Timeline Explorer · al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars · Stop 1 of 16
c. 1223 CE · c. 620 AH† approximate debated before the Hijra
Qutuz's shalish at Ayn Jalut, who chased the Tatars past Aleppo; refused the promised city, he joined the amirs' killing of al-Muzaffar, took the throne first as al-Malik al-Qahir — till warned of the laqab's luck — then al-Malik al-Zahir .
Birth: al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars — c. 1223 CE · c. 620 AH†
Qutuz's shalish at Ayn Jalut, who chased the Tatars past Aleppo; refused the promised city, he joined the amirs' killing of al-Muzaffar, took the throne first as al-Malik al-Qahir — till warned of the laqab's luck — then al-Malik al-Zahir .
Baybars takes the sultanate, 658 AH — 1260 CE · 658 AH
Al-Zahir Baybars was acclaimed sultan of Egypt and Syria after Ayn Jalut in 658/1260, opening the Bahri Mamluk era .
The battle of Ayn Jalut and the defeat of the Tatars — c. 3 September 1260 CE · 15 Ramadan 658 AH
In 658 the Tatars crossed the Euphrates, put Aleppo to the sword and reached Damascus; the Egyptians marched that Sha'ban, al-Muzaffar leading with Rukn al-Din Baybars al-Bunduqdari his shalish — they met the Tatars at Ayn Jalut on Friday 15 Ramadan and routed them utterly, the first great breaking of their tide. The rejoicing flew to Damascus; Baybars drove them beyond Aleppo — promised the city, then refused it — the germ of their falling-out .
Qutuz murdered near Qatya, 658 — c. 24 October 1260 CE · 16 Dhu al-Qa'da 658 AH
Baybars had coveted Aleppo — promised it by al-Muzaffar, then refused — and nursed the grievance. On the march back to Egypt, a month after the victory, several amirs joined Rukn al-Din's intent: Kattut al-Jukandar al-Magharibi's sword split Qutuz's shoulder and Bahadur al-Mughrabi's arrow finished him, on 16 Dhu al-Qa'da near Qatya — and Rukn al-Din al-Bunduqdari took the throne as al-Zahir Baybars .
The murder of al-Muzaffar Qutuz and the sultanate of Baybars — c. 24 October 1260 CE · 16 Shawwal 658 AH
Al-Muzaffar turned home nursing ill for Baybars; forewarned, Baybars and amirs killed him on the road, 16 Dhu'l-Qa'da 658. Baybars took the sultanate as al-Malik al-Qahir, lifted the wrongs al-Muzaffar had laid on Egypt — then vizier Ibn al-Zubayr warned no bearer of that laqab had thrived: al-Qahir ibn al-Mu'tadid deposed and blinded, Mosul's lord's son poisoned — so he took al-Malik al-Zahir .
Establishment of the Abbasid caliphate in Cairo — c. June 1261 CE · 13 Rajab 659 AH
Ahmad ibn al-Zahir — freed from Baghdad's prison when the Tatars took it — came to Baybars in Rajab 659 with ten of Banu Maharish; the sultan rode out to meet him, his line was proven before chief qadi Taj al-Din ibn Bint al-A'azz, and the bay'a ran: the sultan first, then the qadi, then Shaykh Izz al-Din ibn Abd al-Salam, then the great by rank, on 13 Rajab. His name went on the coinage, he preached in black at the citadel mosque, robed the sultan with his own hands before the Cairo tent, and was granted an atabeg, ustadar, sharabi, khazindar, hajib and katib with a hundred horses. The caliphate's gap had lasted three and a half years; al-Dhahabi notes none after his uncle's son took it save him and al-Muqtafi .
Al-Mustansir's departure for Iraq and his disappearance — c. 28 November 1261 CE · 3 Muharram 660 AH
Al-Mustansir marched for Iraq, the sultan seeing him off to Damascus with a million dinars' outfit and the lords of Mosul, Sinjar and the Jazira in his train; Aleppo's rival caliph al-Hakim — set up by its amir Aqush with his own coin — joined and submitted. He took al-Haditha and Hit, met a Tatar host, and vanished at the battle of 3 Muharram 660: most say killed, some say fled and hidden — a caliphate under six months .
Baybars takes Caesarea and Arsuf, 663 — c. April 1265 CE · c. Jumada I 663 AH
In 663 Baybars besieged Caesarea and stormed it — the citadel held out days, then fell — then invested Arsuf and took it by the sword in Rajab; that Shawwal he enthroned his five-year-old son al-Malik al-Sa'id in full royal pomp .
Baybars takes Safed, 664 — c. June 1266 CE · c. 8 Sha'ban 664 AH
Baybars's coastal campaign of 664 — his columns raided Acre, Tyre, Tripoli and Hisn al-Akrad, then he sat down before Safed on 8 Ramadan; the great Templar fortress was tricked into surrender in forty days, two hundred of its knights were beheaded, and many of the besiegers fell martyred beneath it .
Siege of Antioch — 1268 CE · 666 AH†
Draft card for the Siege of Antioch in 1268, Baybars' capture of the Crusader principality's capital; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Baybars takes Jaffa, Beaufort and Antioch, 666 — c. February 1268 CE · Jumada I 666 AH
Jumada I 666: Jaffa stormed, its citadel aman'd, the town demolished; Beaufort taken in ten days by aman; Tripoli's orchards felled and rivers diverted; Hisn al-Akrad submitted at sight — then Antioch, the ancient patriarchate-city, in four days, with more than forty thousand slain .
Fall of Krak des Chevaliers — 1271 CE · 669 AH†
Draft card for the Fall of Krak des Chevaliers in 1271, Baybars' capture of the great Hospitaller fortress by stratagem; its sources are not yet checked on the page.
Baybars takes Hisn al-Akrad and Akkar, 669 — c. April 1271 CE · Sha'ban 669 AH
Sha'ban 669 — Hisn al-Akrad, the Hospitallers' master-fortress, taken by the sword; Hisn Akkar then yielded for aman, and the lord of Tripoli abased himself, paying what was asked and taking a ten-year truce .
Baybars raids Cilicia, 673 — c. March 1275 CE · Ramadan 673 AH
Ramadan 673 — al-Zahir raided the Cilician lands: Masisa, Adana and Ayas; the army came home with great captives and booty beyond count .
Death of al-Zahir Baybars, 676 — c. 26 June 1277 CE · 28 Muharram 676 AH
Mid-Muharram 676 — Baybars sickened at his Ablaq palace by Damascus's hippodrome and died thirteen days later (Dhahabi: Thursday 28 Muharram). His death concealed, the na'ib Bilbak marched the litter south feigning a sick sultan until the army was inside Egypt; then the mourning was declared and the amirs swore to his son al-Malik al-Sa'id. Forty Frankish fortresses had fallen to him by the sword .
Death: al-Zahir Rukn al-Din Baybars — 1277 CE · 676 AH
Qutuz's shalish at Ayn Jalut, who chased the Tatars past Aleppo; refused the promised city, he joined the amirs' killing of al-Muzaffar, took the throne first as al-Malik al-Qahir — till warned of the laqab's luck — then al-Malik al-Zahir .
