Al-Mansur II Muhammad was the Ayyubid emir of

Hama Hama ( ', ) is a city on the banks of the Orontes River in west-central Syria. It is located north of Damascus and north of Homs. It is the provincial capital of the Hama Governorate. With a population of 996,000 (2023 census), Hama is one o ...

1244–1284, son of al-Muzaffar II Mahmud and grandson of al-Mansur I Muhammad. He was the great-great grandson of Saladin’s brother Nur ad-Din Shahanshah. His mother was Ghaziya Khatun.

Early years

Al Mansur came to the throne at a time when the Egyptian Sultan As-Salih Ayyub was consolidating his power. In spring 1247 As-Salih Ayyub set out for Syria where he met emir Al-Ashraf Musa of

Homs Homs ( ; ), known in pre-Islamic times as Emesa ( ; ), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level, above sea level and is located north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is ...

as well as Al Mansur. Both were young - Al-Ashraf Musa was eighteen and Al Mansur was just twelve - and new on their thrones. As-Salih Ayyub campaigned against his rival

An-Nasir Yusuf An-Nasir Yusuf (; AD 1228–1260), fully al-Malik al-Nasir Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn al-Aziz ibn al-Zahir ibn Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shazy (), was the Ayyubid Kurdish Emir of Syria from his seat in Aleppo (1236–1260), and the S ...

of Aleppo but returned to Egypt to confront a new Crusader threat in 1249. Shortly afterwards he died. His son and successor Al-Muazzam Turanshah did not long outlive him and in 1250 the Ayyubid dynasty was overthrown in Egypt by the

Bahri mamluks The Bahri Mamluks (), sometimes referred to as the Bahri dynasty, were the rulers of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1250 to 1382, following the Ayyubid dynasty. The members of the Mamluk ruling class were purchased as slaves ( mamluks) and ma ...

Threats from Mamluks and Mongols

The effect of this coup in Egypt was to make An-Nasir Yusuf of Aleppo the senior Ayyubid ruler, and Al Mansur joined the other minor emirs in the army he assembled to invade Egypt. The Ayyubid army went down to a disastrous defeat at Al-Salihiyya outside Cairo. This exposed An-Nasir and all of the other emirs who had supported him to the dangers of a Mamluk invasion of Syria, and in the following years the Mamluks steadily expanded their power over Palestine and the southern portions of Syria. At the same time, the Mongols were emerging as a serious threat in the East, and took Baghdad in 1258. In September 1259 (Ramadan 657) Hulagu Khan launched his long-awaited invasion of Syria. Crossing the Euphrates, Hulagu first laid siege to Aleppo in January 1260 (Safar 658), which unwisely declined his offer to let it surrender. The Mongols stormed the city after a brief siege, and laid waste to it without mercy. Needing no further warning, Al-Mansur sent an embassy to Hulagu to plead for the lives and livelihoods of the people of Hama. Hulagu agreed to spare the city, and sent a Persian official named Khusraushah to rule the city as his viceregent. The other Ayyubid emirates in Syria all quickly submitted to the Mongols around the same time, although they continued to scheme with each other and with the Mamluks to try and organise a military coalition to drive the Mongols back. Al-Mansur was closely allied with An-Nasir Yusuf, ruler of Damascus, who fled before the Mongols arrived and headed for Egypt with Al-Mansur in attendance, where he now hoped to form an alliance with the Mamluks to drive the Mongols out and restore himself to paramountcy in Syria. However, as he approached the encampment of the Mamluk general Qutuz he began to mistrust him and lost faith in the alliance he had proposed. Cornered between the Mongols heading south and the Mamluks heading north, he entrusted his family to Al-Mansur, handed over command of his troops to him, and directed him to join Qutuz in his camp. An-Nasir himself with his brother and son remained behind and he was captured by Mongol skirmishers and sent back to Hulagu as a prisoner.

Mamluk Restoration

In obeying Am-Nasir Yusuf and joining the Mamluk army, Al-Mansur took a decisive step which was to restore him to Hama, albeit under Mamluk suzerainty. The Mamluk army headed north to Ain Jalut where they inflicted a decisive defeat on the Mongols, turning back their invasion in a way which was almost unprecedented in the Mongol experience. Al Mansur served with distinction during the battle, and was restored to his domains in Hama as a Mamluk vassal. His loyalty thereafter to the Mamluks meant that while the other Ayyubid states were gradually absorbed by them over the next few years, Hama remained under Ayyubid rule until 1341, longer than any other Syrian city. Al Mansur ruled until 1284, when he was succeeded by his son Al-Muzaffar III Mahmud. Al Mansur’s sister was betrothed to the Mamluk Faris ad-Din AktaiIbn Taghri, al-Nujum al-Zahirah Fi Milook Misr wa al-Qahirah, al-Hay'ah al-Misreyah 1968 pp.103-273" who was murdered by the Mamluk Sultan

Aybak Izz al-Din AybakThe name Aybeg or Aibak or Aybak is a combination of two Turkic words, "Ay" = Moon and "Beg" or variant "Bak" = Emir in Arabic. -(Al-Maqrizi, Note p.463/vol.1 ) () (''epithet:'' al-Malik al-Mu'izz Izz al-Din Aybak al-Jawshangir ...

because he was too much of a threat to his rule.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhammad, AL-Mansur II 1284 deaths 13th-century Ayyubid rulers Ayyubid emirs of Hama Sunni Muslims Medieval child monarchs Year of birth unknown 13th-century people from the Mamluk Sultanate