990, p.94 The sultan withdrew to
al-Mansourah Mansoura (' , rural: ) is a city in Egypt, with a population of 960,423. It is the capital of the Dakahlia Governorate. Etymology ''Mansoura'' in Arabic means "victorious". The city is named after the El Mansoura Battle against Louis IX of F ...
, a fortress further up the Nile. After this there was little action until 1221, when al-Kamil offered peace again, proposing to surrender the entire territory of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, except Transjordan, in return for the Crusaders evacuating Egypt but was again refused. The Crusaders marched out towards Cairo, but al-Kamil simply opened the dams and allowed the Nile to flood, and finally the Crusaders accepted an eight-year peace. He retook Damietta in September.


Power struggle and the treaty of 1229

In the following years there was a power struggle with his brother al-Mu'azzam, and al-Kamil was willing to accept a peace with emperor and King of Sicily Frederick II, who was planning the
Sixth Crusade The Sixth Crusade (1228–1229), also known as the Crusade of Frederick II, was a military expedition to recapture Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land. It began seven years after the failure of the Fifth Crusade and involved very little actua ...
. Al-Mu'azzam died in 1227, eliminating the need for a peace, but Frederick had already arrived in Palestine. After al-Mu'azzam's death, al-Kamil and his other brother
al-Ashraf __NOTOC__ Al-Ashraf, either from ( ar, الأشرف, 'the most noble') or (, 'the nobles'), may refer to: People * Al-Ashraf Al-Barsbay, Burji Mamluk sultan of Egypt (1422–1438) * Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghuri, Mamluk Sultan (1501–1516) * Al-Ash ...
negotiated a treaty, giving all of
Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...
(including
Transjordan Transjordan may refer to: * Transjordan (region), an area to the east of the Jordan River * Oultrejordain, a Crusader lordship (1118–1187), also called Transjordan * Emirate of Transjordan, British protectorate (1921–1946) * Hashemite Kingdom of ...
) to al-Kamil and
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
to al-Ashraf. In February 1229 al-Kamil negotiated the
Treaty of Jaffa Treaty of Jaffa may refer to: *Treaty of Jaffa (1192) The Treaty of Jaffa, more seldom referred to as the Treaty of Ramla or the treaty of 1192, was a truce agreed to during the Crusades. It was signed on 1 or 2 September 1192 A.D. (20th of Sha'b ...
, a ten-year peace with Frederick II and returned Jerusalem and other holy sites to the
Crusader kingdom The Crusader States, also known as Outremer, were four Catholic realms in the Middle East that lasted from 1098 to 1291. These feudal polities were created by the Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade through conquest and political in ...
.The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 5, C.1198-c.1300 edited by David Abulafia, CUP 1999 p.576 The treaty of 1229 is unique in the history of the Crusades. By diplomacy alone and without major military confrontation, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and a corridor running to the sea were ceded to the kingdom of Jerusalem. Exception was made for the Temple area, the Dome of the Rock, and the Aqsa Mosque, which the Muslims retained. Moreover, all current Muslim residents of the city would retain their homes and property. They would also have their own city officials to administer a separate justice system and safeguard their religious interests. The walls of Jerusalem, which had been destroyed, were rebuilt, and the peace was to last for 10 years. After the treat with Frederick, al-Kamil turned his attention to Damascus. He sent al-Ashraf to begin operations against the city. He arrived to pen the siege of Damascus on 6 May. After almost two months of intense fighting, the city surrendered on 25 June. It was given to al-Ashraf, while al-Muazzam's son,
an-Nasir Dawud An-Nasir Dawud (1206–1261) was a Kurdish ruler, briefly (1227–1229) Ayyubid sultan of Damascus and later (1229–1248) Emir of Kerak. An-Nasir Dawud was the son of Al-Mu'azzam, the Ayyubid Sultan of Damascus from 1218 to 1227. On his fathe ...
, had to settle for Transjordan.Humphreys (1977), 201–206.


Later years

Although there was peace with the Crusaders, al-Kamil had to contend with the Seljuks and the Khwarezmians before he died in 1238. His sons
as-Salih Ayyub Al-Malik as-Salih Najm al-Din Ayyub (5 November 1205 – 22 November 1249), nickname: Abu al-Futuh ( ar, أبو الفتوح), also known as al-Malik al-Salih, was the Ayyubid Kurdish ruler of Egypt from 1240 to 1249. Early life In 1221, as-S ...
and al-Adil II succeeded him in Syria and Egypt respectively, but the Ayyubid empire soon descended into civil war. In 1239 the treaty with Frederick expired, and Jerusalem came under Ayyubid control.


Personality

Al-Kamil exemplified the Islamic laws of war. For example, after al-Kamil defeated the Fifth Crusade,
Oliver of Paderborn Oliver of Paderborn, also known as Thomas Olivier, Oliver the Saxon or Oliver of Cologne ( 1170 – 11 September 1227), was a Germans, German cleric, crusader and chronicler. He was the bishop of Paderborn from 1223 until 1225, when Pope Honorius II ...
praised and commented on how al-Kamil supplied the defeated Frankish army with food:


See also

*
List of rulers of Egypt Lists of rulers of Egypt: * List of pharaohs (c. 3100 BC – 30 BC) ** List of Satraps of the 27th Dynasty (525–404 BC) ** List of Satraps of the 31st Dynasty (343–332 BC) * List of governors of Roman Egypt (30 BC – 639 AD) * List of rul ...


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamil Year of birth uncertain 1170s births 1238 deaths Ayyubid sultans of Egypt Muslims of the Fifth Crusade Muslims of the Sixth Crusade 13th-century Ayyubid sultans of Egypt 12th-century Kurdish people 13th-century Kurdish people