السلطان الأشرف قايتباي

Qaytbay, a Mamluk Circassian sultan known as al-Ashraf. al-Suyuti says that the caliph al-Mustanjid invested him with the sultanate, and that he governed the realm with resolve and firmness, and travelled from Egypt to the Euphrates with a small number of troops. ²

al-Suyuti relates that he appointed no one to a religious office until he had found the best person after long deliberation, so that some posts remained vacant for months. He appointed no judge or shaykh for money. ²

In 884 AH he travelled to the Hijaz for the pilgrimage, something no king had done in more than a hundred years. He began by visiting Medina, where he distributed six thousand dinars, and then came to Mecca, where he distributed five thousand. He appointed a shaykh and Sufis for his madrasa in Mecca. ²

Shadharat al-Dhahab names him Abu al-Nasr Qaytbay, the Circassian Zahiri king, affiliated to al-Zahir Jaqmaq. It says he was born in 826 AH and was given the sultanate on Monday, 6 Rajab 872 AH. It records his building works for the holy sites, madrasas and fortresses in Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Egypt and Syria ³.

Al-Salabi records that when Prince Cem fled his brother Bayezid II to Egypt, Qaytbay honoured him and equipped him for the hajj ⁴; Bayezid then sealed peace with the Mamluks in 1491 by sending Qaytbay the keys of the frontier fortresses ⁵.