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al-Mustamsik

al-Mustamsik, the caliph of the Abbasid of Cairo caliphate, ruling 1497–1517 CE.

Reign · Abbasid Caliphate of Cairo · no. 16 in the chain · 1497–1517 CE

Ruled the caliphate

Events of the reign

Aden's earthquakes and great fire, 908

In 908 the city of Aden was struck by great earthquakes recurring night and day, and a great fire in which houses numbering nine hundred burned, with loss of wealth and souls known only to God. A further Aden fire is recorded under 914.
Al-Suyuti’s complete retreat to Rawda island, 906/1501

Al-Suyuti’s complete retreat to his house on Rawda island took place in 906/1501, following the conflict with the residents of the Baybarsiyya khankah, whom he regarded as pseudo-Sufis. Forced to reduce their salaries, he had to go into hiding to escape the persecution of Sultan Tuman Bay, who supported his adversaries, and was dismissed from his functions; in his house he concentrated on composing and revising his works.
The breach of the Granada terms and the revolt of the Alpujarras

The treaty of Granada broken clause by clause: in 904 the Muslims were forced to convert — first those once Christian were ordered back 'to unbelief by compulsion', then any Muslim was told his grandfather had been Christian; the Albaicin rose and killed the governors, making death-or-conversion the decree. Whole villages refused — Balfig, Andarax and the mountain of Ballanca whose men killed 'the lord of Cordoba' and were let out on aman to Fez — while the outwardly converted prayed in secret and were burned for it.
Azov War (1501–1502)

Draft card for Azov War (1501–1502); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Botosani

Draft card for Battle of Botosani; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Erzincan

Draft card for the Battle of Erzincan in 1507, Shah Ismail's clash with Ottoman forces on the Anatolian frontier; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Gaza (1516)

Draft card for Battle of Gaza (1516); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Hamadan

Draft card for the Battle of Hamadan in 1503, Shah Ismail's victory over Murad Beg Aq Qoyunlu; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Jabani (1500)

Draft card for the Battle of Jabani in 1500, an Ottoman–Georgian clash in Javakheti; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Sharur

Draft card for the Battle of Sharur in 1501, Shah Ismail's victory over the Aq Qoyunlu; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Tangier (1502)

Draft card for Battle of Tangier (1502); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Battle of Ridaniyya and the fall of the Mamluk state

Ridaniyya, 1517 — the Mamluks' execution of Selim's envoy brought the Ottoman army across Sinai; Gaza then Ridaniyya broke Tuman Bay and ended the Circassian sultanate. Selim's defence: 'I came only with the ulema's fatwa — I was bound for jihad against the Rafida and the fujjar until your Ghawri marched into my inherited kingdom'.
Capture of Cairo

After Ridaniyya Selim I entered Egypt; al-Salabi quotes the chronicler Salahsur — companion of Selim and author of the manuscript *Fath-nameh Diyar al-Arab* — that Selim wept long in the Dome of the Rock and prayed for Egypt's opening. He appointed Khayr Bak over Egypt and Janbirdi al-Ghazali over Damascus; at Shadharat, Tuman Bay was hanged at Bab Zuwayla and the Circassian state ended.
A comet appears, 905

In 905 a tailed star rose from the east of Najd — its rising from Aries, its tail over Yemen and its course toward Syria.
Death of Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti on Rawda island, 911/1505

Al-Suyuti died in his house on Rawda island on 19 Jumada I 911 (18 October 1505). His scholarly reputation and the aura of godliness around him reached their zenith: people bought his clothes as if they were relics, and he left behind more than five hundred works.
Fall of Durrës (1501)

Draft card for Fall of Durrës (1501); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Fall of Navarino (1501)

Draft card for Fall of Navarino (1501); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
From Jan Balat through Tuman Bay to Qansuh al-Ghuri, 905–906

After al-Nasir Muhammad b. Qaytbay was killed, the amir-kabir Jan Balat overcame Sultan al-Zahir Qansuh, who vacated the citadel; Jan Balat took the sultanate at mid-morning Monday 2 Dhu'l-Qa'da 905, held it half a year and sixteen days and built the Janbalatiyya madrasa outside Bab al-Nasr before deposition, exile to Alexandria and strangulation. Al-'Adil Tuman Bay was then invested on 18 Jumada II 906, held the Citadel three months and twenty-three days and built the 'Adiliyya before the army killed him; al-Ashraf Abu al-Nasr Qansuh al-Ghuri followed on 'Id al-Fitr 906 — his second reign after about eleven days in 902 when he fled to Gaza and was lost at the battle of Khan Yunus.
Malacca-Majapahit Conflict

Draft card for Malacca-Majapahit Conflict; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
The Battle of Marj Dabiq and Selim's Entry into Egypt

In his colophon Suyuti's student Jaramard al-Nasiri names the ninth century's calamity: Selim Shah ibn Uthman — his wars on his brothers and their killing 'the worst of killings, leaving none great or small', his breaking of the lord of the East and killing of Ali Dawlat, then meeting Egypt's host and sultan at Marj Dabiq, killing the sultan and his great amirs, then entering Egypt 'in the swiftest state and shortest time' — a blow, he says, beside which the Tatars' and Timur's calamities seem small, for they never entered Egypt.
Second Ottoman–Venetian War

Draft card for the Second Ottoman–Venetian War of 1499–1503 under Bayezid II; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
The Portuguese Take the Fortress of Hormuz, 913

913: the Franks overpowered the fortress of Hormuz and took it.
Siege of Baku (1501)

Draft card for Siege of Baku (1501); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Durazzo (1501)

Draft card for Siege of Durazzo (1501); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
The Lepanto victory over Venice (1499-1500)

Al-Salabi records Bayezid II's naval victory over the Venetians in the Gulf of Lepanto in 905/1499, and the city's capture the following year; at Venice's plea Pope Alexander VI then raised a league of France and Spain against the Ottomans, who weathered the three fleets until a peace was made with Venice.
Siege of Lesbos (1501)

Draft card for Siege of Lesbos (1501); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Modon (1500)

Draft card for Siege of Modon (1500); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Mytilene (1501)

Draft card for Siege of Mytilene (1501); its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Samarkand

Draft card for the Siege of Samarkand in 1501, Babur's capture of the city from the Shaybanids; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of the Castle of Saint George

Draft card for the Siege of the Castle of Saint George in 1500, the Ottoman capture of Cephalonia from Venice; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Siege of Tabriz

Draft card for the Siege of Tabriz in 1501, Shah Ismail Safavi's entry into the city; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
The Zabid windstorm, 911

In 911, per al-Nur al-Safir, a violent wind struck Zabid and its mountains, uprooting and breaking many trees and demolishing houses.
The Zabid and Zayla' Earthquake, 910

910: a great and dreadful earthquake struck Zabid and Zayla', buildings collapsing and Zayla's people fleeing to the open desert in fear.

The museum record for this caliph