2020-10-24 Sat

Saif ad-Din Qutuz was a Mamluk Sultan of Egypt in the Turkic line reigned for less than a year from 1259 until his assassination in 1260. Qutuz was a Turkic prince from Iran. Captured by the Mongols during the fall of Khwarazmian dynasty, he was taken to Damascus, Syria where he was sold to an Egyptian slave merchant who then sold him to Aybak, the Mamluk sultan in Cairo. He became the most prominent Mu'izi Mamluk of Sultan Aybak and he became his vice-Sultan in 1253. He was prominent in defeating the Seventh Crusade, which invaded Egypt in 1249–50. When Egypt was threatened by the Mongols in he took the lead militarily and then deposed the reigning Sultan, 15-year-old Sultan Al-Mansur Ali. The centres of Islamic power in Syria and Baghdad were conquered by the Mongols, and the centre of the Islamic Empire transferred to Egypt, which became their next target. Qutuz led an Egyptian Mamluk army north to confront the Mongols, having made a pact with Egypt's long-time enemy the Crusaders. The coins of Qutuz are considered unique in the history of Mamluk coinages as no other names except his names and titles were inscribed on it: al-Malik al-Muzafar Saif al-Donya wa al-Din ("The victorious king, the sword of the temporal world and of the faith") and al-Muzafar Saif al-Din ("The victorious sword of faith") Image Source: https://www.numisbids.com