The murder of al-Muzaffar Qutuz and the sultanate of Baybars

On 16 Dhu al-Qa'da 658 AH the sultan al-Muzaffar Qutuz was killed on his way back to Egypt, and Baybars took the sultanate and was given the title al-Malik al-Zahir. Al-Suyuti relates it, and Ibn al-Imad adds details of the killing. ^{1 2}

Al-Suyuti says that al-Muzaffar meant to march to Aleppo to clear it of the traces of the Tatars. Then he heard that Baybars had turned against him, so he returned toward Egypt with ill intent toward Baybars. Baybars and a group of amirs agreed to kill him, and they killed him on the road. ¹

Baybars took the sultanate and was titled al-Malik al-Qahir, and entered Egypt and removed the wrongs from its people. The vizier Zayn al-Din ibn al-Zubayr advised him to change the title, since those who had borne it before had not prospered. So he took the title al-Malik al-Zahir. ¹

Ibn al-Imad relates in "Shadharat al-Dhahab" that al-Bundaqdari desired Aleppo, which al-Muzaffar had promised him. Al-Muzaffar returned to Egypt harbouring evil toward him, and several amirs agreed with Rukn al-Din to his purpose. He struck him with a sword and dislocated his shoulder, then Hadir al-Maghribi struck him with an arrow that finished him, near Qatiya. Rukn al-Din al-Bundaqdari took the sultanate as al-Malik al-Zahir Baybars at the end of the year. ²

The two accounts come from two sources, agree on the date, and differ in some details. They need an additional source and the academic view.